Ben was out in the barn with his older two sons when he smelled the distinct odor of smoke. They had been discussing Joe's upcoming sixth birthday party and were trying to decide what to get the young troublemaker. They wanted to make it special since it would be his first birthday since his mother had passed away.
"I smell something burning. Do you?" Ben asked as he sniffed the air. The acrid scent of smoke became stronger.
"Yes sir, I sure do," Hoss said, and prayed it wasn't dinner.
"Oh, god, what's he gotten into now," Adam said, groaning. He was positive he knew the source of the smoke, and it wasn't just fire.
"Now Adam, you don't know where that's coming from. Your brother isn't reason for everything that happens, you know," Ben said. Although, he would only admit to himself that he'd had the same thoughts as well. It boggled the mind at how quickly the child went from one near disaster to another. Ben swore he could actually feel each hair on his head turning gray. He was just grateful it wasn't falling out as well.
"Pa, you know you can't turn your back on him for five minutes without something happening," Adam answered, with a smile in his voice. Truth be told, the Joe was always keeping them on their toes and it certainly was never dull around the Ponderosa. He'd never forget the time that he'd managed to connive Hoss into believing that time stopped in the woods and nobody would ever know they had left the ranch house. They'd been missing for most of the day before he and Pa, frantic by this point, had found the younger brothers covered in mud and desperately trying to look innocent.
Adam led the way out of the barn and the three went out in search of the odor. As soon as they left the barn, they could see the smoke billowing from behind the ranch house.
"The kitchen's on fire!" Ben said. They had to act quickly before the whole house was lost. He briefly wondered why Hop Sing hadn't rung the dinner bell as a warning.
Rounding the back of the house, they came upon a sight which stopped them in their tracks. There was Joe, calmly trying to put out a good sized fire. There was a trail of water from the well to where Joe was standing.
"Well, it's not the kitchen but it's pretty close!" Adam yelled. He turned to go looking for buckets and men to help put out the fire.
"Joseph! Get away from there!" Ben yelled as he snatched his son away from the flames. "Hoss take your brother and go to the barn while we try and get this under control!"
Men came running with buckets and they set up a fire line, passing buckets of water from person to person. Soon, the fire was put out and there was quite a bit of damage to Hop Sing's garden. Ben and Adam thanked the men for such quick action. After the hands left, the two went to the barn to find out from Joe what had happened.
"Joseph!" called Ben. His young son came running up to him with his arms out to be picked up. He picked him up and held Joe at eye level.
"Now, can you tell me what happened back there?" asked Ben.
"Well, Papa, you remember telling me that you were going to show me how to make a fire," Joe said.
"Yes, I also remember telling you that you were too young and that it would have to wait until you were older," Ben stated with a frown.
"Well, you said that last week and now I'm older," Joe said, emphatic in his childhood logic. It sounded perfectly reasonable to him.
"Are you telling me that you started the fire?" Adam asked incredulously. He knew his brother could come up with some bizarre reasons for doing things but this one was one of the more interesting ones. And while he had suspected Joe was the source of the fire, he hadn't expected him to admit it.
Joe looked at Adam. "It was only supposed to be a small one. I took some of Papa's matches and built a small pile of leaves and sticks. I was doing real good until I dropped all those other matches in the fire."
"Then what happened?" Hoss asked since it was getting close to supper time and he was hungry. He figured the sooner he wrapped this up, the sooner he could get some pie. Just the thought made his mouth water.
"Well, I didn't get all of the other leaves away from the fire and it just sorta spread," Joe said. He pretty sure he was going to be in trouble for this one. From the look on Papa's face, he was sure he was going to get a trip to the barn in near future.
"Joe, you know you aren't supposed to touch anything on my desk, don't you? And you also know you aren't supposed to mess with matches, don't you?" Ben asked, and watched as Joe's head nodded. "Now, I'm going to send your brother's in for dinner while you and I have a talk in the barn."
"Aw Pa, do you have to?" Joe asked, he couldn't quite suppress the groan. "I learned my lesson, honest."
"And what lesson did you learn," Ben asked.
"That's easy, don't get caught!"