Witnesses

"I've never before seen anything quite so entertaining!" he said as he craned his neck to look at his companion.

"You 'n' me both! Dadburnit if that wasn't all-fired, flat-out, jist plain funny!"

"Do you think the repercussions will be severe?" he asked, a slight touch of concern in the question.

"I don't know…I jist don't know," he replied, a slow giggle brewing from deep inside. "Most ev'ryone took it as a real fine excuse ta laugh!"

"Everyone except him. Perhaps he'll eventually see the humor in the situation and let the deed go unpunished."

"Meybe. But 'til he does, I'm jist gonna see it happ'nin' over 'n' over in my head!" he laughed. "One minute, he was walkin' with Mae 'n' the next, well, you saw it jist like I did!" This time his laugh was so hearty, he tossed his head back and forth and side to side as he gasped for air between sounds.

In the corner, a loud snort alerted the two that someone else thought the events of that afternoon worthy of a snicker or two.

"If you ask me, he got what he deserved. He's always wanting more than he's already got. He's been told, many times, that even though he's young, he has a lot to learn. And his wild ways just might get him into hot water sooner or later! It was cold water, but it sure did happen sooner than later!" he snorted.

Now all three were laughing raucously, heads bobbing and feet stomping.

"Laugh all you want!" she yelled. I'm the one's gonna hafta pay for what happened! He'll blame me, sure as the day is long!"

Once the laughter died down, he took pity on her when he saw her sullen face.

"Look, we're sorry! I'm sure you won't be blamed for what happened," he comforted.

"Oh yeah? How can you be so sure?" she cried.

"Well, why don'tcha tell us exactly what happened. Meybe we kin put our heads together 'n' figure out he might be thinkin'."

The others nodded their heads in agreement.

"Okay. Well…we'd been racing back to the Ponderosa and I slowed down a bit to let the other one win."

"Ah, that's nice. The two a you do that all the time. Isn't that nice, fellers?"

"Sure is," they replied in unison.

"Then after we got back, the two of them were standing together and he was kissing her."

"Ah, that's nice. The two a them do that all the time. Isn't that nice, fellers?"

"Sure is," they replied in unison.

"And then it happened. He went and said something wrong, something she didn't like, and she drew back and slapped him hard across the face!"

"Ah, that's bad. I've seen it happen ta him more 'n' once. Isn't that right, fellers?"

"Sure is," they replied in unison.

"So when he stumbled back from the slap, he ran into me. I didn't see him coming, and I…I…I…"

"Jist tell us, Darlin'!"

"I pushed him off me and…and…and…"

"Oh, for pity's sake, just tell us!"

"And he fell in the trough!"

The other three burst into the loudest roar of laughter yet.

"But it wasn't my fault!" she yelled.

"Yeah…but…*snort*…you have to…*chortle*…admit, it was…*titter*…it was funny!"

"Yeah! Seein' Mae wallop Little Joe in the face 'n' then you shovin' him inta the trough…Cooch, that was priceless!"

"But it wasn't my fault!" she yelled.