Chapter one
It was yet another long hot day of work the Cartwright's did that noon when Little Joe turned and asked Ben. "Pa, do you think we can stop working and go to town for a beer?"
"Now Joseph, I think that's a..."
"Lame idea." Joe interrupted.
"Joe," Ben said with a scowl. Then he cleared his throat, "Now without any more interruptions, I hope." He said as he gave Joe a very stern look. "I think that's a wonderful idea!"
Joe's eyes sparkled. "Do you really mean it Pa?"
"Yes I really mean it," Ben said with a wide grin on his face.
"Yeah-whoo! Thanks Pa!" He turned and started running while he called, "Adam, Hoss! You won't believe what Pa said!"
Ben chuckled to himself, not knowing that was the last time he'd ever see Joe smile again.
AT THE SALOON
The nice cold beer slid down my throat. Ah, haven't had one in days. I looked over from me at the man at the other side of the table, trying to see if he was bluffing.
"What'd it be?" He asked, interrupting my thoughts.
"Hmm, I'll take one." I replied, giving one of my cards to him. I was taking a gamble. With $150 on the table, it would be nice to win. Joe had just now noticed that I was at the poker table.
"Pa, what are you..."
"Be quiet Little Joe, you see how Pa's tryin' to concentrate." Hoss interrupted him.
I saw Joe glare at Hoss; but kept quiet.
I took in a long breath, then looked at the man in front of me. "What have you got?" I asked.
He smirked at me and laid his cards on the table. "Full house."
He went for the pot, but I stopped him. I put down my cards. "Royal flush." I could see the shocked faces of my boys and the people hovering over the table.
I went to take the pot that was rightfully mine, but I stopped when I heard the cock of a hammer.
I slowly looked up to see that the man had pulled his gun. "Uh, how abut sitting down and talking this thing through?" I asked.
"Shut up!" He growled.
I looked again to see Joe moving slowly behind the guy. Be careful, Joe, please be careful. I pleaded.
As soon as Joe got behind the man he said, "Drop the gun, Mister."
At first he didn't listen; but when Joe pulled the hammer back on his own gun, he dropped it.
"You'll pay Cartwright, you'll pay!" He shouted as Adam took the guy out of Joe's hands and led him to the exit.
Maybe poker wasn't a good idea after all. But at least my boys and nobody was hurt.
BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA
"I'll get those Cartwright's if it's the last thing I do." The man from the poker game muttered to himself as he made his way to the livery stable across the street.
"Howdy Ian, what can I do for you?" The livery stable man asked.
"I'd like four good fast runners if'n you have 'em." The man, Ian, said.
"Yep, sure as ever. I got some of 'em real good horses that could run forever." He beamed.
"How much for them?"
"Let's say 'bout five dollars each."
"Done deal." Ian said as he gave the man twenty dollars.
"Well, I be darned! Thank ya very much!" The man said, and then made his way over to the saloon.
After all the the horses were saddled, Ian mounted his horse then rode away thinking of away to get revenge on Ben Cartwright.
BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA
*Laughter*
"Boys, have I ever told you about the time when I took on a full crew of sailers single handed?" Ben asked his sons, while pulling on his horse's reins to get him back on the road for home.
"No Pa, how 'bout you tell us about that." Hoss said with a smile that which a drunk would have on.
"It was like no other fight I've been in. Left punches here, right punches there. And well..." Ben paused for a moment. "I took them all, they were down and out of it. And all I suffered from it was a black eye." Ben beamed.
After the story, realization hit Joe in his own drunken stage. "Pa, weren't Adam, Hoss, and I there to help you? Last I recall was that we all ended up getting a black eye."
Ben cleared his throat as embarrassment settled in. "Uh, maybe that might be so..."
"Because, if'n it weren't for your awesome sons, you wouldn't be here today, right?" Joe retorted with a smirk of proudness.
"Well," Ben was saying with a bit of regret and embarrassment. "I guess that if it weren't for you boys, I wouldn't be here."
All the boys nodded in agreement. And with that they all headed home.
BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA BONANZA
Ouch, last time my head hurt so bad was when I was in a saloon and Asa hit me over the head. Ever since that happened, my head never felt like that again... until this morning. I remember drinking at the saloon last night, but never that much to where I'd be drunk. Maybe Hoss and Joe would go and get drunk... wait, not Hoss I saw him only get two beers. Plus, Hoss would never get himself drunk. Man, did I feel awful. I've never been drunk before that I can remember.
I made my way down the hall as best as I could, hoping to be as quiet as my staggering walking would let me. As I reached the flight of stairs, I looked at the descent in front of me.
Oh boy, this is going to be ruff. As I put my foot on the first stair, I wobbled and grabbed the railing so as not to fall over. I took a deep breath. I'm probably going to be here for a few hours. As I put my other foot on the stair below my other one, I wobbled yet again but this time I lost my balance completely. I retched out to grab the railing once again, but started falling down the stairs. Once I hit the bottom of the stairs, I just laid there waiting for the world to stop spinning. Then I heard something. At the top of the stairs was Little Joe.
"Uh, Adam, what are you doing down there? I thought that you were to walk down the stairs and not fall." Joe said with a stupid grin on his face.
I rolled my eyes and ignored him. Then Joe started down the stairs. "Joe! Don't do it!" I yelled at him. But it was to late. Joe came tumbling down after him. "Hey, Joe, what are you doing down here? You're supposed to walk down the stairs." I said, kind of mocking him. All I got was shooting daggers from his eyes. Joe held his head, probably trying to stop the world from spinning. But didn't seem to help. Then we heard something. Joe and I looked at each other.
"Hoss." Joe just whispered. I nodded in agreement. Just above that stairs like when I saw Joe, there was Hoss. He took one big step and started tumbling down the stairs before we could say anything.