Rainwater
Fifteen-year-old Joe Cartwright pushed his horse faster, blindly and dangerously racing through the meadow towards the mountains. Tears stung his eyes, threatening to fall as the sky began giving way to a storm blowing in from the north.
Adam and he had done it again; they'd gotten into another fight. Joe had been put in charge of four new broncos. He was responsible for them being fed, cleaned, broken in, and locked up. He had taken these responsibilities very seriously; it was his first real assignment that was given to him by his father.
He was sure that he had locked those horses down tight; that there wasn't any way they could have gotten free of the coral. He was wrong. Early that morning he and Adam had ridden out to break the horses, but they were gone. It appeared that they had broken the gate and fled. Adam was levied.
"I thought you said you locked them up tight!" Adam snapped at Joe, his normally calm exterior flashing red.
"I did! Adam I swear I did!" Joe said, still in shock from his discovery.
"Pa leaves you in charge of one thing while he and Hoss are in Carson City and you mess it up!"
"Adam I swear I checked the gate, I doubled checked! It was locked down tight," Joe's green eyes pleaded with his brother to believe him, but Adam was too mad.
"How many times are you going to do this Joe? Shrink off on your responsibilities and make Hoss, Pa and I take up the slack?"
"Now wait a minuet Adam! I did everything I was suppose to! I kept them fed, clean, dry…" Joe's temper had now replaced his shock.
"But you didn't lock them up! And once more you're not owning up to your mistake! You're carelessness has just put Pa out four hundred dollars! Some times Joe you can be such a disappointment."
Joe felt like he had been thrown from a bull into a post. The knot in his chest felt like it was going to crush his lungs. He couldn't even speak as his anger gave into shocked pain. For a moment he just looked at his brother, unable to say anything. Then he just turned and ran.
The tears began to fall as he replayed the earlier events in his mind. He spurred the horse faster and wiped at his eyes with his hand.
Adam let out a loud angry sigh that sounded more like a growl. He had spent the last day looking for Joe, but had to stop when the rain started to fall. He pulled into the yard wet, cold, hungry and too worried to care.
He had spoken the words before he had thought. He had just gotten so angry that he didn't care. All he could think was Joe had messed up, again, after he had promised his father that he would take care of the horses. Worse, he was the one that was going to have to explain to his father what had happened and most likely would get a lecture on how he should have kept an eye on his brother.
The look in Joe's eyes though, the pain and shock, like he had just been stomped by a beloved horse. That had been enough for him to slap himself. Then Joe riding off…
'That boy knows how to make you feel sorry,' Adam thought as he let one of the hands take care of his horse.
Hop Sing meet Adam at the door; "Did you find numba tree son?"
Adam looked at the small man who was the 'true' head of the house. When Joe had rode off from the coral, Adam had decided to let him. He had hurt Joe deeply, and knew he would only make things worse if he went after him now. He knew that Joe would ride his anger off and come home. So Adam had rode home, back to Hop Sing and told him of what had transpired.
Adam had remained at the house, going over the books while Hop Sing went about huffing and puffing mumbling about how Joe would be hungry or cold. How the sky looked like rain and he hoped Joe would be home soon. After two hours of this and no sign of Joe, Adam decided to go look for him.
"No. His tracks got washed away. He was headed to the mountains though, high ground. He'll be safe up there," Adam said wryly, trying to convince himself as well as Hop Sing.
Hop Sing just gave a humph and went back to the kitchen, mumbling under his breath in Chinese. He was clearly not happy with Adam at the moment.
The house was shaken by a thunder clap, and Adam sighed.
"It's going to be a long night."
Joe reached the mountains just as the first lighting bolt reached the sky. His horse began to get nervous, but Joe soothed her and pushed her forward. He was soaked to the bone from the falling rain, and began to shiver from the cold. He eased his horse into a trot and gently directed her to 'Hid-away' cave.
Hid-away was about half the size of a barn and the one place that Joe felt he could call his own. He had first discovered it after a he had spent a day exploring when he was ten. Ever since he was first allowed to rid by himself he had been coming to Hid-away. He had never told anyone, not even Hoss, where it was.
It was here that he now sought shelter from the spring storm. After tending to his horse, he went to a pine box that he kept in the back of the cave.
The box was four foot long; three foot wide, and three foot deep. He had made it himself. He had picked out the wood, did the cutting and the building. He even carved the box himself with the symbol that Hop Sing had told him meant free. At the time making the box seemed to free him. For the first time he was doing something on his own, with out help from his father or his brothers. His father and Hoss had been proud of him when he had finished. Even Adam seemed to approve. He smiled at his handy work, which after three years was still strong.
He opened it and pulled out some wood and matches that he kept in there, along with a tin that he kept jerky in. After starting a fire, and stuffing the jerky into his pocket, he sat the tin out to gather rainwater.
He went back to the box and pulled out some dried fruit for the horse.
"Here you go girl. Sorry it isn't much, but at least you won't go hungry," Joe said as he placed the fruit in front of his horse.
His horse was a ten year old, placid, brown mare. She was the one that he had learned to rid on, but more then that; she was the one who would listen to him when he couldn't talk to anyone else. She always seemed to know when he was upset and how to help. If he was angry, she'd go full gallop with him, if he was upset she would go at a fast trot, or if he just wanted to think, she would go steady for him. He couldn't ask for a better horse, and he often jokingly called her 'Ma,' a name that never failed to get a whinny or a nudge from her.
After Joe was sure that Ma had eaten something, he laid down by the fire and began tarring into some of his jerky. After a moment he began voicing his thoughts to Ma.
"It's not fair! He wouldn't even listen to me! I swear that I checked and double-checked that coral! It was locked up tight! There was no way those horses could have gotten free. I mean you were there Ma, you saw me. You know I'm not lying, right?"
The horse gave a sympathetic whinny and pawed at the ground with her huff.
"At least I know you're on my side," Joe said as he got up to go check on the water. The tin was full and Joe put it next to the fire to boil. He sat in silence watching the rainfall as he waited. As the fire gently warmed him, and the jerky eased the hunger in his stomach. It didn't take long for Joe to fall asleep.
Adam sat in his favorite chair by the fire, trying to read. Yet, he found that with every thunderclap his thoughts were heading towards Joe.
At first he let anger mask his worry; 'Let him sit out in the storm and sulk. If he's going to act like a baby, then he can just stay out there. Serve him right to get sick.'
Then the big brother in him took control.
'I wonder if he's hungry? Is he cold? Did he find shelter? I hope he did, Little Joe hates thunder storms.'
Adam put the book down frustrated. He started pacing back and forth in front of the fire, while his mind slipped back into the past.
"Adam? Are you awake?" a five year old Joe whispered from the doorway.
"Mmmmm…. Joe what are you doing out of bed?" Adam asked as he rolled over in his bed to face the small figure at his door. He heard the sound of small feet on wood as Joe padded over to his bed.
"I'm scared Adam," he said, green eyes wide as they looked out from under a mess of curly hair.
Adam gave a small smile as he lifted Joe up next to him. "Why are you scared?" Just then a thunderclap sounded through out the house, rattling the windows. Little Joe gave a surprised yelp and buried his face into his big brother's chest. "Oh, I see. The storm is scaring you. Well we'll just have to tell it to stop."
"Adam, you can't tell a storm to stop…can you?" Joe looked up at his brother, eyes wide and hopeful.
"Sure you can. You just sit up straight," Adam sat up in his bed and bid Joe to do the same, "and very sternly…"
"Like Pa when I get into Hop Sing's biscuits?" Joe asked while pulling himself into Adam's lap.
"Yeah, like Pa," Adam said with a chuckle and wrapping the boy in his arms. "Then you say 'Rain, rain, go away, come and play another day.'"
"Rain, Rain, go away come and play another day," Joe repeated. "Now what Adam?"
"You listen. Do you hear the rain? It's already starting to soften."
"I don't know Adam, it's still pretty loud to me," Joe said skeptically.
"No, no, it's soften. Just listen."
There was silence for a few minuets, then the sound of soft, even breathing. Adam smiled and gently tucked Joe in next to him. "Good night Little Buddy."
Adam jumped at the sound of another thunderclap. The memory drifted away and Adam was left with a strange loneliness.
"He's not so little anymore. He doesn't need me to chase away storms. He's grown up, but why can't he take responsibility?"
"Because you never let him. You never give numba tree son chance. Always except him to fail."
Adam was startled, and he turned to see Hop Sing standing in the dinning room, with a place set for him.
"Dinner ready, Mistar Adam," then the small man retreated into the kitchen.
Adam's meal was interrupted though, by what he thought sounded like horses. At first he had passed it off as thunder or rain. But as the sound drew closer, there was no doubt that there were riders heading this way. Adam's heart fluttered at the thought that it may be Joe returning home.
He quickly raced to the door, ready to give Joe a hug, then the lecture of his life. But when he opened the door, it wasn't Joe's brown mare that he saw, it was Sheriff Coffee and two other men with four horses being led behind them.
Adam quickly stepped out into the yard, ignoring the rain, to greet the Sheriff. "What brings you out in this weather Sheriff Coffee?"
"'Evening Adam. You got room in your barn for these horses?"
"Yeah, hang on, let me get some hands."
An half hour latter, Adam, Coffee, and the two other riders were sitting by the fire in the Cartwright's living room. "Now, what brings you all out in this weather?" Adam asked after Hope Sing had passed around some coffee.
"Well Mr. Cartwright," began an old gruff looking ranch hand who had introduced his self as Gus. "Rich and I are hired hands for the Willow Ranch down in Texas, and we've got a string of horses we're taking to the Army camp in Oregon. We was checking the horses, when we found these horse thieves stealing from the horde."
"So we followed them to their camp, to see jist how many of our horde they got," Rich picked up. "And one thing led to another, and the thieves that didn't get shot scattered, leavening the horses behind. Well most of the horses were ours, 'cept these four wild ones. And we took them, the horses and the men, into the good Sheriff here."
"That's right Adam. The men they brought in were part of the Johnston Ranch; they've been stealing horses and cattle for the last four months down Carson City way. And those four horses these boys couldn't identify, they belong to your Father. They have your brand," Coffee finished.
Adam was silent, his stomach tying itself into a knot.
'Me and my big mouth….'
When Joe woke, the sky had taken on that black color it got when night mixed with a storm. The fire had burned out, and Joe could barely see his own hand. Thunder shook the earth, causing Joe to jump a little. But he soon remembered it wasn't the thunder that had woken him up. The rain had been so heavy, and it had been raining for so long, that the cave had started to flood. It was already up to an inch.
Joe quickly got up and made his way to his horse, which was already nervous. "Easy girl. It's only rainwater," Joe soothed, but the horse wasn't buying it.
She kept stomping the ground and whinnying, doing her best to tell Joe that she wanted out of here. "I know Ma, I know. We're going to head to higher ground just hang on," Joe quickly put his saddled on her and began to led her back onto the mountain path.
Things were going smoothly for awhile. Every now and then Joe would slip or stumble, but he always caught himself in time. The pair made their way slowly up the trail, heading for another; smaller cave that Joe knew was up there. Joe thought they were going to make it there pretty quickly too, until a particularly bad thunderclap shook the mountain.
And that was all Ma's nerves could take. The horse reared up, knocking Joe in the chest and stomach as she did. Joe fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of him, when her hooves stomped him on the back and again on his legs as she ran off. Joe was left on the trail, his body shaking in agony as the rain began to seep into his bones.
Sheriff Coffee was trying his best to talk some sense into Adam, who was now moving around the house, getting ready to rid out into the storm.
"Adam, it's too bad out there to be riding! Hell, I cold barely see my own mount! Now I know you're worried about little Joe, you have every right to be, but Adam it 'ant goin' do anybody any good if you get yourself killed going out there."
When Adam hadn't seemed relieved at the news that his horses had been returned, Coffee demand to know what was wrong and Adam had told him everything.
"Can't do that Roy. I have to go get him. In fact, I should have never stopped searching for him. I guess I was just too mad at him to really try. Now he's out there in this!" Adam declared, gesturing to the window as another lightning bolt lit up the sky. He then took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
Roy waited for Adam to calm; knowing that the young man rarely ever lost his hard sought control, but when he did, he could be as bad as little Joe.
"Adam, do you even know where he is?"
"He headed for the mountains," Adam responded.
"But where in the mountains?"
"Half Barn Cave," the answer came not from Adam, but from Hop Sing. The little cook had silently crept into the room when he had heard the argument start, and now he made his presence known. "They cave you and numba two son play in when younger. He find it not long after you left. Come home with same mud stains. Dive me mad." Hop Sing said, meeting Adam's eyes, biding him with his mind to go and find Joe.
"Roy, you know how bad these storms get. The melting snow and the rain could cause a flood at any moment," Adam said, not braking the gaze he held with Hop Sing.
"Adam, if he's up in the high ground, in one of those caves up there, he'll be fine. Those caves are off the water path. They rarely flood."
"I have to go find him Roy. I have to." Adam's eyes pleaded with Roy to understand.
Seeing emotion in Adam's face was an event so rare that all the argument went out of Roy. "Alright Adam, you win, you dang gone Cartwrights and your hard heads, but you are not going out there alone."
"Yeah, me and Gus be happy to go along with you," Rich said.
Adam gave a sigh of relief and a small nod, "thank you."
Joe's body had begun to go numb. Shock, pain and damp cold taking it's toll on him. His mind began to haze over, and all he wanted was for the rain to stop. He didn't even notice when he started to say "Rain, rain, go away, come and play another day…."
There was a slight tremor in the earth, one that Joe barely noticed in his weakened state. The rain had begun to shift the still melting snow, and the only thing keeping it from flooding the mountain pass was a rook formation that had formed over the winter. The rooks were no where near stable, and the weight of the water was straining them.
Adam was beginning to think that Coffee may have been right, and they should have waited till morning. It was bad out, very bad. It had taken them three hours just to get to the mountain line. Adam could barely see where they were, but he knew that they were heading in the right direction. He and Hoss had memorized the way to the cave Hoss had named Half Barn. It was one of their favorite camping spots. It was funny to think that Joe had also found the cave, even though he was sure that Hoss and he had never told him about it.
Adam was pulled out of his thoughts by a grizzly sight. Gus had found the carcass of a horse, one that Adam knew to be Joe's. He felt his stomach jerk, and his heartbeat quicken as he edged his horse on at a faster pace.
'Please, God, please let him be alive. Let him be alright,' Adam prayed.
The rocks could no longer hold the water, and they came crashing free. The water rushed down the mountain path eagerly, taking in what it could, and pushing what dared to get in it's way to the sides. When it reached Joe, he didn't have a chance.
The water slammed into him, dragging his battered body against the ground until it finally tossed him into a rock pile, but it did not forget him. Every so often it would hit him with a rock or a branch.
Joe didn't know how much more he could stand. The only thing he did know was that he wanted it to stop. He wanted to knock on Adam's door again and ask him to chase the storm away. He wanted to be curled up next to the fire, playing checkers with Hoss, while Adam and his father talked, or Adam played the guitar and his father read up loud.
Adam…that's what he really wanted. Adam, he wanted his big brother and he didn't understand why. He wanted to be sitting in his lap working on reading, or math or whatever Adam was trying to teach him like he was a child again. He wanted to be asleep next to him under one of the big pine trees after they had been fishing for the mourning. Didn't he just have a fight with him? Didn't a moment ago he hate him?
Now all he wanted was to be home, with Adam. But first he had to make the rain stop.
"Rain, rain, go away, come and play another day…."
Adam was way a head of the others; he could just barely hear Coffee calling for him to come back. It was like something was driving him, pushing him on. He moved his horse at a deadly pace up the mountain, one that only with the grace of God and the experience that the animal had, could they survive. Adam didn't care. The mountain path was flooding, he knew it. Nothing was going to stop him from getting to Joe.
Adam kept scanning the area. Joe was close he could feel it, but it was so dark that he could barely see. "Joe!" he called, but there was nothing. He moved on a few paces, then stopped and called again. This time he heard it, a faint sound from somewhere above him. "Joe! Joe is that you?" Adam directed his horse to the sound, and he could make out the words now, barely.
"Rain, rain, go away…."
"Joe!" Adam called, and the signing paused.
Joe couldn't believe his ears, his mind was playing tricks on him. He thought he had heard Adam's voice. 'It can't be him; he doesn't know where you are. You're just hearing things,' Joe thought.
"Joe! Can you here me? Joe!"
'There it is again. Pull yourself together...But it sounded so real. It has to be Adam. It can't be. But what if it is, it doesn't hurt to see…'
"Adam!" It took all of Joe's strength to make that one word come out, but it was worth it, because it was all Adam needed to find him.
"Hang on Little Buddy, I'll get you out of there is a sec," Adam said as he dismounted.
Joe felt himself being lifted up, out of the water's path, and he groaned with the movement. "Hang on Joe, just a few more inches." But the water wouldn't let him go so easily.
Seemingly out of no where the water rose up and slammed into them both, causing Adam to lose his balance and fall into the waters path. Joe let out a scream as his mangled body was jolted yet again, and Adam could feel him going limp in his arms.
"Joe, wake up. You have to stay awake Joe," Adam said, as he clung onto a rock while the water threatened to tare him from it.
"Why?" Joe asked his voice barely loud enough for Adam to hear.
"Because…because we have to make the rain stop little buddy. We have to stop the rain. You remember what needs to be said, right?"
"Yeah," Joe said even more weakly.
"Well, I need you to tell me, I forgot, so you have to stop the rain for us."
"Rain, rain go away…" Joe started, and then began to drift out.
"Come on Joe, you have to say it louder, I can't hear you," Adam urged, as he fought the current.
So Joe began to say it as loud as he could, while Adam did his best to hang on. Just as he was about to let go, he felt two strong hands grip him and pull him out of the water.
It took a moment for Adam to regain his breath, but as soon as he did he started giving orders. "I need a blanket, and we need to rid fast. He's very weak!" Adam called as Coffee and Gus helped him to his feet.
Rich gently scooped Joe up and rapped him in a blanket, then handed him to Adam. The men now rode away, with Joe now spent. His head rested on Adam's chest, and Adam held him close, not willing to let go.
Hop Sing had been ready for them when they arrived. He had instantly taken control of Joe, and ordered everyone to change, pointing to cloths that had already been laid out. He had taken Joe up to his room, and would allow no one to come in until he was finished. About an hour after he had taken Joe up, he told Adam to send a hand to fetch the doctor.
It was now early morning. Gus and Rich had left a little while after the doctor arrived, leaving Adam and Sheriff Coffee alone in their thoughts.
"How much longer are they going to be?" Adam asked as he got up and started to pace for the tenth time that night.
"Now Adam, I'm sure the Doc will call you when he needs you. Little Joe's young, he's a strong boy. He'll be fine." Sheriff Coffee said, doing his best to sooth.
"But what's taking so long?" Right on cue, Doc Martin, and Hop Sing emerged from Joe's room. Adam barely gave them a chance to get down the stairs before he demanded, "How is he?"
"Just about out of lives," Paul Martin said, as Hop Sing scurried passed them to the Kitchen. "His ribs are bruised, his got a mild concussion, his right leg is broken, and he has a bit of a fever. He's going to be one sick young man for the next couple of days."
"But he'll be alright?" Adam asked.
Doc Martin gave a tired sigh, and plopped down on the sofa next to Coffee. "It's going to be rough Adam. He's fever is very high, if it doesn't break soon, it could kill him. I've done all I can, but Hop Sing says he can try something. I don't know Adam. He's young…." Doc Martin finally noticed that his words were falling on deaf ears. Adam was looking up the stairs.
Sheriff Coffee got up and walked over to Adam; he placed a fatherly hand on Adam's shoulder and waited for Adam to recognize him. Adam looked his family's long time friend in the eye a few moments latter, and was met by a somber half smile. "Go see him Adam."
"I've got to get word to Pa…." Adam said vaguely, his eyes drifting up the stairs again.
"Go Adam, I'll take care of your father. You take care of Joe."
Adam needed no more persuasion. He took the steps slowly, afraid to go to Joe's room. 'I don't want to see him sick. I don't want to see him so still and know that if I had listen to him in the first place he wouldn't be like that.'
Any doubt Adam had quickly disappeared as he stepped into his brother's room. Joe lay motionless on his bed, his skin as pale as the sheets. Adam took a seat next to Joe and with one hand grasped Joe's; with the other he started to bath his brother's brow with water on the nightstand.
He stayed like that for the rest of the night and the next day. Hop Sing came in and out a few times, once to tell him that Doctor Martin and the Sheriff had left, and several other times to give Joe some herbs and broth.
Sometime around ten, another storm kicked up. Adam began to watch the rainfall, his hand absentminded smoothing Joe's hair back. He listened to the thunder in the distance and watched the lightning dancing across the sky. In some ways it was very soothing to him, an embodiment of his feelings.
Joe noticed the storm too. His eyes opened slowly, and for a moment he thought he was back up on the mountain, but he didn't remember it being so warm. In fact he was really warm. He tried to sit up to look around, but pain and a dead weight on his hand stopped him.
Adam was caught off guard by Joe's movement. He jumped slightly, returning his full attention to Joe. "Joe? You're awake?" Adam asked.
"Adam? It's storming. Can you make it stop?" came the strained replied as Joe tried to turn toward him.
"Whoa Joe, lay still," Adam said as he pushed him gently down.
"What happened?" Joe asked, a little stronger now.
"You were in the mountain, the pass flooded and you got trapped. Do you remember?" Adam asked gently as he checked Joe's fever.
"The cave was flooding, Ma got scared….she stomped me and I fell," Joe was quiet for a moment, then he looked Adam in the eyes. "Adam, I'm sorry about the horses, I thought they were locked up but…"
"Joe, it wasn't your fault. Some horse thieves took them, you did nothing wrong. And I'm sorry for yelling at you. I should have known that you would have taken your responsibilities seriously. I'm sorry Joe."
"All forgiven," Joe said as he settled back down ready to go back to sleep. "Adam, can you stop the storm?"
Adam gave a little chuckle, "I'll take care of the storm. You go on to sleep."
The End.