Letting Go
Chapter Two
DISCLAIMER: They're still not mine. They belong to Paramount (I think) and, if anybody from Paramount happens to be reading this... BRING BACK KIRK! Why did you kill him under a stupid bridge? Of all places!
Sorry, I just had to get that out. Now onto the next chapter.
NOTE: Special thanks go to Spots on a Pony, who explained how it was possible to determine the sex of wolf pups. I changed some of the content of this story so it would make more sense. Thank you! 8)
Joe slowly put Starlight in her stall. He looked at the other animals in the barn and, for the millionth time that year, noticed that his was the smallest. It was quite logical that he had the smallest horse, since he was the youngest member of the Cartwright family. But this fact didn't stop Joe from being jealous of his two older brothers for having such fine, tall, strong mounts. Joe was always the last person to get things in his family, and it made him very annoyed to think that he was always last, had always been last and probably always would be last.
The good news was that he had never had to worry about hand-me-down clothes: Adam's were too small to fit Hoss, and Hoss' were much too big to fit Joe. Joe doubted if he—or anybody else—would ever grow big enough to fill Hoss' clothes.
Joe lifted the saddle off of his pony and gently laid it to the side so he could check on his wolf pups. On the ride home, he had begun to think of the little beings as 'his'. It was such a good feeling to finally do something completely different that his brothers had never even thought of doing. Adam was too serious to ever want to bring orphaned wolf pups home, and Hoss, although he loved animals, would most likely ask for Pa's permission before doing anything as drastic as that.
When he opened the flap of his saddle bag, Joe saw that the pups had fallen asleep. He smiled. They really were very cute, especially all curled up with their tails tucked in.
Joe took his lunch-pail and, careful not to wake the sleeping wolf pups, he put them in the pail and covered them with the still-spotless napkin the cook, Hop Sing, had packed that morning. Joe rarely used his napkin. It was partially due to his neatness while eating, but mostly because he just hated having to wipe his mouth with a piece of cloth all the time.
Trying to act as normally as possible, Joe walked up to the front door and pushed it open. He dropped his school books and hat on the credenza near the door. He made his way over to Pa's desk and dropped the B- report on the wooden surface. Boy, is this ever my lucky day! Joe thought as he scurried quietly for the staircase. Nobody's here, and you can get away with a lot when nobody's home! I wonder where they are… probably down at the corral, breaking horses.
As Joe tipped the pail over slowly and watched the pups spill out onto the floor without even waking, he thought about the tedious job of horse-breaking. Joe really wished he could quit school and work full-time on the ranch like everyone else, but Pa wouldn't even hear of it until he was sixteen at least. "Getting a good education is very important, Joseph," Ben had said. Joe had sighed in resignation, but had refused to admit that his Pa was right because he believed just the opposite. If he was going to work on a ranch with horses all of his life, why was it so important to know who the 4th president of the United States had been, anyway? It wasn't as if the horse could talk and ask about a thing like that.
Joe just sat there, staring for about a half-hour. Watching the pups crawl blindly around the room was much more interesting than he had imagined.
"Hey, Joe! Supper's ready!"
Joe growled as Adam yelled at him. He hated being yelled at.
"Okay, okay! Keep that black shirt of yours on already!" Joe shouted back. He couldn't help but giggle when he heard Adam mumble something about being respectful to your elders and 'when I was your age…'
Just as he was about to go downstairs, Joe rediscovered the wolf pups. He couldn't leave them lying on the floor like that when anybody could walk in and notice them. And if Joe knew his Pa, he would be wondering what the heck six wild animals were doing in his bedroom. So Joe stashed them in his top drawer for the moment. The pups began crying again as they were placed among the boy's shirts. Joe tried to get them to be a little quieter, but they insisted upon crying, so they did.
It suddenly occurred to Joe that they might be crying to let someone know that they were hungry. But what did you feed a baby wolf anyway? Maybe they drank milk, like a lot of other baby animals. But was the milk supposed to be hot or cold? How did you give the milk to them? When did you know to start feeding them solid foods? Joe sighed. Maybe this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought.
Joe realized that he was going to be late for supper if he dawdled any longer. So he shut the drawer half-way, grabbed his lunch-pail, hid it behind his back, and hurried out the door.
"Hey Pa, Adam, Hoss," Joe greeted as he leapt down the last few stairs. He instantly regretted the action, for the lunch-pail that was hidden behind his back smashed into his rear end—hard. Joe tried not to let the tears of pain show as the pail stung his backside.
"Hello, Joe," replied Ben. "And please don't jump down the stairs like that. We built them so you could use them, not jump over them like a grasshopper."
Joe found this was very good advice, especially since his bottom still smarted where it had made contact with the pail, and he nodded. With a move he considered to be discreet, he inconspicuously slipped the lunch-pail onto the credenza and joined his family at the table. He was very cautious while taking his seat, not wanting to appear hurt, but not wanting to hurt himself again either. When Joe was finally seated and grace was said, supper began.
Joe's first move was for the mashed potatoes, but Hoss got to them before he could.
"Hey!" Joe protested.
"Ya gotta be quick, Shortshanks," Hoss chuckled, using his special nickname for the much-smaller Joe. He spooned enough for two boys his age onto his plate.
"You're telling me," Little Joe grumbled, annoyed. By the time he got the potatoes, there was barely enough to fill the wooden serving spoon. After shooting an evil glare in Hoss' direction, Joe helped himself to the last of the potatoes.
Then the conversation began.
"I saw that test on my desk," Ben said. "Not a bad score, Joe, but try not to be so careless next time."
"Okay, Pa," Joe answered, trying not to seem impatient or angry. He wanted to be on good terms with Ben up until the time he told him about the pups that were stashed away in his top drawer. It wouldn't be for a while yet, Joe knew, and he wondered how he could ever stay out of trouble long enough to achieve his goal.
"Have a good last day at school?" asked Adam. Joe made a face.
"How can anyone ever have a good day at school?" Joe asked him.
"I agree," Hoss said. "Let's face it, Adam; you're the only one of us who actually enjoyed school!" Turning back to Joe as Adam concentrated on the meal in front of him, Hoss added, "So did ol' Miss Jones give any of those reports?"
Joe practically choked on the piece of fried chicken that had been in his mouth. "Uh…" he stammered, not wanted to reveal the truth just yet. If Pa didn't know about the report, then he wouldn't have to do it, right?
Joe desperately hoped that Hoss wouldn't say anymore or that someone would change the subject, but he continued, "I don't know why teachers gotta be so nosy all the time. Why cain't they jist mind their own business? I don't really wanna do one o' those dad-burned reports, so please tell me she didn't give one of them?"
"Um…" Joe laughed nervously. Unfortunately, Ben had already noticed the tell-tale signs that his youngest son was hiding something.
"So," he said, and Joe knew what was coming. "Did Miss Jones give you a report or not?"
"Well…yeah…she wants us to write about what we did this summer…and she says Hoss has to do one too!" Joe quickly added. Hoss made a face at Joe, who looked at him with a devilish grin on his face. It made him feel a little better to know that he wasn't the only person in this family who was forced to do a dumb report. Next year, when Hoss quit school, it would be a different matter. Ben ignored the little exchange between Hoss and Joe and continued.
"Then I suppose you should start thinking of something to do so you will have something interesting to write about?" Ben asked, although Joe knew it was more of a command than a suggestion.
"Yes, sir," he and Hoss chorused softly. Joe had suddenly lost his appetite and asked to be excused. Ben nodded and Joe hurried up the stairs.
-
What I Did This Summer
By Joe Cartwright
Joe stared down at the mostly-blank piece of paper in front of him. He was at a complete loss as to what he should write. Of course there's nothing to write, common sense told him. You've only been on vacation for five hours! This did not seem like a very true statement to Joe, although the time on the clock that hung on his bedroom wall proved it to be true. In the space of five hours, Joe had had more excitement than he'd had in his entire life—he had found a dead wolf, brought six orphaned wolf pups home without permission, nearly broke his bottom with his lunch-pail and hadn't let just one, but both, his brothers find out about the illegal visitors in his top drawer!
-
After Joe ran upstairs to his room that evening, he opened the drawer and peered at the wolf pups. Once again, they had fallen asleep. Their little bodies were rising and falling with each breath they took, and once in a while, one of them would squirm a bit or kick someone else's head to make more room for himself. Unfortunately Joe also noticed that, on the shirt the pups weren't sleeping on, a yellow stain had appeared.
Joe scrunched up his nose and took the shirt out by his fingertips. Why me? he thought. Pa would definitely be annoyed if he found out about this, but Joe was really worried about Hop Sing. Hop Sing did all the washing in the Cartwright household, and he was bound to notice something peculiar about the stain, tell his employer, and then Joe would really be in for it. What he had to do was—
"Whatcha doin', Joe?" asked a voice from the doorway. Joe spun around. It was Hoss. Joe quickly hid the soiled shirt behind his back. That was when Joe's infamous—and very short—temper flared.
"First you steal all the mashed potatoes at dinner and then you come into my room without knocking? What's this world coming to?" Joe demanded angrily.
"Sorry, but I saw ya slip yer lunch-pail downstairs and was wondering what it was doin' upstairs in the first place," Hoss said.
Joe knew he had to think fast if he wanted to salvage the situation. "Uh… well, after school, I kinda forgot to leave the lunch-pail downstairs… yeah… and I just figured—"
"Now you know just as well as I do that that's a lie," Hoss interrupted. Joe gulped. "Now tell me what really happened."
Joe reluctantly started from the time he found out where Mitch was going for the summer, and by the time he was finished, Hoss was staring at him with wide eyes and a slack jaw.
"You've gotta be kiddin' me!" he cried. Joe shushed him, not wanting anyone to hear about this.
"I'm not kiddin'!" Joe hissed back. "Take a look and see for yourself."
Joe picked up the wolf pups and gently put them on the floor so Hoss could see. The pups instantly began crawling around, softly whining to themselves. Hoss, being a great animal-lover, smiled broadly and picked one of them up and began to stroke its tiny head. Joe thought that now would be a very good time to swear Hoss to secrecy, since he seemed to be smitten with the little wolf pups already.
"Hoss, ya gotta promise me that ya won't tell nobody," Joe said.
"I promise, little brother, I promise!" Hoss declared emphatically. Joe gave him a very big, angelic smile as a reward. Then Hoss asked, "So, have ya named 'em yit?"
"Named 'em? Hoss, I only found them a few hours ago."
"Good. Then I kin do it with ya," Hoss said. "Let's see…this one I'm holdin' right here could be…Sam."
"Sam!" Joe fairly yelled, and then reminded himself that nobody was supposed to know about this. Joe took the pup from Hoss' hands and tried to see the 'Sam' in his eyes, although this was impossible since his eyes were still closed. "He don't look like a Sam."
"Well, then YOU think of a better name!" challenged Hoss. He was looking directly into his brother's eyes, knowing full-well that Joe hated it when he did that.
"Oh, okay, you win," Joe sighed. "His name's Sam."
Then a sudden thought struck Joe.
"Hey, Hoss?" he asked. "What if one of them's a…a girl? What if the one we just named 'Sam' is a girl, too? Hoss, what if their all girls?"
"There's an easy way to find out, little brother. Pa taught us about that ages ago; iffen ya had remembered..."
"Oh, yeah... right."
No more than a minute later, the two Cartwright boys had determined that three of the wolf pups were girls and the remaining three were boys.
"Let's think of think of the boys' names first. Boys' names are easier," said Joe.
"Not fer me," Hoss said. "I like the name Martha."
"Why?"
Hoss' face turned red and Joe giggled.
"I know why," he said. "Martha's the name of the girl you wanna take to the dance next Friday!"
Joe couldn't take it anymore. He began to laugh very loudly, and Hoss gave him a shove backwards so that Joe began rolling around the floor. Pretty soon, both boys were rolling across the floor, narrowly avoiding the curious wolf pups, trying to kill each other. Hoss was winning when they heard Ben shout up the stairs at them to calm down. Joe giggled as he sat upright again.
"I don't know why you and Adam go all daffy for people like Martha," Joe said at last. "She's just a girl."
"Someday you'll understand, little brother," Hoss told him.
"Whatever you say, Hoss, whatever you say," Joe replied, not believing a word that Hoss said. "Okay, back to naming. Let's see, I guess this one could always be… um…"
"I don't know about you, but the name Montague has always appealed to me," Adam put in. Joe felt the color drain from his face, but Hoss didn't quite seem to get it at first.
"Naw, I don't think the name Montague is… a… very…" Hoss and Joe turned around and saw their older brother standing in the doorway, arms crossed, with a very annoying smirk on his lips.
"Hey, how'd you get in here?" Joe demanded, suddenly regaining his courage.
"Oh, I don't know," Adam replied, stepping into the room and approaching his younger brothers. "It is just slightly probable that somebody could have left the door open so that the whole wide world could see what was going on inside, of course…"
Joe glowered at Hoss, whose face turned red again.
"So what are you doing, or is it supposed to be a secret?" Adam asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Well, it was a secret," Joe said, shooting venomous scowls at Hoss every now and then. "And now I suppose you'll run off and tell Pa. We'll both get spanked and he'll make us return these poor orphaned wolf pups to the wild where they'll either starve to death or get eaten by a bigger animal. Then I'll hold you responsible for six murders for the rest of your life. And do you know how long life is, Adam?" Joe glared at him so ferociously Adam almost had to laugh.
"I agree with Joe," Hoss said. "I'll blame you for their murders, too."
Joe, in stark contrast to the look he had just given Adam, looked up into Hoss' eyes with a very large, appreciative grin. Hoss noticed and smiled back. But Adam wasn't buying it.
"Don't give me any of that," he said. "The Ponderosa is no place to be raising wolf pups, especially without our pa knowing about it. Besides, they could get into a lot of trouble, and you won't be able to keep something like this a secret for very long—especially with that shirt hidden behind your back." Adam pointed to the shirt which Joe had unsuccessfully tried to hide behind his back.
"Please don't tell!" Joe cried desperately. "We've already begun to name them!"
"So I heard," Adam said dryly.
"PLEASE!" Joe begged. He hated being reduced to begging, but this conversation wasn't going very well and he needed to do something dramatic to change Adam's mind about the pups.
"Yeah," added Hoss. "Please, Adam?"
"And you bein' so smart and all, I bet you could help us take real good care of the pups," added Joe with an angelic look.
"Flattery will get you nowhere," Adam told him. Joe frowned and looked at the ground sadly. Adam gazed at Joe's expression for a minute. Every ounce of common sense he had told him that Joe was faking it to make him keep this a secret. His brain told him to ignore his youngest brother's display and tell Pa about the pups. But, despite all the things going in one direction, Adam went in the other.
"But…" he began. Joe looked up hopefully. "I suppose I could keep this a secret…"
"Wow! Thanks, Adam!" Joe exclaimed. He had never expected Adam to agree to keeping something so big—and so illegal—a secret. But, just as quickly as his mood had changed from forlorn to hopeful to happy, it changed to suspicious as he wondered what conditions Adam had placed on the agreement and asked him if there were any.
Adam was on the verge of saying 'no' when he decided to ad-lib a few conditions to his agreement.
"Well…" he thought for a minute. "You have to name that one over there Montague," Adam started. It wasn't a very good condition, but it was the best he could think of at the moment.
Joe sighed, clearly hating the name, but consented just the same.
"Also," continued Adam. "You can't expect me to do anything about that shirt of yours."
Joe glanced at the soiled shirt again. He made a bit of a face at the prospect of having to sneak that into the wash and then prevent Hop Sing from seeing it. But Joe supposed he could always make Hoss do it and agreed to Adam's second term.
"Anything else?" Joe asked in a sarcastic tone. Adam either noticed and ignored it or didn't detect it at all, Joe wasn't sure which.
"No," Adam said. He'd probably regret blowing such a great opportunity later, but right now that was all he could think of.
"Good. Thanks," replied Joe. He turned back to the wolf pups and added, "So what do we name the rest of them?"
"We can name another one of those three girls you were discussing Juliet," suggested Adam. He had already begun a Shakespearean theme with the names, and his brothers didn't even know about it!
"Okay. Finally, a decent name," Joe mumbled as he picked up the one that was supposed to be Juliet. He had seen the look in Adam's dark eyes when suggesting that name. He knew something was up, but couldn't quite figure out what it was, so he let it drop for now.
"How about that one over there?"
After twenty more minutes, Joe and his two brothers decided on the names Sam—short for Samantha—, Montague, Martha, Juliet, Tomahawk and Flapjack (because he stole a flapjack out of Hoss' back pocket). After that, all three Cartwright boys went their separate ways.
-
Joe continued to stare down at his paper. There were so many things to write about, yet so few. So many exciting things had occurred that day, yet Joe could not write any of them down for fear of someone—namely Ben—finding out about it. Joe sighed and stuck the paper in his desk drawer. He checked on the sleeping wolf pups. They hadn't had anything to eat since Joe found them, and he was beginning to get worried. Hoss had mentioned that the pups ate often, and they usually had milk. Hot or cold, nobody knew, but Adam figured it was most likely luke-warm. With all these thoughts swimming around in his head, Joe pulled on his nightshirt and went to sleep.
Me: Well, I guess having to go back and correct was a good thing, because I forgot the reviewer replies to Chapter One! I blame it on this website and on my reviewer replier, Dick.
Dick: I object!
Me: Don't be a wimp.
Dick: I am NOT!
Me: Then do the replies already!
Reviewer Replies
Jas-TheMaddTexan-Puppies are very cute, aren't they? And I especially like the fact that, for once, this story is Joe-torture and not Me-torture!
Sister Golden Hair-The Almighty Panamint (yeah, right) told me to thank you for the nice review, and to post another chapter of "Once Upon A Summer" ASAP!
Spots on a Pony-Thanks for the info: while Panamint did do some research on wolf pups, she never actually found out how to sex one. She hopes it's more historically accurate now. 8)