Letting Go
Chapter Five
DISCLAIMER: .ti daer ot tnaw uoy fi rorrim a ot pu siht dloH .meht nwo t'nod I
"Now where are they?" Joe asked himself later that afternoon. He had accidentally left his bedroom door open and had just noticed that the pups were no longer in the security of his room.
"Sam, Montague, Juliet, Tomahawk, Martha and Flapjack! Where ARE you!" Joe called. There was no answer.
"Dadburnitall!" Hoss yelled from downstairs. Joe gulped. He knew he was lucky that Pa and Hop Sing were out of town so that Adam and Hoss were the only ones home to get mad at him.
Cautiously, Joe made his way downstairs.
"What?" he asked warily.
"Them dad-burned pups chewed straight through my gun-belt, my wallet and my scarf!" Hoss complained rather loudly.
"Your scarf? How did they get your scarf? It's the middle of June, for Pete's sake," Joe said.
"They dug their way inta my drawer!" Hoss exclaimed.
"Well, sorry about that, Hoss, but now I gotta find 'em before Pa and Hop Sing get back," Joe said.
"They're all sleepin' on the settee. Now you better git 'em back up to yer room before I tell Hop Sing ta make a stew outta them!" Hoss told him, storming out of the room with his destroyed items. Joe, fearing his angry brother might do just what he said he would, scooped up the sleeping pups and took them up to his room.
-
Adam lay in his bed that night. He was pretending to read Shakespeare, but he was really thinking about Joe and the wolf pups. Adam knew that his brother couldn't possibly keep them forever. Joe would understand that in the morning… well, maybe not. That boy was as stubborn as the day was long, and when he thought himself to be right, he would just keep thinking that forever, if he had a mind to. But he had to realize he was wrong sometime, right?
Adam looked up from his book to the sound of a howling wolf from that nearby pack. He got up and saw the silhouette of a wolf on top of a hill. Then he heard the responding howls of several other wolves, but they were so close that Adam soon realized exactly who was howling. The hushed voices of Hoss and Joe soon proved this theory, and he went into Joe's room.
Sure enough, the six pups were all near the window, howling their heads off. Joe and Hoss were arguing over what to do about it.
"You're just lucky that Hop Sing is visiting one of his many cousins for the rest of the week," Adam said, butting into the heated conversation.
"What's it to you?" demanded Joe angrily, speaking loudly to be heard above the din.
"Your pets are keeping me awake, that's what," Adam said in annoyance. He left out the fact that he had been reading and had been staying awake on purpose. He figured that if he had been trying to sleep, the pups would be keeping him up.
"Well, if you two hadn't abandoned me," Joe said, emphasizing the last two words. "Then maybe the three of us could have thought of something by now! But no! You had to ditch me and the pups to save your own worthless hides!"
"Now you listen here, Joe…" Hoss began.
"Joe," Adam interrupted in a much calmer voice—although he didn't feel very calm at the moment. "You can't keep the pups for very much longer. Look at them: they're practically full-grown now. You have to let them go."
"How many times do I have to tell you two that I'm NOT going to let them go?" Joe yelled.
"You don't have to shout!" snapped Adam. "They've already quieted down. But Joe, you listen good—if you don't figure out something to keep them quiet at night we're all going to be in hot water!"
Adam stormed from the room with Hoss not too far behind. Joe just glared after them, still outraged, and herded the wolf pups back to the corner of the room they used as a bed.
Meanwhile, outside in the hallway…
"How can he not see that those pups are no longer the little babies he brought home and are ready to go back to the wild?" Adam thought aloud. "He's becoming as annoying as those wolves are."
"Aw, come on, Adam," protested Hoss. "You know that Joe's been with 'em ever since their mama died. He's probably just havin' a hard time lettin' go and wants ta keep 'em here as long as he can afore releasin' them."
"You mean like Pa with us?" Adam smirked.
"Guess so," grinned Hoss.
Adam suddenly became serious again and sighed. "Well, let's get to bed and see if we can catch any sleep before those darn wolves begin howling again."
"Good idea. G'night, Adam," Hoss said with a yawn.
"Night, Hoss," Adam replied. He shut the bedroom door behind him, blew out the kerosene lamp and went to sleep.
-
The next day was even worse. Tensions were rapidly growing between Little Joe and Adam. Once again, Joe thought how very, very lucky they were that Hop Sing was visiting some of his relatives and that Pa was out on a business trip to San Francisco for the week.
It started out like a normal Wednesday. Joe slept late, and by the time he came downstairs, his older brothers were just finishing up breakfast.
"And where have you been?" Adam demanded, exasperated.
"Sleepin'. Whaddya think?" snapped Joe, sounding just as aggravated.
"Oh, no," mumbled Hoss, looking up at the ceiling.
"Oh no what?" Adam asked.
"I can tell this is gonna be one o' those days when you two are constantly givin' each other the 'evil eye', and are yellin' at each other, and when ya ain't at each other's throats, ya won't say nothin' ta nobody 'cept ta shoot a few insults at each other," said Hoss. "I'm leavin' before I'm caught in the middle o' that."
True to his word, Hoss stood up from the table, put on his hat and the remains of his gun-belt, and marched out the door, slamming it behind him.
"Will you ever learn not to slam the door!" Adam hollered after him. He sighed as Joe sat down across from him, trying to get as far from Adam as he possibly could. After glaring at one another for a minute, Joe reached for the bacon and, pleased that there were a couple of strips left, helped himself to the remaining meat.
As the pair ate in silence, Adam had an idea. He knew Joe would probably be furious with him—as if he wasn't already—but it had to be done. Now, how would he pull something like this off without attracting too much attention…?
All through the day, Adam thought about his idea. And the more he thought about it, the more he considered forgetting the whole thing. It was such an awful and sneaky thing to do to his sensitive youngest brother, but he had to do it. Adam tried to convince himself that, not only would it solve his wolf problem, it would also be a get-back for all those tricks Joe had played on him over the years. And those pups needed to be with their kind, anyway.
Still, no matter how hard he tried, Adam couldn't shake the feeling that he was about to become a first-class Benedict Arnold to his brother.
That evening, Adam was in the kitchen, making the hot chocolate he needed for his plan. He dumped some powder in one of the cups of chocolate, left the cups to cool in the kitchen and walked into the living room where Joe was sitting on the settee, staring absently into the fire.
Feeling like a bit of a rat, Adam sat down next to Joe. Joe scooted away from him. Adam finally said, "Listen, Joe, I want to… apologize… for the way I've been pushing you into returning those wolf pups to the wild lately."
Joe stared at him as if he were a ghost. "Really?" he managed to choke out. Since when did older brother ever apologize for anything?
"Really," Adam said, crossing his fingers behind his back. Not that he really believed in the old crossing-your-fingers trick, but it helped to ease his conscience, if only the teensiest bit. "And I made some hot chocolate for the two of us," he added.
"Really?" Joe said again. "Thanks!"
Adam sighed almost inaudibly and said, "You're welcome."
He stood up to get the drinks from the kitchen table. He didn't feel very good and figured that he should have just let Joe take care of the pups and stay out of it while he had the chance. But it was too late now, so he took the cups of chocolate into the living room and handed the one with the dissolved powder in it to his brother.
"Maybe you're not so bad after all," Joe grinned as he took the first sip. Adam felt his stomach churn. His brother had been so quick to forgive him for pushing him into releasing the pups. How would he feel after Adam completed what had to be done?
"And I'll feed the pups after you're finished that, too," Adam added, still feeling guilty. How was he managing to be so cruel and keep a straight face about it? Apologizing and being nice and everything, just so he could betray Joe once again? What kind of a brother was he? Adam had thought that it would feel good to get rid of the pups, but not this way.
"Good," said Joe upon hearing Adam's offer. "Thank you."
It was only a few minutes later when Joe's eyes began to droop.
Taking the half-empty cup from Joe, Adam suggested, "You look kind of tired. Why don't you go on up to bed? I'll take care of everything."
Oh, boy, will I ever!
"Good idea," replied Joe drowsily. "See ya in the morning. Don't forget to feed the pups."
As Adam watched his littlest brother trudge sleepily up the stairs, he thought about exactly how he should tell Joe after all was done. Deciding to just forget about it until morning, Adam took a bowl of beef up to Joe's room and waited until he heard the boy climb into bed. Then, opening the door ever so quietly, Adam entered. He placed the bowl before the ravenous pups and watched them devour the meal. Joe was still asleep, just as he had planned.
After the pups were done with their meal, they curled up on top of each other and prepared to go to sleep. But Adam opened the door to Joe's bedroom a little wider, intriguing the pups' interest. They all began to march out into the unknown—the rest of the house. As they passed, Adam would tear off the collars he had made. It seemed like only yesterday he had made the paper collars for Joe's wolf pups.
Once they were all out the door, Adam carefully herded them downstairs and out the front door. The pups seemed a little shocked when Adam shut and locked the door behind them all. They hadn't been outside since they were born.
Adam looked up at the moon. It was bright enough to see by, which was good because he didn't want to risk waking up Hoss with a bright lantern from the barn.
Out of nowhere came a wolf's howl. The six pups' ears perked up. They seemed alert.
The wolf howled again. The pups responded but didn't quite seem to know what to do afterward. Should they follow the howls or go back to their old familiar home? Adam didn't know what to do either. He just hoped that the pups would choose to go back where they belonged.
Three more howls went by before the bravest, Montague, decided to venture out into the wilderness on his own. Flapjack and Sam followed. Pretty soon, all the pups were running full-speed toward the forest of pines. A short thirty seconds later, Adam had seen the last of the pups disappear into the darkness, never to return.
Dick: That was so unrealistic and out-of-character, it's almost scary.
Me: But it's good.
Dick: Wellll...
Me: Yesssss?
Dick: No it's not.
Me: Just do the replies or else!
Dick: Or else WHAT?
Me: Or else... or else... just do them, okay!
Reviewer Replies
Kusiner-Yeah, Joe probably would have known, but it wouldn't have been as interesting if he had... grounded for life... yup, that sounds about right! ;-)
Dick: Can I go now?
Me: Yes.
Dick: For real?
Me: Yes, I'm working on a Trek fic right now and don't need you. I'll call you if-
(Dick has already run off at warp speed.)
Me: Sigh.