My Brother, My Enemy
Chapter Five
DISCLAIMER: No, I don't own the Ponderosa or the Cartrights or anything... HAPPY, PARAMOUNT? (sigh)
A week went by and Joe still hadn't found his dog or patched things up with Adam. Joe wished to do both, but he knew it was unlikely that Adam would ever tell where he had put the dog, and he was just plain scared that Adam wouldn't forgive him. So the two tasks remained undone.
The first major snowfall was that Thursday. A full eight inches fell that day, and Joe did his homework extra-quickly so he could get outside and play before it melted or was ruined by too many horse tracks and footprints.
As soon as he got outside, Joe just stood there, looking out over the landscape. Everything was covered in a fresh, new layer of white. Icicles hung from the branches of the mighty Ponderosa pines that surrounded the house and the yard.
Joe had always loved the snow. At least, it was better than the stifling hot weather of summer and the cool rain showers of spring and fall. Snow was more fun than both of those things, especially the rain. You couldn't make balls to hit people with in the rain, and that was Joe's favorite pastime, next to putting frogs in his teacher's desk drawer.
Joe's first opportunity to throw a snowball that November wasn't far off: Adam and Hoss were in the barn tending to their horses. All the youngest Cartwright had to do was make a few balls, hide behind the water trough and wait for them to come out.
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"Thanksgiving is next week," Adam said. He and Hoss were feeding their mounts in the stable after a morning of work.
"You don' need ta tell me, Adam," replied Hoss enthusiastically. "I sure could use a day off. And the food…!"
"Yeah," Adam continued in a somewhat dreamy tone. Although the Cartwrights ate well at all holidays (especially Hoss), Thanksgiving was always the best. There was just something about a Thanksgiving feast that couldn't be beat, and Adam always looked forward to it.
"All this talk o' food is makin' me hungry," Hoss announced. "Ain't it time fer lunch?"
"Everything makes you hungry," Adam joked, but it was good-natured. "You're right, though. Let's head inside and see what Hop Sing has for us today."
The two brothers left the barn, still discussing the upcoming holiday with each other. Adam was just saying how they should go to hunt down a turkey in a few days when a cold, round, wet object made contact with the side of his head. There was the sound of laughter as another snowball hit Hoss on the arm. The unmistakable giggles grew louder and more hysterical. Both knew who the snowball-throwing culprit was.
"Joe! Knock it off!" Adam bellowed.
Two more snowballs flew out of nowhere and Adam just barely managed to duck. But Hoss wasn't as lucky and got nailed on the head.
"Dadburnit, Joe, it ain't funny no more!" Hoss shouted. "You better stop right now or I'll pound ya right inta the ground! And I ain't kiddin', neither!"
Joe didn't heed the warning and continued making and firing his weapons.
"Okay, that does it," muttered Adam. He bent down and made a snowball, making sure it was as big as he could get it. Then, with a soft grunt, Adam tossed it straight at the only part of Joe that was visible—his left arm.
Adam's snowball made contact. Joe yelped as the unusually large ball thwacked his arm.
"Alright, that does it!" Joe yelled to his older siblings. "This is war! Do you hear me out there! WAR!"
Joe got to work making snowballs twice as fast as he had before. He threw them twice as hard, too, and giggled in delight as he watched his brothers frantically searching for cover in a convenient place. Unfortunately for them, there was none, but they kept throwing and ducking just the same.
The fight lasted for twenty minutes. By the time they were done, all three were exhausted and you could see patches of brown grass where they had scooped up the snow for ammunition.
Joe came out of his hiding place. "Good war," he said.
The look he got from his brothers in response was enough to get Joe giggling again. But, just as quickly as he started to laugh, he stopped to stare at something in the bushes. Hoss was confused at first, wondering what his usually cheery little brother was looking at. He turned around and saw a dirty black dog staring at them from the underbrush.
"It's my dog!" Joe cried. The small canine ran off at Joe's outburst.
"Hey! Come back!" yelled Joe. He ran off into the woods to find his long-lost pet.
"Joe, it's almost lunchtime! If you're late again, Hop Sing will skin you alive!" Adam warned, but Joe had already disappeared. Adam sighed deeply and hurried off to find his brother, leaving Hoss to come up with an excuse as to why two-thirds of the Cartwright brothers were going to be late for lunch.
"Hey, pooch! Where'd ya go?" Joe called. He cupped his hands to his mouth in order to be heard better and yelled, "HEY! WHERE ARE YOU!"
Joe didn't get an answer, and somewhere between shouting for his dog and crawling under bushes to see if he was there, a sudden thought occurred to the boy—maybe Adam had been telling him the truth. Maybe he hadn't taken Joe's pet. Perhaps the dog had just run off or gotten lost while playing outside. Joe started to feel guilty about blaming his brother without proof of his guilt. But he had had good reason to believe that Adam was at fault after the wolf pup incident… right?
For the first time in weeks, Joe began to have doubts.
But they would have to wait until later. Right now, he had a puppy to find.
"Poochie!" Joe tried again. "Here, boy!" Joe sighed in exasperation. He was getting tired of traipsing through the woods and snow. And he was getting hungry, too. "Come on, dog, where are you?"
Finally, Joe arrived near the half-frozen shores of Lake Tahoe. It appeared solid on top but it was only a thin layer of ice. Underneath were many feet of freezing-cold waters. Joe didn't really want to fall into that water, so he kept his distance and continued calling for his dog.
This time, he got a high-pitched yip in return.
Joe looked around, trying to find the source of the sound. He finally saw a little black dot, sticking out in the middle of the lake like a sore thumb. Joe grinned at the joy of finally finding the dog, but the grin dissolved as quickly as it had appeared. How could he get his dog to come to him?
Joe crouched down near the ice and called for his pet again: "Come on, boy! Come on!"
The black dot took a couple of steps forward, and then stopped. It was apparent that the little dog was too scared to come any closer.
Joe rolled his eyes and sighed again. "Here, boy! Come here!" Joe tried again, but he didn't have any success.
Finally, Little Joe knew what he needed to do. Very gingerly, he took a few steps out onto the semi-frozen lake. There was a soft crack and Joe continued towards the scared pup as fast as he dared. The ice continued to make quiet cracking noises as Joe stepped on it, even though he wasn't very heavy.
After what seemed like an eternity, Joe made it to the frightened animal. But just as he reached down to pick him up, the dog seemed to lose his fear and quickly scampered across the ice and made it safely to the same shore Joe had been standing only moments before. With an annoyed groan, Joe followed the rascally dog back to firm ground.
Joe was almost safe when there was a sudden noise. He looked down in alarm and saw that the thin ice beneath his feet was visibly cracking. Joe knew he would never get back to shore in time as the ice gave way and he disappeared below the water's surface.
"Joe!" Adam cried. He had arrived just in time to helplessly watch his youngest brother slip under the ice.
As if on cue, Joe suddenly reappeared. He tried to grab hold of something—anything—to pull himself up with, but the only thing within reach was the slippery ice. Adam dropped to his knees and reached out as far as he dared, trying to grab one of Joe's flailing arms.
"Adam!" cried Joe, spotting his brother for the first time. "Adam, help me!"
And before Adam could reply or do anything else, Joe vanished beneath the waves once again.
"Joe!" Adam yelled again.
This time, there was no answer. The only sounds were whines that came from the black dog Joe had obviously gone out to save. And now Joe would pay with his life.
Adam sat back on his heels for a minute, unsure of what to do. He couldn't just sit there and watch his brother drown, could he? Not the brother he had promised to take care of and protect the day he was born. Besides, the whole family would be destroyed if its youngest member were… gone.
Suddenly, Adam knew what he had to do. And, without even bothering to take his shoes off, he plunged head-long into the frigid water.
Me: Okay, people, this story is almost done--only one or two more chapters. I hope this one was exciting enough for you.
Dick: I'll tell you one thing, it was much TOO exciting for Adam and Joe! They're really mad at you, ya know. They say that they won't ever speak to you again.
Me: They always say that.
Dick: Well, this time, they mean it. I could tell by the way they were using your school photo for target practice.
Me: (sigh)
Reviewer Replies
lgbabyblu-Well, here's the storm for you-poor Joe, falling through the ice like that! And thank you for the compliments. Panamint likes compliments...
bonanza-fan-I think that quote is from "Cool-Hand Luke", but I can't quite remember. Anyway. Here is the update, as promised (well, sort of).