TWENTY-ONE
Hoss met Adam in the yard when he returned. He helped Adam carry the barrel of water into the kitchen where they filled a large tin pail with water.
"Dang," Hoss said, "that water makes this tin freezin'! Even the handle's cold."
"Good, now take it up to Pa, would you? I'm going to find Hop Sing and beg, bribe or threaten-anything for him to come back." Adam readjusted his hat.
"I hope you can," Hoss said as he hoisted the pail of water. "I don't know that we can go on much longer without 'im."
"Yeah, eating your cooking is about to do me in," Adam said. "Maybe Hop Sing'll have mercy on my soul-or my stomach."
"Ain't nobody makin' you eat it and you can take a try at cookin' anytime you want."
"Okay, okay. Now get this pail up to Pa, would you?"
"Good luck with Hop Sing. Tell 'im we need 'im bad." And Hoss hefted the pail of cold water up the stairs.
Adam stepped out just as Percy rode up on the mare he had chosen to ride. Behind him in a little buggy was a woman, an older woman, perhaps in her late thirties or early forties. She wore clean, homespun clothes and had a shawl over her shoulders and an odd, little hat perched on her head which only emphasized her abundant breasts and her wide hips. She had a round, plump face but a grim mouth that didn't seem accustomed to smiling.
Percy dismounted and Adam stood, arms akimbo.
"Well, Adam, my dearest brother, our problems are over-no more intestinal disorders. I hired a cook, Mrs. Delaney. She can also bake and will do light housekeeping. I told her that she would be paid two dollars a day and, if I found her work satisfactory-or if 'we' find her work satisfactory-after all, you are in charge now that our father is so distressed over our darling Joseph, that at the end of the month she would receive a bonus-from my own pocket," Percy said with a sense of pride as he patted his hand against his chest to emphasize that it would be his money. "Now I'm going to show her around the place so she can begin our lunch. My stomach is crying for some decent food." Percy rolled his eyes in mock distress. Then he went to help the woman down but turned to Adam. "I put the carriage on the Cartwright bill at the livery. The man was so gracious when he heard that I was a Cartwright. It seems that 'our' family holds sway with so many people. It's almost the same as being royalty." And Percy grinned. "I suppose that makes you the 'prince,' doesn't it? The king is dead! Long live the King!" And Percy giggled. "Perhaps I could be your consort."
Adam just glanced at Percy and then greeted Mrs. Delaney cautiously. "Good afternoon," Adam said, tipping his hat, "and welcome to the Ponderosa. I'm sure that you're more than qualified as a cook but your employment may be short-lived. You see, I'm off to try to convince our former cook to return. But in the meantime, bring your bags in the house and you can move into the cook's quarters downstairs-but please keep in mind that you may be asked to leave soon.
"I understand," Mrs. Delaney said. "I won't fully unpack. Now show me the kitchen." And Percy took her arm in his, picked up her valise and smiling at Adam who watched them, walked her into the house. Once they were standing inside the kitchen, Percy said to Mrs. Delaney, "Start today, do you understand?"
"I understand," she said. "Not all whores are idiots although I'm beginning to think that I wasn't too smart to take this job and to listen to you. And if you don't give me the money you promised me, well…"
"Oh, please," Percy said in disgust. "The fact that you are a whore means you do anything for money. And don't threaten me; you'll find that I can be more dangerous than I look. Now unpack and get started. Your quarters are back here." Percy waved to a door in the back of the kitchen that led to a room that had once been used as a small bunkhouse. "I'm sure you'll be very happy here," Percy said sarcastically and smiling to himself, went out to the great room and took the stairs to go show concern over Joe's deteriorating condition. The way things looked, Joe may very well succumb to his injuries; he was almost skeletal as he had lost so much weight-the fever seemed to burn the flesh from him and it appeared that he had fractured his arm on the same side as the broken collar bone. And even the presence of the doctor looking in on Joe and giving Ben hope did nothing to dampen Percy's high spirits but he did have to make a concerted effort to subdue his joy in front of his father.
But the doctor's news hadn't been good; Joe may have damaged his spleen or his liver or even his kidneys in the fall as the little urine he did void was tinged with pink. There was really nothing that Doctor Martin could do and Ben had begged him, "Paul, isn't there something you can do?"
"I can do minor surgery, but this, this requires a specialist and the nearest is probably in San Francisco."
"Well, we'll take him there, Just tell me who the doctor…"
"Ben," Paul Martin had said, placing a hand on Ben's shoulders, "Joe wouldn't survive the trip."
"I'll write. I'll pay the doctor whatever he asks…"
"Ben, doctors can't be bribed but I'll try to find someone who you can write. But the best treatment is to keep Joe cool in order to drop the fever and to keep him quiet."
And so, Percy thought, that is the end of that.
Adam first stopped by the laundry where Hop Sing's second cousin worked. He told Adam that Hop Sing was working in their Uncle Hop Lung's herb shop. Adam knew where the shop was so he maneuvered his way through the narrow streets of Chinatown, leading his horse instead of riding. He didn't want to seem arrogant; Hop Sing had once told him how the Manchu soldiers used to come into their villages to make certain that the people were still subservient and to look for beautiful girls to take back to the palace. The first line was walking infantry and then the officers on horseback-high and haughty. From their height on the horses' backs, they could better see whether anyone was hiding or scurrying off with a lovely daughter to secret away. So Adam walked and the merchants called out to him from their stalls to purchase their goods. They called out the praises of their wares, holding up live chickens, their skinny legs tied together. The chickens were passive, having long given up their struggles to be free. And women held up fish and called to him in English, "Fresh," one of the few words they knew but it came out as "flesh," a joke in Adam's mind since fish was the only "meat" that Catholics could eat on Sunday. He had become familiar with Lent, "carnivale," the time to say "farewell to the flesh," and to eat fish on Fridays, from Marie. They always had fish on Fridays when she was alive.
But Adam just ignored the many vendors, deftly avoiding the small children who begged coins from him. Finally Adam found Hong Sing's uncle's shop and tied his horse to a post that stood outside. A group of young boys stood around the horse and talked lowly to one another. Adam suspected that his horse would disappear but that if he would pay a small sum to the little kidnappers, the horse would quickly be found and returned to him. So Adam pulled out his gun as if to examine it and the boys backed off a way. Then Adam stared at them while they stared back. He picked out one boy and pointed to him, crooking his finger to call the boy closer.
The boy, after looking fearfully at the others who urged him forward with shoves and pushes, slowly and cautiously approached and Adam seated his pistol back in the holster. Adam kneeled down to see the boy eye to eye and took a coin out of his pocket.
"Sit," Adam said, patting the ground and the boy sat down in the dirt, His clothes were practically worn through and showed signs that he had been wearing them all week if not longer. Adam placed the coin in one of the boys' hands. He quickly closed his fist around it. Then Adam took his horse's reins and placed them across the palm of the boy's other hand. The boy clasped the reins tightly. Then Adam partly pantomimed that he was going in the shop and that if the boy and his horse were still there when he came out, there would be another coin. The boy smiled and nodded, crossed his skinny legs and sat, holding tightly on the reins and glowering at the other boys who still stood a distance away. Then Adam stood and patted the boy on the head and went inside the dim shop.
A woman was at the counter. Not many "round eyes" came into the shops in Chinatown but she recognized this tall, dark man as one of the Cartwrights so she called out to Hop Sing, her words raising and falling in the melodic sing-song tonalities of Chinese. What she had said, Adam didn't know, but he heard his name and guessed because Hop Sing came out from the back, frowning.
"You come ask Hop Sing come back to Ponderosa."
"Yes, I have but you could at least say hello first," Adam said.
"No say hello. Say goodbye. Hop Sing not go back."
"We need you. Percy hired a woman to do the cooking and cleaning but we'd rather have you there. She's in your kitchen, Hop Sing, using your new stove. What if she doesn't keep it clean? What if she dulls your knives, lets the coffee boil over and burn on the stove top?"
"Mistah Percy still live at Ponderosa?"
Adam tried to stall until he could come up with a satisfactory answer but couldn't. "Yes, he's still there but I think he's learned his lesson."
"No come back Mistah Percy still there. When he go, Hop Sing come back." He turned to leave but Adam gently grabbed his arm.
"Joe's been hurt. He fell off the roof of the house we're renting out, broke his collar bone and as it looks, fractured his arm, the long bone and he's running a high fever. The doctor thinks he may have internal injuries as well. We applied a poultice but it looks like an infection has set in. Please, Hop Sing, help him. Help us. Pa's at his wits end; he hasn't eaten in almost two days."
"You wait," Hop Sing said and went through the curtain into the back of the shop. Adam looked out the front door and his horse still quietly stood, the reins held tightly in the small boy's hand.
After about ten minutes, Hop Sing came back. He held two bags. The smaller of the two, Hop Sing handed first to Adam. "You make tea-two spoons in tea pot. Twenty minutes you let steep and make Little Joe drink. Pour down throat, spoon down-no matter, but he drink. Four time day you make drink. Fever go in two days. If not go, you come back, see Hop Sing."
Adam nodded that he understood and repeated back. "Steep two spoonfuls for twenty minutes and make Joe drink it four times a day-every six hours. If the fever isn't gone in two days, come back and see you."
"Yes," Hop Sing said. "This." Hop sing held up the larger bag. "This you mix with water-keep thick. Put on clean cloth and put on wound. Clean infection. Three days not gone, you come back."
Adam repeated the instructions again and then reached into his pocket for money but Hop Sing stopped him.
"No money. You take for Little Joe."
"Thank you, Hop Sing. Thank you." Adam suddenly felt relief. It was odd that he had more faith in Hop Sing's concoctions that Dr. Martin's ministering.
"You let Hop Sing know how Joe do."
"Yes, I will. I promise."
"And Mistah Ben, he must eat. You tell him I say he eat." Hop Sing shook his finger at Adam and Adam knew that the gesture was meant for his father.
Adam's horse was still there and he tossed another coin to the small boy who had watched it and the boy smiled after he caught the coin, bowed with a large grin and then ran off, the other boys running after him, probably in the hope that he would buy sugar candies. Adam smiled to himself. He hadn't succeeded in talking Hop Sing into returning but this was the next best thing; he had something to give Joe that might possibly be the answer. And then Adam thought of Piper.
Adam wanted to go see Piper-longed to see her face and hear her voice that brought back so many memories. He sat on his horse deciding, but responsibility took over and he knew that Joe's life may very well depend on what was in the two paper bags he had tucked in his saddlebags so he turned his horse toward home.
By Monday morning, Joe's fever was down a bit and he had opened his eyes to see his father sitting beside him. The infection still didn't look good and Dr. Martin who had stopped by before he went to check on Mrs. Tandy's sick child, said that he may need to cut out some of the necrotic flesh but he would know for sure tomorrow.
Adam didn't care much for Mrs. Delaney but he had to admit she could cook. The Sunday she started, she made a huge pot of Irish stew and hot, fluffy biscuits. Hoss ate until as he said that he thought he would bust a gut. He raved over the food and had three helpings. Adam just shook his head and smiled at Hoss' prodigious appetite.
Percy, as usual, ate sparingly and Adam admitted to Percy that Mrs. Delaney was a good choice. Percy, pulled out one of the narrow cigars he smoked and kept in a monogrammed silver case-Lord Chadwicks's-and sat back to enjoy seeing Hoss eat. Then, after supper, Adam took a bowl of stew up to his father who tried to feed some to Joe but he turned his head and said that he couldn't eat. So Adam said that his father had better clean the bowl with the biscuit and eat it all. He realized that he was speaking to his father as if he was the parent and his father the child but he was worried. His father seemed to be aging more each day and never left Joe's room.
"Why don't you go wash up," Adam suggested when he went to retrieve the bowl of stew which was barely touched but at least the biscuit and butter was eaten.
"I don't want to leave Joe," Ben answered.
"I'll sit with him. Go wash and shave and put on some clean clothes-you'll feel better."
Ben slowly stood. "I guess you're right," Ben said. "Promise me you won't leave him alone and that you'll come get me if he wants anything."
"I promise, Pa. Now go on. I'll stay."
And with one last glance at his son who lay helpless in the bed, Ben left for a wash and a shave, determined to return as soon as possible; Joe needed him.
There had been a nice spread for breakfast Monday morning, much more than Adam and Hoss could eat. Mrs. Delaney served them and filled their plates, giving Hoss double portions and Hoss ate heartily and praised the food. Mrs. Delaney smiled and said that having people enjoy her food did her heart good. Even Ben came down and had some eggs and bacon and commented on the coffee, how wonderful it tasted. Ben said that the last time he had tasted coffee that rich was in New Orleans. Ben took some food up to Joe and was glad to report that Joe ate some toast dipped in sweetened coffee.
So with an optimistic outlook that Joe was recovering, thanks to Hop Sing and his herbal concoctions and with the knowledge that he had done all he could for the time, Adam headed to town to see Piper. His heart was as clear as the morning sun. He saw wildflowers growing and was tempted to pick some for Piper but suddenly and with a sense of surprise, he remembered that she was married and it wouldn't look right. Adam wondered how he could have forgotten that Piper had a husband, but he had. He realized that he thought of Piper as the young women of seventeen whom he had married so many years ago. And he thought about how nice it would be to come home to Piper every evening and have her run to greet him and throw her arms around his neck and kiss his face, his closed eyes and his mouth. And thinking about it made him smile and then filled him with grief; it would never happen.
