Chapter 3:
Vengeance Is… Not Sweet

Hoss was sitting at the table eating a sandwich, as Joe entered the house.

"Hello, big brother! Where's Master Adam? I haven't seen him nowhere.", Joe said after slamming the front door.

"He rode fence, must be back any minute. Why do you ask?", Hoss answered with his mouth full.

"Oh… just wanted to know how much time I got before he starts bossing me around."

Hoss swallowed. "Joe, he ain't THAT bad!"

"Well, I don't know. Sometimes he is."

"I think you can put up with him for about four hours, then Pa will be back."

"Maybe... what are you gonna do today, Hoss?"

"I did my share for today. I won't do nothing but eat and relax until evening chores.", Hoss said with a grin and took another bite of his sandwich.

"Well, I think I'll go and clean my saddle real good today. See you." Joe went outside and left Hoss wondering why his little brother would volunteer for work.

With a big grin on his face the youngest Cartwright headed for the barn.

"This is perfect.", he mumbled and led his horse into the box.

Carefully Joe pulled the dead rattlesnake out of his saddlebags and climbed up to the loft. He sat down on a pile of hay, put the snake next to him, and waited. There was no sound except the noise of horses moving and snorting. Slowly but surely Joe got nervous. He was afraid that Hoss might spoil everything by coming into the barn or that a ranch hand would come up to the hay loft. But then he visualized Adam, the high and mighty Adam being tricked by his little brother. Little Joe could not suppress a smirk.

After ten minutes Joe heard the clattering of hooves. The noise became louder before it suddenly stopped. A little later he heard footsteps. Someone was whistling a familiar tune which reassured Joe that it was Adam who had just stepped into the barn. Little Joe picked up the snake and shook its tail as fast as he could. The whistling stopped. It followed a slap and the sound of a horse walking out of the barn. Joe shook the snake's tail again trying hard not to giggle.

Adam had drawn his gun by now. Petrified, he stood in the middle of the barn, breathing heavily, and scanning it with his eyes. Suddenly he looked up. There it was again: Tsssssssh. Now he knew that it came from the loft and he started walking towards the ladder. Adam cocked his gun and put his foot on the first step. He slowly climbed up, with his left hand clutching the staves and his right hand grasping the revolver. Tsssssssh. He took another step on the creaking ladder. The sound seemed distant. Adam figured that the rattler was hiding in the back, probably lying in the hay. He stepped up faster, and in a swift movement jumped up to the loft.
Adam was about to pull the trigger when he realized that his gun was pointed at his little brother sitting in the hay. Joe startled. He hadn't expected to see Adam with a gun in his hand. Then he noticed the confused expression on his brother's face and started laughing.

"You fell for it!", he chuckled. "Ha, ha, my smart-aleck brother was taken for a ride!"

Joe rolled over the floor, holding his belly while Adam felt like he was caught in a bad dream. As soon as he realized what had happened, his eyes narrowed and he felt rage building up in his chest. He shoved his gun back in his holster and strode towards his little brother. Adam bit his bottom lip, pulled the snake out of Joe's hand, and threw it in the corner with full force.

Joe's smile faded. Never before had he seen this expression on his brother's face. "A...Adam, it was only a joke.", he said with a broken voice.
Adam grabbed Joe's shoulders and started to shake him.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! DO YOU THINKS IT'S FUNNY THAT I'VE ALMOST PUT A BULLET IN YOU?!", Adam yelled and tightened his grip.

"Ow, you're hurting me!", Little Joe whined and tried to break free. "I didn't think you would run around with a gun. T'was just a prank."

Adam pushed Joe towards the ladder. "GET DOWN THERE!", he ordered.

As soon as they had reached the ground, Joe tried to calm Adam down. "Alright, I'm sorry. It was a stupid idea. I didn't mean to..." Joe could not finish the sentence because he was grabbed by the wrist and tugged to the other side of the barn. "Adam!", Joe shouted . "Let go of me!"

The expression on Adam's face was vacant as he yanked his little brother over to a bale of hay. He sat down and roughly pulled Little Joe's pants down.

"HEY, what are you..."

Before Joe could realize what was about to happen, he was thrown over his brother's lap. Adam held him down with his left arm and tore off the flap of his long johns.

"ADAM! YOU STOP THAT!" Joe yelled and tried to push himself off his lap.

Adam ignored Joe's objection.

"OW! ARE YOU CRAZY?!", Joe screamed.

It did not take long and Little Joe was weeping bitterly.

"STOP! PLEASE!", he cried after every smack, but Adam did not hear him.

"I'M SORRY, OW! LET ME DOWN! ADAM, PLEASE! OW!" Joe could not stand it any longer and started pounding his fists against his brother's legs.

All the commotion awakened Hoss from his nap. Drowsily he sat in the big chair near the fireplace and wondered what was going on. He yawned, rubbed his eyes and slowly stood up.

Adam stopped and shoved Little Joe off his knees. Joe quickly pulled his pants up before Adam grabbed his shoulders one more time.

"DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN! DO YOU HEAR ME?! NEVER!", he yelled in his face. Then he pushed him away.

Joe was crying and shivering and his face was fiery red.
"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU MORE THAN ANYTHIN' ELSE!", Joe screamed.
Then he took a deep breath. "I WISH YOU WAS DEAD!"
Little Joe turned and ran out of the barn as fast as he could.

Hoss dropped his jaw as he saw his little brother on the way out.

"Buddy, what in tarnation...?", he stammered, but Little Joe ignored him and ran in the house.

Hoss saw Adam's horse standing in the yard. He frowned and walked into the barn. There he found his older brother sitting on a bale of hay with his face buried in his hands. "Adam... what happened? Is he hurt?", Hoss asked agitatedly.

"I spanked the daylight out of him... just hit him as hard as I could. I guess I've really hurt him. I... I just let myself go... I should have never..." Adam was staring at the wall as he spoke. Then he lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What did he do?", Hoss asked shocked.

Adam looked up to his brother with flickering eyes: "I'll tell you what he did..."

"I better go and look after him.", Hoss said concerned after he had heard the whole story.

"Tell him… that I'm sorry, even if he doesn't believe it.", Adam responded in a low voice.

Hoss slapped his brother's back and left. Adam stood up and started pacing around the barn like a trapped animal.

oooOOOooo

"Little Joe", Hoss said softly as he knocked on the door. "Can I come in?"

"No."

Hoss could tell that Joe was still crying his eyes out.

"Come on, buddy. I stole a big cookie from Hop Sing, only for you."

"I don't care.", replied a trembling voice.

"Please, Little Joe. Open up..."

No answer. After 10 seconds the door unlocked and Hoss entered carefully. Joe had thrown himself back on his bed right after turning the key.

"Want a cookie?", Hoss said as he sat down on a chair standing next to the bed. "If you don't eat it, I eat it. Don't make no sense to let it go to waste…"

Joe turned his head to the side and looked at his brother with red watery eyes.

"There you go.", Hoss said as he held up the cookie.

Joe closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Alright. I warned you." Hoss took the cookie and stuffed it in his mouth in one piece. Joe could not suppress a little smile. Hoss made a funny face while munching the cookie in the hope of cheering his brother up. Then he swallowed noisily and looked compassionately at Joe.

"He didn't mean to hurt you.", Hoss said in a soft voice. "You just scared him, that's all."

Joe wiped his face and turned around.

"He told me to tell you that he said… dadgummit… well… he's real sorry, Joe."

"Tell him to keep his apologies to hisself.", Joe said through clenched teeth. "When's Pa coming home?", he asked in a low voice.

Hoss stood up and scratched the back of his head. "Can't take more than an hour." Then he left.

As Hoss was walking down the staircase, he saw Adam sitting at the dinner table sipping on a cup of coffee.

Adam turned and put the cup down. "How is he?"

Hoss sighed. "Well, he ain't exactly writing a poem about his favorite brother Adam."

All of your reviews were very encouraging, so I hurried up with this one. :)