Welcome Home, Pa
“Hey Pa, over here!”
“Hello, son! It’s so good to see you! How is everything? Any problems while I was gone?”
“Oh, er, everything’s fine, Pa. No problems worth speakin’ of. Let me get that bag for you. The buggy’s right over there. How was the trip? Everything go well in San Francisco?”
“Just fine, just fine. Are you here by yourself? Where are your brothers?”
“Er, they’re, um, they’re back home…”
“Pretty busy, are they? I thought we were all going to have dinner together in town when I got back.”
“Hmm, Pa, about that, they, uh, they need to stick pretty close to home right now. This everything, Pa? Then I guess we’re ready to head out.”
“Wait a minute. What’s the rush? And what do you mean they need to stick close to home?”
“Well, Doc said…”
“Doc said?”
“Now, it ain’t nothin’ to worry about, Pa, nothin’ serious…”
“Nothing serious? You said there were no problems!”
“No problems worth speakin’ of…”
“Well, start speaking of them now! Who needed the doctor?”
“First Adam needed some help after the fire…”
“Fire! What fire?”
“It weren’t a big fire, Pa, but when the stolen horses ran out of the barn, they knocked over the small forge near the barn, and it being a windy day…”
“Stolen horses? Wait; tell me how Adam was hurt!”
“That’s how, Pa. Chasin’ after them stolen horses.”
“So Adam was hurt chasing a horse thief?”
“He wasn’t really a thief, Pa, not in the intentionally stealin’ sense of it…”
“Just who was unintentionally stealing horses? And how did Adam get hurt?”
“Now don’t get all het up, it ain’t nothing to worry about, Pa. Doc says he’ll be right as rain in a few days. Won’t even be laid up as long as Joe.”
“Joe? What happened to Joe?”
“Well, Miss Maisie wasn’t too happy with him…”
“Miss Maisie? The milk cow?”
“Yessir. She never would have bothered Joe at all if’n he hadn’t fallen out of the hayloft…”
“What was he doing in the hayloft?”
“Well, he and Henry, they was the ones stealing the horses…”
“Are you telling me that Joe was stealing horses? Out of our own barn? That doesn’t make any sense…”
“Pa, if you’d just let me…”
“Hoss, if you don’t get to the point…”
“I’m tryin’ to, Pa, but it ain’t your usual situation, and I ain’t sure how to explain…”
“That’s the only thing you’ve said so far that’s clear! Just tell me how badly Adam and Joe are hurt!”
“Well, Adam got burned due to the fire…”
“Burned? How badly?”
“As I said, Doc ain’t too concerned, won’t even leave a scar. It’s just that it’s a might uncomfortable for him to do anything but lay on his stomach in bed…”
“Oh. You mean he was burned on his…”
“Yep, right on his backside, and Adam being Adam, he’s madder about where he got burned than he is about the stolen horses or the fire or the money or even Little Joe’s foot.”
“What happened to Joe’s foot? And what money? You didn’t mention money before!”
“We got most of the money back, so no need to worry about the money. As for Joe’s foot, well, he won’t be walkin’ too sprightly for a while, but it ain’t too bad. Miss Maisie is real sorry she done it, but he did fall right on top of her.”
“Lord, give me patience!” Pause. “Let me get this straight. Joe and someone—unintentionally—tried to steal some horses. Adam—intentionally—tried to stop them. The horses knocked over the forge, started a fire, and Adam was burned. Joe fell out of the hayloft, the cow hurt his foot, and some money was lost?”
“That’s right, Pa. That’s just what happened.”
“HOSS!”
“Pa, there’s no need to shout! There are a few more details to tell, I reckon.”
“You’d better get to those details or your brothers won’t be the only ones needing the doctor!”
“Yessir. Well, yesterday being payday, Adam and me, we were on the porch, payin’ off the hands. Joe, well, I think he was a little bored, what with all the waitin’ and figurin’ and countin’ out the money and all, so he and young Henry—Bob Sikes’ little ’un—started playin’ like they was desperados.”
“Isn’t Joseph a little old to be playing desperados?”
“I reckon he was tryin’ to cheer Henry up. Bob decided to move on now that the brandin’ is over and I think Henry was sad ’cause he kinda liked it here. They sure was cute, that little boy Henry bossin’ Joe around, telling him how to make their getaway, and Joe crouchin’ down to his level, serious as can be about makin’ a break for it. Next thing I knew Joe was hollerin’ down from the hayloft about not being taken alive and such.”
“And that’s when Joe fell?”
“No, that’s when Henry pretended like he was stealin’ the horses for the getaway. I don’t think it was supposed to be part of the game, ’cause I heard Joe hollerin’ at Henry to wait, but two horses came barrelin’ out of the barn like their tails were on fire. Which they weren’t, Pa.”
“Hoss…”
“Yessir. So, Adam jumped up to stop the horses, and he knocked over the moneybox—I think I mentioned that it was a windy day? The hands started shoutin’ and chasin’ after the money that was blowin’ around, and the two ‘stolen’ horses got more spooked and turned right into the forge. Adam had just got a hold of Pepper’s halter when Pepper swung around, and Adam ended up sittin’ in the coals from the forge.”
Long pause. “Go on.”
“Joe, he saw what’s goin’ on from the hayloft, saw Adam runnin’ for the water trough, and tried to get down fast, ’cause the coals had started a pile of hay on fire. But he stepped on the wooden pistol they was playin’ with, it rolled under his foot, and he fell out of the loft right onto Miss Maisie.”
“And Miss Maisie…”
“Yep, you know how that old cow hates to be fussed with—Miss Maisie kicked Joe a good one in the backside and then stepped right on his foot. He’s layin’ on his stomach, too, Pa. Doc says there’s a bone broke in his foot.”
“And the fire…”
“Oh, we got the fire out right away. Just a little bit of hay was burned. We moved the rest of the horses and Miss Maisie out of the barn just in case. And the hands found all the money except some bills that Miss Maisie was chewin’ on after we moved her out to the corral.”
Pause. “Is that all?”
“Well, that’s just what happened yesterday, Pa. You’ve been gone two weeks. I’ll have to think on everything else that’s happened in two weeks’ time.”
“Don’t do any more explaining! Let’s just get back to the ranch.”
“Yessir. Oh, and Pa?”
“Yes, Hoss?”
“Welcome home.”
*****End*****
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