A GREAT AFTERNOON

By Heidi

Lunchtime at the Ponderosa.

Ben, Adam and Mitch Cartwright were having thier meal at the table.

“Daddy, you are leaving soon?”, Mitch asked for the so maniest time.

“Yes, but I will be back before supper”, Adam replied.

“We eat now too? ”, the boy asked amazed.

“Yes, but it is now noon and when we are sitting at the table again it is evening. And that is what we call supper”, Ben said.

“Mitch, can you now shut your mouth for a while and eat on?”, Adam asked.

It was a quiet moment at the table.

Then the youngest Cartwright asked, “How can I eat on and keep my mouth shut at the same time?”

Ben smiled and Adam sighted deeply.

“Pa, you don’t mind to babysit that lad?”, Adam asked Ben.

“Of course not, I love to do it. I don’t see my grandson as often as I would like to”, Ben replied.

“In that case I take him along”, Adam said teasing.

“I stay here with grandpa”, Mitch reacted directly.

“Are you gonna conspire with grandpa against me?”, Adam asked.

Mitch nodded. Adam took a deep breath and looked at his offspring of three years old.

“Alright then. Behave yourself”, he said.

Mitch got a goodbyekiss of his father and gave one back. Adam Cartwright left after lunch for a few business deals concerning the Ponderosa.

To be extra sweet Mitch helped as good as he could Hop Sing with the dishes. The boy saw the soap-suds and the bells too.
“Look Hop Sing, the bells fly”, the boy said.

“Indeed”, the Chinese cook said.

Mitch was so impressed by the bubbles that he didn’t say a word anymore.

After the dishes Mitch came back into the living room. Ben was working in his office when his grandson after the dishes went to play with Cody near the stiars like he always did.

“Cody, have you seen bells which can fly?”, the boy asked the dog after a while.

“Woof”, the sheperd said which mant no.

“I have”, Mitch replied triumfph.

Ben looked up and went to bother with his grandson. He left his administration for what it was and walked to the boy and dog.

“ What were that sort of bells?”, the rancher asked.

“Well, when Hop Sing and I were doing the dishes all sorts of bells came up. They went upstairs so they were flying”, Mitch explained.

Ben thought for a while and began to laugh.

“You mean soaps- suds ?”, he asked laughing.

Mitch nodded and asked then, “Grandpa, you smoke a pipe. Can you blow bubbles then too?”

“I can give it a try”, Ben said.

He walked to the kitchen and took his cue to the cook.

“Hop Sing, Mitch told me and Cody about the soaps-suds which were here dutringh the dishes. Now Mitch asked me if I could blow bubbles. So if you make some soaps-suds….. ”, the rancher said.

“Of course. Hop Sing make soaps-suds at once and then tea”, the cook said.

Ben nodded smiling and went back to the living room where Mitch and Cody were.

“Hop Sing makes the soaps-suds and tea. Shall I tell you a story in the meantime? ”, Ben asked.

“Good. Let’s hope that Hop Sing doesn’t make tea of the soaps-suds”, the boy remarked.

“I don’t think that he will do that”, Ben said.

He went to sit on the settee and Mitch crawled next to him and Cody lied near the settee.

Ben began to tell :“Once upon a time there was a little boy who lived at a big ranch.”

“Just like me”, Mitch said quickly.

“Yes”, Ben continued, “But this boy had been very naugthy. I will tell you what he had done. He had filled the sugar-bowl with salt and put that on the tray. When they had taken coffee and took a few scoops they had salt in it.”

“Uncle Hoss and Uncle Joe would do that as well”, Mitch said.

“Indeed”, Ben said sighing.

“Did he get punishment? ”, the youngest Cartwright asked.

Ben continued the story, “Yes sure. Directly after the discovered the salt in the sugar-bowl the father took the boy to the barn. There the little bandit got a great beating. He said crying that he would never do it again.”

Mitch was impressed by the punsihment as he was quiet.

“Shall we go and see if Hop Sing has the tea ready?”, the rancher asked.

“And then the soaps-suds”, Mitch said.

They got up and walked to the kitchen where the cook had just made the tea.

“Hop Sing bring in tea and cake”, the faithfull cook of the Ponderosa said.

Ben and Mitch walked back to the living room. Hop Sing came a moment later with the promised tea and cake.

“Little Mitch tea with milk”, the cook said while he pured in the tea.

Mitch didn’t have much time to drink tea and took his cue to his grandpa.

“Grandpa, where are the soaps-suds?”, the boy asked.

“I will get it”, the rancher said.

He got up and walked again to the kitchen. A moment later the rancher came back with a small bowl with soaps-suds. He went to sit, dipped his pipe in the wet liquid and blew bells that way. Mitch had the greatest fun and tried with Cody to catch the bubbles but that failed of course.

At a certain moment Candy came home. The foreman saw Ben blowing bubbles and had do very much trouble not to start laughing. That’s why he quickly went outside.

Hoss and Little Joe came riding and saw the foreman laughing. They didn’t understand anything of it.

“He must have seen something unusual or otherwise he wouldn’t laugh so hard”, Little Joe said worried.

Threy stopped their horses and dismounted. Hereafter they walked to the foreman who had tears in his eyes of laughing.

“May we share the fun or do you rather keep it for yourself? ”, Hoss asked.

“Your father is babysitting Mitch and I don’t know who now the child is: Mitch or Mr Cartwright”, Candy laughed.

The brothers looked at each other stupefied.

“Mitchy of course”, Hoss said.

“You wouldn’t say that if you saw your father blowing bubbles”, the foreman reacted.

Now Hoss and Little Joe couldn’t stop laughing either.

After the blowing the bubbles Ben read his grandson a long story whereby the the young Cartwright became very tired.

By blowing the bubbles and the reading by his grandpa Mitch had become very tired and that’s why he ate earlier than the others. After his supper the boy got brought to bed by Ben where he fell asleep quite soon after a great afternoon at the ranch.


THE END

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