Note: I would
like to say thanks to Lillian and Robin for given me this idea in something
they said on the board.
I would like
to say a special thanks to Lillian who was kind enough to proof this for me.
Thank you so much for your kindness.
“Deepest Fears”
By:
Karen Faye Rodgers
October
20th
“There is no reason
why you can’t go see your cousin in
“Hop Sing don’t think
time is right.”
Joe came across the room and rested his
hand on the cook’s shoulder, “sure the time is right. What can happen in the
time you go there and back?”
Moving the young man’s hand, Hop Sing
shakes his head, “I think this over…tell you tomorrow.”
“Thanks you, Hop Sing. It has been a
long time since you have been to
October
30th
A few days after Hop Sing leaves…
“Look, I’m not going to fight you
Carter, we have been friends far too long for something like this to break that
up,” Adam told his old friend before glancing at his brother who was standing
across the road. He and his brother Joe had just been filling in a few holes
that wore into the road heading to the ranch from
“No, you just think we’ve been
friends…do you really not know how much I really loathe you,” Hayes shouted
back at Adam with a slur before letting his thumb brush against his pistol.
“I’ve told you several times, I’m not
going to fight you and I’m not…just go home and sleep
it off.” He watched as Joe mounted and nodded, “Let’s head on home Joe.”
“Darn it Cartwright, you’re not going
to dismiss me like that,” Carter shouted again, pulling his pistol from its
holster and firing a shot at Adam.
Joe hearing the shot,
turned his mount around and watched wide eyed as Adam fell to the ground. “Carter,” he called as he saw Hayes heading
over to his unconscious brother. Seeing the man’s gun being aimed at him he
quickly pulled his own gun and fired at the same time as Hayes.
It all seemed to be in slow motion for
Joe as he saw Carter Hayes fall to the ground…this was a man his brother had
always called his friend and now he, Joe Cartwright, had to gun the man down to
save his and his brother’s life. Jumping down from Cochise, Joe went to his
brother’s side and gasped out loud when he saw the bullet hole in the back of
his brother’s shirt.
Turning his brother over Joe’s tear
filled eyes looked at Adam’s face, “come on brother wake up.” He pleaded. “Adam
can you hear me…you havta wake up.”
~~HAPPY Halloween~~
It took Joe a while to get his brother
home. He refused to leave Adam for any amount of time, even to get help. He knew
that if he worked hard enough he could work a way out and having one of his
father’s friends riding past when he needed him the most, helped out a heap.
He remembered how relieved he was when
he heard hooves and then saw Kent Parker ride into view…
“Little Joe,”
“I’ll tell you later, but I need to get
Adam home…can I get you to head into town and get Doc Martin for me?” the young
man asked, the desperation could be heard in his voice.
“Let’s get him on your horse and you
get behind him. I will take Hayes back to town with me. You just see to getting
your brother home…it is a lot closer to the Ponderosa than to town,” said
Joe nodded and after getting both Adam
and himself on his beloved horse he smiled wearily at Kent,
“Thanks.”
“No need to thank me…just get him
home.” He watched Joe nod at him again and then the boy headed home with his
injured brother.
~~Happy
Halloween~~
“What in
tarnation is all the shouting about Parker?” Paul asked coming from the back
room.
“Adam’s Cartwright been shot and
they’re needing you at the Ponderosa. I’ve got Carter
Hayes body out side and have to take it over to the undertaker, but I’m heading
that way in a little while…”
“Wait a minute what happened to Carter
Hayes?” Paul asked.
“That’s what I want to know…who shot my
little brother?” A voice asked coming from behind
Turning around quick
“I’m not sure
of the details. I’m heading over to the sheriff’s office to talk to him… you
are welcome to join me.”
“I’ll just do
that… I want to know who killed my baby brother,” Jade shouted angrily as he
waited for
Stopping at
the door
“I’ll let him
know,” Paul assured his friend. He watched as the two men left his office and
then headed out as well.
~~Happy
Halloween~~
Joe and Hoss
waited in the living room for word on their brother. Paul had been upstairs with their father looking after Adam for what
seemed like an eternity to them, but really it had only been about and hour.
“Dadburnit, what in the world is taking
them so long?” Hoss asked as he got up from the blue chair and headed over to
the fireplace. “I sure wish they would come let us know how big brother is ah
doing.”
Joe, who up until that point had his
head in his hands, was trying to figure out just what had happened earlier. He
had known Hayes for years and had never in a hundred years thought he would pull
a gun on anyone especially not his brother. Adam and Carter Hayes had been
friends since the man and his family moved to
Looking up at Hoss Joe still said
nothing, after all what was there to say. He wanted to know about Adam as much
as Hoss, but talking about it wasn’t going to make the men up stairs come down
any faster he reasoned.
“I jist don’t
understand it…” Hoss said sitting back
down.
‘That was
it,’ Joe thought. “What don’t you understand?” snapped Joe.
“Any of it,” his brother said as he
looked over to the stairs when he heard his father and the doctor coming
downstairs. “How is he?”
“He lost a lot of blood, but after
getting some rest he should be fine. But he needs to remain in bed for at least
a week.”
“Can I see him?” Hoss asked.
“He’s asleep, but you can sit with him
if you like,” Paul told Hoss as he turned to Ben. “I’m heading back to town,
but if you need me for anything please send for me.”
“Thank you Paul…for everything.”
Opening the door Paul smiled when he
saw Kent Parker coming into the yard leading the oldest Cartwright’s horse
behind him.
Ben came out of the house with Joe and
Hoss just a step behind him, “Thanks for bring Sport home for us.”
“No problem, I was heading out here
when I found Joe and Adam by the road. How is that oldest son of yours?” Ken
questioned as he dismounted, smiling as Joe came to his side taking
his brother’s horse’s reins as they were handed to him.
“Was there something that you needed to
see me about?” Ben asked knowing that they had to be if his friend was coming
to see him. Parker was a busy man with his own ranch.
“Yeah, I was, but that can wait. I just
wanted to bring Adam’s horse to you and see how he’s doing. He didn’t look so
good when Joe left with him.”
“He’s going to be alright with time,”
Paul spoke up then turning to Ben, “I’ll see everyone later. I better head back to town.”
Everyone said their good byes to Paul
and Ben turned to
“No, I’d better be heading back home.
I’ll let you get back to your son and will come out to see you
again next week. What I come about isn’t that important and can keep.”
“If
you’re sure?”
“I’m sure,
besides Katie will have my hide if I don’t make it home for supper. Good day Ben…boys.” He mounted his horse and rode out of the
yard.
Joe looked at
the horse beside him and then at his
father, “I’ll just settle Sport in the barn.”
Hoss patted Joe on the arm, “Hey, why don’t
you let me help ya. Besides it’s getting chilly out here and two sets of hands
are better than one.”
Joe smiled, he
knew what his brother was doing. Hoss always found a way to be by his side when
he needed someone to talk to and this wasn’t going to be an exception. “Sure,
thanks.”
Ben watched as his sons went to the
barn before heading back into the house. He wanted to be by his son’s side and
without Hop Sing being there he wanted to go into the kitchen soon to start
supper. He needed to put on a nice broth for his oldest and get something ready
for his other two sons.
In the barn Joe watched as Hoss started
brushing down Sport, after he gave the horse some oats and water. He then
turned to his own horse, “Hey, Cooch.” He giggled
when Cochise snorted at him. “You missed me after just a little while, huh?”
Hoss smiled as he watched his younger
brother and his beloved horse. “Hey Joe, it’s done got
cold in here. Why don’t you head on into the house. I’ll be in in a few minutes.”
“If you don’t need me for anything,”
Joe said as he patted his horse one more time. “See ya inside.”
“I think I can finish this Shortshanks.”
Joe walked out of the barn and stopped
as he heard something from around the other side of it. He slowly headed around
to where he had heard the noise come from and stopped when he was almost behind
the barn. There stood Jade Hayes with his gun pointed at him.
“Get over here,” he whispered.
Joe knew that he could move to another
side of the barn and then inside if he moved quickly. He was about to make his
move when he felt a gun pressed against the small of his back. He stood still
when he heard the gun cock.
“Move it,” the man behind him ordered.
Joe nodded and moved forward. He looked
at the building beside him and hoped that they didn’t know that his brother was
in it. His hopes were soon shattered when the man behind him wrapped one of his
arms around his neck and forced him toward the back door of the barn.
The sound of the back barn door opening
made Hoss look up. He was stunned as he
saw his seventeen year old brother in trouble.
Joe was frightened and so was he.
“What do you want?” he asked the man
behind his brother and watched as Hayes entered the barn.
“You just listen… and if you don’t I will
make sure your little brother won’t be around to see tomorrow.” Hayes said
angrily, as he made his way to the older Cartwright.”
Staring at the man coming toward him
Hoss asked, “What do you want?”
“Go call your father out here…and if
you warn him I’ll shoot the boy myself. I have no use for him myself.”
“Don’t do it,” Joe said with a shaky
voice.
“Shut up boy,”
Shouted Hayes.
“Hoss…”
“Don’t worry Joe,” Hoss said before
looking back at Hayes. “Why do you want my pa?”
“You don’t worry about that,” he cocked
his gun and aimed it at Joe. “If you don’t get him before I count to three he’s
dead.” He turned to Hoss, “One…Two…”
“Alright, I’ll get him.” Hoss said
heading for the door.
‘No,’ thought Joe as he watched his
brother leave the barn. He had a bad feeling about this, a feeling that made
his heart ache.
Entering the house Hoss looked at the
stairs. He needed to warn his father, he had to someway get his brother to
safety. He went forward to the stairs and headed up to his brother
Adam’s room, where he knew that his father would be. As he neared the room he
couldn’t remember a time that he had felt so helpless.
“Pa?” He called into the room.
Ben turned to his son and knew that
something was wrong. “What is it?”
“Pa, listen. We have to get to the
barn. I’ll tell you what’s wrong when we’re in the hall.”
Ben nodded and headed into the hallway
with his son and then closed the door to his eldest son’s room. “What is it?”
“Jade Hayes and another man that I don’t
know are out in the barn and they have Joe with them. They said they would
shoot him if I didn’t get ya…what are we gonna do?”
“I…
“You are going to do nothing,” a man’s
voice came from the stairs. “Jade told you not to warn him…” He cleared his throat,
“get them to the barn,” he ordered and three more men came around him with
their guns at hand.
Both Ben and Hoss looked at the men and
headed for the stairs.
~~Happy
Halloween~~
Hayes shook his head as he looked at
Hoss and made a clicking sound. He watched as two of his friends finished tying
father and son’s hands behind their backs, “what did I tell ya boy…”
Hoss didn’t say anything just stared at
the man.
“I asked you a question…and I don’t
like to repeat myself.” Then a smile came across Hayes’ face as he looked down
at his gun and then at Hoss. “You know I think you need me to remind you what I
said.”
He laughed as he watched one of his
friends move behind Ben and Hoss and turned to face Joe. “You remember that it
was your brother not listening that caused this.”
Both Ben and Hoss jumped to their feet
when Hayes pulled the trigger. “Like I said, I will remind you,” Hayes laughed
as he turned from where Joe laid on the floor of the barn to father and son.
“You just remember that you just killed
your little brother.” Hayes laughed. He turned back to the man beside Joe. “You
know what to do.”
“You’re going to pay for that…” Ben roared, but stopped when two of the five
men in the barn lifted Joe up and headed out the door, “Where do you think
you’re taking him…”
“You don’t have to worry about that,”
laughed Hayes. He nodded and the man behind Ben brought his gun down over the
oldest Cartwright’s head.
“Pa,” Hoss called out as he looked at his
unconscious father. He glanced back at the man who was doing this to his
family. “You are…”
“Oh, go ahead, Luke…” Hayes said a ring
of frustration in his voice and the man brought his gun over Hoss’ head just as
his buddy had just done to the man’s father.
~~Happy
Halloween~~
In his room Adam opened his eyes as
Hayes had shot his younger brother. He blinked them a few times trying to
figure out what had woken him. He heard something, but for the life of him he
couldn’t figure out what it was. After a few minutes and not hearing anything
else he closed his eyes and was soon back asleep.
That sleep only lasted a short time,
however. He felt a hand clap over his mouth and his eyes flashed open. Looking
up, he recognized Carter Hayes’ brother staring down at him. “What…”
“Oh shut up!!!!” I am going to talk and
you are going to listen.”
Adam tried to clear his head, but it
felt a little fuzzy from the powders that Paul had given him earlier.
“I’m going to tell you this once and
only once. Your family is somewhere on the Ponderosa and they are all in
different locations. You have five hours to locate them or they will all die.”
Taking a deep breath Adam asked, “You
can’t be serious?”
“Oh, I assure you, I am very serious…”
He patted Adam on the shoulder. “You look like you can do about
anything…remember five hours.”
Adam was about to say something before
Hayes stopped him, “you have to find them on your own… I’m not even going to
give you any idea where they are.” Walking over to Adam’s dresser he opened it
and pulled out a night shirt and left the room.”
Adam watched the man leave and tried to
get out of bed. He hurt like blazes, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him.
He forced himself to sit up, stopping when pain shot though him, taking his
breath momentarily.
When he got his bearing back, he
scooted to the side of the bed bringing his feet to the floor. He pressed down
on the mattress helping him stand. Swaying, he reached for the footboard of the
bed to keep from falling. He looked toward the door and thought it looked yards
away. Taking a deep breath he took one slow step then another and soon he was
at the door clutching the handle, as he caught his breath.
It took more effort than he would have liked
to mention to open the door, but soon it was open and he started his way down
the hallway. It seemed that getting to the stairs took all the strength that he
had.
He looked down to the living room
telling himself, that was his next goal. Grabbing the
banister he started down the stairs one step at a time. He was down three steps
before he lost his footing and fell to the floor below.
~~Happy
Halloween~~
Ben opened his eyes and looked around.
He was in one of the line shacks. His thoughts going back to before he blacked
out. Joe was shot… Hoss… where were his two sons? He then thought about Adam
who was in no condition to defend himself. He could
feel the ropes that were still tightly tied around his hands.
He fought against those ropes. His sons
were somewhere and he had to get to them. He stopped when he heard the door
open. He turned his head so he could see who was entering. Hayes walked over to
him, with his hands behind his back.
“Well…well, I see that you’re finally
awake. I was about to think you were going to sleep though the night.” Hayes
teased.
“Where are my sons?”
“Oh them, don’t worry they’re dead
about now. Pulling out his hands so that
Ben could see what he was holding, he
showed Ben two shirts and one night shirt covered in blood.”
Ben stared at them not believing what
he was being showed. ‘No,’ he told himself. He would know if something had
happened to them. He would be able to feel it.’
“What, don’t
believe me?” Hayes taunted.
Ben didn’t answer. He knew this man was
trying to get to him. At least he hoped that what this man said wasn’t true. He
wasn’t about to think about that. His sons were going to be fine…but then his
thoughts went to Joe. He had seen Hayes shoot his youngest. Had he done the
same to his other two and was Joe really dead? His mind was screaming out
questions and he didn’t have any of the answers.
“Why are you doing this?” Ben
questioned.
“Your son took my brother away from me.
After my ma and pa died last summer, Carter was all that I had left. You have a
whole family or should I say had a whole family. Your son could have wounded
him… he didn’t have to kill him.”
“Carter shot my oldest,” Ben told the
man. He had to force his voice to come out calmly when in fact he was worried
about his family. “Joe only defended himself.”
“Take it like you want…Joe shot and
killed my brother so, I guess you can say I am defending myself,” he giggled.
“You know what I’m going to do?” Hayes asked.
Again Ben didn’t answer.
“I’m going to let you go. You can walk back
to that precious Ponderosa of yours. After all that’s all you have left now.”
“Hey Luke,” Hayes called.
“Yeah?” the man asked as he peeked into
the small building.
“Cover him while I untie his hands.”
“You letting him go?” Luke asked.
“Why not?”
“After what we did to his three son’s he’s likely come
hunting us down.” Luke said shaking his head. “No, I say we leave his hands
tied and just cut loose his feet, least ways it will give us time to get out of
here.”
Laughing, Hayes turned back to Ben,
“Guess I’ve gotta leave your hands tied… but don’t
worry I’m sure you can make it back to your ranch house.” He brought his knife
out and cut the ropes that bound Ben’s feet together.
“If you have killed my sons you won’t
find a place where you can hide,” Ben assured the man as he looked at the man
with dark eyes.
Hayes just walked toward the door. Not
saying a word or looking back. The only sound that Ben heard was the sound of
the door closing behind the man.
He scanned the room hoping to see a
knife somewhere or anything that he could use to untie the ropes from around his wrist.
~~Happy
Halloween~~
“Hoss can you hear me?”
Hoss heard someone calling his name and
looked up to see Doc Martin standing over him. He was still in the barn. He looked
for his father and brother, “Where are they?” he asked.
“Who?”
“Pa and Joe…” he
said bringing his hand to his head. “How you get here, Doc.”
“I had to go to the Jenkins place and
since I was out this way I remembered that I forgot to leave those powders for
Adam.” He helped Hoss sit up. “What happened?”
“Jade Hayes and those friends of his
came here…Joe was shot and Pa…they hit him.”
“I’ll help you to the house then I’ll
look around for them, after checking on that head of yours and looking in on
your older brother.” He watched as Hoss got to his feet and they walked toward
the house.
Opening the door they saw Adam lying at
the bottom of the stairs. Both men rushed to where the unconscious man laid.
“Adam, can ya here me?” Hoss called out
as he turned his brother over so he could see his face. Paul saw the blood that
covered the night shirt and that stained the floor. “He’s opened his wound back
up. We need to get him back to his room.”
Hoss picked up his brother and started
carrying him up the stairs to his room. When Adam was back where he belonged Paul started examining him. “I’m going to need your
help Hoss.”
“You got it Doc,” Hoss said and
together they worked side by side.
~~Happy
Halloween~~
The pain in his shoulder was
excruciating as he woke. Joe swallowed a few times as he opened his eyes only
to find more blackness. He had something
over his eyes and he could tell his hands were tied behind his back, but his
feet weren’t tied.
Joe could feel something behind him and
couldn’t make out what it was. It felt as hard as a boulder, but it was smooth.
His mind raced as he tried to figure out where he was. Finally, his finger felt
something in what he was against. It felt like a carving.
Pressing as gently as he could he scooted
himself up the stone until he was standing. He could feel the cross and
couldn’t help but shed a few tears when he realized he had been propped against
his mother’s headstone.
“Oh, Momma,” he cried. Joe wanted to
fall to his knees, but refused to…he wanting to know
that his family was alright. His shoulder hurt and he had to get moving.
He tried to get his bearing. He knew
that if he could feel the letters on his mother’s headstone he could easily
make out which way it was to the ranch…but first he had to get this blindfold
off his eyes.
He still had his hands bound so he had to
figure out something or walk home without being able to see and he didn’t want
to do that.
Closing his eyes he tried to visualize the
area better. He could picture a large pine that he would sit under when he was
younger. It was a few yards in front of the grave. Slowly he walked toward
where he remembered the tree was and before long his foot found it. Turning
around he leaned his head against it and tried to get remove the cloth from its
location.
He was getting very frustrated with the
task at hand when after a few minutes he couldn’t get the cloth to move. He was
about to give up when he felt it tug a little. Joe soon had the blindfold
pulled up over his eyes and he could now see again. Sighing, he looked down at
his shoulder and winced as he saw the reason for all of his pain.
Now wasn’t the time to stop, he
reasoned. Sure he was tired and hurt more than he would like to admit, but he
had to head for home. Even with the blind fold off it was still very dark. He
looked up at the sky and sighed again as he noticed that it was cloudy and
there was neither moon nor stars to be seen. He knew that the walk home would
be a long one.
~~Happy
Halloween~~
Hoss looked
at his brother after the doctor had finished patching his back up. “I’m sure glad you came when you did Doc.”
“So am I
Hoss…so am I.”
“Hmmm…do you
think you can stay with him for a while?” the young man asked. “I need to go
look for Pa and Joe.”
“You know I
will.” Paul thought for a moment. “What about the men that did this?”
Hoss wrinkled up his nose as he
thought, “you need to be safe till we get back.” He left the room and soon returned
handing Paul one of his father’s pistols. “You use this if you have to.”
Reaching into
his pocket he handed over some bullets, “this should do if trouble comes.”
“Do you think
they’ll come back?”
“Better be on
the safe side…I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
~~Happy
Halloween~~
It was a
little over an hour later when the front door opened. Ben walked in tired and
haunted by the words that Hayes had taunted him with earlier. He looked at the
stairs and had to force himself not to
call out. Instead he made his way up the stairs toward his oldest son’s room.
“Adam,” he called as he opened the door
and turned so he could go into the room. He was surprised to see his friend
Paul Martin standing by his son’s side.
“Ben…” he stopped when he noticed his
friend’s hands were still tied. “Let me untie you.”
“Thanks,” Ben sighed. “How is he?”
“Hoss and I found him a couple of hours
ago. It looks like he fell down the stairs. He reopened his wound, but we were
able to fix things up… he seems to be doing fine now,” Paul explained.
“Hoss…you’ve seen Hoss?” Ben asked his
eyes filling with tears. “I was so worried when Hayes told me that all three of
them were dead.”
“As you can see, Adam is fine and Hoss
was too when he left.”
“What about Joe?” Ben questioned. “Have
you heard anything from him or about him?” He looked away for a moment, “they
shot him,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.
“Look at what we know so far,” Paul
started.
“He has told you that all three of them
were dead, but two are not and odds are Joe will be fine once he is found.” He
paused for a moment before asking, “Where was he shot?”
“Shoulder I think…I can’t be sure. It
happened so fast.”
“Hoss is out there looking. He’ll find
him.” The doctor smiled at his friend. “He’ll be fine…just have
faith.”
“I do…I do.”
“Pa…”
Ben turned to see Adam looking up at
him, “Hi, son.”
“You’re safe…I wanted to get to
you…Hoss…and Joe, but I couldn’t.” Adam didn’t care if anyone saw the tears
that escaped his eyes. How could he have been so weak when his family needed
him the most?
“It’s alright
son, try to rest.”
~~Happy
Halloween~~
Hoss pulled Chubb to a stop. To him the
sight before him was the prettiest site he had seen in a long time. He watched
as his little bother came toward him. Joe looked a little worse for wear, but
at least he was alive.
Joe stopped when he saw his brother and
smiled. “Are you going to just sit there or are you going to come here and help
me?” Joe asked. His voice was a little shaky and he felt worse than he had in
such a long time, but he was glad to see his brother.
Dismounting Hoss went to his little
brother’s side and untied his hands. Looking at the shoulder he noticed it
wasn’t bleeding, but it looked as if it were getting infected. “We best get you
home Shortshanks.”
Nodding, Joe didn’t object. He was bone
tired, but above all he wanted all of his family together.
~~Happy
Halloween~~
Hearing hooves in the yard, en looked out
the window. He spied his two youngest sons riding Chubb and closed his eyes a
moment before looking up toward the heavens saying, “Thanks,” for the blessing
of having all three of his sons.
“They’re back, Paul,” he called out
before heading for the door, his friend just a step behind him.
As the front door opened Ben met his
sons as they entered the house. Joe looked as if he was going to drop at any
time and Hoss was the picture of strength, helping his youngest brother.
“How is he?” Ben questioned, as he
helped his middle son bring Joe toward the stairs and up to his room.
“He needs that arm looked at…looks like
infection is setting in.”
“Let me have a look at that shoulder.”
Paul went to them and waited for the patient to be placed on the bed. “You’re
right Hoss there are signs of infection.”
Hoss excused himself and went to sit
with his other brother while Ben and Paul worked on Joe.
“Aww Pa, I’m
fine,” Joe argued in a weakened voice.
“You are not fine young man.” Ben told his
youngest, but was glad to hear those words come from his son’s mouth.
“CARTWRIGHT,” Ben heard someone shout
from outside. He went to the window and looked out. Jade Hayes stood in the
yard with the men from before and what seemed to be a dozen more men, all
holding torches.
Before he knew what was happening he
watched as the men started setting fire to the house, barn and all the grass
around them.
The flames seemed to grow in just
seconds before he knew it the room that he, Paul and Joe were in was in flames
and the rest of the house was in blazes, as well.
Hop Sing bolted up in bed. The dream
had seemed so real. The Cartwrights were in trouble and that made up his mind
for him. The trip to
“That it…Hop Sing stay home…timing not
right.” With those muttered words he laid back in bed covering his head with a
blanket.