Fight
by Lynne G.
Adam had been left in charge of the Ponderosa while Ben and Hop Sing were
away for a week. Ben was in San Francisco on business and Hop Sing was
also in SF for a family wedding.
The day started very early with a hint of rain in the air. That morning
at breakfast Adam told his two younger brothers that he had to go to Carson
City for a business meeting for Pa, and that he would be home late, possibly
very late.
He wasn't happy at the thought of leaving Hoss in charge of their little
brother, knowing that the boy could talk Hoss into all kinds of mischief.
He told his brothers that they needed to get the laundry done, and the house
cleaned up. Hoss gave him a dirty look, while Little Joe just stuck
his tongue out at him. "Now I want everything done by the time I get
back home: said a very grumpy Adam. With that said, Adam left.
"Huh, hey Hoss, who does he think we are, his SLAVES yer somethin?" grumped
Little Joe. "I guess so little brother" Hoss said sadly.
Suddenly, Hoss got an idea and he said "tell ya what Little Joe, I'll go
out to the barn and do all them chores, and what ever else needs doin' out
there. You clean up the kitchen and wash the dishes, and then I'll come
back in and help ya with all that laundry, and clean up the rest of the house,OK?"
"Sounds fine to me Hoss" Little Joe said.
A couple of hours later Hoss came back to the kitchen to see if Little Joe
was ready to start the laundry. He noticed the boy had lots of water
heating on the stove, so he brought in even more buckets of water, also for
the laundry. He saw that his little brother had all the clothes sorted
out too. "Hey Joe, how did ya know to sort out the laundry anyway?"
asked Hoss. "Well ya see, I watched Hop Sing do it. I got all
the table covers and napkins here. The underwear there. The bedding
on that pile, and this big pile is all the dirty work clothes. We will
do the work clothes last. The other stuff we can do first, so if yer
ready, we can get started" Little Joe said.
Hey Hoss, how much soap do we use?" asked Little Joe . "Well this
stuff ain't too dirty, so not too much I reckon" stated Hoss. It took
them over an hour to get the table covers, napkins, underwear, and bedding
done. They hung everything in the wash house. Hoss changed the water
for clean hot water for the dirty work clothes. Again Little Joe asked
Hoss how much soap they needed this time "lots little brother, lots.
Them clothes are really dirty" Hoss said.
Soon soap suds were falling out of the tub and onto the floor. "Hoss,
I think we put too much soap in here" said a panked Little Joe. " OH
lordy Joe" cried Hoss. Now the floor was getting rather slippery, and
Hoss and Little Joe were slidding all over the floor. They grabbed the
empty buckets and started to put suds in the buckets and carried them outside.
They also got the floor dried the best they could, so they wouldn't go a
slippin and sliddin.
Hoss did most of the clothes' scrubbing on the work clothes, because he
was much stronger than his 12 year old baby brother. "I wonder how
Hop Sing can do all this laundry in one day Hoss?" asked the boy. Well,
Joe, thats why he does laundry every other day. That way there ain't
so much at one time" Said Hoss.
After they got all the clothes rinsed and hung to dry, Hoss grabbed his
little brother and picked him up and carried him back to the laundry tubs.
"Hey Hoss PUT ME DOWN. PUT ME DOWN" yelled Little Joe. "You want
me to put ya down boy?" asked Hoss, and with that said Hoss dumped the boy
in the laundry tub full of water. Hoss was laughing so hard he almost
fell over. Little Joe kept trying to get out of the tub, but Hoss kept
pushing him under water. Finally a totally drenched Little Joe just
sat there in the water and he started to splash Hoss with water. That
started the BIG WATER FIGHT. The room soon looked like a rain storm
blew through it. There was water everywhere! Little Joe finally
leaped out of the tub and fell into Hoss, which knocked both of them to the
floor. They were rolling around on the floor, laughing loudly.
Hoss stood up, picked up his little brother and tossed him back into the tub.
The boy was giggling out of control. Hoss was trying to get him to
settle down, so he kept pushing him under water. Hoss finally pulled
the boy out of the tub, and sat him on the floor. Little Joe was rolling
on floor holding his stomach, and giggling loudly. Hoss was still laughing
too, and told his little brother that he looked like a drowned rat.
" Thanks alot big brother. WOW, look at this mess we made" Little
Joe said laughing. Hoss pulled the boy up to his feet, and he said
"we had better get out of our wet clothes in here, so we won't be drippin'
all over the house" So they took their clothes off, and ran up the
back stairs to their room to get dried off and put some dry clothes on.
"Hoss, I'm gonna get ya for this ya know" said Little Joe. "Sure you
are little brother-sure you are" laughed Hoss. They finally got the
water mess all cleaned up, when Hoss said they had forgot about lunch.
So they headed off to the kitchen to make sandwiches and coffee.
After they ate, the boy said he too tired to do anything else. "Not
so fast little brother, you gotta still make dinner ya know, so while you
do that, I'm gonna take a nice long nap' Hoss said. "WAIT-JUST-A-DADBURN-MINUTE-HERE
BIG-BROTHER!" yelled Little Joe. "Why do you gotta take a nap, HUH?"asked
Joe. "Why, little brother, because I"m older than you are, and remember
I'm NOW in charge since Adam ain't here-THATS WHY!!" said Hoss. Little
Joe just glared at Hoss and stomped off to the kitchen mumbling to himself.
As he peeled potatoes he was thinking of a way to get even with Hoss.
He got an idea which made him giggle softly to himself.
Finally dinner was ready. Little Joe carried out several platters
piled high with food. After he put the food on the table, he went over
to wake up Hoss. "Somethin' sure smells good in here. Whats we
havin" little brother?" asked Hoss. "Steak,mashed potatoes, peasb beans
and coffee" said Little Joe.
"Hey Little Joe, how come you put the peas and beans in the same bowl anyway?"
asked Hoss. "Well, cuz its makes for less dishes to wash thats way"said
Joe. "Good idea" said Hoss. "Yum, this food is good-really
good. You really out did yerself little brother" beamed Hoss.
"Thanks Hoss" said Joe.
After they finished their dinner, they just sat their drinking coffee-for
Hoss and milk for Little Joe. After a few more minutes, Little Joe giggled
a little which made Hoss look up at him, and then back at his coffee.
The boy picked up a spoon of peas and beans and threw it at Hoss. Little
Joe was now laughing. "WHAT THE HECK YOU DOIN'?" yelled Hoss, as mashed
potatoes hit Hoss in the face. Hoss yelled " I'm gonna get fer this
little brother!" Hoss picked up some food and he threw it at the
boy. That started the BIG FOOD FIGHT. Hoss ran over to Little
Joe and pushed him to the floor, but the boy jumped back up and grabbed more
food and he rubbed it in Hoss's face and hair. Hoss pulled the boy off
of himself and laid him on the floor, and he poured some gravy on him plus
more food and he too rubbed it all over Little Joe. They were
laughing so loudly that they didn't hear Adam walk in. Adam just stood
there with his mouth open and staring at the sight of his two brothers
covered in food and rolling on the floor. Little Joe grabbed at handful
of mashed potatoes and threw them at Hoss, but Hoss ducked his head, and
the potatoes hit Adam in the face. "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" yelled
Adam.
"Oh hi Adam, said Hoss, yer home kinda early, Huh?" Little Joe
just sat on the floor and looked at Adam, and he had a silly look on his face.
All three brothers just stared at each other for several minutes. Hoss
stood up, while still sat on the floor. Hoss was laughing and said
to Adam, "hey Adam ya sure look funny with them potatoes all over yer face".
" So I look funny huh? You two should see yourselves" laughed Adam.
Then he walked over to Hoss and they both ganged up on their little brother,
and they rubbed more food on him. Soon all three brothers were rolling
on the floor in laughter.
All of a sudden Ben walked in and he just stood there in shock at what he
saw. "ADAM, HOSS, JOSEPH, WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING? JUST LOOK
AT THIS MESS!!" yelled Ben. "THERE IS FOOD EVERYWHERE-ON THE WALLS, FLOOR,
and FURNITURE. WILL SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME JUST WHAT YOU ARE DOING?
LOOK AT YOY THREE. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES. I CAN'T
BELIEVE THIS!!!!!! THANK GOD HOP SING ISN'T HERE TO SEE
THIS!!!!"
" I think I'm going to spend the night in Virginia City, and when I get
home tomorrow, this house had better be cleaned up or else" Ben said.
"Or else what Pa?" asked Little Joe. "JOSEPH-JUST BE QUIET!!!!!!! yelled
Ben. "Do you three understand me-GET THIS HOUSE CLEANED UP NOW!!!!!
yelled Ben. Ben just glared at them, and he turned around and walked
towards the front door mumbling loudly to himself, while shaking. He
rode off to Virginia City.
"I've NEVER seen Pa that mad before. Let's get this place cleaned
up" said Adam. "Ya have to admit Adam, we sure did have fun didn't
we?" questioned Little Joe. "Yes" said Adam. and Hoss at the
same time. Adam took Hoss aside and asked himwho started the
food fight, and Hoss said it was Little Joe. "I thought so" said Adam.
The boys worked all night to get the house cleaned up and they also had
to do some more laundry because of the food fight.
The next morning after they had their breakfast, they told Little Joe that
he had to wash the dishes and clean up the kitichen too, while they went out
to the barn to do the chores out there.
After Little Joe finished in the kitchen, he went out to the yard to see
what his big brothers were doing. He saw that they were talking and
laughing. "Hey, whats so funny anyway?" asked Little Joe. "You
are little brother" laughed Adam. "Huh, me?" questioned Little Joe.
Hoss and Adam walked towards their little brother, and Hoss grabbed him around
his chest, while Adam grabbed on to his ankles, and they carried him to the
water trough. "Hey put me down. PUT ME DOWN" screamed the boy.
"Did you sayPUT-ME-DOWN, little brother?" asked Hoss. "PUT ME DOWN PUT
ME DOWN HOSS Little Joe kept yelling-NOT THE WATER TROUGH-PLEASE NO!"
With that, the boy was dumped in the water trough. "What did ya do that
for?" yelled Little Joe. "For starting that food fight little brother"
said Hoss. "Yeah, but you put me in the laundry tubs yesterday morning,
so I got even with you with THAT food fight" said Little Joe.
About that same time, Ben rode into the yard and said good morning to hid
son's. "Morning Pa" they said. "Where is Little Joe?" Ben
asked. " Hum, let me see, where could that little brother of ours have
gone to now?" said Adam. "I'm here Pa" said Little Joe from the water
trough. Ben looked at his youngest son-shook his head, and said "don't
even tell why my baby son is in the water trough. I'm going to go in
the house and get a cup of coffee. With that Ben turned and walked into
the house. "Little brother, why is it that you are always sitting in
the water with all yer clothes on anyway?" asked Hoss laughing. Little
Joe just glared at him. Hoss pulled his little brother out of the water
trough. "Hey kid, go and get some dry clothes on" laughed Adam.
Little Joe stood there and he stuck his tongue out at his brothers.
The End
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