Stranger No More
A “What Happened Next” Story
For the Episode, “A Stranger Passed This Way”
By Meira Bracha
June 2002
In the bonanza1.com episode guide A Stranger Passed
This Way is described as follows: “Hoss is robbed and struck on the
head. When he regains consciousness he can't remember anything, including
his own identity. He is picked up and taken in by a Dutch couple named
Vandervoort. Ironically they lost a son and the woman, Christina decides
that Hoss is just what they need. She gives him a name and a home, and
becomes so comfortable with the situation that when Ben visits their home,
she denies seeing Hoss.”
I would add to this description the following:
When Ben finally succeeds in locating Hoss on the Vandervoort farm, the local
doctor convinces Ben that trying to force Hoss to remember would have adverse
consequences for his mental health. The episode concludes at the Ponderosa,
where the Vandervoots have agreed to stop on their journey east with the amnesiac
Hoss. At the last moment Hoss regains his memory of who he is and forgets
the period of time during which he had amnesia. The Vandervoorts leave
the Ponderosa and Hoss goes in with the rest of the Cartwrights for breakfast,
apparently suffering no consequences from his experience. This ending
always seemed unsatisfactory to me. Surely Hoss would soon begin to
wonder what he had been doing for the past several days. In this story,
it doesn’t take long after the Vandervoorts’ departure for the subject to
arise.
"Sorry I overslept, fellas." Hoss sat down with
his brothers and father at the breakfast table, which was laden with the usual
array of eggs, meat, potatoes, toast and coffee which the family and their
cook deemed vital fuel for the performance of a typical day of ranch work.
"I can't believe it's this late and none of you has eaten yet!" he added
as he began to pile food onto his plate. So intent was he on this task
that he didn't notice the wary looks the others were giving him.
"Well, we shared some coffee and toast with the Vandervoorts,
but they were in too much of a hurry to be on their way to stay for more,"
Pa replied. He couldn't help but watch Hoss to see if this information
provoked any reaction.
"Oh yeah. Funny how they come to be out here so
early. They must've really taken a wrong turn somewheres," Hoss mused.
"Do you recall seeing them hereabouts before?" asked
Adam, trying to catch his big "little" brother's eye.
"Can't say as I do," came the offhand answer.
Everyone ate in silence for a minute. "So, which
of us gets to ride into Virginia City and check at the sawmill to see if the
lumber for the new fence has been cut?" asked Hoss, between bites.
"Oh, that was ready the day after you left," Joe said
casually, chewing a mouthful of food. "Old Adam here and I are about
half done putting up that fence already. That's not to say I couldn't
use the help of someone less ancient and surly to get it finished."
Joe relished the jab he'd gotten in at his oldest brother's
expense. Adam favored him a withering look. An apt and scathing
response appeared to be forthcoming. Ben was about to chastise his youngest
for speaking with his mouth full. So, at first, none of them noticed
the pained look of confusion that had taken over Hoss's usually calm and
sunny facial expression.
"Did you fellers let me get drunk last night?" he asked,
before Adam or Ben got their say. Three heads shook the reply "no",
their attention again focused on the family member they had come so close
to losing to absence and amnesia. "'Cuz I figger that might explain
why I slept so late, and why I can't seem to...well I don't..." He hesitated,
clearly bewildered and embarrassed.
Ben reached out and put a reassuring hand on his middle
son's arm. He realized it had been too much to hope that Hoss could
make a seamless transition back to memory and family. "You can say it
son. Trust me. I know you must be very confused right now.
We all understand, and we want to help you."
Joe asked the obvious question, "If we weren't supposed
to tell him what he didn't remember before, how do you know it's o.k. to do
it now?"
Adam spoke up. "It is my understanding that almost
nothing is known about how the brain and the mind work. I was never
completely convinced that that doctor's advice, well-meaning though it may
have been, was correct. He just couldn't have known. It seems
to me now, we need to take things as they come. If Hoss has questions,
I say we should answer them."
Hoss pounded both fists on the table and half rose from
his chair. "Would you fellows stop talkin' about me like I wasn't here!
What in tarnation is going on? If I weren't drunk, how come I don't
remember how I got home last night, or even wakin' up this morning?
First thing I remember is...oh, no...oh, Pa...I almost hit ya!.. Why did I
do that?"
Ben got up, and with his hands on Hoss's shoulders, guided
his agitated son back into his chair. "It really is all right,
son."
Adam continued. "Let's do this systematically.
Hoss, what do you remember about this morning?"
Hoss replied angrily. "Adam, I don't want to answer
your questions, I want to get answers to my questions!"
Adam went on in a measured tone. "The more we know
about what you do remember, the better we will be able to fill in the missing
pieces for you. Trust me?"
Hoss sighed and grimaced, his bottom teeth coming out
to rest on his upper lip. Then he closed his eyes and tried to relax.
When he opened his eyes again he answered, "I guess I never had no reason
not to trust you before. All right. Like I said, first thing I
remember is comin' awful close to puttin' my fist in Pa's face."
He looked at Ben worriedly, but was reassured by his
father's expression that there were no hard feelings from this incident.
If Ben was troubled, it was at the thought that his oldest son and trusted
advisor had doubted the wisdom of following the doctor's advise. He
was grateful beyond measure that they had not had to suffer the consequences
of letting Hoss go based on the doctor’s recommendation.
"Do you remember what I was doing when you got angry,
son?" asked Ben.
Hoss wrinkled his face and shook his head no.
"I was holding your mother's picture. You didn't
like that."
"Pa, that jest don't make no sense. Why would I
mind that?"
Adam interposed. "Perhaps it reminded you of someone
else handling a picture of hers?"
Hoss thought for a moment. "That rotten bushwhacker!
I might've let him get away with stealin' the money. But he broke my
mother’s picture! I couldn't leave that be! I could've killed
the feller!"
Adam tried to probe further. "Pa found the broken
picture frame at your campsite, but you weren't there. Do you know where
you went?"
Now Hoss's face was really scrunched tight with the effort
to remember. "No. I was comin' back from that stock buying trip.
I only took that trip because we had to delay the fence building. I
was bushwhacked and...darned if I don't remember nothin' until this mornin'.
How long ago was that, anyway?"
"It was two weeks ago, son" Ben continued to stand
behind Hoss, his hands still resting on his son's broad shoulders.
"Two weeks! An' I been knocked out this whole time?
No wonder I'm so hungry this mornin'!"
Joe had to smile. "Big brother, you are always
hungry. Believe me, you've been eating regular the whole time."
Ben and Adam shot Joe angry glances, and Adam practically
hissed at him. "You know, Hoss came up with a plausible explanation
that could have satisfied him, and you just undermined it, little brother."
Joe gave his sheepish smirk, which turned into a look
of concern after he glanced at Hoss, who was clearly struggling to make sense
of it all.
"If I was knocked out, wouldn't the first thing I remembered
be wakin' up in bed, not standin' fully dressed and takin' a swing at Pa?"
Hoss asked, as much to himself as to his family.
Adam replied, "I think this is where we have to fill
in the blank part of the story. Pa?"
Ben returned to his chair. "First it seems that
Hoss would have realized he hadn't been unconscious for two weeks even without
what Joseph said." Ben glanced from Joe to Adam to make certain that
a fraternal blowup had been averted, before settling his gaze back on Hoss.
"Son, would you like to hear what happened?"
Hoss looked up. "I think so Pa. But I'm kind
of scared too. But not knowin' has got to be worse than knowin'.
I hope so anyhow."
Pa began. "The doctor called it 'amnesia'."
Hoss looked puzzled. "It's just a fancy word that means not remembering.
Kind of like blindness means not seeing. Near as we can tell, you woke
up the morning after you were attacked, not remembering who you were.
You stumbled onto the road where the Vandervoorts found you and brought you
home with them."
"You mean that couple that was just leaving here this
mornin'?" asked Hoss.
"That's right," Ben answered. “They took you home
to their farm and took care of you. When you were feeling better you
started working with Mr. Vandervoort in his fields. That's apparently
where you were the day I stopped by the farmhouse looking for you. I
described you to Mrs. Vandervoort, and she said she hadn't seen you."
Hoss had looked rather stunned listening to his father's
narrative. Now he looked, if possible, even more baffled. "Why
would she say that? I don't think I'm that hard to describe!"
Hoss managed a crooked grin.
"Well that what makes this whole business even a bit
sadder," sighed Ben. "It seems the Vandervoorts had lost their only
son. Since you didn't know who you were, Mrs. Vandervoort began thinking
of you as a replacement son. I only found this out later. I went
to see the doctor in the nearest town, and he told me he had treated someone
meeting your description at the Vandervoorts. We went out there together
and found they were packing to go back east, and they planned to take you
with them. Hoss, you looked right at me and didn't recognize me."
"Pa," Hoss said shakily, struggling with his disbelief.
"If’n I did that I am plum sorry. Can you forgive me?"
"Hoss, if you were blind, you wouldn't ask me to forgive
you for not seeing. Like I told you, amnesia is something like that.
" Even with his pa's reassuring words, Hoss still looked doubtful.
Ben went on with the story. "The doctor said that it would be dangerous
to your mind to tell you who you were if you didn't remember on your own.
He was very persuasive. Mrs. Vandervoort seemed to think that since
I have two other sons I could part with you more easily than I could if you
were my only child. But Hoss, that just isn't so. I hope you forgive
me for telling them that I wouldn't stand in the way of your going with them
if your memory didn't return on its own. I did persuade them to stop
by the Ponderosa on their way, hoping that seeing your brothers and familiar
sights might jog your memory. But it didn't seem to work. I thought
this morning that I was going to have to let you go. That's when I
knocked over your mother's picture and you got so angry. I guess somehow,
your fury broke through the cloud that was blocking your memory."
Now Ben, Adam and Joe sat quietly, not wanting to say
anymore until they heard how Hoss had reacted to this fantastic, but true,
tale.
"I really didn't recognize any of you fellers?" he asked.
"You didn't even recognize Chubby," answered Adam, with
a small smile. "That's when I really began to worry."
"Son, please don't believe that it was easy to decide
to let you go. But when I merely asked you last night if you would like
someone to be able to tell you who you were, you seemed so agitated and in
pain that I was convinced that we had to follow the doctor's advice.
And I had the Vandervoort's word that if you did start to remember they would
help you come home."
"Treating you like a stranger was one of the hardest
things I have ever had to do, big brother," said Joe. "I couldn't even
complain about how much food you took at dinner, since Pa taught us to always
be polite to guests."
"Yeah, well Pa never sends his guests out to finish buildin’
fences neither. So I guess I can jest loll about here now," Hoss announced,
grinning just a bit.
"Son, your status as guest has hereby ended. Go
with you brothers and work." Pa looked stern, but his eyes were twinkling.
A short time later, Ben stood in the yard watching his
three sons ride off together. He was fairly certain that despite his
outward good cheer, Hoss was still disturbed by what had happened. Ben
imagined that the gap in his memory, if it remained a gap, would always trouble
him. But Ben knew that Hoss was the most accepting of his three boys.
If there wasn't anything he could do to change things, then it wasn't his
way to brood. Ben offered a silent prayer of thanksgiving that his
family had weathered a totally unforeseeable storm and come through intact.
End
RETURN TO LIBRARY