Two Innocent Boys
Seven year old Little Joe, and his twelve year old brother Hoss, had spent the afternoon digging a deep hole behind the woodshed.
Little Joe wanted to dig to China and see if people there really walked on their head.
Hoss thought they were digging for gold. (That was Joe's idea to get Hoss to help him dig the hole.)
It had been a long hot day, both boys were hungry and tired, so they decided to come back after supper.
They climbed the ladder that led to the top of the hole. Hoss turned and looked at it and said."We don't want no poor animal fallin' into it.
Joe pipe up "Or no ONE, 'specially not Pa.
The boys found an old piece of tin and placed it over the hole.
After supper, they rushed back to their goldmine. There was a peculiar odor in the air.
Hoss slowly peeled back one end of the tin and sure enough, there was a polecat in their hole. He quickly dropped the tin back.
They could see where it had dug its way under the tin. .Hoss scratched
his head trying to think of a way to get the polecat out of their goldmine,
without getting any of its 'perfume' on them.
"Hoss, what if we lassoed it, with its tail tied down tight, it wouldn't spray us right?" Joe asked
"Why Joe, I think you got a right fine idee there, but who we gonna get to rope it?"
Joe giggled, "Adam! if we say it to him in the right way, I betcha he would rope it for us and drag it outta there."
So the boys found a rope and went off in search of Adam their older, much wiser brother.
"Hey Adam," Joe began, "Ya reckon you can rope say, a dog?"Joe winked at Hoss.
Adam put down his book. "What do you boys got in mind? Why would
I need to rope a dog?"
"Well, it's not really a dog," Hoss ventured "it's more of a ...cat"
Adam smiled at his two younger brothers. "I am sure I could rope a cat. What's the problem, that requires roping a cat?
Joe and Hoss chimed in "We'll show ya" and they led Adam to the hole hoping he didn't notice the odor.
Adam sniffed the air, "Boys, I sure don't want anywhere near that,
whoo wheee.
Joe and Hoss just looked at each other big eyed.
Adam saw the tin on the ground. "Hey what are you boys doin? What you got this piece of tin here for?"
Don't..." is all Hoss got out before Adam jerked up the piece of tin. The wind grabbed it, spun the tin, and dumped
Adam into the hole with the polecat. The moment Adam disappeared into the
hole the two younger boys lit
out to hide.
Adam saw a movement. He stared as he couldn't believe he was looking at a polecat's backside ready to spray.
Adam rushed to the ladder and missed the rungs completely as he barked the hide off his shin.
He found the rung on the second try and sprang upwards. He didn't remember touching any rungsof the ladder as he shot out of that hole.
He was covered in spray as he coughed and gagged his eyes stinging with
the fumes.
Hoss and Little Joe peeked out from behind the pile of rocks where they were hiding. They had to cover their nose and mouth with the collar of their shirts. Adam looked mad so they ducked back down.
It isn't really our fault that Adam wouldn't listen to us was it? “Hoss asked whispering
"How young does the Foreign Legion let ya join?" Joe wondered whispering too.
They both hunkered down trying to figure out how to get to Pa and safety before Adam caught them.
"Maybe we should just run away" Hoss suggested.
"Good Idea" was Joe's reply.
Adam staggered blindly to the house, "Paaaaa,” he hollered. "You better find them two youngest sons of your's before I become an only child!"The tears rolled down his cheeks from his burning eyes.
Pa came running out of the house. "Land Sakes son, what did you do? You smell.... well like skunk!" Pa covered his nose and hollered for HopSing. "Get the tub and fill it with hot water, Adam's had a run in with a polecat."
Adam spluttered, "No, I had a run in with Hoss and Little Joe, this is all their fault! They need to be tanned for a week and then when they think they can sit again, they need to be tanned again!"
Ben chuckled at that. No matter what the two younger boys did, there was no way he would inflict that sort of punishment on his boys.
“Now Adam, you know it wasn’t like they planned this. They are just boys.” Pa tried not to chuckle.
It was nearly dark as Hoss and Little Joe ventured further into the woods.
Little Joe was afraid of the dark, and he kept a small candle and matches
with him for such emergencies. They were safely on his night table.
Little Joe grabbed Hoss’ shirt tail and followed as close behind as he could
"Little Joe, you’re stranglin' me! Let go of my shirt tail." Hoss
tried to shake him loose. Joe just clung tighter.
The boys had to watch their footing as they crossed an old rotten log that bridged a wild raging stream Deeper into the woods they plunged.
Joe held tight to Hoss. "HHHoss..." Joe tugged at Hoss shirt tail. "Ya don't reckon there's bears and cougars out here do ya?"
Hoss stopped dead in his tracks. "Why?' he whispered, did you hear somethin?...How about we just stay in the barn tonight, an we can run away tomorra?" Hoss suggested.
Joe was already headed back the way they came.
Hoss caught up with him in no time. "Let me lead the way Joe, me
bein older and all" He pushed his way ahead of Joe. They were finally
on the rotten log again.
“We gotta be careful Joe, hang onto me, I don't want ya fallin off into the creek here.
Joe went to grab Hoss shirt tail when out of the corner of his eye he saw....A BEAR!!!
He ran right over the top of Hoss, skipping across the rotten log. He was running all out until suddenly he realized, bears don't fly. It was a bat he had seen. He started to slow down as he giggled. Suddenly right behind him he heard the BEAR!! He took off running, The bear was right behind him gaining on him, he could hear it grunting . He ran harder, the bear was right on him he could feel it breathin down his neck. He put more steam on and that bear was right THERE!!!He breathlessly slammed the door open of the house, He could only gasp and point and about that time the bear came thru the door. It was huge! It was ugly! It was ...
Hoss. " Hoss!!!" Joe gasped "Where's ... the ... bear ...?"
Hoss gasped out, "Is that ... what ... was .. chasin' ... us ...? I never saw it, but I felt you run right up my back and over my head and take off like the devil was behind us. I didn't have time ta ask ya what it was, I was hard put to keep up with ya."
Little Joe looked at Hoss, "Keep up with me? But the .... and it
dawned on Joe. The bear was Hoss all along.
Adam stood at the top of the stairs when the boys came in and started chuckling
as he heard their short discussion about the bear.. His chuckle soon turned
into laughter as he realized both boys were running from their over active
imaginations.
Ben doubled over roaring with laughter as Adam joined him.
“Adam, I think they punished themselves” Pa said as he wiped his eyes.
“ Pa, nothing you could do to them compares to this.” Adam agreed still laughing.
by Nicki Beau
nickibeau@yahoo.com