Little Joe Does The Books ! OH NO !

By: Lynne G.

Ben Cartwright had been waiting for this day all month long, the day he finally finished up his monthly book work. He leaned back in his chair as he let out a big sigh of relief as he closed up the ledger book. He folded his hands behind his head and as he whispered a big, " thank goodness."

Doing his monthly book work wasn't one of Ben's favorite things to do, but he needed to do this each month.

Sometimes Ben's oldest son, Adam would do the book work to give Ben a break. It wasn't Adam's favorite thing either, but in order to keep everything running smoothly at the ranch, it needed to be done.

Ben's middle son, Hoss could help out with the book work if need be, but that rarely happened.

As Ben sat there relaxing with a cup of freshly brewed coffee that Hop Sing had just brought to him, he thought back to the day seven years earlier when his youngest son, then five year old Little Joe decided to surprise Ben and he did the book work that month.

Ben had to laugh as he thought about that day. Of course it wasn't one bit funny at the time, as Little Joe had totally messed up that monthly page in the ledger book.

Seven years earlier :

It was a cold rainy evening with a fairly strong north wind blowing, but inside the large log ranch home, it was warm and cozy with a blazing fire in the fireplace.

Wonderful smells of freshly baked cookie filled the air adding to the cozyness of the home.

Ben was sitting at his deck getting a headache as he tired to balance the books for that month of May. He had hoped that Adam would have been home that evening to help him, but he had a dinner date in Virginia City for the evening instead.

Hoss and Little Joe were playing a game of checkers in front of the fireplace on the over sized coffee table. As usual, Little Joe seemed to be winning most every game.

Little Joe had been taught to play checkers by his mother when he was four years old, and it was hard to beat this little boy, but every now and then, Little Joe could be beat.

On this evening, Hoss had managed to win one game, but in the back of his mind he thought that his baby had to be cheating. After all, a five year old wasn't suppost to be this good at playing checkers, or so Hoss thought.

As the boys played checkers, Ben was mumbling outloud about the numbers not adding up, and what a headache it was to do the monthly book work.

Little Joe thought his Papa was being funny about talking to the books and mumbling so much, but he didn't giggle outloud, which was hard for this little boy. He loved to giggle and he had a very silly giggle that made everyone laugh when they heard it.

As Little Joe sat there looking over the checker board, in his young mind, the child thought what can be so hard with doing book work, so he decided that when Ben wasn't around, then he would do the books and surprise his Papa.

This little boy was extremely bright and he could add up numbers, plus he could count to 200 as well. He was learning how to read, and he could write a little too.

A couple of days later while Ben was in Virginia City for a business meeting, Adam was out working on the ranch, and Hoss was in school. That left only Hop Sing and Little Joe at home.

Hop Sing was very busy in the kitchen while Little Joe was suppose to be taking his afternoon nap, but he wasn't sleepy, so he snuck out of his room and very quietly went down the stairs and over to Ben's desk, so he could do the book work.

Little Joe sat down on Ben's desk chair, but he could barely see over the top of the desk, so he got on his knees. Now he could see perfectly, which made him smile. Still being as quiet as possible, he slowly pulled open the top desk drawer.

He knew he wasn't suppose to be at Ben's desk, but since he wanted to surprise his Papa, he didn't think Ben would mind. At least he hoped his Papa wouldn't mind.

As he had pulled open the desk drawer he took out the ledger book and opened it to " May " the month that Ben was working on. Then he took out a stack of papers and a pencil. He wasn't allowed to use ink yet.

Little Joe looked at all the numbers on the page that were carefully written on each line of the page. He wasn't sure what all the words meant, but he didn't think that they could be that important as all the numbers were.

The child thought back to the week before when he and Ben had gone into Virginia City to get supplies. Ben had bought him some candy, so on one line on the page he wrote down the word, " kandy " then after the word, he put down " 10 cents." That took up two lines as he wrote rather large.

Happy with what he had just written down, he continued on. He wrote down " pnutz " because Ben had bought him some peanuts at the store as well. After the word " pnutz " he wrote down " 20 cents", but he really couldn't remember how much the peanuts did cost. That took another two lines on the page.

He wrote as neatly as he could and he thought that he did a good job of printing, even though he printed very large.

Then he wrote down the word, " lunch " since he and Ben had lunch while they were in town, but he had no idea of how much that cost so he wrote down, " 2 dollurz."

On a seperate sheet of paper, he added up his numbers. He used his tiny fingers to help him add up his numbers, and his answer was $2.30. In the book he wrote down, " 2 dollurz and 30 cents. He felt so proud of himself, that had a big grin on his sweet little face.

Then he decided that he would try to add up all the numbers that Ben had written on each line of page, and he thought outloud, " them numbers sure is big."

He looked at his tiny fingers and wondered how was he going to be able to count all those high numbers on his fingers. After all, he only had ten fingers.

Then it doned on him that if he counted ten fingers, then wrote down " ten ", he could count all the numbers that way. " Wow, whatta good idea I gots !"

As he was very busy writing down all his " tens ", he had his tongue sticking out of the corner of his. That seemd to make it easier to think, so he thought.

By the time Little Joe had finished counting " tens " and had written down all his " tens ", he ended up with several sheets of paper, plus the " tens " he had written on the " May " page of the book as well.

He added up all his " tens " and he wrote down " 200-10'z." " Oh Papa should be happy 'bout this," he thought to himself.

By now he was sleepy, so he carefully folded up all the sheets of paper that were full of " tens " and he laid them in the " May " page in the ledger book and he closed the book and he put the pencil away. Then he quietly and quickly went up to his room and very quietly closed his bedroom door. He felt so very proud of himself that he had actually finished his Papa's book work for him.

He laid down on his bed, put his thumb in his mouth and fell alseep with a smile on his face.

The next day Ben and Adam decided that they needed to try to finish up their May book work. " I guess we can't put it off any longer," Ben said. Adam smiled at Ben and replied, " guess not. It's too bad it can't do it's self." " That would be great !" Ben declared.

As soon as they looked at the ledger book on the desk, they noticed a lot of folded papers in the book. " Strange, I don't remember putting any folded papers in that book !" Ben nervously stated.

When he opened the book to where the folded papers were, he was totally shocked to see " tens " written all over the sheets of paper and also on the " May " page.

With a gasp, Adam said, " that looks like Little Joe's printing !" He continued to stare at his baby brother's handy work.

Ben just sat there with his mouth open and not believing what he was looking at. " There's " tens " on both sides of all these papers ! Oh no, I don't believe this ! I think I'm going to be sick ! Why would he do something like this Adam ? Just wait until I get my hands on that little bottom of his ! That boy !" Ben declared as he was almost shouting and he also felt like crying.

Adam sat there pinching the bridge of his nose, also feeling rather ill at that moment. " I guess we should be glad that he did this in pencil," Adam suggested as he continued to look at all the " tens " written everywhere.

As Ben slowly shook his head, he replied, " I guess so, but why did he write " tens " everywhere ?" " Could be that is how he counted up his numbers," Adam suggested.

As Adam read what Little Joe had written down, he had to laugh. " Pa, I know this isn't funny, but look how he spelled candy, peanuts and dollars. He also wrote down the word " lunch," Adam said as he showed Ben, as he chuckled.

" Look at this, he added up all his " tens " and look how he wrote that down, " 200-10'z," Ben told Adam as he had to smile at his baby boy's attemp to balance the books.

" Pa, can't you just picture him sitting here or, he was most likely kneeling on your chair in order to see over the top of the desk ? He probably had his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth too as he added up his " tens," Adam told Ben.

" Yes, you are probably correct about that son. I know I should laugh, but I can't. We're going to have to make a new page for May," Ben suggested.

Several minutes later, Little Joe came running into the house from playing outside. " Hi ya Papa, Adam ! the excited little boy squealed as he ran over to the desk.

" Hi yourself. Joseph, did you do the book work for us?" Ben asked as he looked at his bright eyed, curly haired imp.

Looking very proud of himself, Little Joe, replied happily, " Yes Papa. I dun did. I's wanted ta s'prise ya !" " You certainly did surprise us son, but you know that you aren't suppose to be at my desk or touch anything on desk, don't you ? I appreciate you helping me , but you made a mess in the book and I have to make a new page for May," Ben calmly told his little boy.

" I's sowee Papa. I's only wanted ta help ya," Little Joe replied as his big green eyes filled with tears. That look melted Ben's heart as well as Adam's too.

" I know I should punish you, but I'll let it go this time. Now don't do that again. Ok?" Ben said as he picked up his baby and held him on his lap. " I's won't Papa. I's pomise," the child softly sobbed.

" Oh, by the way sweetheart, why did you count in " tens ?" Ben asked. Adam was also wondering, even though he had an idea.

Taking a deep breath, Little Joe looked up at Ben with those puppy dog eyes and he began to explain why he did what he did.

" Well ya see Papa, I's only gots ten fingers ta count wiv, so dun wrotted down all my " tens " ta match all them numbers ya had in the book," the boy explained.

" Oh, I see," Ben said as he held in a laugh, but he did have a smile on his face as he listened to his son's answer. He continued to hug his little son as he kissed the top of that curly head of his. Adam shook his head at his baby brother's answer. The little boy could come up with the silliest answers.

Present time:

As Ben sat there remembering back to that day seven years ago, he was still laughing outloud when Adam and Hoss walked in the house.

" What's so funny Pa ?" Hoss asked as he looked at Ben. " Hi boys. I was just thinking back to that day seven years ago when your little brother decided to do the book work for me. Remember that Day?" Ben said.

With a big laugh, Adam replied, " Yes I do. Seems like only yesterday when he did that. He was so proud of himself too. That look on his face I don't think I will ever forget."

" Yeah I remember when ya showed me me little brother's book work. All them " tens " he had written everywhere. He was really a little mischief maker then, wasn't he?" Hoss said as he was laughing too.

" What do you mean " was " a mischief maker ? He still is !" Ben declared. " You can say that again," Adam added. " Ain't that the truth !" Hoss said agreeing with those statements.

As soon as Little Joe walked into the house, he could hear loud laughing. " Hey, what's so funny?" he asked, as he looked at his laughing family.

" You are little brother," Hoss laughed as he looked at his little brother. Both Ben and Adam shook their heads in agreement with what Hoss had just said.

Little Joe stood there looking at his family and wondering what in the world he had done that was so funny.

" Ok, so what did I do that is so funny anyway?" the boy asked, as he tried to think of something that maybe he had done that was funny.

" Son, do you remember when you were five years old and you decided to do the monthly book work for me ?" Ben asked . Looking very surprised, Little Joe said, " I did the books?"

" Yes you sure did. Here look," Ben suggested as he handed his confused son the "May " page and all the sheets of paper full of " tens."

With a gasp, Little Joe looked at the papers and he replied, " I remember these ! Golly Pa, I was only tryin' ta help ya out."

As he continued to look at the sheets of paper, he looked up at Ben with a sheeplishly look on his face, and he said softly, " I guess I didn't spell so good back then. I didn't know that you kept all those sheets of paper and that " May " page either Pa."

" Hey Pa, were ya surprise that I dun that for ya?" the boy added. Ben smiled at his youngest son, put his arm around the boy's shoulder, looked him in the eyes and replied, " yes, you could say that I was surprised alright, and so was your brother Adam."

" That's nice ta know," Little Joe said as he laughed. " Well, it wasn't funny at the time, but now when I think back to that day, I have to laugh," Ben said as he hugged his son. " Oh by the way, how was school today?" Ben added.

" The same as always. Hey Pa, want me ta do the books for ya this month?" the boy asked as he gave his father one of his prize winning smiles.

With a look of horror on his face, Ben declared, " No thank you !" " Are ya sure 'bout that Pa?" Little Joe asked again as he was laughing. " We're sure !" Ben, Adam and Hoss replied together.

" Golly, I sure do feel hurt ," Little Joe said trying to look sad, but he started to giggle at the looks on his family's faces, which caused his family to laugh at the boy's silly giggle.

" Oh little brother, I swear that there ain't another boy in the world who is as silly as you are. That giggle of yours is a one of a kind," Hoss announced as he suddenly grabbed hold of his little brother and held him down on the floor and he began to tickle him.

Ben and Adam joined in tickling Little Joe. Very loud giggling and laughing could be heard through out the house, and cries of " help " too.

Little Joe couldn't get away from this tickling torture. He was trying to hold his stomach without much success. The tears were rolling down his face from giggling so hard as his family continued to tickle him mercilessly.

Hop Sing walked out of the kitchen to see what in the world was going on with all the loud giggling and laughing coming from the livingroom, along with some cries for " help " too.

As Hop Sing stood there watching " his " family playing on the floor, he couldn't help but to smile along. " Hop Sing love silly family !" Hop Sing said to himself as he continued to watch the tickling torture of the youngest Cartwright.

The End.

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