Hop Sing's bad (Little Joe) Day

By: Lynne G.

It had been a very busy week for Hop Sing so far. Besides doing his usual daily chores, he also had to make sure that ten year old Little Joe stayed in bed, which wasn't an easy thing to do.

The little boy had a very bad cold and had been in bed for over a week. His family had caught the youngster sneaking out of bed several times during the past few days, with his bad cough giving him away.

One this particular day, Hop Sing had planned to finish the last of the laundry. He saved all the bed linens and towels until Fridays. He had also planned to do some baking that day as well.

Hop Sing had certain chores planned for each day of the week, and each chore had it's own time for the day. He always made sure that he had extra time just in case some chores took longer to do.

Even though Little Joe didn't feel well, Hop Sing thought that if he let the boy help him some this day, that it just might make him feel even better. Hop Sing told himself that if the boy began to get tired then he would make him go and lay down.

Ben, Adam, and Hoss were going to be gone for most of the day. Ben needed to go to Carson City on business, while Adam and Hoss went out looking for stray cattle.

Hop Sing had already asked Ben if it was alright with him if Little Joe could help him with some chores, and Ben thought that that was a good idea. Ben knew that Hop Sing would take good care of the boy and make sure that he didn't over do and get over tired.

" Thanks fer lettin' me be out of bed taday Hop Sing. It feels good ta be out of that bed fer a while," Little Joe gratefully told Hop Sing.

Hop Sing smiled at the boy and said, " You welcome, but if you start to feel tired, you go lay down. Hop Sing not want little boy to get too tired. You eat breakfast now."

Little Joe wasn't very hungry, plus he couldn't taste anything because his head was so plugged up from his cold. " Ok Hop Sing, I'll eat as much as I can, but I can't taste nuffin' cuz my head is plugged up," the youngster explained.

The boy managed to eat some of his breakfast, and then he took his dishes out to the kitchen, washed them and put them away for Hop Sing.

" Hop Sing I washed my dishes and put em away," the boy said as he smiled at Hop Sing. " You good boy. That help Hop Sing much. You want to help Hop Sing do some laundry ?" Hop Sing asked.

" Sure. Whatcha want me ta do ?" the youngster asked as he looked up at Hop Sing as Hop Sing was rinsing a bed sheet.

" You help Hop Sing wring out sheets, then we take them outside to hang up on clothesline to dry," Hop Sing explained. The boy nodded.

After they had hung up several sheets on the line with some towels, Hop Sing told Little Joe that he still had one more set of sheets to wash along with the pillowcases.

Little Joe had gone to get the last sheet and pillowcases for Hop Sing, while Hop Sing was bent over the laundry tub scrubbing one of the sheets on the washboard.

When Little Joe returned to the washroom with his arms full of pillowcases and the last sheet, he tripped and accidently ran into Hop Sing which knocked Hop Sing head first into the laundry tub sending water and soap suds in every direction.

A shocked Hop Sing shouted, " What you do, try to drown Hop Sing ? Why you push Hop Sing in laundry tub ?"

Little Joe stood there shocked at what he had done to poor Hop Sing, then he started to giggle as Hop Sing stood up dripping wet and with soap suds all over his head and face.

" I'm so sorry Hop Sing. I tripped, honest I did. Ya alright ?" the boy nervously asked as he went to help Hop Sing out of the tub.

" Little boy get away from Hop Sing ! You clean up floor while Hop Sing get out of wet clothes !" Hop Sing ordered as he glared at Little Joe.

" Um..um, what do I use ta dry the floor with?" the boy sheepishly asked. Hop Sing turned around and again glared at the boy and he suggested that he use the last sheet that the boy had been holding when he tripped.

Little Joe nodded and he sort of waved at Hop Sing and he tried to look as innocent as possible, but Hop Sing had just slammed his bedroom door shut so he could change his clothes.

Little Joe stood there with a silly look on his face as loud Chinese could be heard coming from Hop Sing's room and that caused the boy to start to giggle again, which caused him to start to cough loudly.

Little Joe was able to get the floor nice and dry. He took the sheet that Hop Sing had been washing before he ended up in the laundry, and he wrung it out the best he could, then he took it outside and hung it up on the line.

The youngster then took the sheet he used to dry the floor and he put it in the laundry tub and he started to scrub it on the washboard the best he could.

Hop Sing came out of his room with his wet clothes in hand and he went outside to hang them on the line before coming back into the washroom to finish up the last of the laundry.

Little Joe smiled at Hop Sing, but Hop Sing didn't smile back.

Little Joe walked up to Hop Sing, looked up at him and softly said, " Hop Sing, I didn't mean ta trip and fall inta ya. Please, please fer give Hop Sing ." He started to cough again.

Hop Sing looked down at the boy who looked so sad. He smiled at the youngster and said, " Hop Sing forgive boy." Little Joe coughed again.

Hop Sing gave Little Joe some cough medicine before they finished the last of the laundry. " Thank you Hop Sing," the boy replied as he made a funny face at the awful tasting cough medicine, which caused Hop Sing to chuckle.

Little Joe helped Hop Sing get all the laundry tubs emptied out and once that was finished, Hop Sing told Little Joe that he was going to make some cookies.

" Oh boy cookies ! What can I do ta help ya now Hop Sing ?" the boy excitedly asked as he gave Hop Sing a big smile.

" You go get six eggs for Hop Sing," Hop Sing requested. " Ok !" Little Joe was feeling a little light headed from the cough medicine, but he didn't tell Hop Sing about that.

As Little Joe carefully laid the eggs on the table, he accidently dropped two of them causing them to break on the floor. " Uh oh !" the boy softly mumbled.

" Why you drop eggs? Little boy always make mess for Hop Sing. Go get more eggs !" Hop Sing ordered.

As soon as Little Joe came back in with more eggs, Hop Sing quickly but carefully took them away from the boy, so they wouldn't get broken too.

" Go get cookie sheets for Hop Sing please," Hop Sing asked. As Little Joe bent down to get get the cookies sheets out of the cupboard, he accidently knocked over some pots and pans and they crashed to the floor. " Dadburnit !"

" What you do now ?" Hop Sing asked as he looked over to where the boy was getting off the floor. " Dadburnit. Sorry Hop Sing, but yer pots and pans attacked me, and I dunt do nuffin' to em. They just attacked me fer no reason. Here's yer cookie sheets," the boy said as he handed the cookie sheets to Hop Sing. " Sure pots and pans attacked little boy," Hop Sing thought to himself.

Little Joe stood there again giving Hop Sing one of his best smiles. Hop Sing slowly shook his head and very softly mumbled in Chinese.

" Whatcha want me ta do now Hop Sing?" the boy asked as he yawned. " You go lay down," Hop Sing suggested. " Ah Hop Sing, I ain't tired, 'sides I wanna help ya," the boy said.

" Ok, you stay out of Hop Sing's way !" Hop Sing suggested. A soft " Dadburnit " could be heard, which caused Hop Sing to smile as he stood there with his back to Little Joe while he was busy measuring out the flour for the cookies.

Hop Sing didn't realize that Little Joe was standing right behind him so when he turned around and walked towards the table, he ran into the boy knocking both of them to the floor and the bowl of flour go flying which covered both Little Joe and Hop Siing in flour.

" Why you trip Hop Sing ? Look at BIG MESS ! Hop Sing covered in flour ! Little boy covered in flour !" Hop Sing angrily shouted.

" Ya tripped yerself ! Whatcha knock me over fer ? It's yer fault Hop Sing !" Little Joe told Hop Sing rather loudly. " Not Hop Sing's fault ! Little boy cause much mischief !" Hop Sing scolded.

Hop Sing finally got the flour mess cleaned up including himself and Little Joe. " Hop Sing going to lock little boy in cage for own good and to keep out of Hop Sing's way," Hop Sing told himself.

Finally after the cookies were done, so Hop Sing asked Little Joe to go and please get him a bucket of water so he could heat it up on the stove to replace the water that he was about to use to wash the cookie sheets.

" Here's the water Hop Sing," Little Joe said as he was about to hand it off to Hop Sing, but he dropped the bucket and water went all over the floor.

Taking a deep breath and slowly counting to ten in his head, Hop Sing looked at the boy. " Why you hate Hop Sing ? Little boy nothing but trouble today ! Make BIG MESSES for Hop Sing ! Hop Sing go back to China !" Hop Sing loudly ranted.

" S...sorry Hop Sing, but ya was 'spose ta take the bucket from me," Little Joe said as he began to backup out of Hop Sing's reach, as Hop Sing looked extremely angry at that moment, but the youngster slipped on the wet floor and he fell over backwards and landed in the water that had puddled on the floor. " Dadburnit !" the boy softly mumbled.

" Now you wet ! Go get out of wet clothes and into dry ones ! Then you STAY out of Hop Sing's kitchen !" Hop Sing suggested as he pointed towards the back stairs.

Little Joe quickly left the kitchen with towel in hand and he ran up to his room. Hop Sing mumbled as he had to dry the floor and get more water to heat up. " Where cage when Hop Sing need one ?" Hop Sing declared as he slowly shook his head.

Several minutes later, with damp towel and wet clothes in hand, Little Joe slid down the banister on the stairs. He loved to do that, but only when Ben wasn't home. He knew that he wasn't allowed to do that, but it was so much fun to slid down that banister.

Little Joe took his wet clothes and towel outside to hang them up on the clothesline as Hop Sing had ordered him to do.

" Great, ain't no room ta hang this stuff," the boy mumbled, so he decided to move one of the sheets so he could hang up his clothes and the towel. As he was attempting to move the sheet, he accidently dropped the sheet on the ground.

" Uh oh !" He quickly looked around to make sure that Hop Sing didn't see what he had just done. He quickly picked up the sheet and was very relieved to see that it didn't get dirty. He hung up his clothes and towel and rehung the sheet too. Then he went back into the kitchen.

Hop Sing picked up a small rug that he had in front of the sink and he handed it to Little Joe, and he asked the boy to please take the rug outside and shake it out for him.

" Sure thing Hop Sing. I'd be glad ta do that fer ya," the boy agreed as he took the rug outside.

After the rug had been shaken out, Little Joe decided to surprise Hop Sing by washing the rug. So he carried the rug over to the pump and he held the rug under the water as it ran out of the pump. Then he wrung it out the best he could.

He felt so proud of himself for washing the rug for Hop Sing. " Now the rug is nice and clean too. I bet Hop Sing will be so surprised that his rug is clean now," Little Joe said to himself.

Little Joe walked over to the clothesline where Hop Sing was now taking down the dried laundry and placing them into the laundry basket.

Hop Sing heard the boy coming towards him so he looked at the boy and couldn't believe what he saw. There was his rug, all wet being held by a proud looking Little Joe.

" What you do to Hop Sing's rug ?" Hop Sing asked, almost afraid to hear what the boy would say this time.

" I washed it fer Hop Sing, and now Imma gonna hang it up fer ya so it can get dry," Little Joe explained as he smiled at Hop Sing who was glaring back at the boy.

Taking a deep breath, Hop Sing angrily said, " Rug NOT need washing. Only needed to be SHAKEN OUT !"

" I was only tryin' ta help out is all. Sorry !" Little Joe softly said. Hop Sing grabbed the rug and hung it up, then he grabbed Little Joe's arm and pulled the boy back in the house and sat him down on the settee.

" You stay put till family come home !" Hop Sing ordered as he pointed at the boy. Looking as sad as he could, Little Joe looked up at Hop Sing and he was about to say something in his own defense, but he started to cough again, plus he was feeling very tired all of a sudden.

Hop Sing went to get some more cough medicine for Little Joe and he spooned it into the boy's mouth. Little Joe started to make a funny look on his face and he shook his head back and forth fast as the awful tasting medicine went down his throat. " YUCK !"

" You lay down and rest now. You very tired !" Hop Sing told the boy who was yawning over and over and he was also having trouble keeping is eyes open.

Little Joe stretched out on the settee and fell asleep. Hop Sing smiled at the sleeping boy, and he took the boy's boots off then he covered him up with a nice warm quilt. " Sleep well little one ," Hop Sing softly said as he leaned and gave the boy a gentle kiss on his forehead.

Hop Sing went back to the kitchen, sat down at the small table, with a cup of hot tea and a couple of cookies.. He still had a few minutes before he needed to start dinner. He was truely enjoying his much needed break from Little Joe.

After Hop Sing had finished his tea and cookies, he went to check on Little Joe to make sure the boy was still sleeping and still covered up. He certainly didn't want the boy to help him make dinner the the same way he had helped him all day.

As he stood there watching the boy sleeping, he had to smile as he thought back on this day.

" Even though little boy cause much mischief today, he still good boy. Hop Sing still love little boy very much," Hop Sing softly said outloud, as he gave the boy a gentle kiss, before he went back out to the kitchen to start dinner.

The End

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