BAD BOY JOE
by
Lynne C.

Ben Cartwright, owner of the Ponderosa ranch, and father to Adam, Hoss
and Little Joe, was away on a business trip, in Sacramento. He'd left
the ranch, and his two younger boys, in the very capable hands of his
eldest son, Adam.

Now, as far as Hoss was concerned, Ben and Adam were practically one
and the same person, when it came to running the ranch, and so which
of them was at the helm, didn't really bother him. He did his chores,
and he did them well, whoever was in charge, and he had no problem
taking orders from a big brother, rather than from his father. He
respected Adam's ability to run the place as well as Ben did, and so
caused no problems for Adam.

Joe, however, was a very different prospect, than his older brother,
Hoss. He couldn't see why he should take orders from a mere brother
and so regarded Pa's trip away, as an opportunity to get away with
doing as little as possible.
Little Joe was in his last year at school, so he had an excuse for not
doing as much work as Hoss. Every day, Monday to Friday, from nine
until three, Joe was meant to be in the classroom, under the watchful
eye of Miss Jones.

The rest of the time, he was supposed to be on the ranch, doing his
share of the chores, and he soon found out, within two days of Ben
going away, that it was going to be well nigh impossible for him to do
anything else. Adam was determined that Joe was going to pull his
weight and, on most days, he contrived to have Joe working with him,
thus not giving Joe the opportunity to sneak off.

So, Joe soon realised that if he wanted some time to himself, he was
going to have to play hooky from school, in order to get it. He banked
on the fact that Adam would stay well clear of the school, as Miss
Abigail Jones had an enormous crush on the eldest Cartwright son, a
crush that was, most definitely, not reciprocated. Therefore, it was
extremely unlikely that Adam would ever call at the school, to meet
Joe, at the end of the day, nor would he ride in with him, and if Miss
Jones should send a note home, asking about Joe's absences, Joe was
optimistic that he could intercept the note, as his friend Mitch was
likely to deliver it to the ranch, and forge a reply, saying that Joe
had had to stay home to help out with the chores, seeing as how Ben
was away.

So, each morning, Joe would leave home, and then, when out of sight of
the house, he would take off, and spend the day doing more fun things,
like hunting, swimming and riding Cochise.

However, after a few days, spending every day on his own, became a bit
boring. He tried to persuade some of his friends to play truant with
him, but Mitch was working hard to stay out of trouble, as his father
had promised him a trip to San Francisco, in the summer break, if he
behaved himself. And Johnny was laid up at home, with a broken leg,
after falling out of a tree, and Joe could hardly go and visit him,
when he was supposed to be in school.

The only one who was available was Seth. The boy was a couple of years
older than Joe, so had already left school, and he was supposed to be
working for his father, but Mr Pruitt was very lenient and didn't
expect his son to do as much work as Ben did his sons.
Mind you, even Joe thought it was wrong that Seth did so little work,
as it hardly taught the boy to be responsible and to have any self
respect, by earning his own money. But, Joe was also rather jealous
that Seth had so much more free time than he did.

Joe decided to go and look for Seth, and he eventually found him, in a
rather small saloon, tucked away on C Street. The older boy was
playing poker, and when he saw Joe, he urged the boy to join him.

"Come on, Joe, you know how much you love to play," said Seth.

"Well, yeah, I do, but I ain't got any money with me, and I'm not
properly dressed, either."

Seth and the other men who were playing were all dressed in their suits.

As soon as he could, Seth excused himself from the game and joined Joe
at an empty table.

"Get yourself home, get some money, put your suit on, then come back
and join us. Those two I am playing with are only in town, for a few
days, and they are the worst players I've ever come across, yet seem
convinced they are brilliant at the game. They seem to have an endless
supply of money and most of it is finding its way into my pocket. The
only thing they insist on is that anyone who plays against them,
dresses smartly, in a suit."

Joe was very tempted, as he did love to play poker, but didn't get the
chance, that often. At fifteen, his father felt that Joe was too young
to be going into saloons and playing, and he had ordered that none of
the ranch hands were allowed to play against him, either, as he didn't
want Joe getting to like the game, too much.

"Well, I'm supposed to be in school, but if I go home, now, Adam and
Hoss will be out on the range and I know that Hop Sing is going to
visit one of his cousins, so I should be able to sneak in, get some
money and get changed, before anyone spots me. Okay, I'll be as quick
as I can."

Joe ran outside, and was soon in the saddle, racing home to the ranch.

Luck was on his side, as there wasn't anyone in the house, and none of
the ranch hands were in the yard, or in the bunkhouse.
He soon had his best suit on, but he took his other clothes, with him,
so that he could change back into them, before going home, later on.

`Don't wanna make Adam and Hoss suspicious, by turning up in my suit,'
he thought.

He then checked in the bottom of his closet, to see how much money he
had stashed away inside one of his boots.

He tipped it out on the bed and was disappointed to discover that he
had less than ten dollars.

`Won't be able to play in a high class game like that one, for long,
with such a small amount of money,' he thought. `I know, I'll borrow
some of the emergency money Pa left in the safe.'

Just before he'd left, Ben had told Adam that there was a few hundred
dollars in the safe, if an emergency should arise.

"I doubt if you'll have to use it, but it's there, just in case," said
Ben.

`Well, this is an emergency,' thought Joe. `I can't play poker,
without a stake. By tomorrow, I'll be able to return what I borrowed,
and have a tidy profit, stashed in my boot. I am doing those men a
favour, they are itching to have a poker lesson, from a master, and
are happy to pay for it. The least I can do, is oblige them.'

So, with that thought in mind, Joe went downstairs, unlocked the safe,
and helped himself to one hundred dollars.

It didn't take Joe long to return to town. He took Cochise over to the
livery stable, not wishing to advertise his presence, by leaving the
horse tied up outside the saloon.

"See ya later, Cooch," he said, and he headed off to the saloon.

Seth and the men were still playing and they seemed happy to have Joe
join them, although one of the men did say that Joe looked a bit young
to be playing in such rich company.

"You need to have a stash of cash to sit down at this table, son."

Joe said nothing, but laid his money down on the table.

The man said, "Oh well, in that case, please join us."

It soon became apparent that these men were much better poker players
than Seth had said they were. Although, to be fair to Seth, they had
set him up, and had only appeared to be bad at the game, when the
stakes were fairly low. As each pot became worth a lot more, both Seth
and Joe were heavy losers. To make matters worse, the older men had
given the boys several shots of whisky, and this didn't help either of
them concentrate on the game.

However, Joe was reluctant to give up, as he was desperate to win back
his father's money, so he kept hoping that the next hand was going to
see his luck changing. But it was not to be, and, before long, he was
down to his last five dollars, and Seth wasn't doing much better, either.

"This is all I've got left, fellas," said Joe. "So, I will have to get
going. Thanks for the game."

"I'll havta go, too," said Seth, and both boys stood up, and began
swaying, finding it rather hard to keep their balance, after all that
they had drunk.

"Thank you, boys," said the older of the two men. "We have very much
enjoyed your company."

There was nothing that Joe could do, but leave. The men had won his
father's money, fairly, so he had no one to complain to.

Once he got outside the saloon, he did, however, turn on Seth.

"You told me they were lousy players, and that I could beat `em,
easily, so I borrowed some of my Pa's money, and now I've lost it all.
Thanks a lot, friend."

"I'm sorry, Joe," said Seth. "I've lost, too. They were obviously
conning me, by letting me win the small pots, but when the stakes got
higher, they showed their true colours."

Joe knew that it wasn't really Seth's fault, as the older boy hadn't
forced him to play, but he needed to vent his anger on someone.

"Never mind, Seth, I guess it wasn't all your fault. I best head for
home, as school's about to turn out, and Adam and Hoss will be
expecting me. I'll see you around."

"Yeah, see you, Joe."

The boy went along the street and collected Cochise from the livery
stable. He was just about to leave town, when he heard the
unmistakeable voice of his father, calling out to him.

"JOSEPH, wait up son."

Joe turned around and could see his father heading towards him, riding
a horse that he must have hired from the livery stable.

He fixed a smile on his face and said, "Oh hi Pa, wasn't expecting you
back, today."

"Hi, son. I managed to conclude my business earlier than I thought I
would, so decided to head for home. Hotels are all right, but home is
best."

"I was just heading for home, myself," said Joe.

"Thought I might bump into you, if the stage was on time," said Ben.
"But why did you wear your new suit to school, son?"

"Oh, yeah, my new suit."

Joe cursed himself, under his breath, for not changing his clothes, in
the livery stable.

"It was one of Miss Jones' crazy ideas, she said we oughta look a bit
smarter, when we went to school."

"She did, did she?" said Ben. "Well, how come when I went by the
school, to meet you, no one else was all dressed up, and you weren't
even there?"

"Ahh, you've been to the school, have you, Pa?"

"Yes, son, I have. It seemed the obvious place to go, when I was
planning on picking you up, as that was where you were supposed to be.
But, Miss Jones informed me that you hadn't been in school, all week.
She was getting quite concerned and was planning on going out to the
ranch, tomorrow, to see what the problem was. I assured her that you
would be back in school, tomorrow, so she wouldn't have to make the trip."

Despite his father's obvious anger with him, Joe couldn't resist a
little giggle, at this news.

"Oh, I bet she's mad you said that, as she was probably hoping to go
out and see Adam."

"Whether or not that is the case, is none of your concern, Joseph. You
should be concentrating on explaining to me just what has been going
on, while I have been away."

"I'll explain everything, once we get home, Pa," said Joe, who didn't
really want to have his father shouting at him, in the middle of town.

"Very well, let's get going," said Ben.

As they rode home, Joe was desperately trying to think of the best way
to explain to his father, what he'd been doing, so that he could keep
his hide intact, but the nearer he got to the ranch, the worse things
began to look.

`I don't think it'll matter what I say, but maybe I can win him over
with the way I look,' thought Joe.

He practised, as he rode along, and hoped he'd perfected his most
winning expression.

`I hope this look convinces Pa.'

When they arrived at the ranch, Adam came out to greet them.

"Hi, Pa, good to have you back," he said, to Ben, reaching up and
shaking his father's hand.

He then looked over at Joe.

"Maybe the fact that there's a hundred dollars missing from the safe,
has something to do with why you are wearing a suit, little brother.
And you can wipe that pathetic expression off your face, because it's
not going to work with me."

Before he thought things through, properly, Joe blurted out, "Pa's
back, now, and the look was for him, not you. I know you're far too
hard hearted to be moved by my remorse, but Pa's not," and Joe looked
over at his father.

Ben chose to ignore the look and said, "Did you say there's a hundred
dollars missing from the safe, Adam?"

"Yes, Pa, there is. One hundred of the money you left, to cover
emergencies. I opened the safe to put away some papers, earlier on,
and I noticed that the money had been moved. So, I checked it, and
there is one hundred dollars missing."

"Let's all go into the house," said Ben. "I have a feeling that I am
going to need a pot of very strong coffee, to get to the bottom of all
of this."

They went inside, and Adam made some coffee, as Hop Sing wasn't home.

Once the coffee was made, and Ben had a cup in front of him, he had
Joe tell him the whole story, starting with him playing truant from
school.

"Adam was working me, so hard, each day, Pa, that I was too tired to
go to school, so I took a few days off. Mostly, I've just been
swimming and hunting, but today I was bored being on my own, so I went
into town and met up with Seth."

"Ah, Seth, I might have known that he would be involved in all of
this," said Ben, who wasn't keen on Joe being friends with the boy.
"So what did Seth get you to do?"

"He didn't get me to do, anything," said Joe, not wanting to put the
blame on his friend. "I'm my own man, I make my own decisions. He was
playing poker and I decided to join him, but I had to come home,
first, and get dressed up, and fetch some money. Seth reckoned that
the men he was playing with, were hopeless at the game, and I was
bound to win, so I borrowed the money out of the safe. But, they were
better than Seth thought and I lost it all. I'm sorry, Pa."

"Thank you for at least being honest with me," said Ben. "I'm very
glad that you didn't try and lie your way out of this mess."

"Well, he might not have lied about what he did, but he did lie about
me," said Adam. "I didn't work him that hard. I only expected him to
do the same chores that you expect him to do."

"I'm sure you did, son," said Ben. "I think that Joe just said that to
try and make me feel a bit sorry for him. Am I right, Joseph?"

"Yes, sir, you're right," said Joe, resigned to his fate. "I just
wanted some time off school and so I took the chance while you weren't
here, to play hooky. I guess you're pretty mad with me, huh?"

"Yes, I am, young man," said Ben. "Go up to your room and I'll be up,
in a short while, to deal with you."

Once Joe had gone, Adam said, "I'm sorry, Pa. Obviously, I wasn't
keeping a close enough eye on him, but short of taking him and
collecting him, from school, each day, I don't know what else I could
have done."

"Don't worry about it, son. You know your little brother as well as I
do, he's a master at getting what he wants, and he often manages to
outfox, even me, although I usually catch on to what he's doing,
eventually, and I'm sure you would have done so, too. In fact, when I
called at the school, this afternoon, Miss Jones said she was planning
to come and see you, tomorrow, concerning his absenteeism."

"Thank goodness you got back when you did, then," said Adam, and Ben
laughed.

"Joe said you would be relieved that she didn't have to come and see you."

Before Ben went upstairs, to deal with his youngest, he had another
cup of coffee and had Adam give him a run down of all that had
happened, on the ranch, while he'd been away.

"Everything's run smoothly, Pa, so at least you have no problems to
deal with, around the ranch."

"Thanks, Adam, but then I know that I can trust you to take care of
things."

Ben could not put it off, any longer, and he went upstairs to talk to
Joe. Well, in truth, he didn't do that much talking, as that had
already been done, but he did let Joe know how angry he was. And Joe
also ended up knowing that the only way he would be getting a good
night's sleep was by lying on his stomach, that night.

"The tanning was your punishment for playing truant from school," said
Ben. "We still need to address the matter of the hundred dollars you
stole from my safe, and where you went to lose it. You know that you
are not allowed to go into a saloon, without me, or one of your
brothers being with you. You will be confined to the ranch, apart from
going to school, until you have done enough extra chores to repay the
money you took. And, until you can be trusted to go where you are
supposed to be going, one of us will accompany you to and from school,
each day. Now, get that suit off, put your everyday clothes on, and go
and do your chores."

"Yes, Pa, I will, and I am sorry," said Joe, and Ben gave the boy a
hug. "I'm glad you're home, but I just wish you'd given me a nicer
coming home present," and the boy rubbed his backside.

"And I wish you would learn to behave yourself," said Ben.

"Ah, Pa, you wouldn't want me to be any different than I am, now would
you?"

"In truth, son, I don't think I would," said Ben.

THE END

Little Joe forever
March 25th 2007

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