Entertaining Angels
By: Rona Y.
It had been a hard winter
so far. Christmas was but days away and nobody on the Ponderosa had been able
to get into town for weeks. There were presents waiting in the mercantile to be
collected and although they were well stocked up on basic food stuffs, there
were one or two less usual items that Hop Sing wanted to get to make Christmas
dinner extra special.
At last, they woke, three
days before Christmas, to find the sun glinting off the pure-white snow. It was
amazing how the reappearance of that golden orb in the sky could lift all their
spirits. Tempers, that had been hair-triggered for the last few weeks, were
suddenly restored to their normal equilibrium.
Until breakfast, that was.
“No,” Ben Cartwright said,
flatly and nobody who heard him doubted that he meant it.
“But, Pa…” the chorus began
around the table.
“There are things we need
from town,” Adam, the oldest, suggested calmly.
“There are things we would like from town,” Ben corrected him. “But
we don’t ‘need’ anything. We have enough food to see us through till spring.”
“But Hop Sing was just
sayin’ the other day that he was wantin’…” Hoss offered, hoping that this
tempting thought of culinary delights to come would coax acceptance from Ben.
“No,” Ben repeated. His
patience was beginning to sound rather strained.
“What about the Christmas
Eve dance?” Joe asked, plaintively.
That was the last straw.
Crashing his hands down on the table, Ben rose to his feet and fixed his three sons
with a steely glare. “What part of ‘no’ do you boys find so difficult to
understand?” he demanded loudly. “It’s almost the first word that you were all
taught the meaning of!”
All three sons froze, not
daring to look at each other for fear of setting off a worse diatribe. Given
how annoyed Ben appeared to be, he had been remarkably mild in his comments so
far. Joe suddenly realised that he had forgotten to breathe and gulped in some
air.
Satisfied that he had got
through to his sons at last, Ben calmed down. “The roads will be impassable,”
he reminded them all. “There’s almost 8 feet of snow in places. A trip to town
is just too risky. I know its disappointing that we won’t be able to collect
those gifts we ordered from the store, but that’s the way it is. After all,
boys, this isn’t the first time this has happened.”
Mutinously, Joe looked down
at the remains of his breakfast on the plate. Suddenly, his appetite had gone.
He had almost convinced himself that he would be able to go to the dance on Christmas
Eve. He was sure his girlfriend,
“But since the weather is
nice, there are one or two things you could do outside…” Ben suggested.
****************************
It wasn’t the same thing,
but at least they were outside. The air was bitingly cold, the temperature
hovering just below freezing. Joe could feel the cold creep under the big coat
he was wearing. His hands, despite the gloves, were getting cold fast. His
boots felt incredibly tight because of the two pairs of thick socks he was
wearing.
“We’re not splitting up out
of shouting distance from each other,” Adam reminded them. “It’s too risky.
Joe, you go down there, and make sure there aren’t any cattle stuck. Hoss, you
take the top road and I’ll go along here. We’ll meet up at the next curve. If
you see something, shout, whistle or fire your gun.”
“All right,” Joe and Hoss
chorused. They each urged their horses carefully away from the main trail – or
what they could see of it.
A bit further along the
trail Joe was pursuing, two men looked at each other. “Here he comes,” one
said, nervously.
“Calm down,” the other
replied. “Everything is ready.” He eyed his companion. “Hey, you’re glowing
again,” he added. “You’ll need to keep on top of that.”
“Oh no!” he cried. He
frowned and after a moment, the faint glow that had rimmed his body
disappeared. “My wings aren’t showing are they?” he asked, anxiously and the
older man shook his head.
“No, its fine.” He cocked
his head. “Listen, here he comes now.”
Moments later, Joe appeared
around a tree and stopped his horse, gaping in surprise at finding two men out
on foot in that weather. His initial impulse was to be friendly, but Joe had
learned the hard way that he had to be cautious, too. “What are you doing out
here?” he asked, which perhaps wasn’t the most tactful thing he could have
said.
“We’re lost,” the older man
replied. “I know we’ve taken a wrong turning somewhere, but I’m just not sure where.”
He smiled. “We’ve just bought the
“I’m afraid not,” Joe
smiled. He stepped down from Cochise, but his hand never strayed far from his
holster. “This is the Ponderosa. I’m Joe Cartwright.” He put out his hand and
the other man shook it.
“I’m Luke and this is
Mark,” he replied, gesturing to his companion. “Could you point us in the right
direction, please?”
“I could,” Joe agreed,
frowning, “but you wouldn’t get back there tonight. You’ve come too far. Tell
you what, why don’t you come back home with me, and tomorrow morning, weather
permitting, I’ll get the sleigh out and take you back?”
“We couldn’t impose,” Luke
replied.
“No imposition,” Joe
assured him sincerely. “We all have to look out for each other in this weather.
Come on, it’s this way. I’ve just got to signal my brothers.” Putting his
fingers to his lips, Joe tore off one glove with his teeth and let out a
piercing whistle. There was no immediate response. “We’ll start walking,” Joe decided
and turned to lead the way.
They had gone only about 10
feet when a voice shouted, “Joe, is that you?”
It seemed to be coming from
directly above them and Cochise shied slightly. Joe was thrown off balance by
the unexpected movement and his feet slid out from underneath him. He dropped
the reins as he began to careen down the slope, a yell being torn from his
lips.
There was no doubt where
Joe would end up – in the river at the bottom of the slope. Getting soaked was
an instant death sentence in weather like that. Mark glanced at Luke and the
older man nodded. Joe suddenly fetched up against an un-seen rock, which gave
him a few nasty bruises, but he was spared a ducking. Mark, using Luke as a
brace, reached down to assist Joe back up.
“Thanks,” Joe panted, as he
regained his footing. His butt was soaked through and the wind that was now
rising from the lake only emphasised how cold he was feeling. “That was close!”
“Joe! Are you all right?”
It was Adam, looking white-faced and shaken.
“I’m fine, Adam,” Joe
replied. “Adam, I’d like you meet to meet Luke and Mark. They’ve bought the
“How’d you do?” Adam
acknowledged. “I’m Adam Cartwright, Joe’s oldest brother.” They started walking
again, and Joe once more realised how cold his butt was. He shivered.
Worriedly, Adam looked
around, instinctively seeking Hoss. They needed to get Joe home, for Adam could
now see that the seat of Joe’s pants and his legs were wet. Luke and Mark
exchanged glances and nodded. Next moment, Hoss appeared out of the trees and
waved at them.
“This is our brother,
Hoss,” Adam explained. “Luke, if you would like to ride with him, and Mark, you
can ride with me. Come on, Joe, let’s get you mounted.”
“I can manage,” Joe
protested, but he was quite glad of the shove all the same. His butt felt
horrifically cold and there wasn’t much worse than riding with wet pants. It
made the saddle slippery. As he settled himself cautiously, Adam grabbed his
bedroll and tucked it around his embarrassed brother.
“Don’t say a word,” he
admonished Joe. He lowered his voice. “You don’t want to freeze certain vital
parts of your body, do you?”
“No,” Joe agreed smiling.
“Thanks, Adam.”
**********************
The journey back took
longer than Adam would have liked, but Joe was still relatively warm when they
got there. Adam insisted that Joe take their guests into the house while he and
Hoss tended to the horses and Joe readily agreed.
As soon as they entered the
house, Ben was on his feet. “What happened, Joe?” he asked, unerringly knowing
that something had happened.
Quickly, Joe told his story
and introduced Luke and Mark whilst he did so. Ben immediately called for some
coffee and practically pushed Joe upstairs to get dry clothes. Hop Sing already
had water warm, and hurried to take some up to Joe so that he could soak in a
warm bath. Joe was more than grateful for the idea. Before long, he was feeling
much better, his butt warm to the touch again and no damage done.
While he was bathing, Adam
and Hoss came in and soon were settled in front of the fire, nursing their
cups. Ben had repeated the boys’ invitation to their guests and shown them to
rooms. As they all gathered in front of the fire again, Ben noticed that it had
started to snow as darkness fell.
“I hadn’t realised that the
“We have kept pretty much
to ourselves,” Luke explained. “We had some land back east, and a developer
wanted to build houses on it. So we decided to try our luck out west and bought
up everything we thought we’d need, came here and settled in.” He laughed. “And
then we get caught in the snow like greenhorns.”
“Everyone has to learn,”
Ben allowed. “When the weather clears, we’ll take you back to your place. Are
you sure you’ve got enough food stocked up? Winter can last clear through to
fall around here.” They all laughed.
“I think so, thank you,”
Mark replied.
“Well, if you are running
short of anything, please don’t hesitate to come over and ask,” Ben told them.
“We always have enough, thankfully.”
“That’s very generous of
you, Mr Cartwright,” Luke replied. “Thank you.”
“Rubbish!” Ben denied.
“It’s only being neighbourly.”
Again, the visitors
exchanged glances and a nod.
*************************
Later that night, Luke went
to Mark’s room. “What do you think?” he asked.
“They are just like we’ve
been told they were,” Mark replied. “Are they for real?”
“Looks like it,” Luke
smiled. “Wasn’t it lucky that that rock was there when Joe fell?” They both
sniggered. “It would have been tragic if he had gone into the river.”
“Tragic,” Mark agreed
solemnly. “How long do you think we’ll have to stay?”
“Another night at least,”
Luke replied. “So get some sleep and remember not to glow.” He smiled at the
scowl his companion threw at him.
*************************
Although the snow was off
the next morning, the sky was so overcast that Ben wouldn’t hear of the two men
returning home. The boys chimed in, Hoss pointing out all the bad signs. Mark
and Luke were persuaded to stay. As they agreed a big, fat snowflake floated
down out of the sky.
The snow never came to much
but there was almost always some drifting aimlessly in the air. It was slightly
less cold than it had been the day before and the horses were turned out into
the corral for some fresh air. The boys took the chance to give the stable a
more thorough mucking out than usual and then brought the horses back inside.
Having settled Cochise into
his stall, Joe went back into the corral to crack the ice on the trough. He
didn’t want the wood to split. Hoss, coming out of the barn, slammed the door
behind him. The snow on the pitched roof was dislodged and began to slide
ominously quietly towards Joe, who started to move into an even more dangerous
position.
Seconds before the snow
would have hit Joe, his feet hit a patch of ice and went out from under him.
Joe landed on his butt. The snow landed inches away from Joe’s feet with a
‘whumph’. Joe was powdered with white fragments.
“Joe!” Hoss cried and
yanked open the corral gate. “Joe, are ya all right?”
“I’m fine,” Joe replied,
although his butt stung from its sudden contact with the earth.
“If ya’d bin under that…”
Hoss whispered, awed by Joe’s narrow escape. The weight of the snow would
undoubtedly have injured Joe very badly.
“Yeah,” Joe replied, shaken.
He allowed Hoss to help him to his feet, finding that his knees were rather
shaky.
It took them all a while to
get over Joe’s brush with death. Ben was looking at him with haunted eyes and
once more, Luke and Mark exchanged nods.
“Joe seems rather accident
prone,” Luke commented to Ben when the boys had gone off on pursuits of their
own. Mark was helping Hop Sing with the lunch dishes.
Sighing, Ben nodded
ruefully. “Yes, he is,” he agreed. “We all have our share of accidents – heaven
knows, life on a ranch isn’t easy. But trouble seems to find Joe wherever he
is. How he hasn’t come to permanent hurt, or been killed, I just don’t know.”
Ben forced a smile that didn’t hide his concern. “He must have a host of
guardian angels keeping an eye on him.”
Smiling, Luke replied,
“Well, that’s as good an explanation as any.” He sobered. “You have a lovely
family, Ben. They are a credit to you.”
“Thank you,” Ben replied.
“They are good boys, and I love them very much.” He swallowed, but his voice
was still gruff as he added, “I’m very lucky.”
***************************
That night, the two men met
in Luke’s room. “How long?” Mark asked.
“We can go home tomorrow
night,” Luke replied.
“There can’t be much else
that can happen, surely?” Mark queried, his eyes wide. “That boy has had enough
for months there, hasn’t he?”
“All I know is that we’re
to make sure the Cartwrights have a really good Christmas, and that means
stopping anyone getting hurt. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. We can go home then.”
Luke shook his head reflectively. “I wasn’t so sure I believed all those
stories about the Cartwrights, you know. Oh, yes, Joe has a bit of a temper,
and he and Adam seem to knock heads on a regular basis, but they are really
nice.”
“Moral, upright,” Mark
agreed. “Too good to be true, you’d think. But here they are. I like them.”
“I thought we would,” Luke
replied, smiling. “I want to give them a good Christmas. They deserve it.”
*******************************
The weather was still unpromising
the next day and Ben refused to hear of his guests leaving. Everyone seemed to
be genuinely delighted that they were staying. Mark and Luke were delighted,
too. They were enjoying their stay much more than they had anticipated.
Mid-morning, Joe and Adam
set off to take some hay to the herd. There was probably enough already there
to keep the beasts going for another few days, but Ben didn’t like to take
chances. More hay would be taken down to them. Everyone was surprised when Mark
and Luke asked if they could go, too and get a closer look at the famous
Ponderosa herd.
The big sleigh glided
easily over the crisp snow. The sun was out, and the frost hadn’t lifted at
all. “Watch your eyes,” Adam warned the visitors. “It’s very easy to become
snow blind in conditions like this.”
Forking the hay out of the
sleigh kept Adam and Joe warmer than they really cared to be, wearing their big
coats, but neither of them was crazy enough to shed any layers. The work was
soon done and they turned around and headed back to the house. The horses,
knowing they were going home, picked up speed. Mark and Luke exchanged glances
and nodded.
Next moment, one of the
sleigh’s runners hit a rock buried deep in the snow and the sleigh swung
around, catapulting Joe and Adam into a soft snowdrift. The horses came to a
stop of their own volition and Luke and Mark jumped down to make sure that
neither Cartwright was hurt.
“I’m all right,” Adam
panted, as he extricated himself from the snow. “Is Joe okay?”
The younger Cartwright’s
eyes were open, but he didn’t speak. Adam realised that Joe was winded and
knelt beside him, heedless of the cold. “Don’t worry, Joe, you’ll be fine,”
Adam told him.
Breath came back to Joe
with a jolt and he gulped in huge draughts of the cold air. It took him a few
minutes to catch his breath enough to sit up, but eventually, they were both on
their feet and accepted help from Luke and Mark to get back to the sleigh. The
journey back to the house was sober initially, but as relief crept in, Joe began
to crack jokes and both he and Adam were slightly hysterical with relief when
they got home.
There were explanations all
round when they got back. Supper was a light-hearted affair and afterwards, Ben
read from the bible, his resonant voice giving the ancient story depth and
feeling. Every year, the boys were
almost moved to tears as Ben read those old, familiar words and this year, Mark
and Luke felt privileged to be there.
At last, they went to bed,
with Adam teasing Joe about getting a switch in his stocking that year. But the
house was soon settled and quiet.
****************************
Ben awoke and looked at
Luke, who was standing by the bed. “We’re leaving now, Ben,” Luke told him.
“Our job here is done. But I just wanted to thank you for your hospitality.
We’d heard so much about it, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure that everything I
heard was true. I’m delighted to discover it is.”
“Who told you?” Ben asked.
“Oh, lots of different people,
mostly women, it has to be said,” Luke replied. He smiled. “We thought you were
all too good to be true, but we’ve learned a lesson here, that’s for sure.” He
turned away, then paused. “And by the way, you weren’t wrong about Joe.”
“I wasn’t?” Ben floundered.
He had no idea what his guest was referring to.
“No,” Luke answered. “Joe
does have a guardian angel looking out for him. He’s away right now, so Mark
and I stepped in. We had a bunch of requests through The Boss and we’ve
honoured them. Christmas is tomorrow and none of your sons is injured in any
way.”
“Requests?” Ben was so
confused that he began to wonder if he was losing his mind. “From who? For
what?”
“This won’t make any sense
at all,” Luke confided. “But don’t worry; come morning you’ll think this was
all a dream. But a whole lot of people who are fans of yours, and who write
stories about you, hoped that this Christmas, a certain writer wouldn’t ‘maim’
Joe. So we arranged it. All those potential accidents? We stopped them. We
provided the rock that stopped Joe falling in the river. We made him slip on
the ice so that the snow didn’t land on him. We conjured up the snow bank to
soften the fall earlier. Being an angel has its uses, but its very hard work
keeping the glow and our wings hidden.”
With an enigmatic smile,
Luke began to glow. A halo popped into being above his head and he sprouted
wings. Ben was speechless.
Luke smiled once more.
“Don’t worry, the redhead can’t possibly maim Joe now. This story is almost
ended.”
From the room next door,
there was an audible thud and Ben winced. “I think Joe just fell out of bed,”
he muttered, wondering if he was losing his mind.
Shrugging, Luke replied,
“Don’t worry, I’ll sort that. No rest for the wicked!”
******************************
When the Cartwrights woke
the next morning, their guests were nowhere to be seen.
“I don’t understand,” Joe
declared, placing his hands on his hips. “Where can they have gone?”
“I don’t know,” Ben
replied, although had amorphous memories of Luke talking to him in a dream. But
he couldn’t quite catch hold of it and finally dismissed it as a figment of his
imagination.
But that was not the
queerest thing about that Christmas morning. The gifts that had been ordered
from the mercantile were all under the tree, although all the Cartwrights
claimed that they hadn’t gone into town to retrieve them. It was a mystery to
compare to the year that Joe claimed they saw Santa Claus.
As they sat down to a
delicious Christmas lunch, each moved and delighted by the gifts they had
received, Ben’s grace included a special wish for Luke and Mark, wherever they
were. Somehow, they all knew that they would never see the men again.
As that elusive memory surfaced
briefly again, Ben mused, “Perhaps we were entertaining angels unaware.”
Merry Christmas
The End