Older Brother/Little Brother

By Tennessee

Older Brother

Adam Cartwright was a great big brother. Hoss and Little Joe thought Pa loved Adam more than he loved Joe and Hoss because Adam was his first born. If Ben needed to talk to someone, he would always find Adam and chat with him, even if Hoss was right next to Adam. This made Hoss upset.

One day Adam got to take the day off to go see Ann, but Hoss had to stay on the ranch. Hoss was so upset when Adam came home Hoss was coming out of the barn.

Adam requested, "Please put my horse up."

"Put it up yourself, Adam." Hoss pushed Adam and Adam pushed him back. They fell to the group, and Little Joe saw that they were fighting and ran to get his pa.

Ben ran outside and got between them. "What’s going on here, Adam?"

"That’s right!" Hoss yelled angrily. "Take Adam’s side!"

"What?" Ben demanded.

"Adam is your first born and your favorite."

Adam and Ben looked at Hoss and then at each other.

"Hoss, that’s not true," Ben said.

"It sure it. Everything Adam does is fine. Not me and Little Joe. Pa, you act like Adam is your only son, always talkin’ with him about the ranch."

"It’s true that he is older than you, Hoss, but that doesn’t mean I love him more."

Hoss had tears in his eyes. "Pa, you don’t know what I’m talking about. You put a lot of extra work on me and let Adam go see Ann."

Adam couldn’t hold his tongue any longer. He waved his hand between Hoss and Joe. "You think it’s easy being the big brother and having to watch out for you two all the time."

"Wait a minute, Adam," Hoss broke in. "I don’t need you to watch me or help me or tell me what to do. Eve."

Ben said, "Both of you stop this right now." He sent Adam to take care of his horse. Hoss went for a long walk.

Eventually Hoss found himself at the Green ranch. Tess came out and asked him if he was all right. He tried to smile but instead he said mournfully, "Tess, it’s so hard to be Adam’s little brother."

"Hoss," Tess said, "Adam loves you. Think of what your life would be like without your brothers."

Hoss thought about it and then said, "I love Adam. I really do. But Pa acts like Adam is the only person he can count on."

"Hoss, Adam is one of those people who always seems to do the right thing. He and your pa think a like. He worries about not doing what your pa asks him to do," Tess said. "But you are a kind and sweet person. You haven’t had all the responsibility that Adam has had."

Hoss kissed her then.

After caring for his horse, Adam walked to the lake to think. He found Ann there picking flowers. She said, "Hey, Adam."

He greeted her and sat down on a rock.

"What’s wrong?"

"Hoss and I got into a big fight. He seems to think I’m Pa’s favorite. He has no idea what it’s like to be Ben Cartwright’s first born. I always have to be an example for my brothers. I have to do everything right. If Hoss and Little Joe get in trouble, I do too because I’m the oldest and should have stopped them."

Ann said, "Adam, you should tell your pa how you feel."

He kissed her and said, "You’re right. I will right now."

Ben was in the barn when Adam got home.

"Hey, Pa," Adam said. "Can we talk?"

Hoss came in about that time, and he and Adam eyed each other warily.

"Pa," Adam continued, "I’m upset with you and myself. It’s so hard to be your firstborn son." Ben looked at him. "I love you and my brothers, but Hoss is right. You do act like I’m the only son you have sometimes. You expect me to be perfect."

Ben said, "I’m sorry if I do that, Adam. I never wanted to pick one of you over the others. I don’t mean to. I love all my sons the same. It’s just that you, Adam, are the oldest, and I expect a lot of you." Ben had a sad look on his face. "Please forgive me."

"If you’ll forgive me, Pa," Adam said.

"Please forgive me, too," Hoss said. He turned to Adam. "I love you, brother."

"I love you too," said Adam.

Little Joe came in the barn then and smiled when he saw that his brothers had made up.

Adam smiled, "How about we all try to treat one another a little better and not fight?"

Hoss agreed. "I’m sorry I got mad at ya. You really are a great big brother."

Ben said, "And please remember that I love all of you. I don’t have a favorite son."

The boys smiled. "We love you too, Pa."

Little Brother

Little Joe was happy to have two big brothers whenever he needed help. But sometimes he got real upset because they acted like he was a baby and couldn’t do the same things they could. Little Joe needed them to act like he was not that much younger than them, even if he was. Adam and Hoss could go to town any time they wanted when their work was done, but Little Joe had to ask and wait for someone to go with him whenever he wanted to go anywhere.

Little Joe tried to be a lot of help on the ranch, but his family would get their chores done much faster than him. Sometimes they wouldn’t let him help because they could get it done faster without him. And now that his brothers had Ann and Tess they didn’t have time to spend with him anymore.

One day Little Joe told Sue he would run away and start his own life. "Pa and Hoss and Adam don’t have time for me anymore. And they act like I’m a baby."

Sue said, "Talk to them about it."

"No, I can’t and it wouldn’t help."

Little Joe got up at daybreak the next morning, took his puppy some food, and put his clothes in a bag and got Paint out of the barn. He left a note on the bed that read, "No one has time for me anymore and all of you act like I’m a baby, but I’m not. I’m going to start my own life."

Adam read the letter and woke up Hoss. "We need to find our little brother."

They left the letter on Little Joe’s bed and ran to get their horses. They looked all day and did not find Joe.

When Ben went to wake the boys he saw the letter. He went to town. Sue was there with her ma, and Ben asked her if she’d seen Little Joe.

Sue said, "Mr. Cartwright, Little Joe feels like you all think he’s a baby and you don’t have time for him anymore."

Adam and Hoss rode in to town then and saw Ben. "Hi, Pa," Hoss said.

"Why didn’t you two wake me up before you went to look for him?"

"Pa, we thought we’d find him before you got up. He usually don’t go far," Hoss said.

Little Joe held his puppy as he rode deep into the woods. He stopped to eat and let Paint rest, but his puppy got away from him and ran after a rabbit. Little Joe yelled, "Come back!" He went after him and left Paint tied up. The puppy kept running and when Little Joe caught him he didn’t know how to get back to his horse. He was lost.

He kept saying, "I’m not a baby and I won’t cry," but it was getting cooler and it would be dark soon. Hard as he tried not to cry he had tears running down his face. "I wish I was home. I wish I was in my own bed."

Joe’s puppy was asleep, but Little Joe just sat under a tree. He thought about his pa. When it got dark he heard a noise. It was a owl and he saw eyes looking at him in the dark. He started to run, but something chased him. He ran harder. He turned back. Nothing was chasing him. He’d seen his shadow. He turned and ran again. The moon brightened the sky and he was able to see Paint and ran toward him.

He sat down next to Paint. He was crying. He heard some other horses and ran to hide behind a tree, but as the riders approached he saw that they were his pa and brothers. He yelled, "Pa! Adam! Hoss!" And they saw him.

Ben said, "Son, why did you run away. We love you, son. Next time you have a problem, you need to talk to us and we’ll work it out."

Little Joe nodded.

Adam said, "I’m sorry about treating you like a baby. I know you’re getting bigger every day."

"I’m sorry, too, Little Joe," Hoss said. "Me and Adam should have known you were hurting. It’s hard to be the oldest and hard to be in the middle and hard to be the youngest. Guess there’s good and bad things about all three. You’ll always be our little brother and we’ll always watch out for you. If you have a problem, all you need to do is tell us. Your letter said we did not have time for you anymore, but that ain’t true."

Ben said, "Your letter said we did not have time for you anymore, but that’s not true. We may get busy with the ranch, but we will always have time for you. Your brothers both have girlfriends and I know that you miss them when they spend time with them a lot, but one day you’ll have a girlfriend too."

"And we’ll try to spend more time with you," Adam and Hoss said.

Little Joe smiled. "I guess being the baby of the family isn’t so bad."

Ben said, "Let’s go home."

That night when they were in bed Little Joe said, "I’m glad you two are my brothers and I don’t mind being the baby of the family, but please don’t treat me like a baby."

The brothers laughed.

"OK, Little Joe," Adam said. "We won’t."

Little Joe went to sleep happy to be home with his family.

The End