Playin’ With Fire

By Nancy

Thank you to Mr. Dortort who created the Cartwrights and the Ponderosa and shared them. And thank you to Ms. Sullivan who gave them new life. This story is purely for entertainment and is not intended to infringe on their rights or the rights of anyone else involved in these marvelous shows. And thanks to Marion for the beta read.

There’s somethin’ about a campfire at night and everybody sittin’ around it that makes for a real nice feelin’. Even after all the sleepin’ out we did comin’ west and buildin’ our house, I still like it. Well, I like it when the weather’s fine. When the weather’s bad I’d just as soon be inside and out of it.

When Pa and Adam and Joe and me are sittin’ around a campfire we’re talkin’ and tellin’ jokes, or figurin’ out the stars, or Pa’s tellin’ one of his stories that nobody used to believe but now we sorta do. We didn’t use to believe much of Pa’s stories – ‘specially the ones he told about when he was sailin’ with this fella named Angus – ‘til Angus . . . Mr. McNally . . . showed up. And dang if Mr. McNally didn’t tell us some of the same stories Pa’d done told us. Mr. McNally told us some stories that Pa didn’t tell us, too, and after he’d finished tellin’ ‘em I was pretty sure why Pa didn’t. But that night Pa didn’t tell us a story. Adam did. Only I don’t think Adam much meant to tell it, it just kinda came out. That happens all the time to Joe and me, but it don’t happen much to Adam and that’s how come I remember it the way I do.

What he told us was about Thaddeus chewin’ up Mrs. de Ville’s draperies. Only – well, maybe I oughta tell you about Thaddeus and Mrs. de Ville.

Mrs. de Ville was our neighbor across the street back when we lived in New Orleans. It hardly ever got cold there except a few times and when it was cold there it was awful. It wasn’t like here though. We never had snow and the cold didn’t last like it does here. Winter’s just a whole lot shorter down there in New Orleans.

I can’t rightly say Mrs. de Ville was just a neighbor ‘cause she did a lot more than even a neighbor’ll do for you. She practically helped Pa raise Adam and me. Adam and me spent a lot of time with Mrs. de Ville ‘cause even if she did help teach us how to write and do figures and read, she was nice. She was sort of strict about things but we always felt real safe with her and she liked sweets just about as much as we did. She always had somethin’ new for us to eat, leastways until she gave us these long cake sort of things that had a sweet cream inside and then chocolate on ‘em. After that we told her it’d be just fine with us if we didn’t try anything else that was sweet. I guess she’s the closest I had to a grandmother that I remember ‘cause I was so little when my ma’s mother died. So anyhow, that’s who Mrs. de Ville is.

And Thaddeus. Well, he was Adam’s dog from right about when Pa married my ma. Pa’s always sayin’ how much my ma liked animals and she was the one who talked him into lettin’ Adam keep Thaddeus back when Thaddeus was a puppy. He was pretty well grown by the time I remember him. Thaddeus, I mean, not Adam. Adam and me go way back. Adam told me how they got Pa to keep Thaddeus was Adam gave Thaddeus to Pa for a present and Pa couldn’t not take a present. It wasn’t Adam’s fault if Thaddeus took up with him more than he did with Pa. Just like it wasn’t my fault when Thaddeus took up with me more than he did with Adam. I figure Thaddeus liked people just like my ma liked animals and he sort of collected ‘em.

Thaddeus took a big likin’ to Mrs. de Ville. When we got to New Orleans, Pa kept tellin’ us to keep Thaddeus back in the courtyard there behind our house ‘cause he was afraid we couldn’t make Thaddeus do what he needed to like stay with us. Bein’ back there wasn’t bad for Thaddeus ‘cause there was all kinds of room and the kitchen was back there and Thaddeus liked the kitchen as much as me. Only he couldn’t sit on the stool by the worktable like me. He’d curl up near the stove if it was cold. If the weather was cold, not the stove. Not much sense in curlin’ up by the stove if the stove is cold. He’d stretch out smack in the middle of the door in the summer and you’d do good if you didn’t fall all over yourself tryin’ not to step on him. Not that he ever noticed or thanked you.

Well, Thaddeus never did give us any trouble when we let him out to go places with us and what Pa didn’t know about us lettin’ out Thaddeus didn’t give us any trouble either. And Thaddeus flat-out loved to be under this big old tree in Mrs. de Ville’s back garden. That was such a pretty place, a whole lot bigger than our courtyard. She had flowers in just about every color you can think of except black. Black’s just not a good color for a flower generally. And there were all these trees with this gray curly stuff hangin’ out of ‘em that she called Spanish moss. You know what? You could take that moss and stuff it for a pillow or even a mattress if you pulled a whole lot of it out of a tree. It wasn’t nice like a feather bed – I don’t reckon there’s much as nice as a feather bed – but it was pretty good. Adam and me used to tear it out of those trees and put it on our heads like we had long hair and then sometimes we’d put it on our shoulders and say we were bears. That moss is a lot of fun when you know what to do with it.

Well, Thaddeus he liked Mrs. de Ville’s back garden and he liked that one tree with the slick green leaves and those big old white flowers. We were out there tryin’ to tug him home one day when Mrs. de Ville caught us. She wanted to know what we were doin’ and we told her and she said that Thaddeus wasn’t hurtin’ anything and as long as he didn’t hurt anything he was welcome to stay. Don’t that beat all? So Thaddeus had that whole back garden to sniff around in and lay around in. He never did much care for our courtyard after that. We didn’t tell Pa about Thaddeus not bein’ in the courtyard all day ‘cause then we would’ve been admittin’ to disobeyin’ him. That’s about as smart as stickin’ your hand in a fire and dang near as painful. And Mrs. de Ville, she didn’t say nothin’ to Pa neither and that’s just another reason that we liked her.

So that’s who Mrs. de Ville is and that’s who Thaddeus was. And Adam wound up tellin’ his story around the campfire all ‘cause Joe had a stick and he reached with it to poke at the fire.

"Leave the fire alone, "Adam said just like Pa wasn’t even there.

Joe got his feathers all ruffled and said, "I’m just–"

"Leave it." And that’s when Adam had to pay attention to Smoke. He’s Joe’s dog. Adam frowned down at Smoke ‘cause he was pullin’ at the corner edge of Adam’s blanket and growlin’. Adam pulled at the blanket, tryin’ to get it from Smoke. Anybody knows if you tug at what a dog’s tuggin’ at then you have a game on your hands. That’s pretty much what happened with Adam and Smoke.

Pa and me looked at each other and grinned. Watchin’ Adam pullin’ at Smoke was like watchin’ how he used to fuss at Thaddeus ‘cause Thaddeus had a real likin’ for tuggin’ on things. Sure enough, before too long Adam started smilin’ and then he told Smoke if he wanted the blanket that much he could have it. Adam quit tuggin’ and Smoke decided it wasn’t any fun anymore. He scooted up to Adam and rested his head on Adam’s lap.

Meantime Joe’d been thinkin’. I was thinkin’ he was thinkin’ what I was thinkin’ about all the times Adam’s hollered at us to leave the fire alone. So Joe said, "Why’re you always sayin’ not to poke at the fire?"

Adam got that look like he’s toleratin’ you ‘cause he has to ‘cause it’s part of him bein’ the oldest. "Because you can send sparks up the chimney or embers halfway across the room." He raised his eyebrows and almost stared at Joe like he does when he’s tellin’ a whopper or settin’ ya up for a joke. "I’ve seen it send a piece of burning wood across a room," he said. I figured it was just a big story but then Adam sort of took a quick breath and real soft-like he said, "Uht." Adam only does that when somethin’s wrong so I figured he’d really seen a piece of burnin’ wood fly across a room and maybe he’d never meant to tell anybody about it. The way he rolled his eyes toward Pa I was real sure he hadn’t ever meant to tell Pa.

Pa was stretched out like he does with his knee pulled up and his elbow propped up on his knee and he was sort of whittlin’ on a stick. You know, I think Pa has the first knife he ever had. Beats all, the way he never loses things like knives or axes or horses. ‘Course it’s kinda hard to lose a horse but we knew this fella on the wagon train once and he did. You should’ve heard the funny stuff Pa had to say about a fella who could lose a horse in broad daylight. Stretched out like he was by the campfire, Pa looked for all the world like he hadn’t heard a word Adam’d said. But I’m tellin’ ya, Pa’s got ears like nothin’ you’ve ever seen. I don’t mean they’re big ears, I mean he hears what a normal person can’t hear. He can be out near the barn and hear you whisperin’ in the bunkroom. Well, he for sure can be out on the front porch and hear you whisperin’ in the bunkroom. Pa didn’t even look up from his whittlin’ but he said, "When did you see that?"

Adam shrugged and said, "A long time ago." He looked like he’d bit into a persimmon. I bit into a persimmon one time and that about did it for me. Them lemons we had in New Orleans ain’t much better.

I don’t know how Pa does it but he can always tell when we’re just tellin’ him part of the truth. I don’t think he rightly knows what the rest of the story is; he just knows there’s somethin’ we’re not sayin’. But heck, even I could tell that old Adam wasn’t sayin’ near as much as there was.

Joe looked up at Adam with his eyes all wide and he was ready to hear more of that story that Adam didn’t want to tell about the burnin’ wood flyin’ across the room. "Was it a big room?"

Adam was starin’ at the fire. For a bit I didn’t think he’d heard Joe but then he said, "A very big room."

"Where was it?" Joe wanted to know.

"New Orleans."

"New Orleans!" Joe grabbed his sides and started laughin’. "Our house didn’t have any big rooms."

And he was right ‘cause our house was fine for us but it didn’t have big rooms like Tante Jeanette’s and Uncle Louis’. But I couldn’t recall seein’ anything fly across a room there. Tante Jeanette wouldn’t have put up with that for a minute. She’s a nice person and all, but she can be kinda hard to be around but she sure makes good croissants. The only other place I recalled havin’ big rooms that we’d been in was –

"Are you talkin’ about Mrs. de Ville’s?" I said to Adam. I knew he was by the way he sort of twitched.

"It doesn’t matter where it was," Adam said but I could sure tell it did too matter. "Just leave the fire alone, Joe."

There was no way me and Joe was gonna let Adam not tell us the story about the burnin’ wood flyin’ across the room. And after we’d been on him a while, I guess he knew it, too. Pa just listened to us with that funny little smile on his face and he kept right on whittlin’.

Adam pushed his hair off his forehead but it fell right back. It’s been doin’ that for so long I don’t reckon it knows it can do anything else. He slid his eyes over toward Pa and right then I knew this was gonna be some kind of story and the only reason Adam was tellin’ it was ‘cause he’s too big to get in trouble for it anymore. Well, that kind of trouble. I don’t imagine we’re ever gonna be too big to get into trouble with Pa about some things. Adam, he took a deep breath and then he sat cross-legged and dang if he didn’t pick up a stick and start to poke at the fire. But he stopped himself real sudden-like.

"It was Mrs. de Ville’s house," Adam said even if I’d already said that much. He had that look that told me we were gonna have to pull every dang bit of that story out of him. I wasn’t sure whether the story’d be worth all that work. That’s the thing about it, you don’t know ‘til the story’s told whether it was worth your time.

Pa didn’t look up when Adam said that about it bein’ Mrs. de Ville’s house but I saw him look from the corners of his eyes toward Adam.

"Aw c’mon, Adam," Joe said and he was just full up with aggravation. "I bet you made that up about flyin’ burnin’ wood."

One way for sure to get Adam to tell you somethin’ is to tell him it ain’t real or it didn’t happen or it couldn’t be. He got kinda put out with Joe and he said, "I did not make it up. Thaddeus and I had been . . . somewhere we shouldn’t have been and I got wet. I–"

"The swamps!" I knew I’d guessed right when Adam’s eyes slammed shut. We weren’t ever supposed to go near the swamps and if I did I don’t remember it and I think I’d remember it. Adam said there were alligators in that swamp the size of a horse. The alligators were the size of a horse, not the swamps. But then Adam told me too that there was alligators walkin’ down our street at nighttime and Pa told me that wasn’t true. He didn’t tell me that until a little while back though and I never would go outside when it was dark ‘cause of those alligators. So I’m not sure about alligators the size of a horse. But we sure weren’t supposed to go near them swamps.

When I said that about Adam gettin’ wet in the swamps, Pa slid his tongue from his right cheek to his left and kept whittlin’.

"Yes, Hoss, the swamps." Adam let out a big old long breath like Pa’ll do sometimes. "I knew Mrs. de Ville was at a meeting in town so I went in the back door." Adam kind of shifted around. "I went in the bedroom where Hoss and I slept when we stayed with Mrs. de Ville. I planned to stand by the fire and get as dry as I could before I went home. Usually I went to our kitchen to dry off but it was Pa’s day off from work and –"

Right about then Adam realized what Joe and me already had. He’d just told Pa that he’d been to the swamps enough that he had it all figured out how to get dry before Pa got home for supper. I couldn’t tell what Pa was thinkin’ about that ‘cause he looked down about then. I know for sure what he would’ve thought about Adam goin’ to the swamps back when we were in New Orleans.

I guess Adam figured he’d put one boot in the quicksand so he might as well go on ahead and put the other boot in and do a good job of it. His shoulders straightened up and he drew somethin’ in the dirt with the stick he was holdin’ and he started out on his story again.

"I went into the bedroom but there wasn’t a fire. Not even banked coals. So I built a fire." He looked over at Pa as Pa’s head came up. "I was old enough," he said just like Pa’d said somethin’. "I’d been building fires since I was four or five."

"Six," Pa said.

Adam didn’t argue which kinda surprised me ‘cause Adam ain’t ever been worried about arguin’ with Pa. If he wasn’t arguin’ that pretty well meant that Adam’d been buildin’ fires since he was six and not four or five. He waited a bit until Pa was back to his whittlin’ before he went on.

"Some people in New Orleans burned coal and some burned wood. Sometimes it just depended on what they could buy or what they preferred. Mrs. de Ville’s servant had put wood in the bucket by the fireplace so I started a fire with the kindling. But I knew I’d never dry out by a little fire so I put two split logs on the grate." Adam shook his head and closed his eyes. "I thought they never would catch."

I was wonderin’ how he thought Mrs. de Ville wouldn’t find out about him buildin’ the fire but then I remembered how her servants were all the time not tellin’ the grownups what we’d done. One time we were throwin’ rocks and one of ‘em went smack into a front window at Mrs. de Ville’s and she just had ‘em fix it like nothin’d happened. ‘Course she got on to Adam and me real good. But then we had dessert.

"I wanted the flames hotter," Adam said, "so I picked up the poker and punched at one of the logs. What I didn’t know was that they’d caught well toward the inside of the fire, where I couldn’t see." He put on his teacher face and looked at Joe. "When a piece of wood is burning and you introduce a sudden burst of air –"

Joe threw his arms in the air. "It blows up all over the place."

Pa’s eyebrows shot up and I was pretty sure I knew then how those little burnt holes got in the rug in front of the fireplace at home. Joe put his arms down and got this real interested look on his face that you’d believe was innocent if you didn’t know Joe. I’d never noticed before how much him and Adam are alike that way.

"It didn’t blow up all over the place," Adam said to Joe. "But the poker hit a knot in the wood and a small piece flew out. It went past me and landed on the floor."

"Golly!"

Adam looked up at the stars. "Mrs. de Ville had draperies that hung from near the ceiling down to the floor. There was a good foot or more of material that pooled on the floor."

"That’s where the wood landed," Joe guessed like I did.

Adam nodded. I looked over at Pa but he was lookin’ down again and he’d put his hat on even though it was dark. Pa does the oddest things some times.

"That’s where the wood landed," Adam said. I guess he didn’t hear when Joe said it maybe. "And the fabric started burning."

Uh oh.

"So I ran to the vase of flowers on the bureau, pulled out the flowers, and threw the water on the drapery."

"That was fast thinkin’," Joe said and that’s what I thought, too.

Adam shook his head real sad-like. "It wasn’t fast enough. By the time I threw the water on the fabric and got the fire out it had burned about a foot or more of the drapery."

Dang!

"Golly!" Joe and me both leaned closer. "What’d you do?" Joe asked before I could.

Adam ran his hand through his hair again. I knew then that tellin’ this story was just like him bein’ there all over again and he hadn’t liked bein’ there the first time. "The room smelled like something had burned so I opened the back door. And that’s when Thaddeus ran in."

Now Mrs. de Ville let us do a lot of things but she did not let us bring Thaddeus in the house. Leastways not that I knew of.

"I ran back to the draperies, trying to decide what to do. I picked them up and Thaddeus grabbed at the burned part to tug on it." Adam let out a big old breath. "I yelled at him to stop and I tried to pull the fabric away from him. But when you pull on something and a dog is pulling on the other end, they think you’re playing."

Which is just what I said but I didn’t tell Adam that ‘cause it doesn’t do to tell Adam that you thought up somethin’ before he did.

"What happened?" Joe asked like he didn’t know what would happen if a dog was pullin’ on draperies.

"What do you think happened?" Adam said like Joe had asked what two and two is. "They ripped." Even if he’d sounded aggravated, he got a grin on his face and he leaned toward us. That old firelight was dancin’ on his face and it made him look real close to the way they show the devil lookin’ in drawin’s. He gave one hard nod with his head. "That’s when I came up with the idea."

Joe and me leaned so close we were gonna be lucky if we didn’t blister our faces even if the fire was low. "What’d you do?" Joe asked.

"I tore the fabric across, right above where it had burned. I ran outside and Thaddeus ran after me. We dug a hole under his favorite tree and then we buried the burned fabric." Adam sat back lookin’ all satisfied. He shrugged. "And then I went inside and put out the fire. When Mrs. de Ville came home I told her that Thaddeus had gotten in when I did and he’d chewed the draperies. I didn’t tell her about the fire, though."

Dang! That was a bunch of smart thinkin’.

"She could tell that I was sorry for what had happened. And that was the end of it."

"Not quite."

I’d been payin’ attention to Adam so close that I’d done forgot about Pa layin’ there whittlin’. I jumped and I wasn’t the only one, I want you to know.

Pa sat up real slow-like and set aside his knife and that stick he’d just about whittled to nothin’. I looked over at Adam and he was frownin’ but he didn’t ask so I guess I had to.

"What d’ya mean it wasn’t the end of it?" I asked real polite.

Pa scooted up closer the fire and held out his hands like he was cold but it was way too warm to be cold. "The next week, Mrs. de Ville put a statue under that tree, remember?"

Adam nodded like he was comin’ out of a real bad dream.

"She asked me to go over to be sure the workmen had the statue plumb."

Pa don’t know how to just say ‘level.’ Everythin’ with him’s gotta be plumb.

I could tell that Pa was tryin’ real hard not to grin. His eyes were crinklin’ up and his mouth was twitchin’ at the edges. "When the men were digging the hole to set the statue they found a very dirty, very burned piece of fabric that bore an amazing resemblance to the draperies in the third bedroom."

Have you ever seen anybody look like they were just meltin’ into a big old puddle like a candle? That’s what Adam did. Just looked like he went soft and melted. But then he sat up straight and he looked real put out. "You mean you knew all about it?" he said and he was pretty good and aggravated.

Pa gave Adam a grin and then he looked at Joe and then he looked at me. And then he said, "I know a lot of the rest of the stories you boys have told me."

Uh oh.

+The end+