It was December 1869. At the Ponderosa everybody was very busy with hanging Christmas decorations everywhere. Mitch was now extremely busy because his birthday was coming into sight. Of course this had effect on his dog Cody who got infected by the wild moods of his little boss.
One afternoon Ben said, “Mitch, we must arrange something together for your birthday. You will become seven after all.”
“Hop Sing always bakes a mocha cake. For supper we eat pancakes. May Matthew stay for the night when it is my birthday?”, the boy asked.
“I promise nothing but I will discuss with daddy”, Ben said.
He took his grandson into his arms and hugged him lovingly.
“I am so very glad that you are always here, grandpa. Daddy is often away for business and then I am always alone with Cody”, Mitch said after a while.
“I will always be here for you and Hop Sing is here also”, his grandpa replied.
On Christmas Eve the whole family except Mitch sat together around the open fire place.
“That little lad becomes seven years old tomorrow. How time flies”, Adam sighted.
“I can still remember very well when you came home with him. He couldn’t even reach the door knob”, Ben reacted.
“Now he can unfortunately. He knows the whole house by heart and abuses it completely”, Adam reacted sighting.
“And Cody joins him in it”, Ben said.
The following morning Adam was awake very early.
“That little lad is celebrating his birthday today”, Adam said to himself.
Then the door went open. A still very sleepy Mitch came in.
“Hello kid. Come into bed”, Adam said smiling.
Mitch came and got lifted by his father into his bed.
“Happy birthday with your seventh birthday”, Adam said.
“Thank you daddy”, Mitch said a bit shy.
Cody came to lie with them and got stroked by his master.
When Mitch was dressed and came downstairs he didn’t know what he saw. The salon table was full with presents for him.
“Are all those presents for me?”, he asked amazed.
“Indeed , they are. Happy birthday lad”, Ben said.
He hugged his celebrating grandson.
After breakfast Mitch got the presents for his birthday. Adam gave his son a brand new baseball glove.
When Mitch unwrapped it and saw what it was he said, “Thank you daddy.”
“You’re welcome son. That you may enjoy it very much and use it very much”, Adam said enjoying his celebrating son.
“Mitch, you get this from me”, Little Joe said.
He gave his nephew a bat to hit with.
“Thank you Uncle Joe”, Mitch said.
Of Hoss and Candy he got a ball each. Then Mitch looked with questionable eyes at Ben. The others did it too.
“Why are you all looking so at me?”, the rancher asked amazed.
“I don’t know if you know it but it happens to be the seventh birthday of your grandson”, Adam said dry.
“I knew that there was something today but not what”, Ben said teasing.
He got up and walked to his desk. From the top draw he picked up a flat package.
“Mitch, this is for you. I hope you can use it”, the rancher said.
Mitch unwrapped it. It was an instruction book for young baseball players.
“Daddy will not get this book because it’s mine”, the boy said determined.
Everybody laughed.
“I am afraid that I have to read it to help you”, Adam said.
Then Mitch got his Christmas presents. To help him with reading he got a bug box of blocks. On each block there was a letter. He also got a few easy reading books.
“May I play outside with Cody?”, he asked before the coffee with cake.
“Go outside to play. But stay at the yard”, Adam said fatherly.
Mitch got dressed warm and went outside with the dog. There had fallen very much snow at the yard so that Mitch and Cody could enjoy themselves very much.
“Cody, we are going to make a snow doll”, Mitch said to his dog.
Mitch made a snowball and rolled it through the snow so that it became bigger. At a certain moment the boy lost his balance and he slipped. The enormous snowball rolled after him and overflowed Mitch completely. Cody began to bark loudly and ran to the front door. Adam came outside and saw what had happened. He ran to the mountain of snow and dug his son out of it.
“Kid, are you alright?”, he asked concerned.
“I slipped. I am so cold and my wrist hurts”, the boy said nearly crying.
“We go inside”, Adam said.
He picked Mitch up and carried him inside, followed by Cody.
Inside Mitch got wrapped up in warm blanket and put down near the burning open fire place. Hop Sing came very quickly with a cup warm hot chocolate for the youngest inhabitant of the ranch. He also took care of the uninjured wrist of Mitch. The Chinese cook wrapped the wrist into a bandage.
Adam kept watching his son but the others did that too. Mitch remained after he had become on room temperature inside and played with Cody like he did every day.
Halfway the afternoon it began to smell very deliciously in the house.
“I wonder how the chicken will taste. The only thing that I smell is the smell of pancakes”, Hoss said.
“It is my birthday and I may decide what we eat. And that are pancakes”, his nephew reacted. Little Joe winked at Hoss and Candy.
“That are no pancakes but a chicken which smells like pancakes and tastes like that”, little Joe claimed.
“That cannot be because a chicken smells and tastes like chicken and not like pancakes”, Mitch reacted directly.
Ben and Adam looked at each other and could hardly keep their laughing.
“Boys, I think you are going to lose this discussion”, Ben said after a while.
“That child is way too much near Hop Sing”, Little Joe reacted.
“You must be the one who says that. Who was as a little boy often to be found in the kitchen when Hoss and I were off to school?”, Adam asked.
“I say nothing more”, his youngest brother said.
“Daddy, have you been to school? Never noticed anything from it”, Mitch remarked dry. Everybody laughed.
During supper it was also very cozy. Hop Sing had baked two enormous piles of pancakes. One pile were small ones and the other were of bigger seize.
“The small ones are for Mitchy. He is still very small”, Hoss said teasing.
“No way. It is my birthday”, Mitch said protesting.
“Indeed. Your uncles and Candy will get the small ones and we take the bigger ones”, Adam said.
Hoss, Little Joe and Candy looked indignant at Ben but he gave them no support.
“Mitch still has to grow and you not anymore”, the rancher said.
“Then daddy actually must take a small one also because he is already very tall”, his grandson remarked. Everybody except Adam laughed.
“You are a real tease. You don’t inherit that from your mother”, Adam said quasi-strict to his son.
“No, I did that from you. You tease them also very much as they do that to you. You even dare to tease me together”, Mitch replied.
Adam put a pancake on the plate of Mitch and cut it into pieces. In no time both piles of pancakes were gone.
Because it was his birthday Mitch was allowed to stay up a bit longer than usual. But at half past eight the boy got sleep so that Adam picked him up and carried him upstairs. He dressed the boy and put him to bed. The Adam could tuck him in like every evening.
“Had a great birthday?”, Adam asked while he tucked the boy in.
“Yes, thank you daddy”, Mitch said with pleased eyes.
“You’re welcome. Sleep well son”, Adam said fatherly.
He kissed the nearly sleeping boy.
“Goodnight daddy”, Mitch said sleepy.
Less than five minutes Mitch had left for Dreamland with the Dream-Express.