THE BARBECUE

Due to the hot summer days Ben Cartwright decided to organize a barbecue. His grandson Mitch of six had no sense of time and for that reason the rancher has encircled the date of August 1. Hereby the young Cartwright knew that there was something special that day.

On July 31 Hoss Cartwright asked his nephew, “Mitchy, are you coming to do the shopping for the barbecue tomorrow?”

“Alright”, said the boy.

Ben gave his son and grandson a long shopping list and money along.

As a warning they got to hear, “Don’t get involved in anything while you are in Virginia City.”

“Then we do that when we are outside the town”, Mitch reacted quick-witted.

“Then not either”, Ben said sighting.

Sometimes he would wish that Mitch wasn’t so quick-witted. Hoss and Mitch went away laughing.

On the way Mitch asked, “Is there much food needed for that barbecue?”

“Yes. We eat then in the open air and you know that the open air always makes me very hungry”, Hoss replied calm.

“If we eat indoors you are also very hungry so that makes no different to you”, Mitch reacted dry.

His Uncle first looked at him very amazed and asked then, “Why do you always know how to spoil my feeling for food?”

“That is a talent of me”, the boy said smiling.

“I would almost swear that you had to say that of Adam. He can also be so sneaky”, said Hoss.

For a moment it was quiet.

“Mitchy, maybe you may help Hop Sing with the meat”, said Hoss.

“Then you get the least of all”, Mitch said teasing.

“Mitchy Cartwright, you may walk to town if you make one more sharp remark to me”, his Uncle reacted.

“You are responsible for me so if anything happens to me then you have done it by daddy and grandpa”, said the young Cartwright.

Of course Hoss had no answer to this so he kept his mouth shut.

When they arrived in town Hoss stopped in front of the General Store. He jumped from it and lifted his nephew from the wagon.

“Here you have the shopping list. You read what we must have and I make sure that it gets on the wagon. Then we go home again with it”, said Hoss while he gave the shopping list to Mitch.

“Mustn’t we pay then for the shopping?”, asked the boy.

The second Cartwright son looked at his nephew stupefied and asked, “Are you really so dumb or are you pretending?”

“You said that after you have put the shopping upon the wagon we go home then. But that is stealing. Grandpa gave us money along to pay with?”, Mitch asked excited.

At that moment Hoss took off his hat for a moment and he scratched at the back of his head.

The he put his hat back on again and said, “Of course I will pay for the shopping. Now come along or else you really can walk home.”

“It is a lovely weather anyway”, reacted Mitch.

This had as effect that he got pushed into the shop with a great push by his uncle.

Mitch held the shopping list in his hand and said to Arthur Wilson (the owner of the General Store),“Grandpa sent us to get the following shopping for the barbecue, we need 21 bags flour, 21 bottles whisky, 41 bottles rum, 31 bottles lemonade, 21 kg sausages and 21 kg potatoes.”

“Fortunately I have everything in store so you can get it along straight away”, the grocer said.

“So we don’t have to pay?”, Mitch asked with laughing eyes.

“Very funny Mitch”, the grocer said.

Hoss had to walk up and down lots of times to put everything upon the wagon. He paid and went with his nephew back home.

“Are we going to get an orphanage to eat?”, asked Adam asked mocking when he saw Hoss and Mitch coming home again.

“No, this is all needed for the barbecue. Are you going to start asking annoying questions too? This lordship here next to me does that also”, replied Hoss.

“Adam happens to be my daddy?”, Mitch asked dry.

Hoss stopped the wagon and Adam lifted Mitch from it. Cody, the shepherd dog of the ranch ran to the boy and got an extended greeting.

“Grandpa, we are home again. Here is the money and the list. You can count it”, Mitch said to Ben in the office.

“I will do it right away”, said the rancher.

He took the shopping list along outside.

When Ben counted the shopping he discovered that Hoss and Mitch had taken much more along than was needed.

“Hoss, who has read the shopping list? You or Mitch?”, asked the rancher.

“I carried everything to the wagon so I let the reading over to Mitchy”, replied his son.

Adam, his youngest brother Little Joe and the foreman Candy understood at once what had happened and they couldn’t stop laughing anymore.

“You know that Mitch turns all the numbers around. That’s why I rather had that you had read it”, said Ben.

“Grandpa, are you mad at me?”, the youngest Cartwright asked carefully.

“No, you can’t help it but your Uncle does. He should have read it out loud and not you”, said Ben.

Hoss said, “Mitchy is still a bit small so I carried everything to the wagon.”

“Well, it has happened anyway but it will be a very long time before I send the two of you together to town to get a few shopping”, said Ben.

“Fine. Then we don’t have to do it for quite a while”, reacted Mitch reacted light-hearted.

Everybody laughed.

“He is the whole time so rotten annoying”, said Hoss.

“He is still a bit little so just let him be”, said his father.

The next day it was a very busy day at the Ponderosa.

During breakfast Ben said to his loyal cook, “Hop Sing, we just have to work today. But Mitch doesn’t have to go to school yet due to the vacation. That’s why we leave him by you so that he can assist you with the preparations for the barbecue tonight.”

“Little boy always good help for Hop Sing”, was the answer of the Chinese cook.

Hop Sing disappeared again to the kitchen. Like usual Hoss, Little Joe, Candy and Mitch came with the necessary loudness to the dining room.

“Mitch, you may help Hop Sing today with the food for the barbecue”, Ben said to his grandson.

“How fine grandpa”, was the reaction of Mitch.

He looked with laughing eyes at Hoss but said nothing.

“Pa, would you let Mitchy do that right now? Yesterday he said that I would get the least of the meat”, reacted Hoss.

“That will turned out better. Mitch really can’t come along to the herd. Therefore I rather leave him at home”, replied the rancher.

“You just have to more trust in your nephew”, Little Joe said laughing.

Hoss said, “Since he stole that chicken leg from my plate I don’t trust him anymore what food concerns.”

“It is notable that you eat your meat as first since then”, Mitch said between two bites of oatmeal.

Everybody laughed.

“Is that a surprise to you?”, Hoss asked excited.

For a moment it was quiet in the big dining room.

Then Mitch said light-hearted, “Yes.”

Again there was laughter.

Adam came in and said, “I don’t have to ask who does most of the talking here again.”

“That can’t be me because I am the smallest here in the house”, Mitch reacted quickly.

“You are the smallest but you do most of the talking of us all now”, said Adam.

He went to sit and began also at his breakfast.

After breakfast Adam said to Mitch, “You listen to Hop Sing and does what he says.”

“So if he says, “Jump into the lake”, then I must do that then?”, asked the young Cartwright.

Adam nodded.

“You would do it anyway”, Little Joe said teasing.

“You too”, reacted his nephew.

“We see you tonight and behave yourself. Come Cody”, said Adam.

They went away and Mitch went to the kitchen.

“Hop Sing, what must I do?”, asked the boy.

“Knead dough for bread and make small pieces from it”, said the cook.

Mitch went to sit at the kitchen table and grabbed the dough. He tried to do it as good as possible but with one hand it didn’t work out.

“Hop Sing, it won’t work out”, the boy said after a few failed trying.

“Little boy go play outside. Hop Sing better do everything alone”, said the Chinese cook.

The boy got up sighing and left the kitchen through the backdoor. Mitch knew that he would get paid by Adam when he got to hear it all when arriving home. That’s why he decided to flee on Caramel. But he didn’t even get the chance to saddle up his horse because Adam came home unexpectedly.

“Mitch, what is the matter? Mustn’t you help Hop Sing with the barbecue?”, asked the eldest son of the rancher amazed.

“He says that he doesn’t need my support at all. You just keep that cozy barbecue for yourself”, Mitch said groaning.

“I give you room arrest till tomorrow morning. Dismissed!”, Adam said strict.

Slowly Mitch went to his room which he didn’t mind at all.

Lying on his bed Mitch thought about his life at the Ponderosa. He thought, ‘Sometimes I wish that my parents never had come Virginia City. Then I might not ended up here. Probably I would had gotten a much better life then. Here I am always the bitten dog.’

He got up and walked to the window. Outside he saw his father talking to Hop Sing. The boy probably knew for one hundred percent that the conversation was about him.

Adam said, “Mitch has room arrest for the rest of the day. He still has to learn to listen to grownups.”

“Little boy not a bother. He only very clumsy with broken wrist”, said Hop Sing.

The eldest Cartwright boy understood that he had drawn the wrong conclusion and that he had to apology to Mitch. Adam went into the ranch house and walked to the bedroom of his son. First he knocked at the door and went then inside. Adam found Mitch standing in front of the window and walked to him.

“Mitch, I am very sorry that I gave you room arrest. I just drew the wrong conclusion”, said Adam.

The boy said nothing back but remained stubbornly watching outside.

Adam turned the boy harsh around and said, “Look at me when I am addressing you.”

“I must stay in my room anyway?”, asked Mitch asked fierce.

He looked at Adam questionable. The young Cartwright knew that he would get a speech again but he took no notice of it anyway like always.

“Are you accepting my apology?”, his father asked strict.

“Must I?”, Mitch asked at his turn.

“You will have to or I am forced to send you to a boarding school”, replied Adam.

Mitch went to sit upon the bed and looked at the ground.

“Send me away then anyway. I am just unwanted everywhere”, the boy said careless.

“You live here all your life and still you feel unwanted? You have it good here, haven’t you?”, Adam asked not understanding.

“I always get treated differently because I am the youngest in the house”, Mitch said indignant.

“It also have its advantages to be the youngest. Everybody spoils you easier. I try to raise you well but your Uncles, grandpa and Candy come in between it all the time”, Adam explained.

“I am so bored during the summer vacation”, said Mitch.

Finally it had been said.

“I already had that idea. That’s why tomorrow we go to Sacramento for a little week. In three weeks time you must go to school again. So then it is not possible anymore. Are you coming to the herd?”, asked Adam.

“I am sorry about everything daddy”, said Mitch said with tears in his eyes.

Adam took his son into his arms and held him for a second.

Mitch went with his father along to the herd but remained very silent. Because a lot of calves were born the boy stayed near them. Quite soon he got the company of Cody. Suddenly a wild bull came towards Mitch and he ran him over. Mitch laid on the ground near a tree. Adam and Hoss saw what happened and rode to it on their horses. They jumped from their horses and cared about the boy.

“Kid, are you alright?”, Adam asked concerned.

“Oh yeah. I only got a shock of that bull”, Mitch said a bit upset.

He tried to get up but that didn’t succeed because the bull had been standing on his lame ankle.

Ben came near them and said, “Adam and Hoss, you bring him home and let Hop Sing put some ice on it.”

Hoss lifted Mitch up and put him on his horse. Adam and Hoss mounted on their horses and together they rode back home.

When arrived at home they stopped the horses. Hoss lifted his nephew from his horse and carried him carefully inside.

“Hop Sing, Mitch needs a lot of ice for his ankle”, said Adam.

The cook grabbed the cold stuff and walked along with Adam. Meanwhile Hoss had put Mitch on the settee. Hop Sing put as lot of ice on the injured ankle. The brothers smelled the delicious smell of fresh baked cakes.

Hoss begged, “Hop Sing, dearest friend of mine, may I already have a piece of cake?”

“Mr Hoss wait till tonight after dinner”, was the strict answer of the cook.

Adam asked laughing, “Just come along now or you won’t get nothing at all. That ain’t the meaning, is it?”

“Why not? He eats at least ten times as much as we do together”, was the dry reaction of Mitch.

This helped because the brothers went away.

By evening time the Cartwrights, Cody and Candy came home. Mitch was sleeping on the settee the whole afternoon. That way he didn’t even notice that the others had come home. Ben came to sit near him and woke him up.

“How does this young cowboy feel?”, asked the rancher.

“Tired. Are we going to eat?”, the boy asked on his turn.

“Yes, I will help you to the porch”, replied Ben.

Mitch got up with difficulty and limped supported by his grandpa outside.

By the exhausting and the pain in his ankle Mitch was more playing with his food than he was eating something.

“I go to bed”, the boy said after a while.

“I will help you upstairs”, said Adam.

They got up and went inside.

“Now Mitchy doesn’t eat along we have more to eat”, Hoss remarked.

Ben, Little Joe and Candy looked at each other laughing because they all thought the same thing.

“You mean: you have more to eat”, Little Joe corrected his brother.

Hoss gave his younger brother a very angry look but this has disappeared at once when he smelt the taste of fresh baked meat. Hop Sing came again with a big dish with meat.

The Cartwrights were eating with great delight the meat but at the same time they were worried about their nephew and grandson.

“After a few days he runs through the whole house again like he always does with Cody”, Candy said light-hearted.

When Adam was outside again he asked teasing, “Mitch is finally sleeping so now I can eat as well. Or has Hoss eaten everything already?”

Ben, Little Joe and Candy laughed and Ben pushed his eldest son the half full dish with meat towards him.

The whole evening The Cartwrights sat outside because it was a warm evening.

Of course Cody took very much advantage of the barbecue by begging for meat at everyone.

“Pa, we must hold a barbecue more often”, Hoss said after the coffee with cake.

“If it was up to you we held a barbecue each evening”, Adam remarked.

“We don’t do this too often or it won’t be nice anymore”, said Ben.

The boys understood that too. Though it was a beautiful ending of a warm Summer day.