Looking Back

‘2026 March Round-Up Challenge’
by janajinbc

“C’mon, Joe,” Hoss encouraged. “It’s Saturday night, and even if you don’t have a lady lined up for the evening, there will be lots of them there to dance with. You’ll enjoy it. Moody as you’ve been lately, it’ll be good for you.”

Hoss’s usual bonhomie just grated instead of cheering Joe up, but he bit back any sharp reply. “You and Adam go ahead, Hoss. I don’t feel like dancing tonight.”

“He just can’t handle the competition, Hoss,” Adam commented, donning his hat as he walked out the door.

Joe felt Ben’s eyes on him, could actually feel his speculative gaze, and knew that Pa was concerned. To avoid any confrontation, he followed his brothers as far as the porch and watched them set out for town, all shined and polished for a night out. Reluctant to go back inside, Joe wandered over to the corral and propped himself against the rail. He was looking at the horses inside but not seeing them. His focus was inward.

Hoss was right. He had been moody. He was moody. No, that wasn’t right. He was angry. It was stuffing all that anger down inside that made him moody. He knew it, but he couldn’t let it go, and he couldn’t let it out. Because everybody else had seen what happened, had experienced it, but they weren’t angry. Just him.

Joe leaned against the corral and let the memories run through his mind. Again.

*****

All four of them had been in town that day two weeks ago. Pa had an appointment with Mr. Woods, his lawyer, while Joe and Adam loaded up supplies at the mercantile. Usually, that was Hoss’s role, but that day, Hoss had seen someone down the street he wanted to talk to. Telling them he’d be back, he took off at a trot, and Joe and Adam got on with the job.

Two hours later, Ben, Adam, and Joe met at the saloon for a beer. Hoss had not shown up, but he was a big boy, and not even Pa was concerned. At least, he wasn’t, until Billy White ran into the saloon yelling about somebody being dead. Billy White was a local drunk. He was big and loud and obnoxious. He did love an audience, though, and he had one. According to Billy, the smithy was dead, and Hoss Cartwright had killed him.

The next few hours were chaos. Ben, Adam, and Joe headed for the sheriff’s office while the rest of the saloon occupants raced out with Billy on the hunt for Hoss. Nobody questioned whether Hoss would do such a thing. To hear them hollering and shouting, you’d have thought Hoss was a vicious criminal with a history of murder and mayhem. Ben and Adam ignored them all, but Joe couldn’t. These people had known Hoss for years. He’d played with their kids, doctored their animals, and sat with them in church. How could they so quickly turn on him?

The visit to the Sheriff revealed some facts, at least. Yes, Tom Hardy, the blacksmith, was dead, and yes, Sheriff Coffee was looking for Hoss, because Hoss had been at the smithy earlier in the day, and Roy hoped he might have some information to help sort out what happened.

Escalation of the shouting outside and hollers of “there he is” drew them all to the jailhouse door, only to see the roiling mob tear off down the street towards Hoss, who was sauntering casually along, obviously unaware that he was their intended target. He was overrun and on the ground before anyone could react.

Roy fired his blunderbuss overhead as Ben, Adam, and Joe plowed into the crowd, tossing bodies right and left as they fought their way to Hoss. Standing over him, back to back and guns in their hands, they faced down this rabid pack of people they thought they knew.

Eventually, the whole story came out. The blacksmith had died after falling and striking his head against the anvil. His young apprentice had panicked and run out of the smithy, shouting for Hoss, whom he knew was a friend and who had been in the shop earlier. From that, Billy White had put two and two together, come up with ten, and announced that Hoss was a killer. What Joe couldn’t forget – or forgive – was the ease with which so many people so quickly believed that.

*****

Joe dropped his head onto his folded arms atop the corral post and sighed. He’d seen this kind of thing before; he knew people could be fickle, and in mobs they lost their individuality. Why did it bother him so much this time?

It was because it was Hoss, he realized. Hoss was a big man, true, but he was a peaceable one. He never picked a fight, he regularly turned the other cheek, and his heart was as soft as marshmallow.

Somehow, it was different with the rest of them. Pa was an authoritative man who could be intimidating. That could make enemies. Adam, well, he was intense and stern, and his temper could be like banked fire. Adam could be scary. As for himself, Joe knew he was a bit wild and his temper less controlled than even he wanted it to be. All three of them could maybe rile people up enough to turn on them. But not Hoss.

Joe felt his shoulders relax as he worked his way through the tangle in his mind. He heard Pa’s footsteps approach and found he could accept the warm hand that clasped his shoulder.

In the comfortable, silent acceptance Pa offered, Joe poured out his thoughts.

“Hoss didn’t deserve that, Pa,” Joe concluded. “And yet, he’s not angry about it. Neither are you and Adam. How can you accept our own friends and neighbours turning on him like that?”

Ben suppressed a smile as he gazed fondly at his son. Watching Joe wrestle with his thoughts always reminded Ben of the Bible story of Jacob wrestling with the angel. Joe just couldn’t let go until he exhausted himself working things out. Thankfully, it looked like he was reaching some understanding at last, and the whole family would be grateful.

“You’re right, Son, that Hoss didn’t deserve to have friends turn on him. But you’re wrong about the anger. We were all angry too, although maybe Hoss least of all. Hoss let go of anger to grieve for his friend and help Tom’s family. He looked ahead. I suppose that’s what Adam and I did, as well. Looked ahead, I mean.

“I was just grateful that we got Hoss away from that mob with only a few scrapes and bruises. As for Adam, I expect his logical mind saw the mob as one entity instead of friends and neighbours. Once it was broken up, it didn’t exist any longer, so he didn’t dwell on it.” Ben paused, letting silence work.

“But me, I’ve been looking back,” Joe finished, finally at peace. “I kept feeding my anger.”

Arm slung over Joe’s shoulder, Ben ushered his son back toward the house. “But you aren’t any longer, Joseph. How about looking ahead to a game of checkers? And let me assure you that I’m going to keep a much sharper eye on your game than your brother Hoss does!”

The End