Summary: Little Joe has a high price to pay for a very expensive wish.

Rated: Family Friendly / Word count: 1025

 

Wells and Wishes

“Little brother, what in the world are you doin’?”

For the last twenty minutes Hoss had stood in the shadow of a large tree watching in amusement as Little Joe pranced around the meadow picking dandelions. He would then pucker up his lips, blow the tiny seeds into the wind and then toss the empty stem over his shoulder.

“I’m makin’ a wish,” answered the sprightly six-year-old as he bent down for yet another flower.

Hoss scrunched up his face in confusion. “By spittin’ at weeds?”

“I’m not spittin’ at them,” Joe answered. “I’m blowin’ off the fluff. Me, Seth, and Mitch were talkin’ about wishes at school on Friday and Seth says wishes only come true if blow all the fluff off a dandelion in one breath. I’ve been tryin, but I don’t have enough air to do it.”

“What are you wishin’ for?” asked Hoss.

“Don’t matter. I just want to see if it works.”

“Okay,” said Hoss, plucking one of the white, fluffy flowers. “Let me try it.”

Little Joe watched in wide-eyed amazement as Hoss, in one terrific blow, removed each and every one of the tiny seeds, and a huge grin broke out across the young boy’s face as he asked, “What did you wish for?”

“Can’t tell you, or else it won’t come true,” Hoss shrugged.

“Well, how will I know if Seth was right?”

“I’ll let you know,” Hoss answered, giving him a light pat on the head.

“Okay.” Little Joe turned then and began to run toward home as fast as his little legs would carry him.

Hoss followed him but at a distance. His father had asked him that morning to keep an eye on Little Joe while he and Adam went into town for a meeting. Hoss had agreed but he knew better than to let his baby brother know about the arrangement. The small boy tended to resent being babysat.

Hoss arrived in the yard a few minutes later, and his heart nearly jumped into his throat when he saw Little Joe leaning far over the side of their large well.

“Joseph, you get down from there,” he yelled. He realized his mistake an instant later, when a startled Little Joe fell head first down the long dark hole. The ear piercing cry that followed a loud splash set Hoss in motion, and he quickly lowered the bucket toward his shrieking brother.

Five minutes later, a half-drowned little boy peered out innocently through the hair covering his eyes, while Hoss stood towering over him, his arms folded tightly across his chest.

“Let me guess,” Hoss started, “you was makin’ another wish.”

As Little Joe bobbed his head up and down, Hoss worked to calm himself. The scare his young brother had given him was causing him to have some pretty vicious thoughts float through his mind.

“Mitch says a wish will only come true if you drop a coin down a well,” Little Joe said in the space of his brother’s silence.

“Well, I hope you wished that I wouldn’t pound you, ‘cause that’s what I feel like doin’ right now.”

Little Joe pushed out his lower lip as his eyes sank to the ground. “Gee, Hoss, I wouldn’t of fell if you hadn’t scared me.”

Hoss thought about that for a moment and then with a sigh, reached out to ruffle his brother’s curly mop. “Come on, let’s get you inside and dried off.”

After Joe was dried and dressed in clean clothes, the two brothers once again made their way outside. As Hoss glanced toward the well that had been the scene of a near catastrophe, a sudden thought occurred to him.

“Hey, where’d you get money to throw down that well anyway?” he asked.

When Little Joe didn’t answer right away, Hoss reached down, grabbed the boy’s arm, and turned him around to face him.

“I said, where’d you get that money?”

Little Joe kept his eyes glued to the ground as he scuffed his toe in the dirt. “Off Pa’s desk.”

Hoss’s face went white and, keeping his brother’s arm in a vice like grip ran back into the house. Sure enough the coins that had been on the desk that morning were gone.

“Joe, you . . . you didn’t throw all of ‘em in there, did ya?”

“Well, I thought the wish might come especially true if I threw more than just one,” he answered meekly.

Hoss sighed and ran a hand over his face. “Joe, those were gold coins. You just threw seven dollars down the well.”

“Is that a lot?”

“It’s more than you’re gonna want to pay for, little brother. Come on.”

Hoss once more dragged Little Joe out into the yard, where the two looked forlornly down the deep, dark well. Hoss nearly jumped out of his skin a minute later when Joe shouted beside him.

“Hey, Hoss, make a wish. A lady bug is on your back.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Well, I told Mitch and Seth that the only way a wish will come true is if a lady bug lands on you, and since your wish didn’t come true with the dandelions, and my wish didn’t come true from the well, then I must be the one that’s right. So, go ahead, make a wish. Will you wish that Pa won’t be mad at me for droppin’ that money? Please.”

“Too late, little brother,” Hoss said, looking in the distance. “Remember my wish I made this morning. Well, it’s comin’ true right now.”

“You mean, Seth was right? What did you wish for?”

Hoss was looking off down the road, but before he had a chance to answer, Little Joe heard the sounds of two horses approaching the yard, and raced toward the barn and the loft he could hide in.

As Hoss had feared, Little Joe paid for his premium wish for some time to come, and in light of his younger brother’s troubles, he never did tell him that he’d wished his pa and Adam would get home early so that he’d have time to get in a little fishin’. He did, however, spend a lot of time that summer picking Dandelions.

 

Then end