We Did What!

by Katlynn

Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the TV program "Big Valley" are the creations of Four Star/Republic Pictures and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended by the author. The ideas expressed in this story are copyrighted to the author.

This story was written in response to a challenge to write a 400-word story that included the following four words: anesthesia, eclipse, hot-air balloon and ornithorhynchus.

“Hey, little brother…” Heath straightened up when Nick spoke to him after what seemed like hours of silence.

“Yeah, I’m listenin’, Nick,” the blond cowboy assured his big brother.

“Ya’ remember that time…”

“What time?” Heath prompted when Nick paused in the middle of what he was saying. “I remember a lotta times. Which one are ya’ talkin’ about?”

“The time we went up in that balloon.”

“I think ya’ might be talkin’ about someone else, Nick. I don’t rightly recall that.”

“Ya know … we went for a ride … in that hot-air balloon.”

“I’m pretty sure I’d remember if I did that, Nick. I kinda like keepin’ my feet on the ground for the most part. Why doncha remind me of what we were doin’ in a hot-air balloon,” Heath suggested, his poker-face offering no hint of skepticism.

“We wanted to see that eclipse they were talkin’ about.”

“The eclipse?”

“The one in the paper … when the moon was gonna make the sun disappear … and we wanted to see it from the balloon.”

“I think you’re mixin’ up your life with one of those books by Jules Verne. Ya’ know, the books that Audra gave me,” Heath reminded Nick as their blonde sister was coming into the room.

“What books are you talking about?” Audra asked as she looked first at Nick then turned her attention to Heath.

“I think Nick is gettin’ real life mixed up with that ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ book. He’s tryin’ to convince me we took a ride in a balloon.”

“No!” Nick protested. “I’m not mixed up … we went in that balloon ‘cause we wanted to see that eclipse … but we ended up flyin’ over that island … and when we landed all we found was that giant duck-billed, web-footed ornithorhynchus. Doncha remember?”

“‘Mysterious Island’!” Audra and Heath both laughed together, amused by their brother’s monstrously skewed memory.

Heath took a small tablet from his pocket. “I’m gonna hafta write this down so I’ll remember it. Hey, doc,” he looked across the room to where Howard Merar was washing his hands, “how long ya’ figure it’ll be before Nick sobers up from that anesthesia ya’ gave him? I don’t want him soberin’ up too soon … the story is just gettin’ good. Ya’ think ya’ could give him a little more?”

“No…” Nick mumbled as he was falling asleep, “…s’not a story … really happened…”

THE END