mike's Guestbook

Mike didn't say anything for a while as Hoss was bragging about Laura. He could see the way his face lit up as talked about her. And once his mouth was empty of food, he began to speak to Hoss again. "I must say, you have it made when it comes to her," Mike told Hoss. "How did you get not only a beautiful lady, but a beautiful lady with the gift of cooking to be your wife?" Mike asked as he took another couple of small bites of his sandwich as Hoss went on speaking to Mike and asking him more questions about his ranching experiences and where all he actually worked and if he ever worked on a ranch the size of the Ponderosa. And once Mike's mouth was empty, he began to speak to him. "I do have references if you wanna get ahold of them," Mike started off and reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Then he went on speaking about how the biggest ranches he worked on was maybe ten thousand acres and that he was very impressed with the Ponderosa. Then Mike took another small bite of the first half of his sandwich just as Ben Cartwright was coming up the stairs. Mike quickly at the food that was in his mouth and then swallowed it and then he sat the plate down on the table beside him. Then Mike wiped his hands on a napkin before shaking Ben's hand.

"Mike Demarigny, it's nice to meet you, Mr. Cartwright," Mike said with a smile on his face. Then Mike's facial expression changed as he went on speaking, this time about his sister, though he would circle back to what he said about Laura. "Wait, are you related to the Cartwright that my sister, Marie married?" he asked him. "I haven't seen my sister in a while, but I do know she had twins with a Cartwright," he added and then he circled back to Laura. "Anyway, is everyone a fan of Laura's cooking?" he asked as he picked up his plate again to finish his lunch. "And has anyone ever suggested that she start a restaurant or a diner or something?" he asked as he finished up the first half of his sandwich as he was savoring as much as he could, even though he still had a second half to eat. Mike didn't say anything for a few minutes, even after he had swallowed what was in his mouth. Then he looked at Hoss again and began to ask him his own questions. "So, does this mean I get the job?" he asked Hoss and then went on. "And secondly, was she really serious about feeding you a salad for supper as a punishment?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"Well, uh, Mr. Cartwright, I have worked on several different ranches, doing different things around those ranches," he told Hoss with a smile. "But yes, I can lay and fix fences, I can round up, brand and anything else that needs to be done with cattle," he added. Then he went on speaking about what he could do with horses. "I can rope, ride, and even break horses, if I need too" Mike told him and then he went on. "I do come from New Orleans and that I like to look good, but please don't let that fool you," told Hoss. "I can and have no problems getting dirty with the best of them," he added with that same smile. Hoss once against studied Mik once again and went deep in thought about something. But it was smell of bacon cooking rising from the kitchen below that snapped Hoss out of his thinking. Mike could feel his stomach rolling with hunger as he looked back and then back at Hoss. It was then that Mike began to speak to Hoss. "So, is it true that the Ponderosa is 600,000 acres of ranch?" he asked softly. Hoss chuckled and then nodded as he watched Mike's eyes get big, though Hoss did tell Mike that there were other ranch hands that worked on the ranch as well, which made Mike ease up a little bit more. Finally, after about five minutes of talking and getting to know each other, Hoss decided to go ahead and hire Mike. And just as Hoss and Mike were shaking hands in a mutual agreement, Laura walked in with two plates, each plate having two sandwiches on them.

Laura couldn't help but smile as she saw what she did. She placed one plate on Hoss's lap and then handed the other plate to Mike. "I take it that we have ourselves a new ranch hand," Laura concluded from the handshake. "I'll get the Forman's bedroom ready, which is the bedroom that was build off the barn, it make it easier to tend to the horses during the winter," she said. "I hope that will be alright with you," she told Mike. "But to make up for the living arrangements, you will get fed with great home cooked meals, along with whatever payment arrangements you and Hoss came up with," she told Mike as she turned to Hoss. "And I heard what you said, Mr. Cartwright about "surviving my cooking," she said both playfully and a little hurt. "Tonight, for supper I was going to make you your favorite fried chicken, but instead, you're getting a salad," she added both playfully and yet serious too. She placed her hand on her growing belly as she let out a sigh. "Welp, I'll go get that room ready so that you can get moved in and settled before you put in a full day's work tomorrow," she said with a smile on her face as she walked back over to the door. "Enjoy lunch boys," she told them and was soon gone from the room. Mike looked at Hoss with a "does she ever sit down and rest" kind of look on his face, to which Hoss chuckled again as he took a couple of bites of one of his sandwiches.

"Nice to meet you Mike," Laura said with a smile on her face. "You are very welcome. I know the first time I stepped onto the Ponderosa I got myself completely lost," she said with a chuckle. "But it was a good thing because that's how I met my husband" she told Mike after closing the door behind him. She gingerly walked past him and went into the kitchen, through her gloves on the counter and grabbed a couple of bottles of water. She then quickly came back and handed one of them to Mike. "Sorry, we just moved into this house not long ago and we still have some things left to get fixed, starting with our pluming," she said with a chuckle. "So, we have bottled water for the time being," she added as she cleared her throat. Laura took a couple of drinks of her water as she listened to what Mike told her, which she nodded in an understanding way. Once she was done with her water, she put the lid back on and then began to speak to Mike again. "Oh, there is always work somewhere around this huge ranch," she said with a chuckle. "But at this particular part of the ranch, I definitely could us a ranch hand while my husband is laid up," she said. "Right now, it's just a temp position, at least for us, but it could become more permanent later on," she added. "But we can talk about that more later, but if you follow me, I will take you to see my husband," she told him and turned and started walking towards their stairs. When she heard Mike say he could wait if Hoss wasn't up for visitors, she waved him off and continued speaking to Mike. "He's just watching some TV," she told Mike. "Besides, I'll be fixing him something to each soon anyway," she told him as they were walking up the stairs to hers and Hoss's room.

Once they got to their room, she opened the door and looked in on Hoss, who was sitting up and watching TV with his LVad machine bag on a chair next to him. He was looking good with great color, though she knew he was still very weak. "Hey baby," Laura said with a huge smile on her face. "You're looking good," she said as she went over and softly kissed his lips and straightened his hair a little bit. The Laura turned and looked at Mike. "Eric, honey, this is Mike," she told Hoss. "He's looking for a job. I told him he would go have to talk to your father, but I'm thinking that maybe he could work for us," Laura told him. "Considering you can't do the ranch work and I can only do so much in my condition," she added. "So, I thought maybe you and Mike can talk and see if he would be a good fit here," she told him as she watched her husband turn and look at Mike and then back at Laura. Laura then waved Mike over, after she moved Hoss's LVad bag and hung it on their bed post so that she could move the chair next to the bed. Laura gave Hoss one more kiss and turned to smile again at Mike. "Now you boys play nice and discuss your manly business," she told Hoss and Mike as she offered Mike the chair so that he and Hoss could talk. "And I'll go fix lunch," she told both men. "Mike, are you sure you won't have a sandwich with us? We do love to have company," she told him. "Plus, I make the best BLT sandwiches in all of Virginia City," she said with a giggle.

Laura had been busy planting roses and making the house look more like hers when she heard a car. She turned around and smiled when Mike walked up to her and began to speak to her. "First, call me Laura," she said with a smile on her face. "And secondly, you have no idea just how big the Ponderosa really is," she said as she was taking off her gloves. "And as far as working around the Ponderosa, you want the main ranch house, which is still down the road a ways," she said and then went silent for a few minutes as she turned to look back towards the house and then back at Mike as she began to speak again. "But my husband is inside resting, you could talk to him," she said. "Follow me, by the way, I didn't catch your name," she said as they were heading to the house. Laura still had a smile on her face as they walked up the steps of the porch and into the house. Laura put her gloves on the table next to Hoss's hat and gun. "I'll take you to see my husband in a minute, but first, can I get you something to drink?" she asked him with a smile.