Jail
By Robin
Adam Cartwright sat meditatively on his cot in the dingy, prison
cell. He
had finally found some meaning from this entire horrific
experience.
Adam had
found a path for the rest of his life. He didn’t want to be pigeon
holed or
categorized. He wore black. Adam wrote songs for a man on the road.
Adam had left the Ponderosa six
years
earlier telling his father and
brothers that he had to travel, to see the world. They were
reluctant
to see him go
but knew for a long time how
miserable he
had been. Adam missed the cultural
life of big cities, the
sophistication of
the East Coast, malls not cattle.
He wanted to see the great cities
of
museums as well as the Moulin Rouge (He always did have a
thing for
windmills…as
well as dancing girls showing their lingerie) He had a
bizarre
longing to see
t stay on the Ponderosa. Each year
he grew
more conflicted and sullen and
snappish. "Peevish and cranky,"
said some. He started dressing in black.
Then there cam he fork in the
road. Ever
since that horrible incident when
Little Joe got shot instead of the
wolf and
that whiney Sheila Reardon pinched
Adam’s tushie while trying
to lift
his wallet from his back pocket, Adam
was restless and couldn’t sit still. At first, Doc Martin
attributed
it all to
his guilt feelings over hurting
his beloved
brother Joe .But then, after
further examination, realized it was from that tushie
pinching and the bruise on
Adam’s seat.
Soon after, however, Adam did
leave on his
journey.
He wrote to his family… Paris, Brooklyn, Meh
hee Co, Mo-Town, Moo Town,
Cape Town, Cape May New Jersey, The Cape of Good Hope… At
first he
wrote often,
but as time went on they lost track
of his
location as mail delivery was not
dependable in the old west. Joe even
joined
the pony express briefly hoping
to remedy things but to no avail.
Eventually the Cartwrights on the Ponderosa lost track of where Adam
Cartwright was and he stopped getting their mail as well. He sure
missed news of
home, hearth and family and those boxes of biscotti and s'mores
Hop Sing made
for him.
As Adam traveled through
of a local nasty businessman. It was a company town, and
everyone had it in
for C. Montgomery Burns. Burns, Springfield's richest
man, he
has been able
to control local elections, manage a championship-winning
baseball
team, hold
a chair on the board of Springfield University and build a
contraption large
enough to block out the sun and plunge the town into complete
darkness. One
day Monty Burns was shot.
Being a stranger in town, Adam was quickly arrested by Chief Wiggam,
accused, tried and convicted. He wasn’t even allowed to contact his family to come
rescue him.
It was too late. He had to serve YEARS in
jail
for a crime he didn’t commit.
Sometimes, the worst thing that can happen
really winds up being the best
He had been wrongly accused of committing a crime he
had not
done but it
gave an end to Adam Cartwrights pointless traveling. It
forced him to
look
inward, rather than outward. To find his
path in
life.
He discovered it the night the prison had
an
evening of musical entertain
ment. A young singer with a
sad voice
was brought into entertain the
prisoners.
Adam was selected by the prison guards to escort
the performer and serve as
the mc of the event. He was warned that if any thing
bad should happen, Adam
would be punished. If the entertainment worked out, Adam
would be released. A
lot rested on the outcome of this event.
Wearing a nice suit, Johnny played
his guitar
and sang “Eensy Weensy Spider”
and “Beer Barrel Polka”. The prisoners started getting
restless. Boos
and
cat calls filled the air.
Knowing how much rested on it, Adam quickly pulled the
singer off stage and
handed Johnny all the music he had written over the years. He
quickly
swapped
clothes with him as well. Dressed in Adam’s clothes, he
sang sad songs of a
man on the road. The crowd went wild and cheered for
more. The head of the
prison, a former record executive gave him a contract and
a star was born.
Adam was released but never got his songs or clothes back.
Few
artists in
history ever enjoyed the successful career Johnny did thanks to Adam
Cartwright.
And now you know the true story of how Johnny Cash got his start.
“Many people describe him as a mythical, larger than life
figure.
Others
describe him as one of the greatest recording artists of all time.
Yet there is no one description
which
adequately fits The Man In Black. He
was a complex, unpredictable, ball
of talent
and energy that no one has ever
been able to pigeonhole or categorize.”
Johnny Cash.com
Robin