Then
Again….?
By K.K. Shaulis
Adam Cartwright shifted uncomfortably in his chair and picked up a fork
full of hash browns. He studied it nonchalantly while glancing sideways
at his father who was munching on a piece of toast. His freshly tanned backside
was just beginning to sting and he shifted his position again.
Ben noted his seventeen year old son’s glance and his discomfort but said
nothing about it. In his opinion, Adam did deserve it and his month restriction
to the ranch for his blatant disregard of his rules, his disobedience and
his snotty attitude of late. Ben did, however, clear his throat and intone
to no one in particular, “I think Hoss can go with me today.”
“Me, Pa?” twelve year old Hoss who was concentrating on his breakfast tore
his attention away from his plate and looked at his father in disbelief.
“Sure. You’ve got to start sometime,” Ben took a sip of coffee and continued.
“Adam can stay here, clean out the barn and do whatever else needs done.”
“If that’s what you want, Pa,” Adam smiled at Ben, thankful that he would
not be stuck all day in a saddle in his condition. He figured that his father
was allowing him to save face with his younger brothers and his fourteen
year old cousin Josephine who knew nothing about their early morning appointment.
Josephine Marie Cartwright -- or Josey as she preferred to be called --
was Ben’s step-niece, her mother having married Ben’s brother when Josey
was six. Usually she was off at school but she just happened to be visiting
the family for the summer.
“Of course, I’ll expect you to watch out for your baby brother and cousin
while I’m gone. And,” Ben added putting his cup back in its saucer and shifting
his gaze from Adam to Adam’s ‘baby brother and cousin,’ “You have my permission
to punish them if they get so much as an inch out of line.”
“No fair,” ‘nearly six’ year old Joe protested, putting his spoon down in
his oatmeal bowl with a clang. “Adam is a tyrant!”
All four of the older Cartwrights stared at the youngest in amazement. Tyrant?
“Where did you learn a word like ‘tyrant,’ young man?” Ben wanted to know.
Adam, Hoss and Josey, however, knew ‘where’ before Joe opened his mouth
to respond to his Pa. In fact, Josey covered her eyes hoping that when she
opened them again she would be somewhere else.
“Josey learned me,” Little Joe smiled broadly at his redheaded cousin. “She
says Adam is a tyrant all the time.”
“She does, does she?” Ben raised his eyebrows questioningly at his niece.
“Can I be excused?” she uncovered her eyes, smiled hopefully at her Uncle
Ben and tried to slip out of her chair to go… to Singapore, Zanzibar or
Outer Rangoon – the farther the better.
“It’s ‘May I’ and the answer is No,” her oldest cousin grabbed her by her
left forearm to stymie her travel plans.
“Tyrant,” she muttered under her breath, glaring at his hand that held her
in place.
Ben tried to hide a chuckle at the exchange between the two but couldn’t.
This sort of squabbling had been going on ever since Josey arrived and probably
wouldn’t stop until she left. He cleared his throat in an effort to regain
everyone’s attention so he could pursue the subject further with his youngest.
“Joseph, do you know exactly what a ‘tyrant’ is?”
“No, Pa, but Josey says he is so it must be so,” the little boy insisted,
smiling again at Josephine.
“Little Joe,” Josey took a deep breath, “A tyrant is someone who makes up
all the rules and then acts like a bully to get you to follow his rules,”
she frowned at Adam with an implied like you in her eyes. “Then if you don’t
follow his rules, you get punished.”
Both Joe and Hoss thought for a moment, glancing at Adam, then Ben and then
Josey.
Josey gave Adam a superior look and tried to shake free from his grip. No
such luck.
“Well,” Hoss finally spoke up wiping his mouth on his napkin, “Ain’t that
what Pa does?” he demanded looking at Josephine.
“So Pa’s a tyrant then?” Joseph looked quizzically at Josey and then at
his father.
Ben almost choked on his coffee, Josey gasped and Adam smirked trying not
to laugh.
“Oh, Joe, honey,” she said nervously as her uncle put down his cup again,
propped his chin in his hand and watched her squirm like a worm on a hook.
“Your Pa is only looking out for your best interest. He’s not a tyrant.
A tyrant looks out for his own best interest. A tyrant doesn’t care who
he hurts.”
“Well, that’s not Adam either,” Hoss finally said shaking his head. “He
doesn’t do nothing like that,” he batted his big blue eyes at Josey.
“Well...” she stammered looking around the table from her uncle to her youngest
to middle to oldest cousin who was really enjoying this.
“Maybe we should get Josey a dictionary for Christmas, Joe,” Adam suggested
finally releasing Josey and picking up his own coffee cup. “Then maybe she’ll
be able to choose her words more carefully in the future.”
“What’s a dictionary?” Joe asked puzzled again.
“We’ll talk about it at dinner,” Ben decided that they had wasted enough
time. “Come on, Hoss. Time to go,” he rose from the table and planted a
kiss on his baby son’s head and on his niece’s cheek. “You two behave for
Adam…” he said striding briskly to the front door and snagged his hat and
neckerchief from the rack while Hoss ran to retrieve his rifle from the
gun rack. “…Or else!”
“Else what?” Little Joe asked innocently.
“…Or else you and I will have a necessary talk,” Adam told him bluntly looking
him right in the eyes.
Ben chuckled, Hoss laughed and Josey stared daggers at Adam. Little Joe
just sat there thinking. He then looked suspiciously at his oldest brother.
“Are you sure you’re not a tyrant, Adam?”
“’All men would be tyrants if they could,’ Little Joe,” Adam smugly quoted
Daniel Defoe, looked pointedly at his father and took a sip of his coffee.
Ben was taken aback by Adam’s arrogant comment, tone and, most of all, look.
Did he forget what had earlier transpired between the two of them not to
mention his father’s very benevolent effort to keep it their little secret?
Well, he’d fix that right here and now. “But, remember, Adam,” he tied his
neckerchief as he came back to the table and stood directly in front of
his oldest. “To paraphrase Voltaire, only ‘clever tyrants are never punished.’”
He emphasized the last word while giving Adam a meaningful look. “And the
not so clever ones…well, Adam, you know,” he then winked knowingly at his
oldest offspring.
“Yes, sir,” Adam gulped. He knew immediately what his father was trying
to tell him and so did his freshly tanned backside.
Little Joe did not. “So what kind of tyrant are you, Adam?” he asked staring
at his older brother.
Adam blushed but did not respond to Joe. Instead he shifted uncomfortably
in his chair, picked up another fork full of hash browns and wondered himself
in spite of the discussion a few minutes before whether or not his father
was a tyrant. Maybe a dictionary would help.
THE END
*******************************************************************************************
Many thanks to David Dortort for his creation of Bonanza in general and
the Cartwrights in particular. The author does not claim ownership of any
of the aforementioned characters. This story is not intended to infringe
on any known copyrights. Josephine Marie Cartwright © December, 2004
is a copyrighted character belonging to the author. ALL INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS
ARE RESERVED.