"When is Adam going
to be well again?" Joe asked, plaintively, as he lifted
his pen to begin working on the books.
"When he's better," Ben replied. "You can't hurry nature,
son. Adam will
recover when the time is right."
"Why can't Hoss and I see him?" Joe persisted.
"Because what Adam has is catching," Ben sighed. "Joe, you
know all this.
Would you please just do the books as I asked."
"Okay," Joe sighed, and put his head down. For a time there was
silence in
the room. "Pa," Joe said.
"Joe, please, just finish those books," Ben sighed.
"I am finished!" Joe snapped. "You sound just like Abigail
Jones used to do
in school. I was only going to ask if there was anything else you
wanted me
to do."
"Finished already?" Ben queried, and went over to peer over Joe's
shoulder.
With another martyred sigh, Joe sat back and let his father go over
the
work
he had done. "Joe, its all correct!"
Ben
exclaimed in delight.
"I know it is!" Joe retorted. "I checked it." He shook
his head and got up
from the desk. "you know, pa," he
commented, "I never could figure out why
you and Adam made such a fuss about doing the books. Anyone would
think it
was hard work."
Blinking in astonishment, Ben reflected that for anyone with a
lesser IQ
than Joe, doing the books was very hard work. Ben, hating to
do the
books,
had been leaving it all to Adam lately. A smile began to creep over
Ben's
face as he dreamed up different ways to get Joe to do the books.
Looking up, Ben suddenly realised that
Joe had
disappeared. "Joe?" he called
and Adam's voice floated down to him.
"He's up here,
With a sigh, Ben knew that Joe would not be doing the books for a
few more
weeks, as he had almost certainly caught whatever it was that had
laid Adam
low. Ben bit his lip, wondering if there was any way he could
persuade Hoss
into doing the books.
"Hoss?" he called.
This time there was a chorus. "He's up here, pa!"
Rona