For What We Are
About To
Receive
May The Lord Make Us Truly Thankful
Ben Cartwright lifted the smaller of his two
young sons
onto a
high wooden cane seated chair while the older, darker boy sat down
at
his Pa's right hand side.
Pa placed three dishes on the table. One for each child and himself.
Adam neatly drew a napkin across his lap and watched his Pa tuck one
about his four year old brother's collar. Ben reached out both
hands to
hold his sons hands and murmured a short prayer of thanks. He
picked up
a fork and began to eat as did Adam. Eric looked at his older
brother
Adam, quietly tucking a fork into his mouth, then looked at his Pa
who
took a bite from his fork. The little boy's blue eyes were huge with
curiosity. He sniffed his plate. A strange aroma he wasn't familar
with
gently made an impression. There was a white piece of meat on his
plate
covered in a yellowy sauce with tiny green things in it. "mmm I
don't
know if I like it," he thought to himself. Eric looked at his Pa and
Adam again. They're eating it and not making a fuss? "I know,"
the kid
thought, "I'll play with my peas and bashed potatoes!" Eric
picked up
his fork and chased the peas onto the potatoes then gave it a whack.
Suddenly he had smashed potatoes on his fingers. And his plate was a
mess. Eric sighed.
"Adam what did you do at school today,boy? Pa asked quisitively
Adam loved to talk about school; he loved it. "School must be a
place
where important things happen. Big Doings" thought the little boy
who
smiled broadly as Adam chattered away.
"First we had a lesson on the War of 1812. There was a fire in
"Well, how about that!" said Pa in rapt attention
" I read a whole chapter on it today. The school master said I read
the
most of all the boys in class!" Adam went on. Eric placed the napkin
over his head as he was getting terribly irritable by that strange
looking thing on his plate. "Yankee doodle keep it up Yankee doodle
dandy He put a feather in his cap and caled mac ka
krooonnnnnneeeee!"
Eric yelled as loud as he could. After all, he's important too! Pa
looked at his baby boy then started to laugh. "Eat your dinner,
silly
boy before it gets cold." Pa took the napkin off the little fellows
head. So much for singing. "I know," Eric thought "I'll
drink some milk.
I'm getting hungry." He picked up a tall tin cup with both hands
holding
it to his lips. Blowing bubbles into his milk, he started kicking
his
feet back and forth.
"Eric!" Pa chastised
"Pa! I made a drawing at school.! Want to see it?" Adam jumped up
and
ran to Pa's desk to fetch the paper drawing. He handed it to his
father
with a huge smile. "That's fine, son. Real fine. As a matter of
fact I
like this drawing of the house so much I believe I can use this
idea to
add on to the house. What do you think of that?" Adam was very
pleased.
Eric jumped down from his seat and went to the cutting board near
the
sink . He picked up a carrot and celery stalk. " I can play soldier
with
these and they make a lot of noise when I crunch them" he thought
"Pa, I
want these" he said and handed the carrot and celery to his Pa to
break.
He grabbed them both and stuck them in his mouth. Crunch Crunch,
Eric
made as much noise as he could to show off to his big broher who was
pretty smart.
Pa picked up the toddler again and sat him at his left. The boy
opened
his mouth and yelled "GEEERRR ON EEEEE MOOOOOOO!!!" Adam thought
it was
funny coming out of no where but he kept on talking about school,
anyhow. Eric sighed. He kicked his feet back and forth Looking
straight
at Pa who was intrigued by this strange phenomenon called school
Eric
blurted out with a scowl on his cherubic face "I'm so hungry I
could
eat
rat soup!" "Oh! Eric" Pa scolded. Adam giggled at his baby
brother who
put the napkin over his head again "What's the matter, son? Don't
you
like fish?" Pa asked his little boy "Fish?" he thought
perplexed? "Hey,
Adam! I caught fish today Me and Pa went to the lake and I got a
fish!"
Eric beamed. Well that sounds important he thought. What do you
think of
that? Pa took the napkin off the boy's head and tucked it back into
his
collar.
"Eric," he said really Pa like in a deep voice, " this is
fish. Do you
want to try some?" The baby stuck his tongue out "Yup" Pa
put a small
bit of the funny white thing with the yellowy sauce on it onto a
fork
and gently fed it to the little boy. He scowled. Then chewed it a
little
bit. He stuck his finger in his mouth then chewed some more.
Finally he
swallowed it.
"mmm this is fish?" he thought "ok I like it"
"Finally!" Pa said with a
growl
Adam started chattering again about school. Something about math and
numbers. Pa smiled; he was so proud of his little school boy. Eric
looked at his plate and looked at Adam He decided smashing peas was
more
fun. Grabbing his tin cup he took a few swallows of milk and grew a
milk
moustache above his lip. Pa wiped the little one's face with the
napkin
then turned to Adam again who was saying he couldn't wait for school
tomorrow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lake Tahoe was exceptionally blue and clear that
day,
Ben
Cartwright wrote in his journal, much like the blue in his son's
striking azure eyes...I remember that day as if it were only
yesterday,
he wrote pensively...
Eric bolted towards his laughing father
who was
standing with
knees bent and his long arms spread wide Ben scooped up his ten
year old
in both arms and clutching him like a log flipped him over his leg
onto
the ground. The boy was quite a healthy armful, for sure, but Pa was
very strong and happy to rough house with him when they both needed
to
let off a little steam.
Unlike his older brothers, the baby, "Little" Joe was a tornado.
Pa
couldn't take his eyes off him for five seconds without some
catastrophe! Either "Little" Joe was hurling himself off the
stairway or
hurtling some breakable object through the air or using his
brothers as
unwilling broncos; Pa sometimes felt drained by his very demanding
toddler. Adam, too, had been a challenge for Pa. Rarely did the boy
allow himself to be childlike. Pa found it difficult and trying to
get
Adam to be playful and carefree. With
with him and relax. He was a giving, genial boy.
Pa tossed Eric over his leg and flipped him over holding onto the
boy's
middle.
His baby face and bright blue eyes shone with unabashed happiness.
Eric
laughed loudly as Pa hugged his neck.
Grabbing him under the arms, Pa lifted his son off the ground and
tossed
him into the shallows of the lake and dove in after him. With wild
splashing, the boy threw himself at
shoulders and hugged his father tight. Pa laughed again and gave
Eric a
smart slap on the leg. It was so good to be young...
Watching Hoss now, Ben wrote, was like being a father
to that
youngster all over again. Hoss played with Billy, taught him to
trust
and love again. I love my son, Ben wrote, I am so thankful.
Blue Velvet