As I walked
into the
schoolroom, on that rather grey Monday morning,
I was aware of the snickering that was going on, but thought it was
just some of the guys talking about what they did at the week end.
I
located my desk and sat down, completely in the dark as to what was
waiting for me.
Then it happened.
"Good morning, Joseph, I'm glad to see that you made it to school
on
time. I trust that this will continue while I am teaching you."
I did not want to look up and confirm my worst nightmare, but that
voice was unmistakeable. I didn't need to look up to know that my
brother Adam was our new temporary teacher.
There had been a lot of speculation, by us students, on who our
stand in teacher was going to be, when Miss Jones had announced, on
Friday, that she was going to be taking a week off. Her cousin over
in
the preparations and then attend the ceremony.
I was rather looking forward to going to school, well as much as a
normal, outdoor loving, fifteen year old can look forward to such a
thing. A stand in teacher usually meant a relaxation of the rules
and a chance to cut loose and have a bit of fun. As soon as I saw
those hazel brown eyes boring into me, though, I knew that fun was
going to be the last thing on the menu, in fact it had just been
removed.
"Morning Adam," I said, and was rewarded with a frown.
"While we are in the schoolroom, you will address me as Mr
Cartwright, or sir," said Adam.
I couldn't help it, I laughed out loud.
"You've gotta be kidding me, right?" I said, but one look at the
expression on his face, told me he was deadly serious.
"I realise that this might be a little awkward for us, Joseph, but
I
want you to be mature about it, well, as mature as you can be. I
deliberately refrained from telling you about my appointment,
beforehand, as I didn't want us living through a difficult week end
at home, with you putting up all kinds of obstacles and likely
antagonising Pa and myself. I am going to call the rest of the
children in, now, and I trust that we can go forward and both get a
lot out of this experience."
I was too shocked to answer, so I just slid down in my seat and
prayed that I might wake up in a minute and discover it was all a
dream.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen and the day progressed much as I
had feared it would. Adam was so determined not to be accused of
favouritism that he came down on me much harder than anyone else.
At lunch time, the ribbing started from my so called friends that
now I was the teacher's pet, I couldn't be part of the gang.
"Come off it fellas," I said. "I ain't teacher's pet. Look
what
happened after Adam caught me flicking Becky with ink pellets, he
made me stand in the corner for fifteen minutes. And when we were
all talking, when he had to take Billy outside to be sick, it was
me
he singled out to blame. I'm having a worse time of it, cos he's my
brother, I sure ain't his pet."
"Prove it, then," said Frank, who was a bit of a loudmouth and
not
really part of our group.
"How can I prove it?" I replied.
"Help me out with a little prank I am planning to play on the new
teacher."
"Okay," I said, but I wish I hadn't agreed so quickly, once I
found
out what he was intending to do.
The whole school was going on a trip after lunch, as we were doing
a
project on the seasons. We were piling into two wagons and driving
out away from the town, and then going for a walk in order to
collect leaves and do bark rubbings of the different varieties of
trees. Two of the older boys were driving the wagons and Adam was
going to ride on Sport. Frank's plan was to nearly cut through the
cinch on Adam's saddle, so that the saddle would slip and he would
fall off.
"I don't think that's a good idea," I said. "A prank's one
thing,
but Adam could get badly hurt, iffen we did that."
"Oh, he'll be okay," said Frank. "You're always boasting
about what
a good rider he is, so he'll be able to jump off before he falls.
That is, unless you lied about how good he is?"
"'Course I didn't, my brother is the best danged rider in the
territory."
"All right, then, he'll be fine, won't he?" said Frank. "It
will
jest be a mite embarrassing fer him, especially if he lands in the
dirt on his butt."
Put like that, it didn't sound too bad, and so I agreed to go
inside
the school and keep Adam talking while Frank sabotaged the saddle.
Adam was surprised to see me back inside, before the bell, and I
found it hard to think of anything to say to him, so I just started
talking and hoped it made sense.
"Erm, Mr Cartwright, if I get into any trouble in school and you
havta punish me, will you go home and tell Pa about it? What I mean
is, when we get outta here each day, will you still be my teacher,
or will you be my brother again, and try and save my hide, like you
usually do?"
Adam smiled at me and ruffled my hair, a habit I wish he'd break.
"When we get home, I will be your brother, not your teacher, and so
unless it is a very serious offence that requires a note home, I
won't be telling
"Thanks, Mr Cartwright, that's real decent of you."
I returned to the schoolyard and Frank gave me the thumbs up, to
let
me know that he'd cut the cinch. I just nodded at him and tried to
eat my lunch, but the food kept getting stuck in my throat. I knew
that no matter how much I hated having Adam as my teacher, I still
loved him as a brother, and I didn't want him to be injured.
Once all the children were back in the schoolroom, Adam sent me,
Mitch and Frank outside to hitch up the wagons. Frank offered to
saddle up Sport, too, and Adam thanked him and accepted the offer.
We went to the corral and collected the horses. As I watched Frank
with Sport, I knew that I had to stop him from going through with
his prank.
I went over to him and said, "I've changed my mind, Frank. I don't
wanna do this to Adam. He ain't that bad as a teacher and it's only
for a week, we'll survive."
I tried to remove Sport's saddle, but Frank held on to it.
"You ain't gonna welsh outta this, Cartwright. We always play a
trick on a stand in teacher, why should your brother be any
different?"
"Because he is, that's all," I said, reluctant to say how much I
cared for Adam, as that would have made me sound like a wimp.
"Well he ain't nothin' special to me," said Frank. "And you
ain't
gonna stop me from doing this."
"That's where you're wrong," I said, and although Frank was at
least
four inches taller and several pounds heavier than me, I took a
swing at him.
We were soon rolling around on the floor, throwing punches at each
other, and although not all of them were connecting, I was still
getting the worst of it.
Suddenly a large hand grabbed me by the back of my shirt and hauled
me to my feet.
"Would you care to explain what this is all about?" asked Adam,
in
his best Pa like voice.
"Erm, we were fighting," I said.
"I could see that," said Adam. "What were you fighting
about?"
"I dunno, sir," said Frank, trying to look all innocent.
"Joe just
came at me, for no reason. All I was doing was defending myself."
"Is that true, Joseph?" said Adam.
I nodded, as it was true that I had thrown the first punch.
"Mitch, you finish hitching up the teams. Frank, go get yourself
cleaned up and then tell the children to get into the wagons, and
wait for me, quietly. If they don't behave, then I will cancel the
trip and we will spend the afternoon learning bible verses. Please
tell them that. Joseph, you come with me."
I followed Adam round to the water trough and washed my face. I
didn't know what to say next and so waited for Adam to speak.
"Joe, I know this is hard for you, having me as your teacher, but
this kind of behaviour is not helping, is it? Now please tell me
why
you were fighting."
"I can't Adam, I just can't," I said, as even though I wanted to
stop Frank from hurting Adam, I couldn't bring myself to snitch on
him.
"Joe, if there isn't a valid reason for the fight, I will have to
punish you, you do understand that, don't you? Fighting in the
school yard is strictly forbidden and the one who starts a fight
earns himself a tanning, or at least detention for several days."
"Then I guess you'll havta punish me," I said.
"Very well, Joe, if that's the way you want it to be, so be it.
Bend
over that trough."
We were out of sight of the other children, but this was still very
embarrassing. However, I did as I was told, and braced myself for
the first lick from Adam's belt.
Just as he raised his arm, I heard Mitch call out.
"Mr Cartwright, look at this," he yelled.
Adam told me to stand up and he went to meet Mitch.
"What's the matter?" he said.
"Look at your cinch, Mr Cartwright," said Mitch. "It's been
cut
almost all the way through. That ain't just from wear, a knife's
been used."
Adam studied the cinch and then looked over at Frank, immediately
suspecting him, as he was the one who had been saddling Sport.
Fortunately for me, Frank didn't try and deny it, when Adam asked
him outright if it had been cut by him.
"Yeah, I did it, but your brother was in on it,too, until he
suddenly got cold feet," said Frank.
"Is that why you started the fight with Frank, because you were
trying to stop him?" asked Adam, and I nodded.
"Yes sir, I didn't want you to get hurt."
Adam told me to join the others for the trip and before we left, he
sent Frank home, with a note explaining to his father what he'd
done, and insisting that the boy paid for a new cinch.
We had a great time on the trip and when Frank returned to school,
the next day, with the money for Adam, it was obvious that his
father had taken the cost out of his hide.
Me and Frank will never be best buddies, but he did admit that it
was decent of me to try and take the blame for the fight.
The rest of the week wasn't easy, with Adam being my teacher, but
it
wasn't as bad as I feared it would be.
Mind you, I was especially glad when Friday afternoon rolled around
and Adam took me for a huge chocolate sundae, at Daisy's, before we
rode home.
I was real glad to have my big brother back again
THE END
Little Joe forever
Lynne