By
Christy Gleason
Rated: G
"Look," Adam said as patiently as he was able,
"there's obviously
been some kind of mistake."
The man shook his head as he perused the papers he held in his
hand. "No. No mistake. It's right here in black and white.
`Adam
Stoddard Cartwright. 6'1". 185 lbs. Black hair. Brown
eyes.'
That's you all right. Look for yourself if you don't believe
me.
Assuming you can read."
"Of course I can read," Adam snapped, deeply insulted at the
charge.
Mr Johnson held the papers out to Adam who snatched them away without
even a pretense of good manners. One quick glance at the paper was
all the man needed to recognize the distinctive handwriting, and he
briefly closed his eyes in a vain attempt to keep a handle on his
quickly-rising temper. His jaw worked rapidly as he clenched his
teeth, and he looked back at the seated man.
"How much money did you give him?"
"1,000 dollars. There's no denying that he drove a hard
bargain, but
looking at you, I can see I really got a wonderful deal."
If the words were intended to flatter the tall, black-haired man,
they failed miserably. Adam's mouth drew into a hard, thin line,
and
he glared at Johnson.
"Okay, here's what we're going to do. You, Hoss, and I
are going to
go over to the saloon and talk this out."
Johnson rose to his feet angrily and glared. "Now see here. You
don't give the orders, Cartwright. Might I remind you what those
papers say?"
Adam rolled his eyes. "I don't care what the papers
say." He looked
at his brother hovering in the background. Hoss was three inches
taller than Adam, and nearly a hundred pounds heavier—most of it
pure
muscle.
"Hoss? If you could possibly persuade Mr Johnson..."
Hoss nodded, his normally pleasant, smiling face pulled into a
disgruntled and dangerous frown. "Sure thing, Adam."
He made a move towards the smaller man who quickly saw the merit of
Adam's suggestion.
"Well, I suppose a short trip to the saloon wouldn't hurt.
But don't
take too long. You and I have to catch the next stage. We have a
long trip ahead of us."
Adam gave a long-suffering sigh, and led the way out of the office,
Johnson directly behind keeping a close eye on Adam, and Hoss
bringing up the rear, keeping a close eye on Johnson.
The trio paraded down the street and walked into the Silver Dollar
saloon. Adam scanned the room and quickly found what he was
searching for: his little brother sitting at one of the small
tables, a whiskey bottle at his side, deeply involved in a poker
game.
It was clear even from a distance that Lady Luck was not favoring
Little Joe. Even as they watched, he threw his cards down in disgust
as one of his fellow players scraped the large pot towards himself
with undisguised glee.
Adam walked up to the table in time to hear Joe asking his partners
whether they would be willing to lend him some credit. Adam stepped
in.
"I think you've had enough cards for one day, Joe. How about
you and
I having a little chat, instead?"
Joe looked up and smiled good-naturedly at his brother, but then,
catching sight of Johnson standing in the background, he blanched.
"Uh, not right now, Adam. I...uh...got me some errands for Pa I
forgot to do, and I best be getting at them."
He stood and attempted to sidle away, but Adam stopped him with a
firm hand to the boy's collar.
"They can wait," he said lightly. "Come on. Let's
have a chat."
He dragged Joe into a private room and shoved him into a chair,
standing before him with his arms folded over his chest.
"Well?" Adam asked.
"Well what?" Joe stalled.
"Perhaps you'd care to explain this?" Adam threw the
papers onto the
table in front of Joe.
Joe paled, but gamely managed a weak smile. "See Adam, it's
like
this..." He broke off as he searched his fertile imagination for
an
explanation that wouldn't rile his quick-tempered and undeniably
strong and hard-fisted brother into a rage.
"I'm waiting," Adam said in his most coldly-dangerous
tone.
Joe winced. "I was broke. And I needed some money to play
poker."
"So you sold me to Mr Johnson?" Adam shouted in disbelief.
"No!" Joe replied in shock. "Of course not. I'd
never do that to
you. You should know me better than that, Adam," he added
reproachfully. "I just sort of rented you. You're just
indentured
to Mr Johnson. Four years of hard labor, and you're a free man
again. Heck, Adam, you can do four years standing on your head.
It'll be just like going back to college."
"College?" Adam bellowed. "If you think indentured
servitude is the
same as college, I suddenly understand your poor marks in school!"
Joe jumped to his feet and glared directly at his brother,
notwithstanding Adam's larger, stronger build. "Now listen
here,
Adam..."
"No you listen," Adam snarled. "You are going to give
Johnson his
money back right now."
"No."
"No?"
"That's right, `no'."
Adam's face became a steely mask, the look that invariably made
any
man in the Territory back down. Any man, that is, but his little
brother.
Unwisely, Joe determined not to be bullied. "I'm not giving
the
money back, and that's that. Anyway, I'm doing you a favor.
Johnson
says he's taking you to this place called Australia and put you
to
work on a ranch he has there. You're always bellyachin' you
wanna
travel and see new places. Here's your chance.
"And don't worry none about the Ponderosa. Hoss'll do
all your
chores for the next four years. Pa won't even notice you're
gone."
"What?" Hoss broke in. Both his brothers studiously ignored
him.
"Joe, give that money back right now!" Adam shouted.
"NO!" Joe yelled back just as loudly
"JOSEPH CARTWRIGHT...!"
"I can't! "I lost it in a poker game!"
Adam stared mutely for a long moment. "Excuse me?" he asked
quietly,
once he'd recovered the power of speech.
"I lost it, and I ain't got none to give back. So you're
just going
to have to live with it, that's all!"
Hoss suddenly started giggling at the ridiculousness of the situation
in which Adam now found himself. This time Adam did acknowledge the
larger man. He fixed him with a menacing glare.
"Well," Hoss said apologetically, "you have to admit the
whole
things's sorta funny, Adam"
"No," Adam replied coolly. "It's not."
At the look on Adam's face, Hoss suddenly found to his surprise
that
the situation wasn't funny at all. His grin faded, and he
reflected
almost admiringly on Adam's uncanny ability to get other men to
agree
with his point of view.
Adam dismissed Hoss and turned his attention back to Joe.
"Well just have to go to the bank and get Johnson his money from
your
personal account. How much do you have in the bank?"
"Fifty-three dollars."
"What!"
"Well, dang Adam, not everybody's so tightfisted as you are.
Some of
us see the sense in having a good time."
Adam closed his eyes and counted to ten. Then he grabbed his brother
and dragged him out of the saloon and into the bank.
"Mark," Adam addressed the clerk behind the counter, "Joe
here wants
to make a withdrawal."
Mark glanced at Joe sulky mien. "Doesn't look like he wants
to," he
observed.
"Well he does. 1,000 dollars. Right now."
Mark shrugged. "From the Ponderosa expense account?"
"No. From his personal account."
Mark laughed. "Adam, he ain't got but twenty-six dollars in
there."
"Twenty-six?" Joe shouted in anger. "No way. I got
fifty-three
dollars."
Mark shook his head. "No, you had fifty-three dollars until
Bonnie
and Beverly Clinton's birthday party."
Joe relaxed and smiled happily at the memory of the twins'
birthday
party. "Oh, yeah. Wasn't that a great party?"
"JOE!" Adam shouted. "Keep your mind on the situation at
hand and
off girls for two seconds!"
Joe looked wounded. "Well what you want me to do? I ain't
got the
money, so you're just gonna have to live with it."
Adam pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in
resignation. "Mark, take 1,000 dollars out of my personal
account."
"Sure thing, Adam," Mark answered as he turned to go back to
the safe.
Joe looked admiringly at Adam. "You sure do know how to save
money,
Adam," he complimented his brother. By the look on Adam's
face, the
compliment was not well received.
Mark returned and handed the money to Adam who promptly held it out
to Mr Johnson.
"There you go. You have your money back. Now if you'd be
good
enough to excuse us..."
Johnson made no move to take the money. "No. I don't want
my
money. I want you. I can get far more than 1,000 dollars worth of
work out of you in four years. We made a bargain, and that's
it."
Adam glared at Joe again, who took a step back in order to stay out
of his older brother's reach. "Look, Johnson. I don't
know what
cockamamie story my brother told you, but he had no right to sell me,
or rent me, or whatever you want to call it. In order to uphold the
family name, I'm willing to give you your money back, but I'm
not
going to Australia or anywhere else with you. Now take the money, or
you can just write it off as a lost cause."
Johnson was not a stupid man. He knew that there was no way that his
contract to buy Adam Cartwright for four years would hold up in
court. Not only had indentured servitude been essentially
nonexistent for about sixty years, there was the slight sticking
point that the boy had no rights over his older brother. However, he
also suspected that Adam's devotion to Little Joe, though
presently
stretched to the limit, could turn him a tidy profit.
"1500."
"I beg your pardon?"
"I want 1500 or it's off to Australia we trot."
Adam gnashed his teeth for a long moment, then turned back to the
back clerk. "Mark, if you would be so kind as to retrieve
another
500 dollars from my account?"
Mark did as he was asked and Johnson politely accepted the 1,500
dollars and handed the bill of indenture to Adam. "Thank you, Mr
Cartwright," he said with a pleased smile. "It's been a
pleasure to
do business with you."
"Go away," Adam said rudely. "Joe, Hoss, let's get
out of here."
He led the way out of the bank. Hoss and Joe headed for the saloon
on the other side of the street, but Adam stopped them. "I think
we've had more than enough of the saloon for one day."
"But Adam, I ain't even had one beer. Just `cause Little
Joe done
caused some problems, why should I suffer?"
Unexpectedly, given Adam's surly mood, he suddenly gave in.
"All
right. One beer, then it's back to the ranch."
They entered the Silver Dollar and sat together at a table. Adam
offered to pay for the drinks, which was so out-of-character it
petrified his younger brothers. While they drank, Adam wrote
studiously on a piece of paper. Neither of his brothers had the
personal fortitude to ask what he was doing. They both knew to stay
clear of Adam when he was in one of his moods.
Finally Adam finished and he pushed the paper toward Little
Joe. "There you go. Sign that. Hoss, you'll sign as a
witness."
Joe picked up the paper reluctantly and scanned it. His face
darkened as he read. "No way am I signing this!"
"What's it say?" Hoss asked with great interest.
"It's an IOU. It says I owe Adam here 1500 dollars and I
have to pay
him back with interest every penny."
Hoss shrugged. "Well, that seems fair enough."
"That's not all! It says that if I haven't paid in full
in six
months, I become his indentured servant for the remainder of the time
that it takes me to pay him back."
Hoss suddenly began to laugh, and he looked at Adam with
pleasure. "Good thinking, Brother. That'll teach him!"
"Yes. I'm a big fan of poetic justice."
"How do you expect me to get 1,500 dollars in six months?"
Joe asked
hotly.
"I guess you'll have to get a second job," Adam answered
disinterestedly. "Sign."
"You know what your problem is, Adam?'
"One too many brothers?"
"No! Your problem is you got no family feeling. That's
what."
"On the contrary, I have very strong family feelings," Adam
returned
evenly. "Deep-seated loathing is a feeling."
"I ain't signing."
"Suit yourself. Well, we'd better be getting back to the
ranch, if
we don't want to upset Hop Sing by being late for supper. And I
expect that Pa'll be interested to hear about any new
goings-on."
Adam looked directly at Joe as he said this.
Joe blanched. "You ain't gonna tell Pa what I did, are you?
You
wouldn't..."
"Well having the chance to go to Australia doesn't happen
every day.
I think Pa would be interested, don't you?"
"Adam, please..."
"Sign, or Pa finds out all about it..." Adam warned. "I
wonder how
he'll react when he hears? I'm guessing he'll restrict
you to the
Ponderosa until you're thirty, and make mucking out the barn your
permanent job. What do you think?"
Joe said nothing. He picked up the pen and, much against his will,
signed the paper. Hoss signed the witness line with a delighted
flourish.
"Hey Adam, when Joe becomes your indentured servant in six
months,
you think you could loan him out to me fer a week or two. I sure
would like to take an extra vacation this year."
"Absolutely, Brother. No problem at all. You know," he
added as he
rose to his feet and placed his hat on his head. "I can't
remember
when I've enjoyed a trip to town more."
END
June 2005