DEAD MAN'S CANYON
Part 2
The next day saw a whole new routine happening on the Ponderosa.
Joe was still asleep while the rest of his family were already seated at
the breakfast table discussing what each was to do.
“I don’t think it would hurt for just one or two days Pa” Adam now said
as he took a sip from his coffee cup.
Adam and Hoss had just finished trying to explain to a dubious Ben about
Hoss being allowed to stay home today and the next to help Adam out on the
ranch. They had already lost some of the men at the lumber yard
where Ben was needed that day. A few hands had been told to move on
by Adam over the last few days because of their laziness and like of something
to drink.
“I promise I will do my best Pa” Hoss now said pleading with his father.
It was no secret that Hoss would rather be working on the ranch like the
rest of the men rather than sitting in a hot school room all day.
“It will be the summer holidays after tomorrow anyway” Adam now said, seeing
the hopefully look in his brother’s blue eyes. Although Adam wasn’t
normally a supporter of ditching school, he did have some knowledge of his
brother’s yearning to be with the livestock.
“What about his schoolwork that’s left?” Ben now said, playing with Hoss’s
emotions a little. He knew that being this close to the school holidays
that there wouldn’t be too much study left to be done.
“Aw Pa, Miss Healy says that we only got to go over the same stuff we have
being doing the last few months.” Hoss said. He knew all
about what Ben thought of a good solid education in life.
Adam had gone all the way through school and would soon be heading off
to college in San Francisco. Deep down Hoss just hoped that his father
didn’t want him following in his older brother’s footsteps. Learning
books had never had much of a hold on the middle Cartwright son.
“Okay Hoss, you can stay home from school for the next couple of days”
Ben finally said, letting his son of the hook. Hoss’s shoulders
sagged in relief and he happily began eating his breakfast again.
Neither of the Cartwright’s seated at the table had been aware that a certain
younger member of the family had just heard Ben tell Hoss that he could
stay home from school. That certain younger member was now staring
intently at the family eating words, trying to find the right scathing words
to say.
A few minutes earlier upstairs………………….
Joe had awoken on his own this morning. The first thing he noticed
was just that. It wasn’t very often that he woke on his own.
Normally one of his brothers would be dragging him from his warm bed by this
time.
This morning however, Joe woke slowly and in his own time. Stretching
his sleep limp muscles and enjoying the sun coming through the window and
gently warming his face.
When he felt a little more awake and alert he got up from his bed and prepared
to get dressed for the day. The trousers he had had on
last night were hanging over the back of a chair in his room waiting for
Hop Sing to gather them later that morning for wash day. The note
that Mr Watson had given Joe was still folded neatly in the envelope in
the pocket of his trousers. Completely forgotten about.
Joe dressed in a clean pair of trousers and a fresh shirt followed by socks
and shoes before heading downstairs to the breakfast table and his family.
It was when he was almost at the bottom of the staircase that he had heard
his father tell his brother Hoss that he was allowed to stay home from school.
“How come he gets special treatment?” Joe said in a tone of voice that
sounded more harsh than he would have liked.
Adam and Ben turned to face the youth, surprised to see him not only awake
but dressed on his own and ready for school. His hair was still
in need of a brushing before he left, but all in all Joe had done pretty
well for himself they thought.
Ben could hear the displeasure in his son’s words about favourable treatment
that didn’t include him. Whilst he wasn’t happy about his son’s tone
of voice this early in
the morning, he wanted to try and defuse the situation without getting
involved with a full scale argument with his son before breakfast.
“Nobody is getting special treatment Joe” Adam now interjected before Ben
could say anything. “We are pretty short handed with men at the moment
and some of the stock need more attention than I can spare them for right
now.” he tried to explain.
“Oh and Hoss being allowed to stay home for two days isn’t special treatment
huh Adam” Joe spat back at his brother. “I could help out with the
animals too you know Adam” he said in his own defence.
“Watch your tone of voice” Ben warned his son for the first time that day.
“Hoss is only being allowed to stay home because Adam needs him.
I know you think you are big enough to help out but your education is more
important at the moment. Hoss is a long way further through his schooling
days, yours have only just begun Joseph.” Ben explained.
“But I don’t like school anymore than Hoss does” Joe said trying to plead
with his father. He was now shuffling his feet about on the wooden
floor and refusing to look at this father as he spoke.
“Nevertheless you will be going Joseph, so I suggest you sit at the table
and eat your breakfast before you go. Is that understood?” Ben said
in a no nonsense voice.
“Yes Pa” Joe replied, still looking at the floor and mumbling his answer.
He complied with his father’s request to sit that the table and picked up
his spoon. He looked down at the bowl of oatmeal in front of him and
began stirring the lumpy mixture around and around the bowl but refusing
to put any of it into his mouth.
Ben drew his hand down his face, trying to wipe away some of the frustration
he was already beginning to feel towards his youngest’s attitude.
The boy had only been awake for less than an hour and it was already beginning
to feel like an incredibly long day.
Ben was thankful that Joe was not a wilful child. He had seen
some youngsters at the Church picnic’s and at the school yard that were
turning out to be royal pains for their parents.
Whilst Ben expected respect and discipline he didn’t think that physical
force was the way to achieve such goals. He would rather try
and talk out problems with his sons first and let them know that they could
come to him at any time with their worries and concerns.
Ben however knew that Joe was at an age where he was beginning to find
out what it meant to be rebellious towards anything that resembled rules
and regulation. He knew that the more he pushed his son
to do the right thing, the more Joe would just pull in the opposite direction,
trying to prove his sense of independence at the same time.
It was this sense of independence that drove children of Joe’s age.
They were a long way from being adults yet, but beginning to experience
the real world and wanting to do it without their families more and more
everyday.
“Joseph, eat your breakfast please, don’t play with it” Ben said sternly.
Little Joe now complied with his father’s request but was not entirely
happy about it and so to show his displeasure in a subtle way, he made sure
that the spoon barely had any oatmeal on it when he forced it into his mouth.
By the time he had done this, with his father watching every attempt,
the little boy had barely eaten but a few spoonfuls of the lumpy mixture
anyway.
Adam and Hoss had watched the entire episode as well and were waiting for
the imminent explosion from their father towards their brother and his antics.
To their surprise though and Joe’s as well, it didn’t come.
Ben was secretly counting to ten inside his head, trying not to do what
they all expected him to do. Instead, he slowly got up from the table
and went about carrying out the rest of his tasks before heading to the timber
yard that morning.
Ben watched his son from the corner of his eye and from the other side
of the room and thought that his alternate method had seemed to work at
least momentarily. Joe was watching his father move about the room
preparing to leave, wondering whether he had been let off the hook or not.
Joe didn’t like this game his father was playing. He would
have rathered Ben just yell at him and get it over with. This
delaying tactic his father was suddenly using
was a little unnerving to say the least. Maybe his father was
going to wait until he came home this afternoon to dish out the expected
punishment. That would mean Joe would have all day at school to ponder
what list of chores his father would dream up by that time.
“Hoss, I still want you to take your brother to school before you do any
of the caring for those animals. He is still too young to be riding
to school on his own.” Ben now instructed as he put on his leather vest
and his hat.
Joe was about to object and opened his mouth to protest about the baby
treatment he was going to be getting by being lead to school like a five
year old. He looked up at his father though who was now buckling
on his gun belt. The words died on his lips before they were spoken.
Ben’s look was one of “I dare you to say anything Joseph”.
Ben was satisfied that his son was still trying to work out what punishment
he had in store for his earlier demonstration of childishness.
‘How is that burn on your arm this morning Joe?” Adam now asked, genuinely
making sure that it didn’t need any tending to before the youngster left
for school shortly.
“Fine” came the curt reply with no real indication of whether it was okay
or Joe was just being obstinate. Probably the latter Adam assumed
knowing how difficult any kind of conversation had been between Joe and
any of the family lately.
“Would you like me to have a look at it for you?” Adam now asked, keeping
his own temper in check.
“Nope it’s just fine like I told you,” Joe said and quickly got up from
the table before anybody could question him further about the truthfulness
of his statement.
Joe quickly raced up the staircase to grab the shoes he had forgotten when
he came to the breakfast table.
Ben, Hoss and Adam just looked at one another trying to work out whether
or not they should be chasing after him and physically looking at the injury
themselves to see if it needed any attention or not.
Ben was trying to decide if he should be chastising Joe for the way he
had spoken to his older brother when Adam had asked about his arm.
At the end of the day, Ben rationalised that it would only cause more animosity
at the table that morning. Whilst he was unhappy about Joe’s
lack of manners, he hoped that by the time he had returned from the timber
yard and Joe had returned with Hoss from school that his son would be in
a better frame of mind.
It was right about now that Joe came running back down the staircase, this
time with his shoes on and laces tied. He had his books tucked underneath
the arm that wasn’t injured. It looked as though he had made
some sort of effort to comb his hair. The curls had a mind of
their own today though and were going in all directions.
“Come here Joseph please before you go” Ben now said in a gentle tone of
voice as his son attempted to escape out the door with as little contact
with his family as possible. He was trying to avoid them for
the baby treatment he was getting that he deemed unfair.
Little Joe almost rolled his eyes to his father’s request as he had done
with Adam but did it somewhat more discreetly knowing that his father’s
reaction to such cheekiness wouldn’t be so restrained as his older brother’s
had been.
Joe now stood in front of his father with his eyes downcast to the floor.
“Yes Pa?” he said in the smallest possible voice, as if he were trying the
innocent look that usually work for him.
Adam and Hoss now both looked at each other and rolled their own eyes at
the well known antics of their younger brother. They both knew that
it wouldn’t take too long for Joe to wrap their father around his finger.
“Joseph, I want you to take care of yourself at school today” Ben began.
“If your arm starts hurting too much make sure you let your teacher know.
Somebody can get word to your brothers to come and bring you home if necessary.
Although I don’t think that will be necessary” he added, seeing his son’s
eyes light up with the prospect of being allowed home from school early.
“Yes Pa” Joe repeated in the same tone of voice as though butter wouldn’t
melt in his mouth. “I’ll be okay” he said, knowing that Mr Watson would
be the last person in the world he would tell that he had an injured arm.
“Come on Hoss or we will be late” Joe now said giving his father a quick
embrace and pulling away from his father’s grasp “By Pa” he said, trying
to sound as cheerful as possible.
Ben couldn’t help but grin at his son as he scampered out the front door,
pulling Hoss along with him. Hoss protesting that it was too
early to leave just yet and that he hadn’t finished eating his own breakfast
yet.
No matter how subdued Joe appeared sometimes, it didn’t take much of a
change in circumstances to see him bounce back to his normal vibrant exuberant
self. His energy was what kept his family his family on their toes
all the time. And they wouldn’t have it any other way.
With Joe and Hoss now headed to the barn to saddle their horses and shortly
thereafter the schoolhouse, Ben rose from the table, informing Adam that
the day was
going to be a long enough anyway. He too would be headed to the barn
shortly to saddle his own horse and then head in the opposite direction
to the timberyard.
Adam to went on his way. With the men being so short-handed lately,
he knew that he would be needed at a number of locations that day.
Hopefully he would be home in time for when Little Joe returned home from
school. If not, he would remind Hoss before he left to keep an eye
on the time in case he didn’t get back in time. One of them would need to
be at the schoolhouse when school was let out that afternoon.
*******************************************************************
Joe’s real reason for going to school a little earlier had nothing to do
with Mr Watson. He was hoping that he would meet up with his new little
friend Johnny Scott before class started.
As Hoss and Joe rode along, Hoss tried to encourage his brother into some
light hearted conversation to make the journey seem shorter. He tried
all sorts of topics he thought might interest Joe, like the fishing hole
or the animals that he was going to take care of when he returned home.
Joe however seemed very distracted as they rode along the rode to Virginia
City. Joe’s mind was occupied with thoughts about what Mr Watson had
said to him the
day before about being backwards and falling behind all the other kids
in the class because he used a different hand to write with.
As Joe got closer to the town and could see the school-house come into
view, the words Watson had said seemed to get louder and louder until they
were echoing inside his head. He silently hoped that Mr Watson
had forgotten all about what had happened the day before and that the last
two days of school could just progress without much interaction between the
two of them.
As Joe rode his horse towards the stable situated behind the school yard,
Johnny Scott spotted his friend and ran up to greet him as Joe dismounted
from his mount and started taking the saddle off.
“Hi Joe” Johnny said excitedly, in the short time they had known each other,
he too had come to value the brief friendship they shared. He, like
Joe hoped that the more time they were able to spend together, the stronger
that friendship would become and they would soon be the best of friends.
“Hi Johnny” Joe said in reply, his mood lifting a little at the sight of
his friend. Hoss watched on with a smile on his own that Joe had found
someone his own age with similar interests to play with. Joe hadn’t
mentioned too much bout his new friend except the day he had come home sodden
and had explained he had been fishing with Johnny.
“Um Little Joe, I’ll leave you to it huh” Hoss said not wanting to intrude
too much on the younger boys. With his large size sometimes Hoss felt
out of place even with his own brother’s classmates. Sometimes with
his own classmates too. “I’ll be here to pick you up this afternoon”
he reminded his younger sibling.
Joe’s grin quickly turned to a sneer again at the mention of the babying
treatment of being picked up from school like a first grader. “You
don’t have to you know Hoss” Joe tried to reason with his larger sibling.
“I can ride home and you can be there waiting at home before Pa and Adam
even know.”
“But I will know Little Joe and you know how much trouble both of us would
get into if Pa or Adam knew that I let you ride from school all by yourself.”
Hoss said with a lump rising to his throat as he tried to imagine what would
his father say to such an episode. “Besides, I want to make sure nothing
happens to you. You might fall off your horse on the way home and
get hurt. Nobody would be there to help you.” Hoss’s protectiveness
over his smaller brother was now shining through.
“I am big enough not to fall off my own horse Hoss” Joe said gruffly and
turned away from his brother, dragging Johnny with him towards the school
house.
Hoss watched sadly as the two boys headed to school. Deep down he
knew his brother was probably right about not falling off his horse.
From a young age Joe had displayed very good horsemanship. Ben assumed
much of it had been passed on genetically by his mother who had also been
an excellent rider.
Hoss was more upset that his brother was angry at him rather than what
Joe was angry at him about. Like Ben earlier that morning, he hoped
Joe was in a better mood when he arrived at the school house to pick him
up.
Hoss now returned home to take care of the animals that he had been allowed
to stay home for. The various tasks of nursing, feeding, cleaning
their bedding would now keep Hoss’s attention for the majority of the day.
Back at the school house, Joe and Johnny had been happily sitting down
sharing various tales when the bell rang signalling the start of lessons.
Without really meaning to Joe and Johnny found themselves at the rear of
the line of children.
Johnny had managed to take his seat in the classroom without any remark
from Mr Watson who was towering over the youngsters at the door. Joe
however was not so fortunate to avoid the scrutiny of the harsh teaching
master.
Watson’s brows furrowed together in a frown as he watched the boy known
as “Little Joe” amble into the class behind everybody else. He however
did not think of it as Joe just being in line waiting his turn.
He saw the gesture as a defiance of his authority and knew that the boy
was out to rile him from the outset this morning.
“Mr Cartwright in future I want to see you seated at your desk before the
bell rings for class, is that understood?” he said, determined to chastise
the boy in front of all his classmates.
“Yes Mr Watson” Joe replied, inwardly groaning that the personal attack
on him had begun almost before he even walked into the room.
“I am keeping my eye on you boy, so you had better watch your step young
man” Watson sternly said.
Turning his attention away from Joe momentarily, Mr Watson now assumed
the role of teacher for the morning and now stood at the front of the class.
“Now I trust that you all did your homework assignments last night” he
said, “Please come up to the front of the classroom in an orderly fashion
and place your work on my desk. I will check it throughout the day.
Any work that is found to be inadequate or messy will have to be redone.”
he added, smirking a little as he knew that this would indeed involve at
least half of the class.
Joe swallowed inwardly because now was genuinely the first time he had
thought about the homework assignment since Mr Watson had given it out at
the end of class yesterday afternoon.
When he had gone home, he had tried to help out with the chores and then
his arm had been burned in the kitchen and he had forgotten all about doing
homework.
Looking about the room as the children filed one by one up to the front
of the classroom as instructed and placed their work on his desk, Watson could
distinctly
see that his “star” pupil did not move from his chair or even attempt to.
Just the opposite, the child was squirming about in his seat with a worried
look on his face.
Watson immediately knew that he had caught the boy out about not doing
his homework.
“Mr Cartwright, do you have any work for me to check?” Watson said in a
very casual manner. It was a tone of voice the man had solemnly used
and anybody else but Joe could have sworn that the man was genuine in his
question.
Joe however glanced up at the man and spotted a totally different look
in the man’s eyes. Even for a seven year old, the boy was able to
see that the man was annoyed at the child’s disobedience.
“Um, I am sorry Mr Watson but I hurt my arm when I went home yesterday
and I went to sleep before my father came home.” Joe said telling almost
the whole truth.
He decided that the teacher didn’t need to know that he had woken up after
his father came home and talked with him.
Watson took in every word that the child had said and made a mental note
for future reference about the injured arm. With the information given
though he understood there to be another missed task assigned to Mr Cartwright:
the note.
“I would take it then Mr Cartwright that you failed to give your father
the note I wrote to him yesterday?” Watson now asked, deliberately leaving
out the subject of the note from the rest of Joe’s classmates.
“I’m sorry, I did take it home Sir but my father has had trouble at the
timber yard lately and hasn’t been getting home until long after dark.
I will give it to him tonight
when he gets home.” Joe added hoping that the promise might get him of
the hook of trouble he was already dangling from.
“Mr Cartwright you and I will discuss these matters out of class hours
in your recess break” Watson now said, seeing that the other students were
listening in to everything that was being said.
Joe didn’t know what to think for a moment. The man didn’t sound
as if he was upset about the homework and the note at all. He
was saying that he just wanted to discuss it at lunch time.
Joe told himself that he could handle that if the teacher only wanted to
talk. He could take any amount of yelling from Watson after what
he had been getting off Adam at home lately. He couldn’t help
but think a few minutes ago that his punishment would be worse than that.
For the rest of the time from then until the lunch hour, Watson refrained
from talking to Joe unless necessary. He didn’t want to alert any
attention to what he had in mind for his disobedient student.
Whilst the boy worked however, he noted that the boy had ignored his advice
from yesterday about writing with his left hand.
That coupled with the no homework and the note was enough to fuel his temper.
He told himself that if the boy’s father wasn’t going to do anything about
discipline for the child, note or no note from him, then he took it upon
himself to show Joe what was right and wrong in his classroom.
As the hour wore closer to 12 noon, Watson could feel his temper rising
further and further. He could see from the boy’s participation in class
that he was a child that thrived on the group atmosphere a class room offered.
The other children looked to Joe and almost came to judge their own behaviour
and sense of where they were in the class according to where Little Joe
Cartwright was.
This was just the scenario that he had seen in a number of older boys at
other schools. They became the leaders of the class and other students who
could be persuaded to do well with their academic futures, went down a path
of disobedience and intolerance of other students. He had
been forthright about setting such disruptive troublemakers apart from the
class before. Although the boy in question was only seven, he
didn’t see the age difference as any excuse to let the behaviour continue
any further.
If he made an example out of Joe Cartwright for the other youngster’s to
see, then the other students would see that discipline and hard work were
the way for them to go.
He continued to watch the boy throughout the morning, making mental notes
of the times Joe was day-dreaming or lost his concentration.
There was a few occasions that the boy stopped working and rubbed at his
right arm just below the shoulder area. He had not believed the kid at all
earlier in the morning when he used an injury as an excuse for failing to
do his homework. He could see now that maybe the
boy had a injury at least.
The thing that provoked the teacher’s temper the most though was Joe’s
continual use of his left hand when he had explicitly explained how much
it would cause him to fall behind the rest of the class.
He thought he had explained it enough and made it clear that he didn’t want
him using his left hand at all. Even if the note had never made it
to his father like intended, the boy at least had heard the arguments for
such a change and should have complied as such.
At one point his temper had boiled over as he watched the boy’s writing
style. He had been holding onto a pencil to mark the previous day’s
homework. The pencil had suddenly snapped without warning, making
a few of the students in the room jump at the sharp sound.
Joe had briefly looked up but put his head back down knowing that
he would be in trouble yet again if he didn’t at least look as though he was
doing his work. He only had to make it through the rest
of today and tomorrow and then the school holidays would be here and he would
be free of Mr Watson forever.
********************************************************************
Little Joe tried to do what was asked of him for most of the morning and
so did not notice too many of the dark looks directed at him from the teacher.
Soon the bell was ringing, signalling that it was time for recess.
Normally the children would have already scattered by now, but with Mr Watson
as their teacher,
they all waited for his signal to file outside in an orderly fashion to
play.
“Children you may all go outside” Mr Watson informed them, “Except
Mr Cartwright of course” he added, deliberately reminding Little Joe about
that little talk they were supposed to be having.
Joe sighed at the thought of the talk. He hoped
it wouldn’t go for too long because he was genuinely hungry today. He
had very little dinner the night before and equally as little breakfast before
he left that morning. Hop Sing would be surprised to see that
the boy had eaten most of what he had packed for once.
Joe was now the only student seated at his desk. Watson’s false
smile quickly faded as he walked behind Joe and closed the front doors to
the classroom. He saw the look of surprise on the boy’s face
and increased Joe’s apprehensiveness by going towards the back of the classroom
and making sure that the back door was also closed. He wanted to make
sure that there was no unwelcome visitors when he and his little friend
had their “little talk”.
“Don’t want to be disturbed now do we?” Watson said casually to Joe answering
the boy’s unasked question about why he was closing the doors.
The tone of voice was a little too casual for Joe’s liking.
He began moving about in his seat again, displaying
his nervousness.
“From the attitude you displayed today Mr Cartwright, I take it that you
like ignoring my advice and disobeying my instructions.
In fact I see you take an active part in doing the complete opposite to
what I ask of you and the rest of my students.” Watson started to say.
By this time he was standing beside Joe’s desk, looming over the boy in
an ominous stance.
“But I haven’t done anything wrong” Joe began to say in his own defence.
True he hadn’t done the homework assignment, but he thought he had explained
that enough. He was trying to think back over the rest of the morning to
see where he had disobeyed any of the teacher’s instructions. He thought
he had actually done better than he ever did in one of Miss Abigail’s classes.
“Haven’t done anything wrong.” Watson said calmly.
“HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING WRONG……………..” he now said angrily and grasped Joe’s
right arm right were the bandage covered his burn mark.
“Oww your hurting me Mr Watson” Joe cried out, cringing a little at the
man’s sudden explosion of anger. He now was fully aware of why the teacher
had closed the doors. He was now becoming afraid of the teacher.
“I haven’t even begun to hurt you yet Mr Cartwright” Watson replied and
deliberately made his grip over the injury even tighter. Joe cried
out in pain once again at the pressure being applied.
“Come with me boy” Watson asked through gritted teeth, not waiting for
the boy to stand but literally dragging him out of his small seat and pulling
him across
the room towards the back door.
Virginia City school was made up of two rooms, one larger enough for the
class room and smaller area out the back were Miss Jones often prepared
the work for her classes. In addition to these two rooms, there was a small
storage room, not much bigger than a broom closet. It
was here that the stationary supplies and other books were kept when they
weren’t being used. Because of it’s size, the room was very
dark and often held a musty smell to it after rain due to the lack of air
circulation.
“No you can’t put me in there” Joe said as he tried pulling himself away
from the teacher. He was using his other hand to try and pry the teacher’s
hand from his arm.
If he could just get free he could try and make it to the door and get
out before the teacher caught up with him again.
The fact that the room was so dark was the thing that scared Joe the most.
It was no secret in his family that the youngest had a phobia about being
in the dark.
“You will wait in there until the end of school where we will continue
this little necessary discussion.” Watson told him. Joe knew
that the teacher had no intentions
of talking about anything.
Joe was still trying to pull away. Watson now jerked the door
open by the handle and with a hard thrust, shoved the boy through the door.
The force made Joe unsteady on his feet, unable to stop for a brief moment
and the boy found himself falling over a fallen book on the floor and cracking
the back of his head against a shelf.
The blow to the back of his head was enough to make him fall to the floor
stunned. Because of the dizziness that he was experiencing, he made no attempt
to get back to his feet and get out the door. Watson too
his opportunity to close and lock the door, imprisoning his young student
inside the small, poorly aerated room. He made sure that the
boy heard his laughter about his misery.
Joe now pulled himself to his feet, although a little unsteady, and began
banging on the other side of the storeroom door and shouting for someone
to let him out. He could only hope that somebody outside might hear
his cries for help.
“LET ME OUT…………. YOU CAN’T LOCK ME IN HERE ………” Joe shouted at the top
of his voice. He was almost on the verge of tears from
fear of the room as well as what the teacher had in store for him later
on. He had to get out he told himself. “LET
ME OOOOUUUUUTTT” he screamed again.
This time his efforts did cause the door to be opened, but it was not anybody
to help him. Watson now stood in front of him in the doorway.
The teacher grabbed the front of the boy’s shirt and lifted him off the
ground slightly as he uttered his warning:
“You had better be quiet boy if you know what’s good for you” Watson snarled.
Although he taken the precautions of closing the door, he wasn’t prepared
to take the risk of how far the boy’s shouting would carry. Maybe
somebody outside would hear him and come to help. Maybe one
of his classmates might hear him and go get another adult. He didn’t
want anything disrupting his plans for later that afternoon. He would
have to make sure that the boy remained quiet inside his prison for the
remainder of the afternoon until the other children had gone home.
“You can’t keep me in here” Joe said, the tears now running down his face,
unable to stop them.
“Oh but I can” Watson answered and roughly shoved the boy back inside the
room locking it again to prevent the boy’s escape. “I will keep
you and your disruptive behaviour away from the rest of your classmates.”
the teacher added, trying to justify his harsh methods to himself.
Joe fell heavily on his backside on the storeroom floor.
The room was now almost completely devoid of light. Joe could
hear the sounds of his own crying in the silence. With
nobody to help him he didn’t know what the afternoon had in store for him
that afternoon. That almost scared him as much as the darkness
of the room.
Joe now moved up against on of the walls of the storeroom and grabbed his
knees up towards his chest and laid his head on top of his knees as he cried
softly to himself and wondered when his family were going to come and get
him.
TO BE CONTINUED………………
Author – What lies in store for our young Joe ??????????????
Only this crazy author
has the answer to that so you will have to read the next part to find out.
Sorry not longer but have to work on other ones too…
Hope you are liking it so far.
JULES
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