DEAD MAN'S CANYON
There was almost half and hour of time to pass between when Watson locked
Little Joe in the small cramped storeroom until the other children returned
from recess break.
At first, Joe sat against the wall with his legs tucked up wondering what
he was going to do about getting out of there. When he had first
been thrown into the room he had begun shouting to try and alert somebody
else’s attention.
His efforts to free himself however only resulted in threats of what would
happen if he continued from Watson as he loomed over the much smaller boy.
Joe had not eaten much dinner the night before at home nor this morning
as he got dressed ready to leave for school. The lunch Hop Sing
had packed for him was still sitting in his satchel unopened with no way for
him to retrieve it. He had not had so much as a drink of water since
leaving home.
His stomach was beginning to protest loudly from the lack of food and water
but Joe paid his body no attention as his curly head silently and slowly drifted
downwards. His arms were leaning over his knees and made enough of a crudely
soft pillow. He didn’t feel himself falling asleep.
Watson had been showing a little uneasiness when he hadn’t heard any noise
coming from the boy for quite a few minutes. He placed his ear
up against the door before the class filed back into the room.
Giving into his curiosity he opened the door slightly and peered into the
darkness.
He smiled to himself though as he saw that the boy had only fallen asleep.
He was happy enough to assume that the boy would remain so for the remaining
class time left. His classmates would not even know he was there unless
he woke up unexpectedly.
Watson started putting his thoughts together as he closed the door again
and relocked it. He had to come up with a plausible excuse for the missing
Joe Cartwright for the rest of his classmates so they wouldn’t become overly
suspicious and start asking the wrong sort of questions.
As the children did come into the classroom from their lunch, Watson was
careful to watch all of their facial expressions to see if they noted anything
different. When he looked at the face of Johnny Scott he could see the
youngster looking about the room trying to locate somebody. He had
seen the boy talking to Joe Cartwright for the last two days.
Johnny decided to pluck up enough courage and ask about his missing friend.
He hadn’t seen Joe during the entire lunch break. He was also worried
that he hadn’t seen Joe eating his lunch anywhere.
“Excuse me Mr Watson,” came the small voice from Johnny.
Watson waited a few minutes as though he hadn’t heard the question.
It was only after the boy was forced to reiterate his question that Watson
gave him any sort of response.
“Yes Mr Scott,” Watson said walking over to Johnny’s seat and towering over
the boy in a looming stance so as to baulk the boy into asking only what was
absolutely necessary. “Well come on boy, speak up, your wasting valuable
class lesson time.”
“Mr Watson, I was only going to ask about my friend Little Joe.” Johnny
said and swallowed hard as he looked up into the uncaring face of his tutor.
“I didn’t see him at lunch and I was just wondering was he alright.” he added,
voicing his concerns. Joe still hadn’t made an appearance in the classroom
yet.
Watson forced his face to relax slightly so as to give the impression of
a caring reply “Mr Cartwright said he didn’t feel well. He came to me
just as you all began eating your lunch. I thought it better that he
seek attention from his family. He has gone home, ” not wanting to
add too much unnecessary information that may make the boy ask more questions.
“You mean he’s sick?” Johnny answered, repeating what the teacher had just
told him. He wondered if he should stop to see Joe on his way
home to make sure he was alright. “But his horse was still in the stable.”
“Mr Cartwright went to see the town doctor first. I assume the doctor
took him home in his buggy. One of his family will come for the horse
later on this afternoon or tomorrow.” Watson said, fumbling his way
through the answer at first. He really didn’t have much knowledge about
the doctor at all. He didn’t even know if the man had a buggy
for that matter. He was just hoping the naïve boy would believe
what he was told.
Watson inwardly kicked himself for forgetting about the horse. Only immature
boys would remember something as unimportant as a horse. Unfortunately
Joe Cartwright’s horse had rather unusual markings and colouring that made
it difficult to forget.
“Now Mr Cartwright will not be with us for the rest of the afternoon to
finish his lessons but you Mr Scott are, as are the rest of the class.
Open your books children to the first page.” Watson now said, walking away
from the students towards the front of the classroom again.
For the rest of the afternoon, Johnny Scott did his lessons in silence as
he was asked. His mind couldn’t help but wonder about his friend though.
Joe hadn’t whispered anything in class to him about feeling sick.
Joe had been a little bit cranky lately about how his family was treating
him and knew he was going to be in trouble about falling into the water when
he went fishing without permission. But there had been no mention today
or the day before about him not feeling well.
Johnny promised himself that he would take Joe’s horse home that afternoon
if his family hadn’t come it get it. Joe had told Johnny right
from the beginning about how fond he was of his horse Blackie.
Johnny knew Joe wouldn’t deliberately want the horse to be left at the school
stable overnight. His family might get too busy to come and bring
it home.
Back at the Ponderosa, Hoss had been tending to the animals for most of
the day. He had feed them and tendered to their every need.
Animals was just something that he understood better than people.
Animals might be a little demanding sometimes, especially when they were
young or injured. But mostly, as long as they had something to eat,
clean fresh water to drink and somewhere dry and warm to sleep, animals didn’t
bother you at all.
People on the other hand never stopped bothering you Hoss told himself.
If it wasn’t his teacher at school pushing him to do better in his studies,
it was the kids in the schoolyard making fun of him because of his size.
Or his young brother demanding that he play with him after school even though
Hoss had chores that his father and older brother expected to be done.
Adam had been further out in the pastures for most of the morning.
He had met his father at the Timberyard just after lunch to try and see how
they were doing.
Ben grimly told his eldest son that things weren’t going very well at all
and that he didn’t expect to be back at the house until well after dark.
He apologized to Adam for unloading the responsibilities of his two youngest
sons on him again. Ben promised he would try and spend a little
time with them all tonight if it wasn’t too late.
Adam had assured his father that he understood that there were major problems
at the Timberyard at the moment. He promised his father that he would
soon return home before Joe got home from school to see that his two younger
brothers did their evening chores and had supper.
Adam had stayed a little longer then he would have liked though at the Timberyard
and as he glanced down at the time as he rode away, he knew he wouldn’t make
it back to the ranch until well after school was let out. He just hoped
that his larger younger brother didn’t get too tied up in his animal care
to remember to collect Joe.
*******************************************************************
For Watson the afternoon began dragging about half an hour before the end
of class. He found himself constantly looking back and forth at the clock
on the wall, nervously wondering if the boy was awake yet and hoping that
he didn’t start yelling out again from the storeroom.
When the clock struck 3.00 p.m. all of the children remained seated at their
desks. They had learned yesterday not to rile the teacher and so waited
patiently for him to dismiss the class.
“Children you may go home for the afternoon. There will be no homework
this afternoon” Watson said, trying to hurry the children out of the classroom
before the Cartwright boy starting making any noise from the back room.
The children filed out of the classroom and headed out the gate. Some
of them, who had further to go walked towards the horse stable to ready their
mounts for the ride home. Watson watched each and everyone of them from
the front of the school-house to make sure that children were actually leaving.
Johnny Scott had saddled his own mount and then looked over Joe’s horse
Blackie and reminded himself that he was going to take the horse back for
his friend. He then went about saddling Blackie although there wouldn’t
be a rider this afternoon.
He led both horses out to the front of the school ready to mount and then
quickly realised that he had forgotten his lunch satchel from inside the classroom.
He hitched both animals up to the fence outside temporarily. Just
long enough to get his bag and get started home. With the extra distance
he had to divert to the Ponderosa, he would be late if he dawdled too much.
It was only as he neared the stairs that he could now hear voices coming
from inside the classroom. He figured this to be rather strange at first
because he thought the teacher was all alone. Maybe one of the parents
had come to talk to him after school he thought logically.
Johnny didn’t want to intrude on the conversation in case it was adults
talking and so waited near the bottom of the stairs. It was after
he heard a few more words of the conversation that he shrunk back towards
the outer wall of the school-room, fearing he would be discovered.
a few minutes ago while Johnny was at the stable:
With the classroom now empty, Watson was careful to make sure that the back
door to the school house was securely locked. He didn’t want his
star pupil managing to escape once he allowed him out of the storeroom.
His attention was drawn to this boy that seemed to get under his very skin
for some reason. He failed to note that the front door to the classroom
was still open and that there would be an audience listening outside to everything
that was going on.
He opened the storeroom door and was pleasantly surprised to see two small
green eyes looking back at him. The boy was indeed awake. His
face was smudged from the dirt from the floor of the room when he had wiped
his tears away. There was a look of fear in the boy’s expression and
that’s just how he wanted it to be.
“What do you want with me?” Joe asked in a small voice, hoping to use his
size as a deterrent for the teacher, hoping that Mr Watson only wanted to
talk as he had said before locking him in the room. However,
even at the age of 7, Joe was astute enough to realise that the teacher hadn’t
locked him away from the rest of the class to merely “talk” after everybody
had gone home.
“You chose to defy me Mr Cartwright and I cannot allow that disrespect to
happen in my classroom. I need to punish you in a way that will afford
you to do as you are told in future.” Watson now said.
“Can I have a drink of water please?” Joe now said, his throat was really
dry from all that time without any liquid.
“You may get a drink from the jug over there” Watson said as he pointed
to a small table outside the storeroom where a jug of water and glass were
stored during the day. He needed a reason to get the kid to come out of the
room on his own anyway, rather than drag him out kicking and screaming.
Joe slowly got to his feet and shuffled his way past the teacher, worried
that the man would change his mind in an instant and relock him in the musty
smelling room.
As he took the glass drinking his fill, Joe carefully looked about the classroom,
trying not to draw the attention of the teacher. He was looking for
any sign of someone left behind in the school house he could signal for help.
He prayed desperately that his brothers Hoss or Adam were about to walk in
the room and take him home before the teacher got a chance to deal out his
“punishment.”
back at the Ponderosa:
Adam rode into the yard knowing that his day of work was not yet complete.
He still had to make sure that this two younger brothers did their chores
in time for supper and then he had to try and spend some time on the account
books.
With his father delayed until well after dark for the last couple of days
and Adam trying to at least make up the numbers to help out the hands doing
the more physically demanding jobs, the books were not getting very much attention
at all at the moment.
As Adam stopped his horse near the barn and got off the saddle, he put his
hand to his head, knowing that another problem had just arisen. From
where he was standing, he could already see that Hoss was still tending to
the animals, almost in the same position when he had ridden away this morning.
Obviously Hoss hadn’t left yet to pick up his younger brother from school.
“Hoss you didn’t leave to get Little Joe yet, school would have already
been let out ten minutes ago” Adam said.
“Oh no” Hoss declared, “Adam, I am sorry, I didn’t mean to forget Joe.
Time just sorta got away from me. I just finished feedings those babies
a little while ago and I just turned around to change their bedding straw
and they are complaining that they are hungry again.”
“I know of somebody else who is going to be complaining too when you get
there” Adam said with a slight grin on his face. He could already imagine
what hot tempered little words would come from the seven year old when his
big brother showed up over 45 minutes late.
Adam was worried that boredom would get the better of the energetic youngster
and he might just decide to come home on his own. Or even worse find something
else to fill in the time, like heading off to a fishing hole on the way home
without telling anybody where he was going.
“I am going right now Adam” Hoss said, already half way through saddling
his mount. “I will try and be as quick as I can to get there.”
“Don’t try and go too fast along that road Hoss” Adam warned. “Don’t do
anything foolish like your younger brother and ride along there like the
wind was after your tail. Lord knows Pa has enough to worry about
without having you or him or both of you hurt to add to it.”
“I’ll be careful” Hoss reassured his brother.
“I am going inside to get cleaned up and then tackle some of the book work
at Pa’s desk” Adam told his brother.
Hoss nodded his head but was glad that all the responsibilities of running
the ranch had been left to somebody like Adam when his father was forced to
be away. He didn’t know how Adam remembered to do everything that needed
attending.
No wonder Joe tested Adam’s patience sometimes at the end of the day.
Adam must be completely worn out by supper time Hoss surmised as he started
along the way to Virginia City and the school house to pick up his younger
brother. He prayed that Joe would be in a better mood than he had been
in this morning when they got to the school.
back at the school house:
“Looks like your family doesn’t want to come and get you” Watson teased
his reluctant student. He knocked what remained of the water and cup
out of Joe’s hand. The cup hit the floor spilling its contents and breaking
into three or four pieces.
“They will be coming” Joe said with as much courage as he dared. He
didn’t want to rile the teacher too much for he knew that it would only result
in him bearing the brunt of his anger. Secretly again he prayed
that his family would soon come for him.
“Get over to my desk you little imp” Watson now said shoving Little Joe
roughly out of the back of the school house towards the classroom.
Johnny Scott swallowed uneasily as he heard the teacher’s harsh words towards
his friend. He didn’t know if he should identify himself or divulge
his hiding place to Watson. At the shout of Joe to get over to
his desk, Johnny became too afraid to even let the sound of his breathing
be heard.
Joe fell against the desk awkwardly, needing his hands to steady himself
and prevent himself from falling to the floor altogether. During the
time it took to regain his balance, he could see Watson reach into a small
travelling bag from behind his desk. He was now pulling something long and
thin out with his right hand.
Joe could feel the fear in him starting to gain momentum as he tried to
see what the teacher was holding. It soon came into view and he wished
he couldn’t see it again…….. it was a long thin wooden ruler about 16
inches in length.
“I hate having to teach some harsh lessons to my students Mr Cartwright”
Watson now said from behind the desk, making sure that his pupil could see
the instrument in his hand the whole time.
“But your behaviour over the last couple of days is disturbing to me and
I believe I have no other choice than to punish you in a way that you won’t
soon forget.” Watson stated, knowing there really wasn’t an ounce of truth
in what he was saying.
Truth was, Little Joe Cartwright was just one of those kids who got under
his skin from the very beginning and he didn’t know quite why.
“But I haven’t really done anything wrong Mr Watson” Joe said in his own
defence. “I did what you asked in class most of this morning.” he added, trying
to at least reason with the bullying teacher.
“Did you do your homework yesterday Mr Cartwright?” Watson now shouted at
the youngster.
“But…………” Joe started to say before he was savagely cut off.
“Yes or no Mr Cartwright, it is a simple question. Did you or did
you not do the homework assignment given to you yesterday afternoon?” Watson
shouted, daring the boy to lie to him.
Joe shook his head in a negative response but didn’t say anything further.
It was obvious the teacher wasn’t going to believe anything he had to say
anyway.
“Did you give your father the note I instructed you to give him about your
improper writing technique?” Watson now asking a second question.
“No but he wasn’t home until……………………..” Joe said before he was cut off rudely
again.
“An excuse Mr Cartwright. An excuse that doesn’t hold water in my
eyes. Yes your father probably didn’t get the note, but it is probably
more the case that you chose not to give it to him isn’t it?”
“NO” Joe shouted back hotly, forgetting about the ruler for a second, his
temper quickly rising at the insinuation that he had deliberately lied to
his father.
“WHAT” Watson yelled back, his face now bright red and the tendons in his
neck taunt.
“Your lack of respect boy has earned you a more physical form of punishment”
Watson now said, moving out from behind the desk and behind Joe.
Joe tried to turn around to face the teacher, his fear still rising within
him.
Without so much as a warning of what he was about to do, Watson brought
the ruler back in his hand slightly and before Joe had time to react he felt
a stinging sensation to the back of his thighs.
“Yeoww” Joe said out loud, unable to hold back his cry of pain. His
hands went immediately to the area. His had on trousers, but the blow
from the ruler had been hard enough to still allow him to feel it.
“Keep quiet you little brat” Watson said to him, looking nervously around
the room in case the boy’s cry of pain was heard by somebody passing by in
the street.
It was only as he looked about the classroom towards the front door that
he could make out the outline of another small figure hiding by the stairs
outside. A brief glimpse of hair allowed him to identify the person
as Little Joe’s friend and classmate Johnny Scott.
While Watson was a little afraid now that more than one boy knew what had
been going on, he was equally sure of his abilities to silence the two boys
through fear. He was determined to leave a lasting impression on Joe Cartwright
that would ensure he didn’t say anything to his family and Johnny Scott would
be warned what could happen to him if he breathed a word to anybody.
Joe was about to say something to avoid another assault from the teacher’s
ruler when he felt a second sting to the back of his leg. This one felt
even harder than the last. The pain took his breath away momentarily and
all he could do was look at the teacher with a surprised look on his face.
“And I assure you more of the same Mr Cartwright if you or anybody else
breathes a word of what has happened here today to anybody, understand?”
Watson demanded, making sure he put the right amount of emphasis on the words
“anybody else.”
Johnny Scott had indeed heard the teacher’s warning and knew that Mr Watson
knew he was there. He slowly crept out from behind the stairs
and walked as calmly as he could towards the front fence and his waiting horse.
For a few minutes he didn’t know what he should do. Should he
stay and help his friend Little Joe. Should he run and tell Sheriff
Roy Coffee what he had seen or Joe’s family?
Back inside the classroom, Watson had put away the ruler, knowing that he
was taking unnecessary risks by prolonging the punishment any longer.
The boy’s family had been delayed, much to his advantage, but he was under
no misgivings that somebody would soon arrive. He had seen a dark haired
man pick up the boy yesterday afternoon promptly enough.
“Remember what I said boy” Watson hissed in Little Joe’s ear as he went
back behind the desk to hide his crime. “And I promise you more of
the same tomorrow afternoon as well if you show the same level of disrespect
and disobedience that you have displayed in class over the last two days.”
“You will write with your proper hand in class and I expect to see a marked
improvement in the quality of work produced from you Mr Cartwright.
Your father may not be interested in your education but I see it as my duty
to teach you right from wrong.” Watson added.
By now Joe’s voice was totally gone. He stood with tears streaming
down his face, both from the physical pain he felt from the ruler and the
captivity he had been forced to endure. But also from the frustration
and humiliation he had endured at the hands of such a bitter and angry man.
“You may leave Mr Cartwright” the teacher finally said as he gathered his
bag and headed towards the back of the school house.
Joe stood there for a few minutes, unsure of what to do. At
first he thought it might be a joke and that the teacher was just waiting
for him to move again and inflict more marks on his body.
Then the confusion started to set in about what to do about all that had
happened today. His head of course told him to tell his father immediately
when he got home. But it was the fear of another day of school yet to come
and what could happen if he did decide to tell someone and the teacher found
out about it.
He decided to think more about what to do on the way home and later that
night. His father would know what to do about Mr Watson. Little
Joe started to gather his books together in his satchel. The brown
paper parcel with his lunch in it from Hop Sing was still wrapped up neatly
and tidily as it had been when he arrived at school this morning.
Outside the school house, Johnny Scott was still wrapped up in his own thoughts
about what to do. His hands were still trembling a little as he
near his mount and tried to gather the reins. He almost jumped
out of his skin when he heard a voice call his name from behind.
“Johnny” Hoss greeted the boy he had known to become his brother’s friend
and in some cases, partner in crime. He looked a little worried though
when he saw the boy’s unusual reaction. He hadn’t meant to scare the
youngster, when Johnny turned to face the voice, Hoss noted a slight paleness
to the boy’s features as well.
“Um Joe’s inside Hoss” Johnny said and hurriedly mounted. He reminded
himself to release Blackie’s reins and took off before Hoss got a chance to
apologize for startling him.
“Sorry but I have to go, my mom will be waiting for me” Johnny said, coming
up with a lame excuse for his departure.
“See you then,” Hoss said, scratching his head a little at the boy’s evasiveness.
Johnny hadn’t shown any such inkling on the other times he had seen him.
Exactly the opposite actually. The boy normally displayed the same
amount of exuberance and energy as his brother Joe did.
Hoss now climbed the three steps that led to the classroom. He stood
at the doorway momentarily, allowing his eyes to adjust from the brightness
of outside to the darkness that seemed that seemed to fill the classroom.
“Hey Joe are you in here boy?” Hoss said, not being able to make out his
brother’s shape at first due to the poor light.
Joe had been so lost within his own thoughts that he almost jumped off the
chair he was sitting on when he heard Hoss shout his name. He
quickly got up, grimacing slightly at the immediate pain to his thighs that
resulted. He quickly wiped his shirt sleeve across his face to
hide any tears that may have been visible to someone else.
“I’m over here Hoss” Joe replied in a very small voice. He fought
very hard against the tide of emotions within him to fall into his bigger
brother’s embrace right here and now and force himself to tell his horrid
tale.
“You alright punkin’?” Hoss asked, noting the somewhat subduedness of his
younger sibling. “Sorry I am so late.” he added, thinking that
the boy’s lack of enthusiasm might be in reply for him being late and the
boy being forced to wait quite a spell on his own in the school house.
Joe was a boy who didn’t really relish waiting for anything under normal circumstances.
“Your late” Joe shot back in reply, suddenly remembering how late Hoss had
been in coming. Whilst he knew Hoss wasn’t late deliberately, he couldn’t
help but think of how none of the punishment he had received may have happened
at all if one of his family had been there to protect and defend him.
“I am sorry Little Joe, I got a bit held up looking after all those little
critters,” Hoss said apologetically as he shuffled his feet on the floor knowing
that his brother was completely correct in his statement.
“I don’t want to talk about it now anyway” Joe said brushing away the subject
as quickly as it had been brought up. He know walked across the room
and passed his brother to outside.
Joe had let out a quiet wince or two at the pain he still felt at the back
of his legs as he walked. He was careful not to make too much noise
as to alert his brother to the fact that he was hurt in any way. However
he was unaware that he was walking in a manner that drew attention to his
gait.
Joe was a little surprised to see his mount Blackie happily standing quietly
at the front fence of the school house instead of the school stable yard.
But right at this minute in time he was equally uninterested about how he
came to be already saddled and waiting for him.
Hoss found himself looking at the back of Little Joe as he walked.
He thought he spotted the youngster walking a little awkwardly on the stairs
a few seconds ago as he passed. But looking now with a better view,
he could definitely see the boy walking differently than usually.
“You alright Joe?” Hoss asked plainly, trying not to suggest about the walking
action. He would see how the ride home was and wait until they got home to
see if there was still a problem.
“Fine” Joe said in a low almost tight lipped response. No other hint
of an explanation even looked like being given.
From the look of the sullen facial expression of Joe, it was clear to the
bigger boy that he was going to get the silent treatment all the way home.
He shrugged his shoulders and walked to the gate and his own horse, knowing
that the boy’s mood would only get worse if he tried to pry what was bugging
Joe any further.
“Let’s go home Joe” Hoss said in a cheery voice, trying to lighten the boy’s
mood.
Hoss had ridden in front of his brother as they turned towards the road
that would lead them back to the Ponderosa. He failed to see
the winces of pain uttered through the boy’s lips or the screwed up face
as the saddle rubbed against the marks left on his legs from the ruler.
On the way home, Joe did exactly like he wanted to and tried to figure out
the best way to tackle his problem when he finally reached the ranch.
He was still in two different minds about the whole thing and fear in the
form of retribution from Mr Watson was still clear in his mind if the teacher
was to find out he told somebody.
When they reached the Ponderosa, Hoss offered to stable Joe’s horse and
rub him down as a sort of peace offering to fill in for being late to pick
him up from school.
“I think Adam’s inside Joe” Hoss informed him still trying to drum up casual
conversation to get the two of them talking again this afternoon.
“Pa’s not home yet?” Joe asked, unable to hide his disappointment.
Pa was the one person he hoped was home this afternoon. With two voices in
his head at the moment about what to do, he hoped his father could sort out
which voice to listen to.
“Adam says he is not going to be home until after supper again Joe, sorry”
Hoss said, feeling a little sorry for the forlorn expression on his brother’s
face. It was no secret of Joe’s affection for his father and the need
to have the man’s love shed over him on daily basis.
“Hop Sing probably has some of those sugar cookies you like inside for afternoon
tea” Hoss now said, hoping to change the subject and take Joe’s mind of his
father’s absence.
Joe turned to walk inside but he didn’t voice to his brother that he didn’t
feel much like eating anything at the moment. He entered
through the front door, avoiding Hop Sing’s kitchen all together and the
prospect of telling the little Cantonese man that his packed lunch was still
untouched.
Joe didn’t announce his presence, but instead quietly opened the door just
in time to hear the voice of his older brother. Apparently he was not
entirely happy about something.
“Darn it all” Adam said only to look up and see his younger brother looking
back at him.
Joe had even contemplated on the way home of telling Adam about what had
been happening at school with Mr Watson. Upon hearing his brother’s
angry outburst though coming through the door, his unspoken words quickly
fell away without being heard.
“Um hi Joe” Adam said sheepishly, a little embarrassed at being caught out
by his youngest brother. He was the one always telling Joe to learn
patience.
“How was school today?” Adam asked, this being the usual question the boy
was asked upon his return every day.
“Okay I guess” Joe mumbled under his breath, barely loud enough for Adam
to hear.
“Well if you want something to eat you will have to go and annoy Hop Sing
because I am totally snowed under here I am afraid little buddy.” Adam
said.
“I am afraid this ranch has many more problems than I can handle at the
moment and I hate even the thought of another one coming up anytime soon.”
Adam said, forgetting that he was talking to a seven year old who was not
likely to have much impact on the ranch’s problems for a few more years yet
anyway.
Upon hearing this statement, however innocent in meaning, Joe knew that
Adam was too busy to hear of any problems he may be having at school with
a teacher.
He started walking up the stairs and turned around almost ready to tell
Adam about the beating he had received. “Adam what do you do
when you know someone has done something very bad?” he asked.
Adam’s concentration though had been totally immersed in the account books
in front of him. His brain triggered that someone was speaking to him
and as he looked up he could see a questioning look on his brother’s face.
“What was that Joe?” Adam said thinking that Joe was asking him something
of a trivial nature. His eyes were already cast back down towards
the desk he was leaning over.
“Not important right now” Joe said, turning his head away before Adam could
see any sign of the tear running down his face.
Joe closed his bedroom door and climbed on his bed only to lie face down
in his pillow and let all of his emotions and frustrations out at once.
……………………………….
TO BE CONTINUED – Don’t worry folks, Adam and the rest of the family
will get
to know what’s going on very shortly, I promise. Something else to
happen before
that though (yeah I know – ain’t I a stinker).
JULES
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