Responsibility Reclaimed
By: Puchi Ann
Responsibility Reclaimed
Ben held a restraining hand to the arm of his eldest. "Where do you
think
you're going, young man?"
Adam flicked a glance at the battered face of his youngest brother. "Isn't
it obvious, Pa? First, it was only a few seemingly harmless pranks, then
threats, and now this! After this, no one will be able to walk the streets
of Virginia City safely. If those hooligans will take on a Cartwright in
broad daylight, they'll attack anyone."
Ben shook his head. "Isn't it you, son, who always reminds me to let
the
law handle it?"
Adam threw his hands to the ceiling. "What law, Pa? With Roy tied
up in
Arizona, the 'law' around here is decidedly deficient." His hands dropped
and his shoulders slumped. "This is all my fault."
The other three Cartwrights, their brows almost identically furrowed,
exchanged concerned glances. "How you figure that, Adam?" Hoss
asked.
"Yeah, how?" Joe demanded. "I'm the one that walked into their trap."
"I don't mean just you," Adam said painfully. "I mean the whole town."
"You're not responsible for the whole town," Ben said firmly.
"I should have been!" Adam began to pace before the fireplace.
"Roy asked
me to substitute as sheriff, but I turned him down; I pleaded that I was
needed more on the Ponderosa."
"You are," Hoss said.
Adam turned to face him. "And because I put the Ponderosa first, because
I
forced Roy to hire a man not up to the job, the trouble comes to the
Ponderosa." He waved his hand in Joe's direction and then strode
purposefully toward the front door. Planting his black hat on his head,
he
began to buckle on his gun belt. "Don't try to talk me out of it, Pa,"
he
said, as Ben moved toward him, his brothers coming slowly behind him. "I'm
going to Judge Warren. I'll tell him I've changed my mind; I'll take the
job. He'll jump at the chance to hire a steady man, after all the trouble
in town."
"He will, indeed," Ben agreed, "but you're going to need
a reliable deputy.
I'm applying for the job, Sheriff."
The thought of his father applying to him for a job made Adam's lips curl
upward, but they straightened again when first Hoss and then Little Joe
also
applied for jobs as deputies. "Not you, Joe. You can barely stand up."
"I can, too," Joe protested.
With a soft smile Adam placed his palm against Joe's chest and pushed
gently. Joe fell back into the waiting arms of their middle brother.
"Uh-huh," Adam said, lips pursing skeptically. "'Fraid I
don't have a place
for you on my staff, kid, but these other two look like likely prospects,
so
I'll give them a try." He nodded at Hoss. "Your first assignment,
Deputy,
is to get this wobbly kid up to bed; then meet me at my office in town."
He
grinned at Ben. "You can come with me, Deputy."
Ben tossed him a mock scowl. "Oh, you are going to enjoy this, I can tell."
"What I'll enjoy is seeing law and order return to Virginia City,"
Adam said
soberly.
With the advent of Sheriff Adam Cartwright and his two stalwart deputies,
law and order did return to Virginia City. The bullies who had been
terrorizing the town lacked the courage to face three determined officers
and soon fled to wreak their havoc on some less protected Nevada town. Ten
days later Roy Coffee returned to find his town in good condition and after
receiving his heartfelt thanks, the Cartwrights rode home.
The End