DID I JUST SEE
WHAT I
THOUGHT I SAW?
Pa, of course, has warned me, on more than one occasion, about the
dangers of drinking, but, typically, as an eighteen-year-old man
about town, I don't always take heed of his warnings. But, after
what I saw, on the road to
ain't ever letting a drop of alcohol pass my lips, again, no sirree.
Nothing prepared me for what happened; life was just going along as
usual, so it's no wonder I was so shocked.
On Good Friday, Pa, Adam, Hoss and I all attended the service in
the
Yeah, me, Little Joe Cartwright, the
darling of
all the unattached
girls in
love, at first sight. Now, there are some cynics around, big
brother
Adam being one of `em, who would say that I am always doing that,
but after catching sight of the beautiful Ellie May Hatfield, I
knew
that all the other times had just been a rehearsal for the real
thing. I couldn't keep my eyes off her, and as she was sitting
behind us, in church, it soon became obvious to my eagle-eyed
father
that I was not paying attention to the reverend and his sermon. I
received a sharp tap on my leg and a look that warned me to keep my
eyes to the front, but I couldn't help myself and I kept turning
round to catch a glimpse of her. Now, if I'd been a little bit
younger, my inattention would have led to a painful encounter with
my father's belt, but at eighteen, Pa had finally agreed that I was
too old for a tanning. However, he still would not tolerate me
showing disrespect to the words of the Lord. As soon as the service
was over, he told me that I was to learn several verses from the
Bible, by suppertime, or else he would not allow me to attend the
Spring Dance on Saturday evening. I was about to protest, but could
see Mr Hatfield and his niece, for that was who Ellie May was,
walking towards us.
"Howdy, Ben, boys," said Mr Hatfield, shaking Pa's hand. "I
don't
think I have introduced my niece to you, have I? This is Ellie May,
my older brother's daughter. She's been staying with us, for a few
days, looking after Bella, as she's been a bit under the weather.
Ellie May is going home on Sunday morning, but she will be
attending
the Spring dance with us, tomorrow evening, and I was wondering if
one of your boys might be able to escort her there? She's not been
in town long enough to meet anyone of her own age, as she's spent
most of the visit taking care of her aunt, and I know how important
it is, to a young lady, to have an escort, when attending such a
function."
Ellie May blushed at her uncle's words, poor girl; I knew how she
felt. My Pa and brothers quite often embarrass me by the things
they
say, in front of my friends. In order to spare her any further
embarrassment, and because she was the prettiest gal I had ever
seen
in my entire life, I quickly spoke up.
"I'd love to be your escort, miss. The name's Joe, Joe
Cartwright."
"Why, thank you, Mr Cartwright," she said, smiling at me, and I
just
about fainted clean away, she had the most gorgeous smile.
"Fine, I'll pick you up around 7.30," I managed to say, without
stuttering, something I do when I'm nervous. "And please call me
Joe. Mr Cartwright's my
"Well maybe Miss Hatfield would like to go out with me, Joseph,"
said Pa, and everyone laughed, except me and Ellie May.
"No offence, Mr Cartwright," she said. "But I'd rather go
out with
Joe."
"Good, well, that's settled then," said Mr Hatfield. "We'll
expect
you at 7.30, Joseph. We best get home to Bella now, my dear. We
will
see you all at the dance tomorrow evening, goodbye for now," and
they were gone, before I was able to say anymore to the beautiful
Ellie May.
I really found it hard to concentrate on learning the Bible verses,
that afternoon, as every time I looked at the page, all I could see
was the lovely Ellie May's face. However, I knew that if I was to
see her again, I had to know the verses by suppertime. Pa never
went
back on a punishment, and although he could see why I'd found the
scenery, at the back of the church, more interesting than the
sermon, he still insisted I learnt the verses.
With Adam's help, I did learn them and Pa was happy with my recital.
"Very good, Joseph," Pa said. "I suspect that the thought of
escorting Miss Hatfield to the dance, spurred you on to learn the
verses, but whatever the reason, you did a good job."
"Thanks, Pa, and I sure couldn't deprive that young lady of
spending
the evening in the company of the best looking boy in the
territory,
now could I?" I said.
"Oh, and who's that, then, shortshanks?" said Hoss. "I
thought she
were spendin' the evenin' with
you."
"Very funny," I said, throwing a bread roll at him.
"That's enough, boys," said Pa, and I decided to take heed of his
words, as I didn't want anything to prevent me seeing Ellie May.
Once the morning chores were done, on Saturday, I had the rest of
the day to myself and I devoted a good part of it to getting myself
ready for the dance. I had a nice long soak in a tub of hot water,
which I liberally dosed with some of Adam's bath salts. I didn't
exactly get his permission to use them, but I felt sure he wouldn't
mind, considering I was using them to ensure that the Cartwright
brothers reputation for being the best turned out family at a
dance,
remained intact. I also helped myself to some of Pa's bay rum to
splash on my face, after I shaved. Hoss stood watching me perform
this task and kept making comments about why was I bothering, as I
had no whiskers to shave off, but I rose above his teasing and
ignored him.
I then spent some considerable time, brushing my hair, until Adam
came along and offered me some ribbons, saying that it was long
enough to need them. This remark caused Pa to get involved and he
trotted out his often-used phrase `you need a haircut, young man'.
I
chose to ignore that, too, as I like my hair to be longer than how
most men wear it, and I knew if I lost my temper, then Pa was
likely
to march me into town to visit the barber.
I decided to wear my new brown suit, with the faint pinstripe and a
white shirt, along with the brocade vest that Adam bought me for my
eighteenth birthday. When I was eventually ready, even cynical ole
Adam had to admit that I looked pretty darn good, and we set off
for
the dance, in a very happy mood.
Now before I knew that I would be taking Ellie May to the dance, I
had been expecting to go `stag' with some of my friends, as we
preferred being free to dance with lots of gals, instead of just
one. We'd also agreed to spice up the fruit punch with some
alcohol.
We'd drawn straws to see who was gonna bring the booze and me and
Mitch drew the short ones. So, as we rode along in the surrey, I
had
a hip flask, full of whiskey, resting in the inside pocket of my
jacket. Even though I was now gonna be spending most of the evening
with Ellie May, I couldn't let the guys down.
We stopped at the Hatfield's house and collected Ellie May, who was
looking even more beautiful, if that was possible, in a pale green
dress, made out of some shimmery material. I was so knocked out by
the sight of her, I was speechless, and it was left to Adam to make
conversation with her aunt and uncle, as we waited for Ellie May to
go and fetch her wrap.
"There won't be any need for you to bring Ellie May home,
Joseph,"
said Mr Hatfield. "She can come back with us, but I know how
important it is, to a young girl, to arrive at a dance on the arm
of
her escort. We won't be able to stay too late, as we have a very
early start in the morning. We have promised my brother and his
wife
that we will get to
services with them."
"Very well, sir," I said, finally finding my voice and helping
Ellie
May into the surrey. "You look absolutely beautiful," I said to
her.
"Why thank you, Joe," she said, treating me to that wonderful
smile,
again. "You look pretty good, yourself."
All heads turned, as Ellie May and I entered the room where the
dance was being held, we sure made a handsome couple, even if I do
say so, myself.
Mitch, Will and Seth came over to be introduced to Ellie May and
then she went to the cloakroom to leave her wrap.
"Have ya got the flask, Joe?" said Seth. "Or did ya forget,
once
your mind was taken up with that cute gal?"
"I brought it, but you'll havta add it to the punch, cos I don't
think I'll get the chance," I said.
"Okay, give it to me, then," said Seth, and I handed it over,
when I
was sure no one was looking.
For the next hour, Ellie May and I danced our legs off, almost, and
I was getting mighty thirsty.
"Shall we have a drink?" I said, and she agreed, so we found a
table
and sat down. "I'll go and fetch us one, okay?"
I went over to the punch bowl and poured out two glasses. Seth and
Will were there and I could tell that both of them were well on
their way to being drunk.
"Good stuff, this fruit punch," said Seth, winking at me.
"And you look like you've been enjoying plenty of it," I said,
putting the glasses down and slapping him on the back.
What I didn't know was, as I was talking to Seth, Will added yet
some more whisky to the already laced punch, in our glasses, so the
drink I gave to Ellie May was almost pure whisky. Both her
and I
were very thirsty and we drained our glasses, in a couple of
swallows.
She began to cough and I hit her a
couple of times
on the back, just
gently, mind you.
"Thank you, Joe," she said, when she recovered. "Did that
seem a bit
strong to you?"
I didn't want to say it did, in case it drew attention to the punch
bowl, as I didn't want anyone guessing what had happened.
"No, I think you just drank it a bit fast," I said. "Would
you like
some more?"
"Yes please," she said. "I am still very thirsty,
it's really warm
in here."
"I'll get us another drink and then maybe we can go outside for a
breath of air," I said.
"Oh, that would be nice," she said, and I could tell that the
alcohol was already taking effect.
I fetched us both another drink and she drank that almost as
quickly
as she did the first one. When she stood up, in order to go
outside,
she was a bit wobbly on her feet. She began to giggle and I quickly
led her out of the room, before anyone noticed, and became
suspicious.
Once outside, the cool air hit her like a two by four and she
nearly
fell over, but I managed to catch her, before she did. Being that I
was a bit drunk, too, I caught her in a rather unflattering way and
realised that I had my hand on her chest. Before I could remove it,
her aunt and uncle came into view and her aunt screamed.
"What on earth do you think you are doing to my niece?" she said.
"Pardon me, ma'am, but I was jest trying to stop her falling
over,"
I said.
"And why was she about to fall over?" said Mrs Hatfield.
"I can give you the answer to that, Bella," said Mr Hatfield.
"Ellie
May is intoxicated and if I'm not mistaken, young Joseph is, as
well."
"I ain't drunk," I said, indignantly. "Well, only a little
bit," and
I started to giggle, as Ellie May was still laughing and it was
infectious.
Mr Hatfield came over to us and pulled his niece away from me.
"I think we need to take Ellie May home, right now," he said.
"But
rest assured, I shall be having words
with your
father about this. I
thought I could trust a Cartwright to take good care of my niece,
not ply her with drink and then try to take advantage of her."
"I wasn't taking advantage of her, sir," I said. "I was just
stopping her from falling over."
"It didn't look like that to us," said Mrs Hatfield. "And to
think I
have only just got out of my sickbed. This is enough to send me
back
to it. I will help Ellie May to our carriage, Alfred; you go and
speak to Mr Cartwright. I hope your father gives you the thrashing
you deserve, young man."
With that, they all walked off, leaving me on my own. Well, I
wasn't
about to just stand there and wait for Pa to hear what I'd done, as
I knew he would be really angry with me, so I did what any young
man
would do, I took off.
I ended up spending the night in the livery stable and first thing
in the morning, I went round to the Hatfield house, in order to
apologise to Ellie May and to her aunt and uncle. They had already
left and so I hitched a ride on a freight wagon, which was going to
I felt sure he was likely to restrict me to the ranch, for a good
while, and then I wouldn't get the chance to see her and tell her
how sorry I was.
The driver of the wagon was a friend of mine, Patrick Reilly, and
he
could see that I wasn't up to saying much, so he left me alone with
my misery. He hummed some Irish folk songs, as we drove along, but
apart from that, all was quiet.
I was tired after my uncomfortable night spent in the livery stable
and the warm sun, and gentle swaying of the wagon, was sending me
to
sleep, but we suddenly hit a rut in the road, and that made me sit
up, with a start. To the right of us was a slight hill and, through
the bushes, I caught sight of this huge white rabbit, hopping by.
"Did you see that?" I said to Paddy, grabbing his arm.
"Did I see what?" said Paddy, annoyed that I'd caused him to
almost
lose control of the team, by pulling on his arm.
"That white rabbit that just went by," I said. "It was at
least six
feet tall."
"Oh come on, Joe, I'm not in the mood for you and your jokes, boy.
I
didn't want to take this load today, being that's it's Easter
Sunday, but my boss insisted, so I want to get to Carson as soon as
I can, and then enjoy what will be left of the rest of the day."
"I'm not joshing with you, Paddy, there really was a huge white
rabbit back there. Stop the wagon and I'll show ya."
"I am not stopping the wagon just so you can make a fool of me. I'd
much rather have you quiet than teasing me, so keep your nonsense
to
yourself," and Paddy encouraged the team to move a bit faster.
My brother Hoss had kept it a deadly secret that Miss Charity, from
the children's home, had persuaded him to dress up as the Easter
Bunny, in order to hide the gifts for the orphans. Even when I got
home and `fessed up to Pa about spiking the punch, and I promised
never to drink again, convinced that the `white rabbit' I had seen
must have been me hallucinating, as a result of the alcohol I had
consumed, he didn't tell me, immediately. He let me suffer for a
few
days, and sit through a blistering lecture from Pa, and be put on a
month's restriction to the ranch, before assuring me that I was not
going mad.
The only good thing that came out of all of this was once Pa lifted
my restriction, I was able to make things right with Mr and Mrs
Hatfield and I did get to take Ellie May out again.
THE END
Little Joe forever
Lynne