This short story was not only inspired by the POW, but also by the
song Lorne Greene sung, `You can Talk to the Man'. I know that
Lorne is referring to talking to God, but I just amended it, a bit,
and made it that he meant that his boys could talk to him, no matter
what they'd done.
'It matters not, how bad you've been, you can talk to the man'

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH LITTLE JOE?
By Lynne C.

Hoss wasn't sure what it was that he'd said, to make Little Joe act
the way he had, but he sure wished he could get to the bottom of
whatever was bothering the boy. For days now, 16 year old Little Joe
had been moping around the place, hardly speaking to anyone and
jumping every time someone spoke to him, and no one could find out
why.
Usually, when Joe had a problem, he couldn't keep it to himself, if
he tried. But this time, Adam, Hoss and Ben had all failed to prise
it out of him.

Only the night before, Ben had resorted in sending the boy up to his
room, as Joe's constant sulking and bad mood, was beginning to take
its toll on the whole family. It wasn't like Adam had done anything
wrong; all he did was to ask Joe to play a game of checkers with
him, and Joe had just about bitten his head off. When Adam asked for
an apology, Joe refused, and an argument had ensued. It almost came
to blows and that was when Ben stepped in and told Joe to go to bed.
At first, it looked like Joe was going to disobey his father's
order, and Hoss found himself holding his breath, until Joe finally
saw the sense of doing as he was told, and he ran up the stairs,
slamming his bedroom door behind him. Ben got as far as the bottom
stair, intending to go after his youngest, and teach him some
manners, but he changed his mind, hoping that a good night's rest
would improve Joe's temper.

Unfortunately, it made no difference, as Hoss had just found out.

The two of them were supposed to be going out to inspect the herd.
It was Joe's first month, as a full time ranch hand, and up until a
few days ago, he'd revelled in every job he'd been given to do, so
pleased to finally be seen as an equal to his brothers, well,
almost, anyway.
Hoss gently teased the boy about his late arrival at the breakfast
table, as they were saddling their horses.

"Now you're a full time hand, shortshanks, ya can't expect no
favours, jest cos you're the boss' son. In fact, Pa expects us to
work harder than the hands, to set an example to `em. No more lyin'
in your bed half the day."

"It wasn't half the day," snapped Joe. "And I made up for it by
skipping breakfast, didn't I? So quit your moaning, you ain't the
boss of me."

"No, I'm not your boss, but on this job I am in charge, cos Pa told
me to look out fer ya, and I wanna be back in time ta go to the
dance tonight. It's a box social and Bessie Sue's expectin' me to be
there."

"Do you think I care about you and Bessie Sue? What do you see in
that stupid gal, anyway?" said Joe, swinging up into the
saddle. "Come on then, I'm ready and now you ain't," and Joe rode
out of the barn and off towards the South Pasture, nearly knocking
Ben down, in the process.

"Joseph," yelled Ben, but Joe carried on riding, ignoring his father.

Hoss stood watching Joe ride away and then turned to Ben, still with
a puzzled look on his face.

"What's got into that boy, now?" asked Ben.

"Don't worry, Pa, I'll get after him, and when I catch up with him,
I'm gonna do some real damage to his hide, so help me, I am. All I
was doin' was teasin' him a mite, about him gettin' up late; it's
summat I often do, and he don't normally mind. This time, he was
real rude, not only `bout me, but about Bessie Sue, too, and I ain't
standin' fer that, from no one, brother or not."

"Okay, son, you see if you can't talk some sense in him, today,"
said Ben. "And you can tell him from me that I'm not prepared to put
up with his bad behaviour, much longer. If he's got something on his
mind, then he should let us know, and maybe we can help him."

"I'll see what I can do, Pa," said Hoss, and he, too, rode out of
the yard.

By the time Hoss caught up with Joe, his temper had cooled. Hoss did
try, on several occasions, throughout the day, to find out what was
on Joe's mind, but the boy was keeping his mouth shut tighter than a
clam.

They returned to the house, after a long, tiring day in the saddle
and Hoss declared he was going to have a bath, before heading off to
the dance. Adam had already used the tub, as he, too, was going to
attend the box social.

"Well hurry up, brother," said Adam. "I promised Mary Ellen I would
meet her just after seven, so if you're riding in with me, we need
to go soon. Are you coming with us, Joe?"

Joe said nothing, acting as if he hadn't heard Adam's question.

"Your brother just asked you if you were going with him and Hoss to
the dance, Joseph?" said Ben. "I'm not that sure I should let you,
after the way you've been behaving recently. You almost knocked me
down this morning and you never even stopped to see if I was all
right."

"Well, you are all right, aren't you? So what's the problem?" said
Joe. "I don't wanna go to the dance, so you forbidding me is no big
deal."

At any other time, Joe would have loved attending a box social, but
as he was feeling so low, he wasn't in the mood for such frivolities.

"The problem, young man, is your attitude," said Ben. "Me not
allowing you to go to the dance might not bother you, but if you
don't straighten yourself out, real soon, you and I are taking a
trip out to the barn, to see if I can't adjust that attitude, and I
do think that will bother you."

"I ain't got an attitude," said Joe, nearly in tears, and hating
himself for showing such weakness. "I'd be fine if you lot would
just stay off my back," and he made a dash for the stairs, taking
them two at a time.

This time, Ben did go after him, and he knocked on Joe's door, and
entered the room.

"Joseph, this has gone far enough. I want to know, right now, just
what it is that's bothering you."

Joe stood in front of his father and knew that the time had come for
him to confess his crime. He was so scared that his palms were
sweating, and his tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth. Even
if he could find the words to tell his father what he'd done, he
wasn't sure he would be able to say them.

"I'm sorry, sir," he eventually said. "I'm really, really sorry, and
I won't blame you if you never can forgive me and you never wanna
speak to me, or even see me again."

"Joseph!" exclaimed Ben. "I don't know what you are talking about,
so how can I know how I'm going to react?"

Joe took a deep breath, and the words came tumbling out of his
mouth, like water out of a sluice gate.

"It was me who broke Mama's music box, Pa. It was an accident, but
it was still me, who did it, and I know how much you cherish it, and
how much she loved it, and I'm so sorry," and tears ran down the
boy's face.

At first, Ben didn't know how to respond, as he had not been
expecting Joe to say what he did. He'd thought it was more likely to
be a problem with his brothers teasing him, than anything else.

The previous weekend, the Cartwrights had held a party at the
Ponderosa, and it was after then, that Ben had discovered that the
music box was broken. He'd asked the boys about it, but all of them
denied any knowledge, and so Ben had assumed that someone at the
party had broken it. He'd put it in the drawer of his desk, with the
intention of taking it into town, to see if it could be repaired.
The boys knew their father was upset about it, as he had so few
things left that had belonged to their mothers, and so each one was
precious.

"It was the day of the party, and Seth and Mitch came over early,
and we were roughhousing, a bit, and it got knocked off the table,"
said Joe. "I was too scared to tell you, Pa, so I just put it back
where it belonged and hoped you'd not find out. When you did, you
just thought someone at the party must've done it, and so I let you
carry on thinking that, cos I didn't wanna havta face you, with what
I'd done."

"Are you that scared of me, Joe, that you couldn't tell me the
truth?" said Ben, gently lifting up the boy's chin, with the tips of
his fingers, and forcing Joe to look at him. "Am I that much of an
ogre?"

"No, sir, not really. I mean, I was kinda scared what you might do
to me, but I ain't really scared of you, Pa. It's just that it was
something so precious, because it had belonged to Mama, and I didn't
think you'd ever be able to forgive me, knowing how much you loved
it, and how much you loved her."

"Yes, I did love your mother, very much, and I love that music box,
because it was something she treasured. Looking at it reminds me of
her, but I love something that she left me, much more than I do that
box."

"What's that, Pa?"

"You, Little Joe," said Ben. "You are the best thing your mother
left me, and I would never put an inanimate object above you. Yes, I
am upset that the box has been damaged, but if I want to remember
your mother, I only have to look at you, to do that. And I'm sorry
that you've put yourself through nearly a week of torment, because
you were too frightened to tell me what you'd done."

For the first time in several days, a smile flitted across Joe's
face.

"Well, I guess that's my fault, rather than yours, Pa. I should've
had more faith in my father's ability to forgive, shouldn't I?"

Ben pulled the boy into a hug, and said, "Yes, you should've, young
man. No matter how bad you've been, you should always know you could
come to me. I might get mad and yell, a bit, but I'll always forgive
you."

Now that Ben wasn't as mad as Joe had feared he might be, the boy
began to think that going to the dance might be fun, after all.
However, there was still one thing to be cleared up, between them.

"I guess you're gonna punish me, now, for breaking the box, in the
first place, and for lying to you, when you asked me if I knew
anything about it, huh?"

Joe looked down on his son, and said, "Don't you think you should be
punished, Joseph? After all, I have told you and your brothers, more
times than I care to recall, not to do any roughhousing indoors, so
you did break the rules. And you know how I feel about you boys
lying to me, don't you?"

"Yes, sir, I do. So, what's it gonna be?"

"Well, first of all, you can pay to have the box repaired. I will
take the cost out of your wages. And, for the lying, you will not be
going to the dance tonight, okay?"

"Okay, Pa, that sounds fair," and Joe held out his hand, to shake on
it, with his father.

"I might have taken you for a trip to the barn, but I think you have
been hard enough on yourself, this week, and so that isn't
necessary. But don't forget what I have said. You can always come to
me, no matter how bad you think you've been."

"Yes, sir, I'll try and remember that," said Joe, and the two of
them went downstairs, in order that Joe could make peace with his
brothers, before they left for the dance.

THE END
May 20th 2005
Little Joe forever
Lynne

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