ADAH-PAST AND PRESENT
by
Lynne C
ADAH-PAST AND PRESENT
As Adam sat in the Silver Dollar, enjoying his glass of beer, he
listened, indulgently, to the chatter of his brothers. After watching
Adah's performance in the play, they were discussing whether the
actress had appeared naked on the stage, or not.
Eventually, his younger siblings looked to him to settle the argument
and Adam's face broke into a grin, as he said, "She was wearing tights."
Hoss was rather relieved; his shyness around women was making him feel
a bit uncomfortable at the thought of ogling a naked woman. Joe,
however, at only sixteen, felt a bit deflated. He hadn't been too sure
if she was naked, or not, but was planning to boast to his best
friend, Mitch, that she had been. The boy shouldn't really have gone
to the play, but he'd persuaded Hoss to sneak out and go, unaware that
Adam was going, too. The three brothers met up outside Piper's and
went in together.
Just then, the object of their discussion entered the saloon, but the
biggest surprise for the boys was that she was on the arm of their
father, whom they thought was back at the ranch.
Joe and Hoss tried to hide, by sliding down in their seats, and even
Adam felt rather nervous at the thought of being discovered. Not that
his father was likely to say anything about his eldest attending the
play, but he would be angry that Adam had allowed Joe to accompany him.
Thinking about Joe's reaction to the play, took Adam back to when he
was a similar age and he'd done the same as his brother. He'd sneaked
out of the house, via his bedroom window, in order to go to the theatre.
It was not that long after his stepmother Marie's untimely death, and
Ben was finally emerging from the dark tunnel of despair, which he'd
plunged into when he'd lost her. Adam was just seventeen and was
pleased that his father now felt well enough to take control of the
ranch and was able to care for the boys, again. The young man had
coped, admirably, with all the responsibilities that had been placed
on his slim shoulders, but it had been difficult, at times. Now he
could get back to being a boy again and one of the first things he
planned to do was attend the theatre, when Miss Adah Mencken and her
company were playing there. As soon as he suggested it to Ben, though,
his father flatly refused to let him go, saying that it wasn't
suitable for a boy of his tender years. This had outraged the young
man and he responded, angrily.
"I've been old enough to run the Ponderosa and play second father
to
Hoss and Joe for the last three months, while you've been off finding
yourself, so why am I suddenly too young to go and see a play?"
"Please don't raise your voice to me, Adam," said Ben. "I
have been
extremely grateful for all the help that you gave me, while I was
grieving over the loss of your mother. I know I asked far more of you,
than I should have done, of a boy your age, but the circumstances were
pretty exceptional ones. In the normal course of events, I wouldn't
have expected you to take on so much, and I certainly wouldn't have
allowed you to go and see a play, such as the one Miss Mencken is
performing in. Things are back to normal now and I am in charge, as I
should be, and I'm afraid that I cannot allow you to go to the theatre."
Adam was very disappointed, but could tell that he wasn't going to get
his father to change his mind. So, after discussing it with his
friends, Ross and Carl, the three boys decided to defy their fathers
and go anyway. Now that Ben was taking care of Hoss and Little Joe,
again, Adam often retired to his room, after supper, in order to do
some reading. So when he said that was what he was going to do, Ben
didn't suspect that the boy was up to anything. Once the two younger
boys were in bed, Adam got changed into his best suit, climbed out of
his bedroom window, and slid down the roof, into the yard below. He
was soon on his way to Virginia City, fairly confident that the body
shaped mound of clothes he had left in his bed would fool his father
when he checked in on him, later that night.
It might have fooled his father, had Ben just popped his head round
the door, with only the dim light from the corridor, to see by, but,
unfortunately, his little brother decided to pay him a visit. Six year
old Little Joe was still having trouble sleeping, since losing his
mother, and often turned to Adam if he was scared. Joe crept into
Adam's room and lifted the covers on his brother's bed, thinking that
Adam was already asleep. What he found was a pile of clothes and his
immediate reaction was to shout for his father.
"Papa, Adam's gone missing and lefted his clothes behind."
Ben entered his eldest son's room and saw what Little Joe meant.
Immediately, he guessed where Adam had gone.
"Come on, Little Joe, back to bed, sweetheart. Adam's probably gone
to
the outhouse."
"I'll wait for him, then," said Joe, but when Hoss arrived in
the
room, he offered to take Little Joe in with him.
"Thanks, Hoss, there's something I need to do in town. Hop Sing will
be here, should you need anything."
Hoss guessed that Ben was going after Adam and that he was trying to
keep the fact from Joe, so he didn't say anything, just nodded to his
father.
"All right, Pa. I'm sure everything will be fine. See you in the
morning. Come on Little Joe, let's go to bed, I'll read ya a story,
iffen you like."
Ben made sure that the two boys were happily settled down, and then he
went downstairs to explain what he was planning to do, to Hop Sing.
"Numbah one son velly bad to disobey father. You bling him home and
Hop Sing tell him so. Don't worry about Hoss and Little Joe, they be
fine with Hop Sing."
"Thank you, Hop Sing, I'll try not to be too long."
By the time Ben got to town, the performance had already started and
so Ben slipped inside the theatre, as unobtrusively as he could,
surveying the audience for his son. He saw the three boys sitting
several rows in front of him, and wondered whether to go and haul Adam
out, immediately, or wait until the end. As he'd had to buy a ticket,
he decided to get his money's worth and stay and watch the play. He
had to admit that the acting was extremely good, especially that of
young Adah Mencken, although he was right in thinking that the play's
content was not something he really wished his son to be seeing.
As soon as the play was over, Ben rushed to the exit and positioned
himself where he knew he would be able to apprehend Adam. The three
boys came towards him, talking about the play, and completely
oblivious to what was waiting for them.
"Fancy seeing you here," said a familiar voice, and Adam and
his
friends found themselves staring into the angry face of Adam's father.
Just as Ben was about to tear a strip off the boys for their
disobedience, a friend of Ben's came over and asked him if he wanted
to attend a party, in honour of the theatre company, the following night.
"I wasn't sure if you were feeling up to socialising yet, but as you
are here, then I guess you are. We are holding a thank you party for
the actors, after their final performance tomorrow night. Please come,
Ben, it should be fun."
"Thank you, Walt, I think I will come. I haven't been out for such
a
long time; it's about time I got back into the swing of things. Now,
if you will excuse me, I have to get these boys back home, it's
getting late."
"Of course Ben, we'll talk more tomorrow. I must admit to being rather
surprised that you've allowed your youngster to attend this
performance. It was very good, but aimed at a more adult audience, I
would have said."
"And I agree with you, Walt. The boys are here without parental
permission and I came to take them home. Come on boys; let's get
going. I am sure your fathers must be very worried about you. I'll see
you tomorrow evening, Walt."
Ben first dropped Ross off at his house; his parents had just
discovered he was missing and as they rode away, they could hear his
father shouting at him. As they rode towards the Ponderosa, Adam was
imagining what his father was going to say to him. Carl didn't look
that worried, but then Will Reagan, his father, who was also foreman
on the ranch, was a lot easier on his son than Ben was on his boys. In
fact, Will was inclined to spoil Carl, what with the boy being an only
child and coming to his parents quite late on in their marriage, when
they had given up on ever having children.
Adam didn't have to wait long to find out what Ben was going to say to
him. Once Carl was returned to his father, Adam and Ben went to the
barn to take care of their horses.
"Were my instructions hard to follow, son? Did I not make myself
perfectly clear when I said you were not to go and see that play?"
"You were very clear, Pa, but I didn't happen to agree with your
reasons for not letting me go. The play was very tasteful and the cast
performed it extremely well. I couldn't see anything in it that was
not suitable for me to see."
"To be honest with you, Adam, I don't really much care what you think.
I am your father and I made the decision that you were not to go, and
you have disobeyed me. Therefore I am going to punish you, as I would
any of my boys when they fail to do as they are told."
Adam received a tanning and was confined to the ranch for the next two
weeks. He looked after his brothers when Ben attended the party for
the actors.
During the course of that party, Ben and Adah struck up a friendship
that lasted for many years. She and Ben always made a point of dining
together, whenever she was appearing at Piper's.
Therefore, Adam wasn't really all that surprised when he saw his
father with Adah, as she entered the saloon. Although he hadn't
expected Ben to be with her on that particular night, as he hadn't
said he was meeting her, when Adam had told Ben he was going into town.
Fortunately for the boys, Adah decided that she didn't want to stay at
the saloon, and so her and Ben left, before Ben caught sight of his sons.
However, Ben returned to the ranch earlier than the boys did, and so
he discovered that they were all missing, when he went to check on
them all. He was waiting up for them when they got back, and so Joe
ended up suffering the same fate that Adam had, all those years
before. He too, had been forbidden to go and see the play, and Ben had
also told Hoss that he preferred it if he didn't go, either. Adam and
Hoss, both being over twenty one, only had to put up with the lecture
about taking their little brother to see such a play. But they both
felt sorry for Joe, especially Hoss, who had been the one to accompany
his little brother, and so had condoned Joe's decision to disobey
their father.
When Ben brought Adah to the house to have dinner with them, the boys
gave her a rather lukewarm reception, fearing that their father was
getting himself involved with a woman who had a bit of a reputation.
Hoss summed up their feelings by saying `She's an actress' but if Adah
had been willing, then Ben would have married her. However, she turned
him down and I think the boys were all very relieved that she did so.
Adam did feel that Adah had helped his father cope with the loss of
Marie, but didn't think that was a firm enough foundation on which to
build a marriage and was glad that Adah, if not Ben, had recognised that.
THE END
Little Joe forever
Lynne
July 30th 2005