LITTLE WHITE LIE
by
Heidi
It was Sunday morning. Everyone in Eagle Station was in church including the Cartwright family. Ben and his two eldest sons (Adam and Hoss) listened with attention to the sermon but the youngest Little Joe was clearly somwhere else with his thoughts. He thought ‘Ut Oh...I’m really in for it this time..I shouldn’t have told that little white lie!’ The youngest Cartwright thought back at the previous day.
Like often Little Joe and Carlos Rivera de Vega were fishing on Saturday
afternoon.
“Little Joe, have you still caught nothing yet?”, the Mexican asked teasing.
“No, it will not succeed”, replied Little Joe.
He stared at his rod but somehow the fish didn’t want to find his rod. In
the meantime Carlos did catch one fish after the other.
“Carlos, shall we just say to pa, Adam and Hoss that I have caught all the
fish?”, Little Joe asked at the end of the afternoon.
“Why? Are you afraid that your brothers will pester you that you can’t fish
because you haven’t caught anything this time?”, was the counter-question
of Carlos.
The youngest Cartwright nodded. The Mexican agreed. They got their things
together and headed for home.
At the Ponderosa Adam and Hoss asked their father, “Pa, where are Carlos
and Little Joe?”
“They are fishing but they can be back any moment. Have you missed them?”,
Ben asked teasing.
“Not at all”, Hoss reacted laughing.
“It was just so very quiet without them”, Adam remarked.
The brothers laughed. But they hadn’t counted on the reaction of their father.
“If you two had gone along it would have been much more quieter here too”,
said Ben.
The boys didn’t say anything back. Then they saw Carlos and Little Joe coming
with the fish. Little Joe ran to his father who received him laughing.
“Pa, look at how many fish I have caught”, the boy said.
Carlos showed the fish and said, “I will bring them to Hop Sing for supper.”
Now the youngest Cartwright brother got teased a lot of course but as usual
Ben stepped in for the boy.
The fish tasted very well and because the Cartwrights went to church the next morning no one stayed up long.
When the Reverend started with his sermon Little Joe came back to the reality.
The Reverend said, “In the bible says: Thou shall not lie. A little white
lie is also forbidden by our Dear Lord.”
These words kept echoeing very long by Little Joe. Though he didn’t let
it show to the others.
Once at home Little Joe waited till he was alone with his father.
“Pa, I must tell you something”, he said shy.
Ben pulled the boy near him and looked at him seriously.
“Wat is the matter?”, asked the rancher.
“I have done something that is not allowed”, Little Joe began.
“Just start at the beginning”, said Ben.
“I didn’t catch all the fish yesterday but Carlos did. I suggested to say
that I had caught them or otherwise Adam and Hoss would pester me again
that I can’t fish. I am sorry pa”, the young Cartwright confessed.
“Is this because of the sermon this morning in church?”, asked Ben.
Little Joe nodded. He didn’t dare to look at his father.
“You know that you get punishment when you do something wrong so that is
the case now too. Go and get Carlos for a second”, said Ben.
Little Joe ran away and came back a moment later with the hand.
“Carlos, is it true that you caught all the fish yesterday afternoon instead
of Little Joe?”, asked Ben.
“Si, that is right”, replied Carlos.
“Little Joe, I suggest that this coming week you do the chores of Carlos.
That is your punishment for lying”, said Ben.
Little Joe nodded and Carlos too agreed with it.
By this event Little Joe now knew too that lying is wrong and he had clearly
learned his lesson.