THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE
By
Lynne C

Ben Cartwright, owner of the Ponderosa ranch, Nevada, father of three
fine sons and generous benefactor to the people of Virginia City and
its surrounding area, glanced at the paper in his hands, one more
time, and then made his pronouncement.

"Is this the best you can do?"

"Erm, I reckon it is, Pa," said Joe, the youngest of those three sons,
shrugging his shoulders, and trying out a smile on his father.

"This is no laughing matter," yelled Ben, causing the books in the
bookcase next to him, to rattle on their shelves, and his young son to
wince.

"I wasn't laughing, Pa, I just smiled at you," said ten year old Joe.

"Well, it's not an occasion for any show of mirth," went on Ben. "This
report is appalling, and Miss Jones is seriously considering keeping
you back a grade, next year."

"She can't do that," whined Joe. "I won't be sitting with my friends;
in fact I won't even be in the same room as my friends."

This was the truth, as now that the population of Virginia City had
grown, there were two teachers at the school. Miss Breckenridge taught
the six to ten year olds and Miss Jones had the children aged eleven
and above. As Joe would be eleven, during the next school year, he was
due to be moved up into Miss Jones' class, along with his best
friends, Mitch, Johnny, Sarah, and Will, after the summer break.
Although Miss Jones was not yet his teacher, as the senior member of
staff, she was the one who made such decisions about all the pupils.
Joe's end of year examinations had yielded an extremely bad set of
grades and she did not feel he was ready for any further challenges, yet.

"Maybe if you'd worked as hard as your friends, then you would be
moving up with them," continued Ben. "But these grades are awful, and
prove that you have not been paying proper attention in class. In
fact, you haven't been in class, that often. There are several days of
unexplained absences in this report, and I'd like to know where you
were, when you should have been in school."

Joe hadn't been expecting that question and he was hard pressed to
answer it. Obviously, he'd been playing hooky, but he wasn't able to
recall where he'd been, on every occasion.

"I'm not that sure, Pa, just out and about, I guess," was his reply.

Ben's voice rose up another notch, as he replied to this statement.

"Just out and about? I send you off to school, each day, and that's
where I expect you to go, young man. How many times have we had this
discussion about you playing truant and being in a situation where you
could need help, but neither I, nor the teachers, know where you are?"

Again, Joe shrugged his shoulders.

"Loads, I guess," he said, but as soon as he did so, he realised that
his father hadn't really expected an answer, as it was a rhetorical
question.

"Loads, you guess," said Ben, and Joe now knew he was in serious
trouble, as his father was repeating his words. "You guessed right, my
son, it has been loads of times, but this time, I am going to make
sure that you remember it, as I am going to enforce my words with a
very necessary talk."

With those words hardly out of his mouth, Ben stood up and went around
his desk, to the side where Joe was standing. He grabbed hold of the
boy's arm and led him up the stairs. Once there, he took Little Joe
into his bedroom, where the boy soon found himself, face down, across
his father's knees, in receipt of a sound spanking from Ben's large,
work worn hand.

Once the spanking was over, Ben released Joe and the boy crawled onto
his bed, and lay down, on his stomach, with his face buried in the
eiderdown. Ben continued to sit on the bed, next to him, and he gently
rubbed Joe's back, until he could feel the tension there, beginning to
lift.

"I punish you, because I love you, Little Joe. It brings me no
pleasure to see you cry, but better that, than for you to end up dead,
from falling down a cliff, or being attacked by a bear, when you are
off on your own, instead of being in the classroom, where I know you
are safe. Once you return to school, I hope you will remember this
spanking and think about it, each time you are tempted to play truant."

"I'm not gonna go back to school, if I'm gonna havta stay with the
little kids, when all my friends are moving to the other class," said
Joe, although Ben struggled to make out what he said, as the words
were muffled by the eiderdown, and punctuated by the occasional sniff,
as Joe fought to regain control of his emotions.

Ben was speaking the truth, he did hate to punish any of his children,
but they lived in an area where there were many dangers, so it was
necessary for him to have to be strict with his boys, in order to
protect them.

"Joseph, you are going back to school, but I hope we can come up with
a solution that will mean you can go into Miss Jones' class, with your
friends," and although he used Joe's full name, he spoke in a kindly
tone, indicating to the boy that his father was already willing to
forgive him for his truancy.

The boy wiped his nose on the sleeve of his shirt and looked up at
Ben. Although the words cheered him up, a bit, he doubted that there
was anything even his father could do, to reverse the decision.

"What can you do, Pa? Miss Jones is the boss at school, not you."

"To be honest, I'm not sure if there is anything I can do," said Ben.
"But I can try, and so there's always a chance I can get Miss Jones to
change her mind."

"Just get Adam to agree to go out with her, then she'll do anything
for us," said Joe, feeling a bit more cheerful, now that he knew his
father was going to try and help him.

"I don't think your brother would be prepared to go that far, but
there is something that he could do," said Ben.

"What's that?" said Joe.

"I'm not going to say any more until I've spoken to Adam and to Miss
Jones," said Ben. "But, don't give up hope, just yet. Now, dry your
eyes, wash your face and then go and do your chores, as it's nearly
supper time."

"Yes, sir," said Joe, but he hesitated before he did as his father had
bidden him to. "Pa, I'm sorry for all of this, you know, the playing
hooky, and the bad grades. Like Hoss, I really don't like school, that
much. There always seems to be something better to do, something more
exciting going on, in other places, you know?"

"Yes, son, I know," said Ben, drawing Joe onto his lap. "But I
insisted that Hoss stayed at school, long enough, to get a basic
education and I want you to do the same. Maybe you will find that you
do like learning, as you get older, and you will want to go to
college, like Adam did."

Joe put his arms around his father's neck and gave him a hug.

"No way, Pa, I don't ever wanna be that far away from you and the ranch."

"Well, we'll see," said Ben, returning the hug.

While Joe was in the barn, seeing to his horse, Ben had a word with Adam.

"So you see, son, Little Joe is going to be kept back, unless I can
convince Miss Jones that he is capable of doing the work. And I think
that if you coach him, through the holidays, and he takes the
examinations, again, at the end of the summer, and passes them, this
time, then Miss Jones will let him move up, with his friends."

Adam wanted to help his little brother, but wasn't so sure that this
plan would work.

"Pa, you know I love Joe, very much, and I'm always happy to help him,
but coaching him, and through the holidays? Do you think he's going to
agree to this?"

"I doubt if he's going to welcome the idea, with open arms, but he
really doesn't want to stay in the baby's class, as he calls it, and
so he might be prepared to give it a go," said Ben. "And, since you
got back from college, he has been complaining that he hasn't seen
very much of you, so this would be a good way for you to spend some
time together."

"Pa, I'll do it, if you can persuade Joe to give it a go, but I'm not
going to drag him, kicking and screaming, to the books, every day,"
said Adam. "I don't think that will bring us closer together."

Ben laughed.

"No, I doubt if it would, but, like I said, Joe really wants to move
up to the next class, with his friends, so I think he'll be prepared
to give it a go."

When Joe returned to the house, Ben called him over to his desk. The
boy began to worry that he might be in trouble, again.

"Yes, Pa, what did I do?"

"Nothing, son, as far as I know. I've talked things over with Adam,
and he's willing to coach you, during the summer holidays, so that if
Miss Jones agrees, you can sit the examinations, again, before you
return to school. Then, if your grades improve, you will be able to
move up with your friends. What do you think?"

It was the last thing that Joe really wanted to do with his summer
break from school, but if it meant him staying with his friends, he
was prepared to make the sacrifice.

"Well, I guess it's worth a try, Pa, but maybe I still won't pass the
exams."

"You will, if I have anything to do with it," said Adam, who was
sitting across the room, in his favourite blue chair. "I've checked
the results that you got, and you weren't far off getting a higher
grade, so with a bit of help, I am sure you can do better."

Joe walked across the room, and perched on the arm of Adam's chair.

"Do you think so?" he said, rather shyly, for Joe.

Adam smiled at the young boy, who seemed to have changed, so much,
while he'd been away at college, and Joe smiled back, rather cheekily,
showing that he hadn't really changed that much, after all.

"I think as long as we work together, we can make sure it happens,"
said Adam, ruffling Joe's hair.

And the two of them did just that. Adam was very patient with his
little brother and he tried to make the lessons as interesting and
varied, as he could. He only expected Joe to work with him, each
morning, giving the boy the chance to play with his friends, in the
afternoons. And he didn't confine the lessons to the house. He took
Joe out and about on the Ponderosa, and into town, incorporating the
lessons into other more fun activities, like teaching Joe all about
the weather by talking about how the seasons affected the things they
did on the ranch, and practising his mental arithmetic, by adding up
the cost of the list of supplies they bought from Mr Cass' store.

There were a couple of occasions when Joe tried to sneak away, without
doing his lessons, but Adam managed to track him down and get him back
into the right frame of mind to study. What's more, he didn't tell
their father about Joe's attempted defection and this brought the
brothers closer together.

"Pa will throw a hissy fit, if he knows, Adam, and I promise I won't
do it, again," Joe said.

"That's okay, Joe," said Adam. "Pa left it to me to deal with you,
over all this studying, so he doesn't need to know, but don't think I
will let you get away with it, any more than he would, so don't try it
again."

"Okay, big brother," said Joe, smiling at Adam, and melting his heart,
as he'd always managed to do to Adam, since being a baby.

Miss Jones had agreed to Joe re sitting the exams. Adam wondered if it
might have been because she was hoping it would give her the chance to
get closer to him, but he made sure he kept his distance.

During the last week of the holidays, Joe sat the exams, and this time
his grades were much better.

"I look forward to having you in my class, in September, Joseph," she
said, when she gave him the results. "This has proved to me, that if
you put the time and effort in, you can do very well. Let's hope that
you will continue to work as hard, even without Adam's involvement."

Joe wasn't that sure that he would, but decided this was not the time
to say so.

"I'll still be around, if he needs my help," said Adam.

And Joe was really pleased to hear this, as he'd missed his big
brother, very much, while Adam had been away at college.

THE END
Little Joe forever
Lynne
July 31st 2007

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