Late Again:
"Ok, Jax whose turn is it?" Joe asked his twin sister Jacqueline, not that he would dare call her that. The last time he did he had a black eye for a week.
"Mine, I just hope Adam's here instead of Pa," Jax said quietly as they rode into the yard. Pa had promised to tan them if they were late again. Usually, Pa didn't break his promises. Plus she had Adam wrapped around her finger, most days.
Joe and Jax always took turns telling the story of why they're late coming home from school, who started a fight, or why they didn't do their chores. Anything one did wrong was promised to be covered by the other. That was the joy of being twins.
Just as they hoped Adam was there and not Pa. Ben had gone to town for supplies. Adam looked at his ten year old sister and brother as they walked across the yard slowly both hanging their heads. He couldn't believe they were late again. It was the third time this week alone. He didn't care what excuse they gave or who made the excuse, he was going to tan their hides the minute they walked in the door.
"So," Adam said crossing his arms. Jax and Joe squirmed looking at their older brother. Each trying to read his demeanor before Jax spoke.
"Well, Adam, we really didn't mean to be late. Just that's really hot and we decided to stop at the lake and take a quick swim. I promise we'll finish our chores and homework before supper," Jax said pleading with tears in her deep brown eyes. Unlike Joe, she had Ben's deep brown eyes instead of Marie's green ones.
"And you didn't think about coming here and asking first?" Adam inquired smirking.
"Um, it was on the way home. So we thought it would save time and we could get to our chores sooner," Jax said smiling sweetly tears still swimming around getting ready to escape.
"Joseph, why is Jacqueline doing all of the talking?" Adam said. He already knew the answer. The twins really never do anything without the other agreeing or thinking of the same idea. It just the matter of whose turn it was to take responsibility. Today that fell on Jax's shoulders.
"It was my idea," Jax answered quickly letting a few tears fall down her cheeks.
"So, she just dragged you along?" Adam asked with amusement instead of anger in his voice.
"No, but it sounded like a good idea." Joe answered his older brother not meeting Adam's gaze fearing he would smile, he knew already Jax had won and Adam wasn't going to tan them. The tone in Adam's voice told him that.
Adam sat on the front of the desk wondering what he wanted to do. Adam looked at the two of them without saying a word. Like Joe, he knew Jax had talked him out of punishing them yet again. So he sat their shaking his head in frustration. He promised himself that he wouldn't let her get to him and she did. Jax didn't give him a chance to change his mind by asking sweetly,
"Can we please go and do our chores? We want to finish before Pa gets home. Also we have a lot of homework this weekend."
"Go ahead, but don't think the discussion is over," Adam said, "by the way, I gave Hoss some extra chores you need to complete before supper. I would suggest you finish those too before Pa gets home. He's not going to be happy that you both were late again."
"Ok, thanks Adam," She said running out along with Joe.
Adam watched the two raced to the barn knowing they were working out a scheme to ensure Pa wouldn't punish them either for being late. He just shook his head thinking that girl could melt a heart of stone.
"That was too close. I think he would have tanned us if it was my turn," Joe said smiling.
"Well, he bought it. Now we just have to figure out a way to keep what happened today from both Pa and Adam," Jax said. Adam would kill her if he knew that everything that had just came out of her mouth was a lie.
"Funny, I never thought we would ever need to scheme our way back into school," Joe said.
"It's not funny Joe. Pa will have our hides if he finds out what happened."
"You have to admit we had a great day."
"Until, Billy's brother caught us. Do you think he'll say anything to Adam?" Jax asked, because Tim Martin was friends with Adam.
"Naw. He thinks Miss Jones' note will tell Pa everything and we wouldn't dare keep it a secret."
"I guess he doesn't know us very well," Jax said smiling.
Skipping School and other misdeeds.
"Jax, Joe, come on its time for school." Adam said. The twins were always running late for school. He swore at times they moved backwards instead of forward out the door. Pa was standing by their saddled horses.
Joe and Jax didn't want to spend the beautiful spring day inside a school house. So Joe asked smiling,
"Pa, can we please stay home and help Hoss."
"No. School is more important."
"But, Pa…" Jax's statement ended with a sharp smack on her backside before Ben set her on the horse. "Oww."
"The answer was no." Ben said.
"Yes sir," the twins said leaving the house both in a terrible mood.
Adam and Ben watched the two of them ride off towards school. Not knowing the trouble the two would find that day.
"I don't want to sit in class all day," Joe grumbled.
"So, let's not go," Jax said smiling. "We can catch up to Billy and see if he wants to miss too. He was mad at me yesterday and I kinda want to make it up to him."
"Ok. I want to ask Sam too."
The twins caught up with Billy and Sam. Both boys wanted to go. Jax was never left out because Joe insisted. Plus Jax had the ability to sweet talk most adults, which kept the group out of trouble when they were caught doing something wrong.
"So where are we going?" Sam asked.
"Old Man Henry's Ranch, he has that great rope swing that goes into the lake," Joe answered. "I heard Pa say he was in San Francisco this week. So nobody should be at his place."
The rope swing fun didn't last the entire day. That's when the trouble truly began. The children decided to turn their attention on Virginia City. Looking back both Joe and Jax wished they had never gone to Virginia City that day. They were pretty sure Sam and Billy felt the same way.
"So do we want to stop in town?" Joe asked with a mischievous gleam in his eye.
"Sure," Jax answered back.
"Are you two crazy?" Billy asked.
"Why not? Come on we could pull off some great pranks and no one would ever expect it was us," Joe said.
"Why Not?" Billy asked in disbelief, "If my Pa's finds out that I skipped school, he'll tan me for sure, so will yours and Sam's. That's why not."
"So we can't get caught," Jax said simply "Come on this would make the day more exciting. It might even become the greatest thing we ever get away with."
Jax said this with such confidence Billy didn't say another word about not wanting to go into town,
"So what pranks are you thinking Joe and how are we going to do it?" Sam asked.
"Don't know yet. Check your pockets," Joe said "I have some fireworks."
"I have a sling shot and some marbles." Jax said.
"I also have a sling shot, but you have all of my marbles," Billy said looking sourly at Jax.
Jax smiled and replied, "Well you should have won."
Sam saw that Billy was getting angry again about the marble match from the day before. So he said smiling "I don't have anything. I wasn't planning an attack on the town today."
"Don't worry we'll figure out something for you to do," Joe decided. "So where to begin?"
"We should use your fireworks near Sheriff Coffee's office. He'll go looking for the person who did it. I bet he'll even have his gun drawn," Jax decided. "We can use the roof of the Saloon to throw them. It should hide us when he comes out."
"Next, we should move the horses all around." Joe said. "I would love to see people's faces when they walk out of the saloon and their horse isn't there waiting for them."
Joe remembering the first time his sister helped him accomplished this trick
It stared one day by moving Adam's horse. Now in all fairness, Adam deserved it. The day before he had tanned Jax for swearing, saying "little girls shouldn't swear." Joe was so mad, he hated when Adam tanned him, but no one but Pa was allowed to touch his twin. Jax's anger needs no explanation. So they followed him to town, knowing he and Pa were stopping at the hotel for lunch. Joe took Adam's horse and moved it to the other side of town while Jax acted as their look out.
When Adam came out of the hotel he looked everywhere for his horse. Jax and Joe watched from their hiding spot, laughing as Adam started couldn't stay in town to long to watch it all play out, because Pa and Adam would return as soon as Adam found his beloved horse, plus they didn't tell Hoss where they were going. Thankfully, Hoss didn't tell on them for leaving the ranch, if he had it defiantly would have ruined the trick.
It took Adam almost an hour to find the horse. He had even stopped at Sheriff Coffee's office thinking that his horse had been stolen before he found never found out that it was them and they didn't say a word as he ranted about it for the next two days. Saying if he ever caught the kids who did it, he would wring their necks.
Joe smiled remembering the joke. His thoughts were interrupted by his sister's orders.
"Sam, you and Joe can move the horses. I'll cover you from behind with my sling shot. Every time someone comes out of shop or the saloon Billy or I will shoot a marble above their heads," Jax said.
She looked at Billy and said with a mischievous grin, "I guess you'll have to use rocks not marble since you don't have any." At the same time she handed him ten of her smallest marbles, making Billy laugh.
Joe shook his head thinking that at times, Jax was the worst sport ever. Hoss and Adam would disagree. Both felt the Joe was the bad sport, because last week he knocked the checker board off the table "by accident" when Hoss was about to win.
The first prank was great. Sheriff Coffee was sitting in his chair with his legs propped on his desk, when Joe lit the fireworks and threw them outside of his office. The Sheriff came out yelling with his gun drawn. He looked at the firework wrappers on the ground.
"Damn kids," the Sheriff said as he picking up the wrapper on the ground and walked back into the office. He decided to bide his time, the culprits would show themselves soon enough. He had an idea just who it was or more accurately who they were.
Joe, Jax, Billy, and Sam were laughing so hard that they could barely breathe. So, they moved onto their next prank. Jax stayed on the saloon; making Billy move to the top of the hotel both were ready to attack anyone who came out while Joe and Sam completed their task of moving the horses around. They were almost finished, when everything went terribly wrong.
Mrs. Carter walked out of the store with her hands heavy with bundles. They all agreed that the marble were only to be used as a distraction and no one should be hurt. Unfortunately, Jax shot too high trying not to hit Mrs. Carter and but the marble hit the sign, bounced back hitting the poor lady's the arm. Mrs. Carter dropped her bundles and cried out.
Bad luck had Tim, Billy's brother coming out of the Saloon at the same time. He ran across the street to help her. He realized she was ok and looked around for what hit her. There it was gleaming in the sunlight.
He picked up the marble and realization crossed his face. Jax swore under her breath. That was one of the marbles she'd won yesterday.
Tim examined the marble and knew that it belonged to his little brother. Billy always marked his marbles with an x inside a circle. Tim looked around and yelled,
"William James Martin, come here right now and don't even think about making me look for you!"
Billy looked stricken knowing he was caught and what to expect when he got home. Billy got off the building and walked slowly to his brother. Tim grabbed his arm and shook his brother.
"Who's with you?" Tim asked looking around knowing his brother wasn't brave enough to do this on his own. Plus there was no way the marble would have hit Mrs. Carter from where it was.
Billy looked like he wasn't going to say a word, until Tim starting taking off his belt. Billy's nerve ended right there.
"Please, Tim," he pleaded.
"Tell me who is with you, now and I'll let Pa punish you. If not I will tan you here in the street plus I'll tell Pa you disobeyed me."
Jax knew Billy was going to crack, so she stood up and said.
"It was my idea."
"I should have known. Where's your brother?"
"Right here," Joe said miserably.
"Sam?" Tim asked.
Sam walked out of his hiding spot. The three remaining children walked over to Tim as if he was their executioner.
"What are you going to do?" Billy asked.
"Depends, first you will move all of the horses back to their original spots. What else did you do?" Tim demanded.
"We set off fireworks outside Sheriff Coffee's office," Jax said with tears in her eyes. "He already cleaned it up, so do you have to tell him?" Jax knew the Sheriff would take them straight home, giving them no time to figure a way out of this mess.
Tim couldn't stand seeing the little girl cry and realized how happy he was that Billy wasn't a girl. Adam always said it was harder to punish Jax than it was to punish Joe. It was something about her being so small, cute, and venerable. Tim saw it now, for a second he almost let the group off with a warning, but at the same time Billy tried again to escape Tim's iron grip. One look at his brother cleared his mind of letting them off with a warning.
"When you're finished, I'll take the four of you to Miss Jones and let her deal with you. I also expect you to tell her about the pranks you played in town. To make sure I'll be standing right there. Any lies, will be detrimental to each of your backsides," Tim said angrily.
Jax hugged Tim saying teary thanks about Sheriff Coffee. He hugged the little girl back feeling bad once again that she was going to get in trouble.
Tim marched the four children into the packed school house and the whispering began. Earlier in the day Miss Jones asked if anyone knew where Joe, Jax, Sam, and Billy were. Miss Jones knew they were skipping and planned on punishing them on Monday with a note home plus she would keep them after school for a week.
"Well, Mr. Martin. I see you found my missing students," Miss Jones said.
"They have quite a story to tell," Tim said.
Miss Jones looked at her pocket watch and decided to let the rest of the children out a few minutes early, so she could speak privately with her truant students and their jailor.
"So who would like to begin?" Miss Jones asked with her arms crossed.
The three boys looked at Jax urging her to talk.
"Ok, well it started off with us just going to the lake for a swim," Jax started. Miss Jones cut her off.
"Actually it began when you decided not to come to school, Miss Cartwright."
"Yes, ma'm. Well we went to Old Man Henry's Ranch. He has that great rope swing for the lake. That lasted for a while, but we got bored. So we decided to go to town and play a few pranks. During one of them, Tim caught us and brought us to you," Jax finished remorsefully and added tears for affect.
"Thank you, Mr. Martin. You may take William home. He needs to write a three page essay this weekend on the importance of coming to school plus a two page essay on why we shouldn't play pranks on our neighbors. All of the children will be completing this assignment as part of their punishment. He will also spend the next week with me after school to ensure he learns the lessons he missed today. I am sure if he needs further punishment, you or your father will see to it."
"Thank you, Miss Jones," Tim said taking Billy by the arm. "Let's go little brother. I'm sure Pa wants to know what you were up to today." Billy looked back at his friends miserably.
"The rest of you need to sit down and wait while I write your families. I would like this note signed and brought back on Monday so I know that your parents received the letter," She said looking at Jax and Joe and added, "Joseph and Jacqueline I expect you to have Adam or your Pa sign this, not Hoss. You will also do the assignments I gave William and will spend an hour after school everyday next week," Miss Jones said handing them the note. The three students walked out of the school house with their heads hung. Joe and Jax wished Sam luck and he returned the wish.
"So what are we going to do?" Jax asked.
"I don't want to tell Pa. He promised to tan us good if he found out we skipped school again. He'll be even angrier about the pranks. I don't think we'll be able to sit down for at a week or longer," Joe said honestly.
"That's not helpful Joe," Jax said sourly.
"I know, we just need time to figure a way out of this," Joe said.
"Well we have all weekend to think about it. By the way we're going to be late again. Swimming excuse?" Jax said.
The Plan:
Joe and Jax loved making plans on how to survive their latest misdeeds. Miss Jones already crushed one of those plans, by not allowing Hoss to sign the letter.
"Ok, we could try and sign it for Pa," Jax said.
"Remember, we tried that last time. Miss Jones figured it out and brought us home," Joe reminded her.
"Oh yeah, I forgot." Jax said.
"I didn't. It was my turn to confess, so Pa thought it was my idea."
"He tanned me too," Jax reminded him.
"Next idea," Joe said not wanting to argue.
"Put it in his papers and maybe he'll sign it by accident," Jax suggested.
"Too risky, unless we have help" Joe answered.
"Well, you come up with an idea, since you don't want to do any of mine," Jax snapped.
"Let's go to the cave for a few days. He'll be too excited about finding us that he won't care about the letter." Joe said.
"Hate to remind you brother, using the same trick twice usually doesn't work," Jax said. "Sure he didn't tan us that time"
"I can't remember, what we did we do that time?" Jax asked.
"The cow," Joe said smiling.
"Oh, yeah," Jax said smiling back. "But even if we find a new spot, he would know why we ran away and wouldn't accept that we were too afraid to tell him."
Hoss walked in seeing his two younger siblings huddled together, he knew they were up to something. So he slammed the barn door, making them both jump.
"Gosh Hoss, don't scare us like that," Jax said holding her heart.
"So what are you to planning now?" Hoss asked.
"Why would you ask that?" Jax asked looking completely innocent. Hoss took one look at her and said simply
"That looks means I am on the right track. I swear you two spend more time needing to stand up at supper than you do sitting down comfortably." Hoss shook his head adding, "I wouldn't have dared do a quarter of what you two do and I didn't have an adult Adam to contend with."
"Why do you think we're up to something?" Joe asked.
"Well you're sitting here in the barn looking like you're planning on going into battle," Hoss said smiling. "I swear you two can attract trouble from a mile away."
"So are you going to tell me what's going on or don't I want ta know?" Hoss said. Hoss watched as the twins as they looked at one another. Their heads were nodding between yes and no, the invisible language of Joe and Jax at work. "Ok, I'll let you be." Hoss said heading for the door.
"Hoss," Jax's voice finally called out.
"Yeah, pumpkin," Hoss said.
"We're in huge trouble," Jax said and told him the entire story. "What should we do?"
"Own up to it and take the punishment," Hoss said simply.
"That's not going to happen," Joe said indignantly. Jax nodded agreeing with Joe's statement.
"How many times do schemes actually work?" Hoss asked hoping to talk the two out of more trouble.
"About 3 times out of 5 when we are talking about this amount of trouble," Jax said smiling. "So we do ok."
"Let me put it another way. How many of your schemes have worked since Adam came home?"
"Four out of ten, on any type of trouble" Joe added miserably.
"Better that I thought," Hoss said laughing.
"This could push of us back to the winning side of the table, if just someone would help us," Jax answered smiling sweetly. Looking at Hoss.
"No way. I'm not helping you two out of trouble again. I learned my lesson not to the hard way," Hoss said. Last year he covered for them for fighting at school. Pa's punishment was one he would never forget.
"Awe, come on Hoss," Joe said.
"Nope," Hoss said and started walking away.
"But Hoss," Jax said running in front of Hoss tears running down her face.
"Dadburnit, Jax don't look at me like that," Hoss said. She stayed there crying and looking pitiful. Hoss finally broke down, like Jax expected. "Ok what do you need me to do?"
The twins smiled knowing how the plan was going to work. First, Hoss would ask Pa to sign some papers about the cattle they were selling next week and he would slip the note in between some of the papers. Jax and Joe would keep Pa occupied by yelling at one another over a chess game. Not enough to get punished, but enough to distract Pa. They all decided to wait until Sunday, so they could enjoy the weekend. Hoss was worried, but also knew that the plans that included him rarely failed.
"If this works, how are you guys going to come home late every day?"Hoss asked.
"We're going to ask Pa if we can stop by the lake every afternoon, to cool off before starting our chores," Joe said smiling. "He knows how hot that school room can get."
The Truth Be Told:
Supper was quieter than usual. Jax and Joe were worried that Pa was mad about them being late and they hoped he would let them go swimming every day next week ,negating the need to come up an excuse everyday for being late. They were also hoping that Hoss wasn't going to back out of the deal.
What the twins and Hoss didn't know was Pa already knew about their misdeeds in town. Sheriff Coffee heard Tim's exchange with the children, so he decided to let Ben know when he'd seen him in town. Sheriff Coffee had seen the twins work their magic before and he wanted to make sure Ben knew exactly what his children had been up to. As he finished his supper, Ben wondered if his two youngest were going to tell the truth or lie about what happened today.
Adam knew why the twins and Pa were quiet. He didn't know about Hoss though. Ben came home from town fuming asking where Joe and Jax were. Adam listened as Ben told him about the twin's adventure, Ben's anger boiling over when Adam told him Jax's blatant lie about why they were late. Adam thought the twins were lucky that Ben didn't punish his children when he was angry. He also decided that he was going to have his own talk with Jax and Joe soon.
After supper Pa sat behind his desk, Adam was in the blue chair, and Hoss was sitting by the fire. The twins were playing chess, not liking the silence or Pa's mood. At least he hadn't said anything about their being late again. So they tried to sneak upstairs thinking they would ask about swimming the next day, not wanting to press their luck. They almost made it to the stairs when they were stopped by Ben's quite,
"Do you two have anything to say for yourselves?"
"Pa?" Jax asked confused looking at her father.
"You have one opportunity to tell me the truth," Ben said.
"Pa?" Joe asked also confused.
"Joseph and Jacqueline let me put it this way. How was school today?"
The twins looked at Hoss in shock. They couldn't believe he told, but the horrified look on Hoss's faced confirmed he didn't know what was going on. Adam didn't miss the look between twins and Hoss. Jax looked at Joe. He knew it was his turn.
"Also remember my rule about lying," Ben said in his quiet voice. Making the twins squirm. Yelling was always better; usually they would come out unscathed. With the quiet voice the chances were not as good.
"Well, Pa. It started this morning…." Joe told the whole story, leaving out the part about Hoss and their plan to elude punishment. They might need to use it again.
"Joseph, Jacqueline, go up to your rooms and get ready for bed. I will be up directly to discuss your behavior. Wait for me in Joe's room," Ben said.
Both children ran up the stairs without saying a word.
A few minutes later as Ben started up the stairs, he looked back at Adam and asked,
"Whose turn is it?" Ben said keeping with the twin's secret agreement of taking turns.
"Jax," Adam said simply. "Do you want to join me outside brother?"
"Sure Adam." Hoss said walking quickly as he heard Jax and Joe's pleads saying they could explain and how sorry they were. That stopped with two smacks and an "ow" from each of them. Pa started yelling about their lies and schemes. Asking how they thought they would get away with this? Hoss had no doubt what was coming next.
The Wisdom of Marie:
Once Adam and Hoss were out of hearing the punishment inflicted on their younger brother and sister, Adam looked at his other younger brother.
"Dodged a bullet there, brother," Adam said smirking.
"Wathca ya mean, Adam?" Hoss said.
"I saw the twins look at you to see if it was you that told," Adam said.
"Oh that," Hoss said blushing.
"They almost brought you into another one of their schemes." Adam said shaking his head.
"Dadburnit Adam, it's Jax, she begged and I just couldn't say no," Hoss said.
"Hoss, those two are going to run you ragged if you let them. I know it's hard to say no. That's why I couldn't punish them this afternoon," Adam said adding, "I'll tell you this if Marie was alive she would never let Jax get away with so much. I remember when they were about three, Marie told Jax to come inside because it was starting to rain Jax told her "no" sitting back down in the mud continuing to play. Pa walked out there and brought her in without saying or doing anything about her misbehavior. Marie walked over to her little baby girl and gave her one heck of a spanking. Pa was so surprised. You know Marie rarely tanned any of us."
"Yeah, the only time she tanned me was when she found me at the lake. Pa was away and she told me to stay the yard. When she found me she already spent an hour looking. The twins were barely a year old at that time, so she didn't like being away from them that long. She took me by the ear, brining me home, and used her hairbrush on my backside," Hoss said rubbing the spot remembering.
"I remember that. She did it in the middle of the living room. I actually felt sorry for you," Adam said remembering. "When Pa asked about Jax later that night, Marie informed him that the men in the family would let Jacqueline get away with more because she was a girl. She said there was no way she would let us turn Jax into a spoiled brat who got away with everything she did. Marie was right. All of us let Jax talk us into doing things, that we would never let Little Joe talk us into."
"I never thought of it that way. You're right though. When Little Joe asked me to help I said no, but the minute Jax asked, I changed my mind." Hoss said.
Ben walked out to his sons not wanting to hear his two youngest cry themselves to sleep from the well deserved tanning he'd just given them.
"What are you two talking about?" He asked.
"The difference between how we punish Jax and Joe," Adam said simply.
"What do you mean?" Ben asked.
"Well when they came home late, if it had been Little Joe's turn to take responsibility, I probably would have tanned them. But it was Jax's turn and I just couldn't do it. Her eyes were pleading with tears the entire time." Adam responded
"It's always hard to punish them especially when it's Jax's turn to take responsibility for one of their schemes. Luckily I know Jax and Little Joe usually scheme together on everything. Even though it feels wrong to hold her to the same standards as I do with you boys, I do and always will."
"Why?" Hoss said.
"Marie's voice, tells me I have too every time. "Joe and Jax are twins and deserved the same treatment be it spanking or hugs." She always said. Marie had known all along that Jax was going to be a handful and worried that we if wouldn't stop her, Jax would turn out spoiled with no sense of consequences for bad behavior, " Ben said smiled. "I know we tend to forgive small infractions when Jax confesses, but when they truly do wrong both receive the same punishment no matter who confesses. I think we've all done Marie proud."