Chapter 1

Hop Sing had gone into town to spend the weekend with his second cousin who just happened to run a fan-tan game in the back of his herbal shop. The front door of the house was unlocked and the lights were on inside; a cool spring evening was falling and the front window was open so Ben knew that Adam was home. Ben walked in and the fire was going and Adam was sitting, reading.

Adam turned his head at the sound of the door and then returned to his book. Ben untied the thigh strap on his holster and took off his gun belt, rolled it up and placed it on the credenza beside Adam's. He hung his hat on the hat racket along with his jacket.

Well," Adam said, not looking up, "did you enjoy your lunch?"

"Yes, very much as a matter of fact." Ben sat down in his favorite chair and reached for his pipe. He needed a smoke after his afternoon out at the box social. "What did you have for lunch since you left; there were other lunches available, you know?"

"I know" Adam replied, still not looking up. "I had cold biscuits and ham left over from breakfast-and a mouthful of ashes."

Ben smiled, lit his pipe and began gently puffing. "I suppose that you're angry?"

"No." Adam made no effort to elaborate.

"You knew whose box lunch it was, didn't you?"

"I knew."

"Well, I didn't. I just bid against you for the fun of it. You know everyone does that. It's to push up the bid-you know it's all for charity."

Adam said nothing but had to admit to himself that it was true. Just two years ago, he had outbid Joe for Amy Wright's boxed lunch and Joe had skulked around the picnic grounds watching them. Adam had no romantic interest in Amy Wright, he just was having a bit of fun because sixteen year old Joe had been walking around like a love-struck calf over the older Amy for weeks. But Joe didn't think it was amusing to be outbid, no matter how much Hoss and Joe's friends joshed him afterwards and the night of the box-lunch picnic, once they were all home, Joe took a swing at Adam which Adam deftly side-stepped, grinning as Hoss held Joe back. Joe spewed his anger and frustration but Adam told Joe that he shouldn't be angry-it was all for charity, after all, but Adam knew that it was only partly true; he just wanted to have a little fun with Joe and Joe was so easy to rile. And now Adam was in the position in which Joe had been a time ago and he didn't like it.

Box socials were a common way to raise money for charities and this box social was raising money for the school the church was building on the Paiute reservation; they needed the money for a permanent structure, and also hoped to convert some of "our red brethren," as the minister put it, "to the knowledge of God's love for them." Adam had turned to his father in church where the social was announced for the next Saturday, and stated that they could start by showing "their red brethren," a bit of "their white brethren's love."

There was no better or easier way for the church to earn money than through a box-lunch social. Although men may begrudge giving up their hard-earned money to the plate passed during services, when it came to buying not only a meal but the company of a pretty girl or woman for an afternoon, many of them would part with the usual bid of $1.50-$2.50. And with some good-natured competition, the price of a box lunch could go up to five-maybe even ten dollars if the girl was particularly pretty and the men knew she came with the basket. Even though the owner of the box lunch was supposed to be anonymous, most young men asked the girl they were courting or interested in, for some clue. The girl, if she wanted to spend the afternoon sitting under a tree with a certain man, would either tell him what the menu would be or draw a certain decoration on the box-a flower or curlicues, her initials-anything that would identify the box as hers. But there were also anonymous boxed-lunches and despite a few bad choices, Ben Cartwright always liked to bid on those; it was the element of chance that he liked.

So in the early afternoon, the four Cartwrights, all smartly dressed, rode up to the schoolhouse where two long tables had been set out front. On the tables were basket after basket, some with ribbons of specific colors braided on the handle as a signal to a certain beau. The picnic grounds were basically behind the schoolhouse and stretched all the way to the small lake and its environs. There were a few picnic tables set out on the grounds but most baskets contained, along with the food, a blanket to spread under some shady tree.

Carriages and horses were lined up and since this was a social just for single men and women, there were no children unless a young widow had a basket up for bid or a young widower was taking a chance on meeting someone to be a mother and wife. The young girls, all in brightly colored springtime dresses and beribboned hats, giggled with each other and some nodded to and smiled at the young men waiting for their goods to come up for bidding.

Once the bidding began, after a short speech from the pastor about the need to school Paiute children and show them the love of God, the joking began. George Andrews bid $2.50 on Macy Green's box lunch, and another man, Rusty Taylor, bid $3.00 on it. George upped his bid to $4.00 and told Rusty that if he didn't keep quiet and let him win Macy's box lunch, why he'd go hunt up a whole ant hill and dump it on their picnic and then he'd see how much Rusty enjoyed it! Everyone laughed and Rusty good-naturedly made a mock bow and let George have it but the bid had been raised a dollar fifty which had been the whole purpose. But before he gave up completely, Rusty said that he hoped that George had bid on the correct box lunch and not some old, dried-up wrinkled widow just like those raisins in that pie that was in the lunch. Maybe, Rusty added, she was looking for a young husband to warm her bed-and her feet at night. The minister tsk-tsked at such ribald humor but the gathered group laughed as such a thing had often happened before. Through the years, mistakes had been made and a man had bid and won the wrong female's box lunch.

Joe quickly bid high and won the box-lunch with Jennie Mae Morris and the two of them smiled at one another. Soon enough they would be leaving for the picnic grounds, Joe grinning and Jennie Mae proudly taking his arm. Bids for other baskets continued and Adam waited nervously; he was readying himself to bid for Mrs. Eloise Logan's boxed lunch.