Josef Byron Sully
Disclaimer I do not own the characters from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. The rights to those characters and to the show belong to the creators of the show, to CBS, The Sullivan Company and to A&E.
Josef Byron Sully was a mouthful of a name, young Josef pondered as he sat high in the old oak tree looking at the homestead. Of cause there were ways he could shorten it for instance Joe shortened from the Josef after his Grandfather who had died before he was even a twinkle in his Pa's eye or so he was told. It was a nice name but he wasn't too sure at this moment if he wanted Joe or Josef. Ma had said that Josef was distinguished if he wanted to be a doctor like Grandpa or simply Joe if he wanted to be a ranch hand. Then of cause he could just be called Sully like his Pa. After all, Byron and Sully were Pa's name. He agreed with Pa that Byron was just a bit too posh for a boy growing up under the shadow of Pikes Peak on the Western Frontier.
He loved the homestead and he knew his Pa had built it for their Ma when they were courting. Katie, his sister, had been the first born. Although, he did have older brothers and sister as well: Matthew, Brian and of cause Colleen. They were great but they lived in their own homes now. Actually, they were already nearly grown up even before he was born. He had only vague memories of them then.
Now ten, he had been to school since he was five. His Ma said he was bright and he was proud of this fact. Pa said he was thrilled he had another book-learning person in the family. Brian had kept all the gazettes since Miss Dorothy had been printing them, and so he had learnt a lot from reading the old papers. It was like a complete history lesson on the family or even still like piecing together the events like a jigsaw puzzle. Filling in the picture on what had happened before he was born and now reading all the articles Josef discovered that a lot had happened.
When he'd found out that Pa had been the Indian Agent he had asked him about this. His Pa had looked really sad and said it was a time after Custer had destroyed the village of Chief Black Kettle on the Washita River before they were born. Pa and Ma had sat them all down and told them the story once, after Pa's brother Cloud Dancing had gone back to the Northern Cheyenne reservation. It had been a really sad, sad story and Ma had begun to cry but Pa had held onto her really tight. You could see the tears in Pa's eyes as well and he had to stop talking sometimes when he would choke. Josef could tell it was hard for his Pa as well because the memories looked still painful. He had been sorry he'd asked but they had said he needed to know. Katie had already heard some as she spent time out with Pa in the wilderness when he was surveying. But she said, before they were getting ready for bed, that she hadn't heard the whole story till now. She had added they were lucky having their Cheyenne Father Cloud Dancing and Josef had agreed.
So many things were still as a big mystery to the boy, like in a big jigsaw puzzle with so many pieces still missing to be found. He was certain he and Katie would learn more as they grew older, for instance about the time his Pa was in hiding from the army. There had been a lot written about the Indian uprising at the Palmer Creek Reservation and about Pa being wanted dead or alive. Josef he shuddered at the thought of not growing up with his Pa. He did look like Pa but he wasn't at all like him. He wasn't keen on the outdoors like Katie but he loved him with all his heart. Pa was always patient with him even though he just couldn't split wood or stalk a deer nor could he build a fire that would burn. Pa said, "Never mind Josef, I know someone else who couldn't once either." Then he laughed. Josef did wonder who that could have been.
One publicized paper said his Ma had run for Mayor. He knew though that Lucas Slicker's Pa was still the Mayor and it had been years since he had been elected. Lucas was not all that smart and yelled or used his fists if you so much as disagreed with his ideas or views. You could see that he'd learned that from his Pa: sometimes when he and Lucas' ma couldn't agree on some issues, Mr Slicker just yelled at her. His own ma was different; she was strong. She never backed away using words to get her point across. That was really great and she would remind him that you didn't need to use your fists. Words could be powerful as well, and using them wisely was the important thing as they could be a weapon and hurt deep as well.
There was a lot about the council in the papers how they made decisions on the things the town of Colorado Springs needed. It seemed that a Mr Lodge had tried to become the Mayor, and Josef read that his Ma ended up in jail when Katie was still very small. An old yellowing copy of the Denver post had her picture drawn holding Katie as a baby.
This Mr Lodge wasn't in Colorado Springs anymore, and nobody seemed to want to talk about him. There was a tornado that nearly demolished the Chateau on the day of its grandiose opening. It had been on Thanksgiving the year Katie was born. Mr Lodge had a big advertisement in the Gazette.
One funny thing was that Ma had won a horse race. Yep, that's right: a horse race. Josef didn't like horses that much and Pa had patted him on the back and said that was fine so long as he could ride from A to B and take care of it. Pa told him he'd only learnt to ride after Ma had arrived. He'd laughed saying, "It took up too much time away from your Ma when I had to walk or run everywhere." He'd winked at Ma then. Ma told him how her boys, meaning Pa, Matthew and Brian, had helped her look and walk like a man so she could enter the race as women were not allowed to ride in this competition. Laughing he could imagine her doing just that. Ma wasn't afraid of doing things. Especially if she was told she couldn't, she was kinda stubborn, but so was Pa. Josef chuckled at these thoughts.
Josef had discovered he was really good at reading and all that science stuff as Katie had called it. Colleen had given him an old microscope she had been given when she was just a little older than him. She had shown him all sorts of things on the slides. Even the creek water had amoeba floating in it. Colleen explained to him that they had only one cell to live and divided to make more. Blood, well that was even more interesting. It was made up of all sorts of things floating on the sea of red. Josef had discovered many interesting thing in that microscopic world: insects, leaves, fur and anything else he could find. Everything ended up being magnified. The real creepy crawlies that Katie found out doors sometimes found themselves dissected by Josef and under the microscope. Katie always used to say, "Eww, how gross." He, however, was not at all worried by the whole creepy crawlies animals outdoors. She wasn't afraid of them but these small things she thought disgusting.
Well, his sister liked being out under the stars but he liked being inside discovering the world of science. He was truly his mother's son as she would tell people who came into the clinic and find him at the desk peering into the brass eye piece. He would clean the slides and put things away cleaned as Ma had instructed him years before. He had several small journals of notes on his findings. These you could tell had been collected over a number of years as the corners of the dog-eared pages testified to the continual use. When Colleen was here she would sit with him and ask what he had discovered since her last visit. He had to be careful to place everything back in the wooden box Pa had made afterwards so that his young niece and nephew didn't play with it.
Josef liked to read as well and had discovered an old dog-eared book by Shakespeare called "Romeo and Juliette". Ma and Pa had laughed saying they had had a play on it for one Valentine's Day. Pa had informed him that it was held on the day he had ridden back from an Indian conference just to give Ma her engagement ring. Josef had also found a book by Jules Vern on a story about men flying to the moon. Ma had said it was Brian's book. Of cause there was still the library with his grandpa's name on it. Some books actually looked scorched as if they had been in a fire. Ma said they had and that had been a time when the town was afraid of what they didn't understand or know. She had added that thank goodness things had changed a lot since then.
Mr Bray was old now but he was like their grandfather. He would still grouch at him if he tried getting the candy on his own mumbling that it was like having Brian in the store all over again. He would sit on a chair snapping orders at the young man he employed to assist with the running of the store these days. The reverend also live there with Mr Bray. They were certainly an odd couple. They used to walk to Grace's for the meatloaf and apple pie special each evening. Josef didn't know who lead whom as the Reverend was blind and Mr Bray bent over with age.
Josef often sat with his Pa trying to whittle the animals like he did. Josef just didn't have that skill but his Pa was fine with that, saying that he gave it a try and his best effort. Pa said he was much better at his learning using his brain like Ma rather than using his hands. This was so true; he did learn more with reading and doing than with his hands. He was happy as Pa never made any fuss when he would accidentally swipe the ear off the deer that he was trying to carve with the sharp whittling knife. There on the mantle along with Pa's and Brian's carvings was his as well: the horse that didn't stand straight as one leg was shorter. "He's just lame," Pa said. Or the buck that was missing an antler. "Just has been in a fight and lost it," Ma reassured him. Yes, he wasn't much good at that but he would keep trying as it was time he spent with Pa. He didn't go out with Katie and Pa; that just wasn't his thing. No, his was being in the Clinic helping his Ma, the only doctor here in Colorado Springs.
Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter were incredibly interesting times as the whole family would gather on most occasions. Once they had been to Boston but Ma's sisters didn't come here except Aunt Rebecca. Grandma Quinn had died just before he was born so he didn't know her but had visited the big posh house that Ma had grown up in. It was massive and he had once walked into the wrong bedroom trying to find his behind all those closed doors.
They had also been to New York were Pa's ship had arrived when he was only a baby. They had been to the cemetery and seen the plots were his Ma, Pa and brother had been buried. They did not have fancy headstones like Ma's family. They had all assisted Pa building picket fences around the plots, and Pa had carved crosses and their names as well just to mark them as he had said he was only ten when he left New York and hadn't been back since. The journey was just too painful but that now was the time to put to rest the ghosts of the past and give his children an idea where they came from. Josef painted the fence white. Ma embarrassed him by tying an apron over his good clothes so he didn't soil them with the paint.
Sitting here in the tree Josef realized his Pa had been just as old as he was when he'd lost his entire family. He couldn't even imagine what it would be like losing all the people he loved. His Pa was truly brave to have survived and journeyed all the way out here.
Weeks later Josef knew of his roots. His Ma's family was rich but not beyond being rich and they were Quinn's from Ireland, a strong proud family. Pa's was poor and he came from England but he was a survivor. Josef sighed contentedly. Yes, he was proud of whom his family were. Added to that he had friends whose parents had been slaves and he had a Cheyenne Indian Medicine Man as a father as well.
Now as he sat high in the tree wondering about his name he thought if he just simply became a ranch hand named Joe. That wasn't such a bad idea. But if he became a doctor like his Ma and Colleen or even someone like Matthew a lawyer or Brian, the editor of the Boston Globe, he could easily revert to Josef, much more sophisticated than just Joe. He knew Pa didn't mind if he didn't simply use Sully as he had all those years.
Pa had said many times, "I just want ya' to be comfortable with who ya' are, lad. Just be ya' self always." He used to always place his arm around him and give it a squeeze, making him feel special.
So for the moment he would simply remain Joe and change when and if necessary. Of cause Ma would still use his entire name Josef Byron Sully when he was caught out doing something he wasn't supposed to be up to he decided grinning as he climbed down from his hidey space and scooted off home for supper.
Minutes before Ma had been on the porch calling, "Josef Byron Sully, you get in here for supper." He laughed at this. As Pa had snuck out and was kissing her ear saying, "Michaela leave the lad alone, he'll come when he smells ya' cooking." Ma had just giggled and swatted at him. Josef loved watching them when they thought nobody was looking.
He knew he was lucky to belong to this family wether he was Joe, Josef or plain Sully.
The end.