Laura Dayton-Cartwright finds something interesting in her husband's closet.
The Mask of Zorro
It was a normal day in late October, at the Running C Ranch. Will Cartwright was busy fixing fences around the ranch while Peggy was off at school. Laura, who had the whole house to herself decided to do some laundry.
After all the washing she had hung outside had dried she brought it inside. She went upstairs to her and Will's room. She opened the closet to put away Will's shirts when something shiney caught her eye.
Laura leaned over to pick up the item and it was an epee similar to the one that Will's cousin Little Joe had. Why on earth did her husband have an epee in the closet? She shrugged and finished putting his clothes away. Laura then continued on with her work occasionally thinking about the object she had found in the closet.
Several hours later after Peggy had gone to bed Laura and Will were sitting in the parlor playing a game of bridge. Laura decided it would be the perfect opportunity to ask her husband about the epee.
"Will darling when I was putting your clothes away earlier I found an epee in your closet. Where did it come from? Laura asked.
"Oh that. Joe's been giving me fencing lessons and he leant me the epee to practice with. I hope it didn't scare you when you found it." Will answered.
"Oh no of course not. I was just surprised to see it there. Good for you to take those kind of lessons from your cousin." Laura replied feeling kinda stupid for bringing up the topic.
Although the epee was the least of her concerns. Two days later Laura decided to go through her husband's closet again after he had left for the day. The night before he had brought in a carpet bag and placed it into the closet without saying anything to her.
Laura went into the bedroom and opened the closet door. The epee was still there but now there was something else. There was a man's outfit with a black shirt, pants, a cloak, and a mask. What on earth was this doing in his closet?
However, there was another outfit that hung right next to it. It was a dark blue Renaissance gown that had white lace and on the shelf above there was a red curly wig.
Laura's blue eyes widened. What on earth were these outfits for? They looked like something for the Shakespeare acting that Adam was into. Did Adam give Will the outfits because he wanted them to be in a play with him?
However, Laura did not ponder on that thought for too long because something else had crossed her mind. There were ladies in town who always gossiped that their husbands had them dress up in peculiar outfits in the bedroom and act out the most scandalous scenes. Was Will turning into one of those husband's? Maybe he was spending too much time with Little Joe. After all that younger cousin of his was a bit of a bad influence.
Laura tried to calm down and think rationally but wasn't sure where to start. She decided she would calmly talk to her husband when he got home.
Both Will and Peggy got home at the same time but Laura didn't get the chance to talk to Will because he had some things to do in his room but he would be down afterwards. Peggy also went to her room which left Laura alone with her thoughts for the time being.
About a half hour later Laura heard footsteps on the stairs. She turned and saw Will entering the parlor wearing the all black outfit with the cloak and the mask. The epee was strapped to his his left hip. In his right hand he had the blue dress and the wig.
"Hey darling what do you think of my costume. Pretty nice right. You try on your's". Will suggested.
It was at that moment that Laura started fuming.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU. I THOUGHT YOU WERE A GENTLEMAN AND NOW YOUR SUGGESTING WE DRESS UP JUST SO YOU CAN SATISFY YOUR IMMORAL DESIRES. IF YOU THINK I AM GOING TO DRESS UP IN THAT YOU ARE CRAZY!" Laura screamed as she ran out of the house and down the road.
Will just stood there wondering what he had done wrong. A moment later Peggy came down the stairs wearing a pink dress with a purple bonnet and was carrying an oversized purple cane.
"Papa Will where did mommy go. I thought she was coming with us to Uncle Ben's Halloween party?" Peggy asked confused by her mother's disappearance.
"I think she changed her mind honey. Any ways we better get going, it took a lot of convincing to get Adam, Hoss, and Joe to dress up as sheep and they might get mad if we don't show up." Will explained.
The younger girl shrugged. And with that Zorro and Little Bo Peep boarded the wagon and headed off to the Ponderosa without Queen Elizabeth.