Hop Sing rummaged through a drawer and then scanned the kitchen for his best knife. He mumbled something in Chinese before padding out the side door. It did not take long to find his knife, and Little Joe, who was holding his hand while tearfully watching drops of blood fall to the ground.
Hop Sing examined the boy's hand and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. Pressing it into Joe's small palm, the Chinaman scolded, "Little Joe you no take Hop Sing's knife! You vewy bad boy! Only six years old. Look what happen! You lucky this time. Could cut finger off hand!"
Joe's eyes grew wide as he pondered what his hand might look like missing a finger or two.
Hop Sing held the knife carefully in one hand and urged the boy with the other toward the kitchen door. "Come. I get you cleaned up."
From the living room, Ben and his two older sons could hear the cook in the kitchen flip-flopping back and forth between English and Chinese with the occasional "Little Joe" inserted into the mix. Ben scowled at his youngest son when he saw what the problem was.
Quickly discerning that the situation was far from dire, Ben relieved Hop Sing from his task. "Here, Hop Sing, I can take care of Little Joe. I'm sure that you have better things to do." Ben glared at his young son. Adam and Hoss joined the others in the kitchen and watched as their father began bandaging Joe's hand. "So, young man, would you like to explain how this happened?"
Joe winced both from the cut on his hand and his father's booming voice. "I - I cut it on a knife."
Ben's dark eyes bore into Joe. "And just where did you get this knife?"
Joe looked away from his father burning eyes and focused on a knot on a floor board. "Here - in the kitchen."
"And did you ask Hop Sing if you could use his knife?"
"I forgot - 'cause he wasn't here when I needed it - to cut some rope - to make a halter for the new colt - you know that pretty one?" Joe looked up at his father, his eyes growing brighter with each statement. "Ain't he a beauty, Pa? I'm gonna break him and ride him just as soon..."
Adam sighed and wondered when Joe was ever going to learn that he could not pull this stuff on their Pa.
Hoss was almost in tears. He could not understand why Joe did not fess up to his wrongs knowing that he was just making things worse.
Ben waved his hands for his son to stop. "That will be quite enough, Joseph. So you just happened to forget to ask to use a kitchen knife and not just that but to use it for a purpose that it was not intended! And just how many times have you been told not to take things that don't belong to you without asking first? Tell me, Joseph, have you not heard these words before?" Ben's brows were knit together in frustration and the young boy jumped when his father bellowed.
Joe dropped his head again and mumbled, "Yes, sir."
"Yes sir, what?"
"Yes, I've heard you say it."
"Joseph, a man who doesn't tell the truth can never be trusted with things great or small. You may be only six years old, but you are old enough to have seen me give more responsibilities to Adam and Hoss and to know that only happens by earning trust. Do you understand the importance of earning trust?"
"Yes, Pa."
"I certainly hope so. Now, I'm going to ask once more, did you take the knife on purpose, without asking, knowing full well that you weren't supposed to have it in the first place?"
Joe hung his head. "Yes, Pa - sorry, Pa."
"All right, but I believe there is someone else who deserves an apology."
Joe took a furtive glance at the cook. "Sorry, Hop Sing."
The Hop Sing nodded in acceptance, but then shook his head as he walked away.
After he finished with the bandage, Ben placed his hands on Joe's shoulders and bent down to look at him squarely in the face. "Now, just so you understand exactly what I've said, once your hand is sufficiently healed, you will do chores for Hop Sing for five days, a minimum of one hour each day. Maybe that will help you not to forget the importance of being truthful and not take things that don't belong to you. Understood?"
"Yes, Pa."
Ben released his youngest son and backed up a bit from the chair where he was sitting. "It's only an hour until supper; so go on up to your room until I call you down."
Joe stood up and started walking toward the dining room. "But Pa isn't helping…"
"No buts, Joseph. March!" Ben pointed at the doorway.
"Yes, Pa."
Adam and Hoss watched as Little Joe trudged laboriously out of the kitchen with his chin pressed to his chest. The two older sons were a little surprised that Joe's punishment had not included a "necessary talk" in the barn. Hoss figured that his Pa had at least some compassion since Joe's hand was already hurting.
Joe was more quiet than usual at the dinner table that evening and just pushed his food around on his plate. After being told several times by his father to sit up and eat his food, the tears began to stream down the small boy's face. Ben paused mid bite and scowled. Adam rolled his eyes while Hoss momentarily shook his head before continuing to shovel food into his mouth.
Ben set down his fork and pushed back his chair. "Joseph, come here, please." When his youngest failed to comply, Ben reiterated his statement and added, "Please don't make me tell you again."
Refusing to meet his father's eyes, Little Joe hopped down from his chair and moved toward the end of the table. Ben picked Joe up and put him in his lap.
"Now would you like to tell me what the problem is?"
Joe sniffled, "My hand hurts."
"Your hand hurts?"
"Uh huh - and you don't love me."
"Well now those are some serious reasons for feeling sad; so I'm going to address each one. First off, who's fault is it that your hand hurts? Is that my fault?"
Joe whispered, "No, Pa."
"Alright then, and has it occurred to you that if your hand wasn't hurting, something else might be hurting about now because of what you did?"
Joe looked up briefly at his father and squeaked, "What would be hurting?"
Hoss stifled his chuckle when he was suddenly on the receiving end of a glowering look. Adam picked up his napkin to cover his smirk, however his eyes betrayed him, a fact that did not go unnoticed by his father.
Ben frowned in frustration, "What usually hurts after we have a 'necessary talk'?"
"Oh - yeah - I forgot."
"Seems like you've been doing a lot of forgetting lately." Ben nodded at Joe until his son seemed to be in agreement with him, then he continued. "Pain is quite unpleasant, but it is also a very important part of life. If we never felt pain in our bodies, or in our hearts and minds, just think how many more terrible things would happen. We would hurt our bodies and other people with abandon. Painful times often help to keep us from getting hurt more."
Ben looked up at his older sons realizing this concept was probably more than a six year-old could grasp. Adam's thoughtful look confirmed that he had struck a chord with his oldest son.
"Now as far as your claim that I do not love you. You may not have heard this before, but I know that Adam and Hoss have. There is a verse in the Bible that says 'For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.' That means that because the Lord loves us, He cares about the way we act and punishes us when we don't obey Him. As your father, it is much the same. If I didn't love you, I would let you do whatever you wanted and never punish you." Ben paused and lifted the small boy's chin so they were looking at each other eye to eye. "It's because I do love you, Joseph, that I care about how you act. I want you to grow up to be an honorable man who speaks the truth. That is why I discipline you. It's even hard for big boys and grown men to remember to do the right thing all the time. That's why it's so important to begin living an upright life when you are young. You set down patterns of doing good. Does that make sense?"
Joe looked away from his father for a moment. Ben could see that the gears of the boy's mind were working.
Joe's eyes lit up. "It's kinda like when I break that colt. He sure ain't gonna like me puttin' a bit in his mouth. Come to think about it, I bet that kinda hurts, don't it, Pa?"
"Yes, it probably does, but he will get used to it, and it will help you discipline him and then be able to ride him."
Joe nodded enthusiastically.
"But it will be very important not to be too harsh with the reins and show your colt how much you love him, and then you will earn his trust and he will be a faithful and dependable mount for you - which brings me back to you, Joseph. Do you understand that I have disciplined you because I love you?"
Joe looked down at his feet and then back up at his father. "Probly be a whole lot easier if you could just put a bit in my mouth, huh, Pa?"
There were belly laughs all around table. Ben responded by tousling his son's brown curls and pulling him into his chest.
"Yes, Joseph - would to goodness, that raising sons was as easy as gentling most horses!"