I do NOT own the copyrights to BonanzaAuthoress note: I've taken my own ideas and mixed them with tiny bits of three episodes I've seen, and I mean tiny!
Sweet CarolinaSecond letter
Scene 7
"Who do people think they are? It's bad enough to send us a letter saying Pa's alive, but to pull other people into it!" Little Joe came storming in with an envelope in his hand.
"What happened now?" Adam lifted his head away from the ledger and raised an eyebrow at his baby brother.
"Look for yourself." Little Joe tossed the envelope onto the desk his father had sat at for years, but now sported the figure of his oldest brother working the books.
Adam picked up the letter and saw it was being sent from one Mr. and Mrs. Andrew O'Day, from New York. The piece of mail was not addressed to himself or to one of his brothers, but to his father? Seeing the envelope was still sealed, he said, "I see you haven't read it." He managed not to lift any eyebrows.
"Why should I? I still say this whole thing is a one very pathetic sick joke" Little Joe plopped down into a nearby chair; disgust could be heard in his voice.
Adam opened the envelope. He was stunned at what he was reading. He, though not admitting it out loud, was leaning heavily towards Little Joe's way of thinking. His eyes scanned the letter, but he only read the last sentence out loud. …..Sorry, hope you understand why we can't bring ourselves to come out. But, yes, my wife is Carolina's mother. Maybe, we can meet at a later day.
Sincerely,
Andrew C. O'Day
"Well?" Little Joe scowled from where he sat in a chair near the empty fireplace.
"Well, what?" Adam put the letter in his shirt pocket and went back to work.
"What are we going to do?" Little Joe had the urge to punch someone over the whole deal.
"You'll do nothing; leave things to me." Adam, in spite of any misgivings, saw no reason to get riled. No, the best thing, he decided, was to go by the unexplainable impressions he'd gotten earlier and, without any real just cause, he saw no need to change that course. And he certainly wasn't going to read the whole letter to Little Joe, not considering its mixed contents and his brother's mood; which is why he'd stuffed it in his pocket.
"Oh, come on, Adam! I can't stand by and just do nothing." Little Joe jumped up only to find big brother in his face."You can, and you will." Adam hissed through his teeth. "I told you to leave things to me! If it makes you feel any better, I've wired a man I know asking him questions; he's from that area. If the letter we got earlier is a big lie, I'm sure he tell me."
"If he doesn't ?" Little Joe scowled back.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, until then Pa is married, got it?" Adam glared and repeated what he'd said with even more of a bite when Little Joe didn't answer."Got it," Little Joe stormed outside and took his excess angry over the whole deal out on a pile of wood. Hoss saw his baby brother hacking away at the wood and decided to slip on past him. The door opening got Adam's head up only long enough to see who it was, and then it went back down.
"I reckon Little Joe didn't like yer response." Hoss sat down to eat an over-sized sandwich.
"No, I dare say he didn't." Adam kept on writing.
"Reckon, it's like he said? I mean it bein' a sick joke?" Hoss wasn't sure what he thought, mostly he just felt torn.
"I don't know." Adam laid the pen down and found himself sighing, "I don't want it to be, but…" He glanced at the door, "…it could be. For now, I can't see going off half-cocked." He really hoped his old friend he'd be wiring would find something out. The eldest Cartwright really wanted the facts out in the open.
