Chapter 8
Sunday
Joe Cartwright was mighty happy with himself and his world. After a long week spent confined to the Ponderosa doing extra chores to compensate for Adam's temporary incapacitation and tending to his slowly healing brother, he finally had been allowed to go to Virginia City. He had gone to church, all alone and on the orders of his father. Pa had decided to stay at home and watch over Adam, who had felt like a million dollars this morning. Naturally this had alarmed both his father and Hoss, both of whom had felt impelled to stay at home for another Adam-watch.
Joe had been a bit reluctant to attend the service. It had seemed like a waste of time when he had only a few hours of unrestricted fun, but now Caroline Granger was there, too, and Joe managed to acquire a seat next to the beautiful girl. This also saved him from sitting next to Miss Juliet, who in result molested some other unfortunate's ears with her very creative interpretations of the hymns.
After the service Miss Juliet cornered Joe, and asked how Adam was. Joe didn't tell her about the book incident, but told her the bold-faced lie that Adam had read the whole previous day and was right as rain. Well, the latter wasn't a lie, really, because Adam was much better than they had feared after yesterday's events. Juliet was delighted that her small token had made Adam's day so pleasant (if she only knew...) and expressed the expectation that he would have another fulfilling day with Mr. Dickens. She told Joe to give Adam her best wishes and an apology, for she would not be able to drop by the Ponderosa this day. Obviously she had to catch up on some articles that had been delayed by her extended visits to Adam's bedside and the shooting lesson with Hoss. Much to Joe's relief, since he always felt like a five-year-old when talking to the lady, she excused herself shortly after that, handing him a Sunday edition of the Territorial Enterprise with the words, "Something for the family," and a rather complacent smile.
Joe was overjoyed to accept a lunch invitation from the Grangers, but wasn't able to leave the church yard for quite some time. A lot of townsfolk asked him about his brother, and wanted him to give their regards to Adam. Joe received many friendly hand shakes and thumb-ups on Adam's behalf, and he thought it a bit creepy that Virginia City suddenly cared so much for his elder brother. Eventually Caroline was able to pry him away from the crowds, and he walked her home, letting his horse follow them slowly on a long rein.
Caroline was just as darling as the Sunday before, loaded his plate with roast beef and sweet potatoes and delicious honey-glazed carrots, and peered at him from under coyly lowered lids. Joe bathed in her attention and ate more than in days. This was only partly due to the pleasant company—the simple fact was that they hadn't had a proper warm meal at the Ponderosa since Hop Sing had gone to visit one of his numerous cousins in San Francisco. Joe would never belittle Mrs. Hawkins' generosity in providing them with fabulous food baskets, but most of the warm food had found its way upstairs to Adam—or into Hoss' stomach, of course.
After lunch he spent some splendid time with Caroline on the front porch, telling her how he, all on his own, had brought the nasty brother-shooting outlaw to Virginia City, and how he had ridden into town only days later, faster than anyone else could, to get the doctor and save the life of his elder brother. He exaggerated only a tiny little bit, and Caroline turned out to be a wonderful audience. Her father, too—and that diminished his pleasure in the afternoon somewhat—but all in all it was a very enjoyable time.
When Joe eventually had to head home, Caroline followed him out of the house, and in an unobserved moment she planted a warm kiss on his cheek. That rounded the day off quite prettily, and it would have been even better, had Caroline not bidden him goodbye with, "And give my best to Adam. Tell him to take care."
Joe's smile was a bit strained when he said, "Yeah, well, he's much better, y'know?" but she just thrust the Territorial Enterprise in his hands and said, "Don't forget your newspaper, Joe, I'm sure Adam wants to read it."
Joe stashed the paper in his saddlebags and, after a last wave to sweet Caroline, rode home.
He found his big brother engrossed in the mysterious world of English literature and supervised by Pa, who was drinking coffee and reading a book from Adam's shelf. Joe presented Adam with Juliet's compliments and her apology, the well wishes from the townspeople, Caroline's regards, and the by now profoundly battered, coiled-up Territorial Enterprise.
He was thanked and excused from the room rather quickly, since apparently both men were very eager to return to their reading. Joe happily obliged and rushed downstairs to where Hoss had already set up the checkers board.
He contently sat down at his usual place at the fireplace; and while engaged in a fiercely fought game of checkers with his middle brother, as was his habit, he tried to distract Hoss from one of his better moves with a random conversation.
"And how has your day been?"
Hoss looked up with a downright miserable expression. "Oh yeah, it was jest dandy, Joe. I been watchin' Adam readin' ferever. Boy, I never saw anyone read as much as elder brother. Couldn' get a word outta him."
Joe couldn't stop himself from snickering. "And I bet you tried your best."
Hoss smiled sheepishly. "Not fer long. Ya know, that brother of ours gotta nasty glare, Joe."
Joe could easily envision the glares Adam has sent Hoss—he had been on the receiving end of said glares only yesterday. "Oh, he sure has. I bet he can freeze Lake Tahoe with it, if he put a bit of an effort into it." He gave his brother a sympathetic smile and silently congratulated himself for having been the first to ask Pa for a day off. It could have been him again...
"Wal, anyway, he made me stay real silent, an' I fell asleep."
Now Joe laughed out loud. "Yeah, Adam has that effect on people. First Miss Juliet, now you!" He thought for a moment, then added genially, "You know what, Hoss? I think Adam's losing it. My girls never fall asleep on me."
"Miss Juliet ain't Adam's gal, Joe."
"She ain't? But she's around here an awful lot of times."
"Yeah, but they're jest friends."
"Oh, yeah, I see..." The unconvinced look Joe gave his brother went unnoticed when both their attention was attracted to the angry voice from the upstairs bedroom.
"She did it again!" There was no question which 'she' Adam was referring to, but they both wondered what Miss Juliet might have done "again."
There was a moment of silence, during which Hoss and Joe looked at each other, communicating with odd combinations of raised eyebrows and mouth grimaces but not daring to make a single sound, and then they heard their father's agitated voice.
"No, Adam, no. You can't—"
This was followed by the sound of shuffling, which made the listeners jump to their feet and hurry up the stairs into their brother's room.
They found their father and Adam glaring at each other with the same expression on their faces—stubborn determination mixed with grim rebuke. Both had their arms crossed, both sat very upright, both looked as if they might start to snarl any second. On Adam's lap lay the Territorial Enterprise, the Sunday edition that Joe hadn't spared a glance, showing the front page and a remarkably large headline "Adam Cartwright, Fallen Hero". There was an illustration underneath that featured a man lying between some large boulders and a horse with its head low, apparently keeping vigil over the prone figure. And suddenly all the well-wishes from people he barely knew, Caroline's unexpected greetings and Miss Juliet's unusual hand-out of the newspaper made sense to Joe.
"Hey, that's great," he cried out enthusiastically. "You got your own article, Adam!" He made a grab for the newspaper, but Adam snatched it out of his reach.
"Don't!" Adam's voice was pure steel. "This is evidence."
"Adam, calm down." Pa didn't quite reach Adam's level of steeliness, but it was a close call. "We already agreed that you won't go anywhere before the doctor gives you a clean bill of health. Neither Mister Goodman nor Miss Heatherstone will leave the town anytime soon, so you can easily have your conversation with either of them at a subsequent date."
Adam said nothing; he just intensified his glare and clenched his teeth. But Joe could nearly hear his elder brother's mind working, and he was sure Adam would find a way to accelerate the 'subsequent date'.
Joe couldn't understand Adam's anger, though. Miss Juliet had written an article about him, but what the heck could be wrong about this? Surely she had done it just as expertly as usual and certainly she had shown Adam to be very brave and heroic—where was the problem?
When Joe opened his mouth to share these thoughts with his family, Pa silenced him with a warning frown and a shake of his head, and gestured him and Hoss out of the room. The last thing Joe heard as he left was Adam mumbling, "Infuriating, inconsiderate, heedless..."
Oh, Joe thought, synonyms. Uh-oh. Nope, he wouldn't want to be in Miss Juliet's shoes.
