Call Me Joseph

Chapter Ten

When the stagecoach Ben and Hoss were riding in came to a stop outside Limesville's general mercantile, it was almost noon and the sun was beating down upon the streets of Limesville. The two wasted no time in climbing out of the coach and grabbing their suitcases from the driver.

"Telegraph never said where Little Joe was being kept, guess we best head to the hotel," Ben said as he gestured towards a building a hundred yards away-one that had a sign above its doors, on that read "Mallory's Hotel. "Then we'll go look the sheriff up."

However, they hadn't taken a step before the sheriff, who had just come out of the mercantile and heard what Ben said, stopped them. "Are you Ben Cartwright?" The sheriff quickly descended the few steps that led up to the store's doors.

Seeing the badge the man wore, Ben extended his hand and smiled the best he could. "Yes, I am." He then introduced Hoss. "Where is Little Joe? Is Adam still with him?"

Like Agnes, the sheriff couldn't help but smile at the nickname the Cartwrights had given their youngest family member. "Joseph is being tended to over at the doctor's home, and yes, Adam is still there." Sheriff Blanchard started to walk down the boardwalk. "I'll take you."

Neither Ben nor Hoss were about to tell him not too. Upon Ben's request, the sheriff gave the two Cartwrights a very condensed version of the events leading up to Little Joe being shot. Also, thanks to having Adam lay into him for not telling him about Hans and his part in Joseph's saga, the sheriff made sure to include 'that' incident in his account. By the time he finished he, Ben and Hoss were standing inside the doctor's home.

Ben and Hoss looked around. The living room they stood in wasn't overly large, but it still held a fine looking sofa that set against the south wall, a piano that set east wall and a fireplace sat in the northwest corner. They could see a kitchen off to their left; it and the living room were separated by an entrance way in the shape of a kitchen. From where they stood they could see another archway on the north side of the room; it had a hallway running between it and a large brown door that they assumed led to a bedroom. Any other rooms in the home could not be seen from where they stood.

"This is Joseph's father." The sheriff looked at the doctor who had just opened the large brown door and stepped into the hallway. It turned out that Ben had assumed right, it was the room Little Joe lay in. Ben knew that because he caught a glimpse of Little Joe lying unconscious in the bed and the back of Adam's head before the doctor shut the door. "Sorry," Sheriff Blanchard glanced at Ben, "He's been Joseph to me since the day I met him. Little Joe sounds like a stranger to me."

Ben smiled. "I understand." He then looked at the doctor. "How is my son?

"Not good, though he is doing a bit better than he was since your oldest arrived, started talking and staying with him." He looked at the door and shook his head. "Guess I should have left it open. Go ahead and go in. I have other patients to visit." The good doctor said as he headed for the front door. "Maybe having all of you here will be enough to pull him through this." The doctor said, as he started to close the door behind him, only to have the sheriff speak up and say he had to leave.

The sheriff hoped the doctor was right. After all, the man everyone in town had known simply as Joseph was a very good man. The doctor and sheriff both sincerely hoped the old saying 'only the good die young' would not be proven to be true in this case.

The moment the sheriff walked out the door, and the good doctor shut the front door to his home, Ben and Hoss moved quickly and soon Ben was opening the door. Naturally, the noise made Adam turn his head. He quickly stood up and offered his father the chair he'd been using.

"Has he woken up at all?" Hoss asked Adam as they watched their father sit down and brush Little Joe's bangs off to the side of his face.

"Not really, but he has talked as he's tossed his head side to side at times." Adam, who had moved to the head of the bed on the opposite side of his father, answered. "He keeps mumbling that he should've only wounded Billy Chafen and taken him to the sheriff instead of flat out killing him and something about disappointment." He sighed. "I think he has convinced himself that he's a disappointment to you. I think that while, yes, he was honestly doing his best to help people here, he was unconsciously, looking for trouble…looking for a way to…." His voice trailed off unable to complete his thoughts.

Both Ben and Hoss felt shivers go down their back. Adam did not need to complete his sentence for the two of them to know he was saying that the youngest Cartwright had fallen into such a melancholy state of mind that he'd been, unconsciously, looking for a way to die and cross over to the other side.

"Little Joe," Ben began talking to his youngest son, hoping against hope his youngest would actually hear him.

Little Joe was shocked to open his eyes and find himself surrounded by what appeared to be white mist that went up to his waist. What on earth was going on? The last thing he remembered was walking out of the sheriff's office, joining Ray and Agnes and hearing a shot ring out. When he felt someone behind him, he turned around and received a greater shock…he could see himself lying in a bed and his father and brothers standing around the bed, each talking to him.

'I've got to be dreaming!' Joseph shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them; the scene remained unchanged. "This is impossible! Pa was murdered by a poacher!" He was stunned beyond measure as he heard a familiar voice behind him say 'He was only wounded not killed.'

Little Joe whirled around and about fell to his knees; his own mother stood behind him in a long flowing white dress. She restated what she'd just said about Ben, and then gently chastised him for not going home. "They are your family; even if Ben had died, Adam and Hoss are your brothers. They'd have been there for you."

"I know." Little Joe sighed and looked as he looked from his family to his mother and then asked quietly, "What now?"