Adam kept a wary eye on Sally as they rode into town for church. She had come to breakfast sullen and petulant and things had not improved as far as he could see. He hadn't been able to speak to Ruth about how her conversation with Sally had gone, but Adam had no doubt that Ruth had said some things to her that Sally had not liked. Adam could see that his father was just as aware that things could go wrong with Sally at any minute and although he didn't know why Sally was acting the way that she was, he too, had become more attentive to her and how she was acting. Ruth and Joshua also had their attention focused on the little girl who was too busy pouting to notice that she was the center of four adults' attention.
"Papa, is Sally in trouble? You keep looking at her," Lizzie said.
"No, honey, she just seems upset, I'm sorry I've been neglecting you. Here, why don't you take the reins and see if you can get Beauty to canter." Adam took one last glance as Sally before he put the reins into her hands and they rode ahead leaving the buggy behind.
After they arrived, Ben began introducing Joshua and Ruth to his many friends and Sally stomped into the church and sat at the end of a pew. Adam eased Lizzie out of the saddle and she ran off to find her friends. He mingled in the crowd greeting people and stopping to talk. When the church bell began ringing and people began filing into the church, Jim Mason and his family filed into the far side of the pew Sally was sitting in, but she didn't see them because her head was down and her arms were crossed.
"'Scuse me."
Sally heard a little voice, but didn't look up.
"Scuse me."
Sally continued to ignore the little voice.
"Be a gentleman, Will," Sally heard a voice coming from her left that she thought she recognized.
"She won't move," Will said loudly.
"I know, she's not being nice, but you still need to be a gentleman, walk around, son," the voice said again.
Sally heard a sigh and the little boy stomped off.
"Good man."
Sally glanced up to see the little boy walk over to Jim Mason and realized whose voice she'd been hearing. She started to say something when she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder.
"Move your feet," she heard a growled whisper from Ben.
"She's just stupid," Will said as his father picked him up.
"Unkind, impolite, naughty, maybe, but not stupid," said Lily Mason with a slight edge in her voice.
"Sorry, Ma," Will sighed again as his father deposited him between them on the pew.
Sally sat up and tucked her feet under the pew as her Grandpa and mother walked into the church. They took a seat next to her and the Cartwright family took the pew in front of her. Lizzie walked in behind them with Jenny Mason. Jenny went to sit with her family and Lizzie sat next to her father. She pulled out a hymnal and opened it in her lap to the first hymn. Her favorite part of any Sunday service was the singing. She liked singing with her father and they had spent many an evening singing as he played his guitar.
"Papa," Lizzie whispered. "Will you play your guitar tonight?"
"We haven't sung together in a while, have we? I'll get out my guitar tonight," he whispered back and then the services started.
After the church service finished, Ben stood and walked to the back to the church fully intending to tell Joshua of his granddaughter's latest exploit.
"Ben," Jim Mason called, stepping away from his family and moving towards Ben. "Ben, I suspect you're planning on telling Joshua about Will and Sally's set to in church."
"I am," said Ben in a deep voice.
"Will you let me handle it? I don't mean to interfere, but I'd really like to speak to Sally if I may."
"Well, it was your son who was treated poorly, so of course I'll let you handle it."
"Thanks," spotting Sally at the corner of the church, Jim made his way towards her.
"Morning, Sally, how are you enjoying yourself out at the Ponderosa?"
"Fine," she said moving away from him, "I have to find my family now,"
"Don't you want to talk to me?" Jim said following her. "Feeling guilty?" He asked her as she walked away.
"Are you mad at me?" Sally asked stopping, blushing and looking down.
"Mad? No…more disappointed. I didn't think my sweet friend would be so unkind."
"Friend?" Sally looked up at him with a questioning expression.
"Yes, aren't we friends?"
"I guess," she looked up at him hopefully. "I'm sorry about, about church." She waved her hands towards the door.
"I'm glad, why don't we go tell Will that?"
"What should I say?"
"Tell him that you're sorry that you blocked his way into the pew and that you upset him." Jim shook his head mentally that an eight year old hadn't been taught social graces, like apologizing. He reached out and put an arm around her shoulders. He walked her over to where his family was waiting for him.
"Sally, this is my wife, Lily Mason, and my son, Will. Will, this is Sally." He left his hand on her shoulder and gestured with his right hand.
The two children stared at each other for a few long seconds before Lily said, "Nice to meet you, Sally. Say hello, Will."
She put her arm around his shoulder.
"Hello," he said, crossing his arms and pushing out his lower lip.
"I'm sorry about the way I was in church. I shouldn't have blocked your way. I'm sorry you got upset." She looked at Will and then glanced away and then back to Will again.
Jim leaned down and whispered in Sally's ear.
"I mean, I'm sorry I made you upset. Will you forgive me?"
"I guess so."
"Will, either you do or you don't, there's no guessing so. I think Sally's really sorry and a gentleman doesn't hold grudges, so what do you say?" Jim said encouragingly. "Do you accept her apology?"
"Yes," Will said nodding and smiling.
"Well, done," Jim praised his son. "Sally, I see Jenny and Lizzie over there by the store, why don't you go see what they're doing?" He patted her shoulder before he dropped his arm and watched her run towards the other girls.
Jim met Lily's eyes and blew out a big breath of air. He shrugged and put his arm around her as the three of them walked back to the store. Lily smiled at him, put an arm around his waist and rested her head on his chest as they walked back to the store.
"Whatcha doin'? Sally asked as she ran up to the girls.
"Playin' tag. Wanna play?" Lizzie asked.
"Okay," Sally nodded. Soon they were all running and dodging and having a good, loud time.
Lizzie was playing for over a half an hour when the rocks that she had collected in her shoes really started to bother her. She ran over to the store and sat down on the bench next to Mr. Mason.
"Rock in your shoes, huh?" Jim Mason asked.
"Yes, Mr. Mason. These shoes aren't very good for running."
"I expect not," he said smiling.
Lizzie emptied the rocks out of each shoe in turn and after retying her shoes, she almost jumped up, when she paused.
"Mr. Mason?" She asked.
"Yes, Miss Cartwright?"
"May I ask you a personal question?"
"Of course, you can ask me anything."
"Do you ever lose your temper?" She asked watching his face.
"Can't say that I do. It's not really in my personality."
"You don't get angry even when your children do something wrong?"
"I do get angry, but that's not the same as losing your temper. Why do you ask?"
Lizzie blushed, before she said, "Well, Papa said I need to learn to control my Cartwright temper, he wants me to plan on how to control it before it gets out of control. He told me I could talk to anyone I wanted, but everybody I talked to in my family has a Cartwright temper or a Chinese temper and they said they don't always control it either. How am I supposed to control my temper if even the adults can't?"
Mr. Mason smiled, "I don't recall ever seeing your Uncle Hoss lose his temper and your papa seems pretty even tempered to me too for the most part," he laughed softly. "Have you spoken to them?"
"No, Grandpa, Uncle Joe and Hop Sing."
"Hmmm, well they are the ones that have the most trouble with their tempers I guess."
"I guess you can't help me either if you never lose your temper."
"Well, let's see what I can do. What did the people that you talked to tell you?"
"Grandpa said I needed to figure out why I was getting angry and then decide if I ever got my way when I lost my temper," Lizzie sighed at that.
"Not much help there, huh?"
"No, he also said that I should try not to say anything I'll regret, so I should wait to say anything when I'm angry."
"Well, that's pretty good advice, stay quiet until you can speak without yelling or saying mean things. How about your Uncle Joe?"
"He said that he tries to leave when he starts to get angry or wait before he acts. He also said that he gets into fights sometimes when he's angry so he tries to unclench his fists and that sometimes helps. He said he's not very good at controlling his temper and I'm supposed to tell him my plan so that he can use it too."
Mr. Mason laughed. "He wants to copy off your paper, huh?" He nudged her with his elbow.
Lizzie laughed.
"Sounds like he is saying the same thing that your Grandpa said, try not to say or do anything until you have yourself under control."
"Hop Sing?"
"Well, he said that he scolds in Chinese so that no one knows what he is saying and goes to another room so that he doesn't hurt anyone with his words."
"Hmmm, learn Chinese," Mr. Mason looked at her with crossed eyes and then laughed long and hard; Lizzie joined him. Every time he tried to talk, he would start laughing again.
When he finally started to get control of his laughter, he gasped out, "Maybe you'll be so busy learning Chinese you won't have time to get angry," he burst into laughter with Lizzie again.
When their laughter finally died down, Lizzie asked in a frustrated voice, "What am I going to do, Mr. Mason? Papa wants a plan by this afternoon."
"Your papa's pretty reasonable. As long as you've thought about it, I think he'll help you flesh out the plan. But it seems that all the people you have spoken to so far have given you the same advice."
"They have?"
"Yes, I think they have. You need to control your words and actions until the anger passes. May I ask you something personal?"
"Yes," Lizzie looked up at him and nodding.
"Your papa wouldn't be asking you to form a plan if this wasn't a problem for you, so can you remember that last few times you got angry?"
Lizzie blushed and looked down.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I was just thinking if you can think about when you got angry and how you felt maybe we can figure out something to help. You can trust me to keep your secret and be understanding. I may not lose my temper, but I have plenty of faults." He leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "I don't always hang up my clothes when I take them off at night and I sometimes eat candy right before supper. Promise not to tell?"
"I promise," Lizzie laughed.
The both looked out at the street and watched the tag game for a few minutes.
"One time this week I got angry because Papa wouldn't let me go to town," she whispered, never taking her eyes off the game. "Another time he corrected me about my riding, but didn't say anything to Sally. Then, I got mad at him for scolding me when I hadn't done anything wrong," Lizzie sighed, "then a couple of days ago, Papa, made me stay inside because I disobeyed him, I screamed at him that time and that's when he said I needed to make a plan." She finished in an embarrassed voice.
"So, do you always scream when you get angry?" Mr. Mason asked softly, watching the game.
"No, sometimes I won't talk to Papa when I'm angry at him. Papa calls it the polite, silent treatment. Grandpa says that I'm punishing Papa when I do that."
"So, do you want to stop doing those things or are you just making the plan because your papa wants you to?"
"At first I was doing it because I had to, but then after I talked to Papa about why he wants me to control my temper, I decided I really do want to control my temper better. I don't want to hurt people's feelings or punish them. I just don't know what to do."
"I have something for you, stay here," Mr. Mason got up quickly and walked into the store. He came out in a few minutes with something in his hand.
"Seems to me, that you need to break yourself of a bad habit," he held out his hand and Lizzie saw a small stone attached to a chain. "This is an Apache tear," he said. "I want you to have it. When you hold it up to the light, you can see through it." He hung it around Lizzie's neck.
She picked it up off her chest and held it up to the light. "It's pretty! Thank you!" She let it fall to her chest, "How's it going to help me, though?"
"Well, I was thinking maybe if you wear it, it would help you remember not to lose your temper. So, those times this week, you could probably feel yourself getting angry, right?"
"Usually," she nodded.
"So, if you take the time to pull out the tear, it will give you time to do the things that your family suggested: not say anything, or do anything you'll regret later, or it will remind you to walk away until you aren't so angry. Hopefully, it will become a habit and it won't take you so long to get your anger under control."
"Do you think Papa will let me walk away like that?"
"I think he will if you explain to him why you're going to do it. That you aren't being rude, you are just trying to control your temper like he wants you to do. You talk to him about it, now, go play."
"Thanks, Mr. Mason," she reached over to hug him, "you don't think I'm a bad girl for losing my temper do you?"
"Bad girl? Naw, you just inherited the Cartwright temper and that is entirely not your fault. You're dealing with it and that makes me proud of you," he said as he hugged her back.
"Thanks," she called over her shoulder as she ran off to join the tag game.
After the game ended, Sally, Jenny and Lizzie were standing out behind the store, when Lizzie looked up the hill at an old house on the top.
"What's up there?"
"Oh, that's the old Bannister house, we aren't allowed to go up there, Pa says the floors are rotten and it's not safe," said Jenny.
"I'm going up there," Sally said with conviction. "I just want to look in the window."
"No, Sally. You're going to get yourself spanked," said Lizzie.
"Not if you don't tell," she said as she started to walk up the hill.
Jenny and Lizzie turned to walk around to the front of the store, when Lizzie stopped.
"You're going to be in trouble with your papa if you let her go, won't you?" Asked Jenny.
"Yeah," Lizzie said reluctantly.
"Me, too, Pa says I need to at least try to stop someone from doing something they shouldn't"
"If she gets caught, we can tell them we tried to stop her."
"You'd lie to your papa that way?"
"No…"
"Me either, I guess we really have to go try and stop her."
"How? She's a brat."
"I know, but I don't want to be in trouble with Pa because of her," Jenny complained.
Together they ran up the hill and caught up with Sally.
"You really shouldn't go in that house, you might get hurt," Lizzie said.
"Won't either, I just want to look in the window."
"Come on, Sally, let's go back to the square, our parents might be looking for us." Jenny looped her arm around Sally's and tried to stop her.
Sally struggled to get away and pushed Jenny down. Lizzie pushed Sally down and got on top of her.
"Get off," Sally yelled as she struggled.
"Not until you promise to come back to the square with us."
Sally kept struggling.
"What's going on here?" Adam asked as he reached down to pull Lizzie off Sally's chest.
As he helped Sally to her feet he asked "Are you girls fighting?" He frowned at the three girls.
"Jenny, Lizzie you know better than to brawl in the street. Tell me what's going on, now!" He commanded loudly.
Jenny looked at Lizzie and Sally and quickly realized that one of them was going to end up telling him what the fight was about eventually and she really didn't like Sally enough to get in trouble for her.
"We were trying to keep Sally from going up to the Bannister house, Mr. Cartwright. She said she wanted to look in the window and when we, Lizzie and I, tried to stop her, she pushed me down. Lizzie wasn't hurting her, she was just trying to stop her."
"All right, girls," he said looking Sally over for any injuries, "you shouldn't be fighting in the street like this, but at least you seem to be doing it to keep Sally out of trouble. Sally, that house is off limits," he said seriously, pointing up at the house. "It's dangerous and if you go up there, I will spank you. Now, go get some lunch."
"Thanks, Mr. Cartwright," Jenny called as she ran off.
"Thanks, Papa," Lizzie echoed as she ran after Jenny.
"I mean it young lady," Adam said to Sally as he saw her looking up at the house. "I do not want to spank you, but I will not hesitate if you don't mind me about that house. Now, go find your mama and grandpa."