Joe had dawdled a little on the ride to school the next morning. He was still trying to sort out what he felt inside about
what had been said at the breakfast table that morning. Although he had been cranky about Adam and his bullying
tactics when his father left him in charge, he had never wanted to worry his brother about being missing.
Hoss had seen his little brother lost deep in thought and had tried a couple of times to get the youngster to talk about
his problems. Joe however was in no talking mood and either fell back behind Hoss or rode a few paces in front to
avoid the conversation all together.
Joe unsaddle his horse and put him in the stall near the schoolyard. Hoss did the same whilst keeping a trained eye
on his younger brother to see if he was willing to share what was wrong with him.
"Have a good day today Little Joe" Hoss said cheerfully to his brother and Joe walked away from the stalls towards
the classroom.
"Um 'kay" was the half-hearted reply Hoss got.
Joe had arrived just before the bell rang so there was no time to talk to his friends before school this morning, but
he didn't mind. He took his place at the back of the classroom as always and waited for the teacher to arrive.
When he first saw Mr Watson the little boy had almost forgotten that there was going to be a substitute teacher today.
He frowned at first when the stout little man stood at the front of the classroom but then he sort of remembered that
Miss Jones said there would be a new teacher for a few days.
Only three more days to go Joe thought silently to himself. It was going to be a very long day today. He didn't
feel much like doing schoolwork.
"Attention boys and girls" the teacher said in a loudish voice to get the children to take notice. He was a well-educated
man but he came from a background which saw him teaching in a school for boys. The students were of a much
older age and he made sure that they worked in a classroom of strict rules and discipline. He intended to make sure
that these young people, although much younger, that a similar respect of the rules and a certain standard of discipline
applied. Once students were allowed to stray from their studies, the problem only got worse as they got older.
"My name is Mr Watson. You may call me Sir" he said sharply and looked sternly at a couple of boys in the front
row who were not giving him their full attention.
"I will be your teacher for the next few days whilst your regular teacher Miss Jones is away on family matters. Miss
Jones has told me what lessons you are to do before the holidays commence. I will assign homework every night
and expect it on my desk first thing in the morning ready to be checked. Anybody not doing their homework or
not doing it in a suitable manner will be punished." Watson said.
Some of the children whispered to each other. Never before had Miss Jones threatened to punish them if they didn't
do their homework. There were a number of occasions where she had told them how disappointed she had been
about them not doing it and there had even been occasions where they were expected to stay in at recess time or after
school to complete it. But never had the teacher told them that they would be punished. What did punish mean
exactly. Punish was something your folks did at home when you were particularly naughty or bad.
Little Joe was as surprised as the rest of his classmates about the teacher's harsh treatment. Although Miss Jones
wasn't the best teacher, at least she didn't yell at them or threaten to punish them. He didn't think he was going to
like this Mr Watson very much.
The morning progressed very slow for the little students. They found Mr Watson's approach to teaching very
difficult. He was either shouting out his instructions or standing behind them making sure they were doing their
work. If he saw them not doing something right he would be yelling at them to do it all over again. He was beginning
to become frustrated. He found this style of teaching almost below his normal standards. He was supposed to be
teaching students who had the gift of learning. Here he was teaching in some backwards town in the middle of
nowhere to a bunch of children who could barely even write their own names correctly.
Mr Watson had kept his eye on one student in particular for the remainder of the morning. A little curly haired
boy in the back of the classroom with green eyes. The boy wasn't being disobedient. But neither was he paying
attention to the class. On a number of occasions, Watson had deliberately caught the boy staring out into space
through the open window not far away. He had berated the boy and told him to pay attention but a few minutes
later he looked over and the boy's gaze had wandered out the window yet again. Watson could feel his temper
start to rise. He couldn't prove that the boy was ignoring his class on purpose.
The bell rang and it was soon time for lunch. All of the children were shouting and yelling excitedly, ready to head
out into the playground.
"Sit down class" Mr Watson roared in annoyance. "You will wait until you are told you can go outside for lunch."
He made the children sit in total silence for a further five minutes, constantly checking his watch before he looked
up and said "You may all go outside for recess, except that boy at the back of the room" he instructed. He had
yet to learn the youngster's name.
"Me?" cried a little blond haired boy sitting next to Little Joe, alarmed that the teacher seemed to single him out of
the rest of the class. Timmy was sure he had done most of the work set and paid attention for most of the morning.
"No not you, the other boy beside you" Watson said as he pointed his finger directly at Little Joe.
It was now Joe's turn "Me?" he said in utter astonishment. He hadn't said but a word all morning. He had been
thinking too much about what had been happening at home over the last day or so. He couldn't think of anything
that he had done wrong.
"Yes you" Watson said back determinedly. "What is your name?" he asked curtly.
"Joe Cartwright" he replied.
"Well Mr Joe Cartwright, I see that you managed to not pay attention for most of my entire class this morning.
For you behaviour you will stay inside the classroom during your lunch time and do the work that you didn't do whilst
you were busy staring out the window" Watson now said.
"You can't do that" Joe cried out with a little temper starting to creep in his voice.
"Oh but I can young man. You see it fit to waste my time when you supposed to be listening to my class so I will
do the same and waste your free time where you will do the work set." Watson said.
Hoss usually didn't eat his lunch with his younger brother and so didn't particularly miss the youngster's presence
in the play ground that day. Hoss usually ate his lunch by himself near the horses. When he was finished the
lunch that Hop Sing packed he would spend the rest of his lunch break, patting and rubbing the animals noses.
Hoss didn't think he fitted well with the rest of his classmates and so was more comfortable talking to the animals.
At least they didn't tease him about his undue size or have something to say about his learning ability. Most people
just assumed before of his size that he wasn't very bright like his little brother. Hoss didn't try and correct them
though on his point. If people couldn't take the time to learn more about him and learn just how smart he could
be then he didn't think it was worth wasting time on them becoming his so-called friends.
"I will be back in ten minutes and I want to see you working solidly on the problems I set this morning. Any mistakes
and you will stay after school if necessary" Watson warned.
Watson walked out of the classroom and left Joe to do the assigned task during the lunch break.
Joe could feel the pains of hunger in his stomach but didn't dare defy the teacher by trying to sneak a bite of his
lunch to quell the emptiness. He began doing the problems that had been completed by the rest of the class earlier
that morning. He was fuming the whole time and kept muttering to himself about the dumb old teacher and
hoping that the afternoon lessons went by very quickly.
Watson had been gone from the class room about thirty minutes and came back to check on his student about
ten minutes before the other children were due to come back for their afternoon lessons. He could see the boy
with his head down towards his books. At least the boy was still sitting there. He had doubts that the boy would
actually do what he was told.
His gaze though was diverted as he watched the boy work at the work he had set. His brows narrowed and he
stared intently at the boy for a moment , trying to figure out if what he was seeing was actually true. He kept looking
for a few more minutes and finally realised that it was true, the boy was trying to write with his left-hand.
Watson's frown deepened now as he tried to determine if the action was a deliberate one to annoy him. Maybe the
boy saw fit to make fun of him because he was kept in at lunch time. But the boy still didn't seem to even notice his
presence in the room.
"Um-hum" Watson interrupted deliberately and loudly, startling the boy who was concentrating on what was in front
of him. Joe looked up at the teacher after regaining his composure. He didn't like the idea of the teacher sneaking
up on him to see what he was doing.
"Are you trying to mock me boy" the teacher said in a warning tone of voice. "Because if you are I can assure you
a lesson in manners you will never forget."
"Mock you" Joe said in confusion trying to stop his own temper rising. The teacher was accusing him of doing
something wrong but he didn't have a clue as to what it was. Joe was hungry and tired and didn't feel much like
butting heads with this man for the rest of the afternoon.
"When I came in just now you were scribbling on your page with your left-hand" Watson now said, over-emphasising
the action, hoping that the boy would pick up on what he meant.
Joe scowled a little at the word scribbled. It sounded like the teacher was talking to him about being five and
writing on a piece of paper like a first grader might do. "Yes I was" Joe finally admitted, not knowing what else to
say to the teacher.
"People don't write with their left-hand's boy" the teacher now told him. "It's unheard of in school and anybody
who is found to be writing with the wrong hand is soon given very strict instructions on how to write properly."
"But I have always written with my left hand" Joe said in his defence.
"Then such nonsense is to stop this instance. It is obvious that your regular teacher Miss Jones has had very little
experience as a teacher or she would have taken appropriate action. I will send a note home to your parents
and see to it that they are made aware of your improper writing action." Watson replied.
"Nobody has ever told me that it was wrong before" Joe now said.
"Well it's about time somebody set you straight boy or you will fall behind the rest of the class and never catch
up." Watson replied.
Watson was prevented from saying anything further about the matter due to the other students coming into the
classroom. All of them looked towards Joe with sympathy written all over their faces. They were praying that
they didn't feel the wrath of the teacher before the afternoon was out.
For the remainder of the afternoon Joe tried to pay attention to his classes but every time he seemed to look
towards Mr Watson, the man was only looking at the pencil in his left-hand. The man would shake his head
as though in disappointment and give Joe a stern look to remind him that he was writing with the wrong hand.
Joe could feel himself shrinking further and further down into his chair as the teacher's gaze remained on him
until the bell rang for home time.
"Mr Cartwright here is the note to your father telling him about what I saw today. I hope that your father is
an intelligent man and understands the need for your behaviour to be changed immediately if he is to prevent
your education being further hampered than it already is" Watson said to the boy.
Joe only caught some of the words spoken. It sounded like the teacher was telling him that he had a fatal disease
or something rather than him writing with what he called the wrong hand.
As Joe left the classroom he kept thinking about his left-hand. He looked down at it trying to work out what
was so different about it. He looked at his right hand and couldn't see any difference on the outside. His mother
Marie had taught him to write and he had always used his left hand in front of her. Why didn't she tell him that
it was
wrong to write with his left hand?
Joe was still looking at his hands when he approached Hoss and the horses. Hoss had already saddled Joe's
horse for him and now looked at the boy as he walked over towards him. The boy was staring down intently
as his hands. Hoss couldn't see anything wrong with them. He was hoping his brother was in a better frame
of mind
from when they had arrived this morning.
"Something the matter short shanks?" Hoss
said in a cheerful mood.
"Huh, oh nothing Hoss. Just thinking that's all" Joe answered as he took the reins of his horse
from Hoss and
mounted to start heading home.
On the way home, Hoss tried to drum up a conversation with his brother to pass the time. He had tried a number
of different topics such as fishing
and hunting but Joe seemed interested very little in any of them.
Hoss had just about given up on his brother and was prepared
to ride the rest of the way home in total silence
when it was Joe's turn to
start a conversation.
"Hoss which hand do you write with?" Joe
said, thinking it was a simple enough question.
"Well that's easy little brother, my right hand" Hoss answered just as simply. He didn't realise though that a seven
year old boy with troubles on his mind would read more than simplicity into his answer. Did Hoss mean his right
hand as in left and right or did he mean his right hand because it was the proper hand to write with like Mr Watson
said.
Joe couldn't decide which was the correct answer
so he decided to watch his older brother Adam later on that night
and see which hand he wrote with. Adam would use the correct hand he assumed. Adam usually knew about
most things Joe had a need to ask about.
For now, the sealed envelope addressed to Mr Cartwright was still tucked away in his shirt pocket and almost
forgotten
about during the ride home.
When they finally got home Joe put his question of
right and left aside for the time being as he went about his chores.
His father wasn't home yet from the timber yard and he had completed the egg collecting and wood collecting as
usual. He was bored and looking for something else to do. Adam and Hoss were handling the heavier chores of
feeding
the livestock.
Joe walked into the barn and wondered what he could do until it was supper time. He
didn't really like chores that
much but he saw a pitchfork leaning up against one of the stable walls and decided that he would help out his older
brother's with their chores. That way he might have more time to talk to Adam later on after they were all finished
about his
problem.
The handle of the pitchfork was a little bit long for a seven
year old but using small movements, Joe managed to
successfully manoeuvre the fork tines back and forth through the straw. He didn't get a lot on of fork each time
he lifted it but he felt like he was helping his family by help out. He continued this routine uninterrupted for the
next five minutes or so. While he worked, Joe's mind kept wandering back to what Mr Watson had said about
him at school today. He started to ask himself whether people who wrote with their left-hand were really as bad
as he said
they were.
Joe was brought back to reality by the yelling of his
name from behind. Joe almost jumped
out of his skin he was
so deep in thought. He whirled around, holding the fork outwards without realising it.
"JOSEPH" the voice called in sharp alarm.
As he turned he came face to face with an angry looking Adam who looked even madder when he had to jump
back quickly to avoid the tines of the fork from piercing his trouser leg and possibly his leg even.
"Adam" Joe said sheepishly, apologizing to his brother about the fork almost hitting him. He was about to say
sorry again when Adam's demanding question came first.
"What do you think you are doing little boy?" Adam now said in a voice that was very low in pitch. He was
telling himself to calm down and not get too angry at the boy.
Joe found his own temper rising at the mention of the words little boy. Although he knew he was far from being
full grown, Joe didn't think he needed to be reminded that he was the youngest member of the family too often.
Adam however found it necessary to tell this to the whole world all the time and Joe was sick of it. He was
hungry
from lunch and still hadn't had anything to eat due to him thinking to
hard about his problem.
"What does it look like I am doing?" Joe snapped back before he
heard how harsh the words sounded.
He
immediately shut his mouth as he
looked into the dark smouldering brown eyes of his brother standing before him.
"I asked you a simple question boy" Adam
now said through clenched teeth as he struggled to keep his temper.
"What are you doing with that fork in your hand. Your lucky it wasn't Pa that caught you. You are too young
to use the
pitchfork."
"I was just trying to help out" Joe said, feeling as though his
efforts were rarely appreciated around there. It didn't
seem to matter who it was today, he
just seemed to rile everybody.
Adam's expression softened a little at the look on the boy's
face. He probably did think he was helping out.
Adam's anger had been more out of wrong of the boy injuring himself on the sharp prongs of the fork than anything
else. How was he going to explain to his father that his youngest son, the one Ben treasured above them all that the
boy had
been stabbed by a pitchfork. He
shuddered at the thought of such a disaster.
"I know you thought you were helping buddy, but
that work is too dangerous for you.
How about you go and
see if you can find Hop Sing in the kitchen and help him with supper?" Adam now suggested, hoping the boy's
feelings
weren't too deeply hurt.
Joe didn't say anything to the suggestion. Coming from Adam
he felt it was almost an order rather than a suggestion
to occupy his time. He leaned the pitchfork up against the wall of the stall again and walked past his brother
without so much as a word. He didn't want his tongue to run away with him and say something that his behind might
regret.
Adam watched his brother walk out of the barn with his shoulders slumped and
his whole posture telling him that
something was troubling the boy. He promised himself and his brother that he would find out what. He doubted that
Joe would openly tell him what was wrong. He sighed loudly, letting his frustration and worry out before getting
back to
helping Hoss with the remaining chores before supper time.
****************************************************************************************
Joe walked back to the house and headed into the kitchen, not really wanting to
help Hop Sing with supper.
When he entered the kitchen he could smell the rich aromas of meat and vegetables. With an empty stomach
for most
of the day, the smells were almost overwhelming and his stomach grumbled loudly
in protest.
Joe was still thinking about what had happened at school today and his mind was
elsewhere rather than
concentrating on where he was going. He accidentally bumped into Hop Sing near the stove as the little
oriental man carried a saucepan of hot water. Some of the scalding water sloshed over the side of the pan
and Joe
let go a yelp of pain as it splashed on the top of his arm as it soaked through
his shirt.
"Yeeahow" he screamed as he quickly pulled his arm away and grabbed
at the pained area. The water was
very hot and his arm was stinging
badly.
Hop Sing went off into a tirade of Cantonese about what Joe was doing in the
kitchen in the first place and
then about not watching where he was going. It was all out of worry for the boy and guilt over an accident
that might not have been totally his fault but had caused pain to someone he deeply cared fore.
Hope Sing was trying to grab a hold of the boy's arm to get a look at the burn site. He wanted to get the
boy to put his arm underneath the hand pump near the sink so he could run some cool water over the scald
mark.
At the moment Joe was being particularly difficult and was determined not to let the little man near his arm.
Every time Hop Sing reached his arm out to gently grab a hold of the boy, Joe quickly pulled his arm away in
the
opposite direction.
"It's okay Hop Sing. It doesn't hurt that much" Joe
said as he still winced in pain as he grabbed at his sleeve.
Before Hop Sing could say anything further, Joe then went out of the kitchen into the lounge room and towards
the staircase. When he got to his bedroom he closed the door and leaned up against it from the inside.
Hop Sing had followed closely behind Joe, worried about the burn but the door would open no matter how
much he pounded on it.
It was his shouting out to Joe to open the door and the initial yelp of pain that soon brought Adam and Hoss
inside wondering about what all the yelling was about.
"What's going on Hop Sing?" Adam asked. He could hear the little oriental man shouting at Joe on the other
side of the door but his brow turned into a frown at the genuine concern he saw on Hope Sing's face. He
knew that the man wasn't shouting at his brother because he was angry or upset.
"Lil' Joe knock pot of hot water out of Hop Sing hand. Burn arm. Want to help but Lil Joe don't let me look
at it. Need look at arm Mr Adam. Boy in pain." he explained.
"Go and get a washcloth and a bowl of cold water please Hoss" Adam now said as his own concern for his brother's
welfare started to increase.
Adam now did some knocking on Joe's bedroom door of his own "Joe, it's Adam. I want to know if you are
alright?"
Hoss returned with the bowl of water and cloth "Any answer?"
"No, but I am not waiting any longer" Adam said sternly and now
attempted to turn the handle on the door.
He
was determined to go into the room with an invitation from Joe or without. He was a little surprised when the
lock
turned without any resistance. The
door wasn't locked as he first thought.
Hop Sing and Hoss were both ready to follow Adam into the room to check on Joe
but one stern look from him
and they
both backed out of the doorway and waited in the hallway.
When Adam entered the room, he was amazed to see the bed empty. He thought the boy was simply ignoring
them or maybe he had gone to sleep. He didn't stop to think that he wasn't actually in the room to hear the
shouting or the knocking on the door.
A gentle breeze blew through the room, billowing the thin curtain in the window. This told Adam where the
young boy was. He placed the cloth in the bowl of water and the bowl on the bedside table and looked out
the window to see the slim frame of his brother sitting hunched up on the tiles of the roof eave. He didn't
feel like talking to Joe with the wall of the bedroom between them so he too climbed out onto the roof.
At first Joe was surprised to see anybody else out on the roof. He had climbed out there as soon as he entered
his room, wanting to be alone. He had heard Hop Sing's hammering on his door and the shouting to get his
attention. He simply chose to shut it out.
When Joe actually saw who it was getting out onto the roof with him he was even
more surprised and a little
apprehensive. He didn't know if Adam was there to talk or to give him a lecture about something or even
worse a
tanning.
"Mind if I join you?" Adam asked, trying to keep the conversation
simple before he started asking Joe about
the real reason why he was sitting out on the roof all alone.
"It's a free country" Joe retorted back with a voice devoid of any emotion.
Adam told him to count to ten and keep a hold on his temper. He heard the voice and the lack of emotion in
it and knew that what had been troubling Joe back in the barn this afternoon was obviously still something on
his
mind. And
it sounded like it was making the boy even more short tempered than usual.
"Hop Sing send you out here?" Joe
asked. He could feel Adam's
eyes on him.
"He's worried about you if that's what you mean." Adam replied. "He thought you might have hurt yourself
with that
hot water."
Joe deliberately looked down at his sleeve. The material was now only slightly damp
but the pain was still
there when he thought about it. "It's okay I guess, still hurts a bit." he admitted and then resumed his gaze
out over
the yard area from his lofty position.
"How about you let me take a look at it for you inside and you and I can
have a talk about what's been
troubling you." Adam now suggested. With the boy replying harshly to anything that was said to him over the
last couple of days, Adam wasn't quite ready for the almost submissive boy that obediently did as he asked
and got to
his feet ready to climb into through the window again.
Adam followed his younger brother into the bedroom. Joe laid on his bed and let out a loud
sigh of frustration
and pain, while Adam reclaimed the bowl of water and cloth. Joe sat without saying anything at all as Adam
sat on the side of the bed and started to roll up the sleeve of Joe's injured arm.
"It might be easier if you took your shirt off Joe" Adam suggested softly, as he looked at the stony expression
on the boy's face. His lips were taught as though he was grimacing about something.
Truth was the boy was still thinking about what the teacher had said about him being backwards today. It was
the same thing that had been bothering him since he arrived home from school. When he had caused the accident
in the kitchen with the boiling water, he couldn't help but think that maybe people were right when they thought
he was useless and no good. He couldn't seem to do anything right today.
Joe complied with Adam's request and took off his shirt so his arm could be tendered to. Adam inwardly
gasped at the large reddened area that appeared just below the shoulder on Joe's right arm. The skin around
the area was beginning to blister and pucker at the corners. It must still be hurting the boy a little he told himself.
Adam dampened the cloth in the water and then as gently as he could placed the
wet material over the reddened
area. Joe gasped a little at the pain but the cool water then seemed to stop the stinging sensation and he was almost
grateful
for Adam's administrations.
"Anything you want to tell me Joe?" Adam now asked as he kept one
eye on what he was doing with Joe's arm
and the other on his brother's face.
"Not really" Joe answered casually. He thought about talking to Adam about what the teacher said about him.
"Are you sure?" Adam asked again, now drying the burned skin. He then gently rubbed in a soothing ointment
that would restore some of the moisture into the burned area. He then placed wrapped a bandage around the
area and tied off the ends.
"Thanks" Joe mumbled as he looked down at his brother's nursing abilities, ignoring his brother's question
all together.
"I don't think it's too serious. Must have hurt a little though. I can take a look at it again before you go to school
in the morning if you like?" Adam now said as he stood up and cleared up the bowl of water and other things he
had used.
"When is Pa due home?" Joe now asked, changing the entire
conversation. Right at this moment
he yearned for
his father's
touch and understanding more than ever.
Adam could read this and couldn't help but feel
a pang of sympathy for the boy who obviously was looking for
a fatherly point of view to his troubles. Maybe if Ben was home Joe would open up to him and tell him what the
trouble was. His father was likely to have more
success than he was having at the moment.
"I'm sorry Joe, but I don't think he
is going to be home until after dark tonight. There have been a lot
of problems
at the timber yard and Pa is needed to sort things out." Adam explained. I think you are needed home right
at the moment too Pa: Adam said silently to himself.
"Ready to go downstairs for a bit before supper?"
Adam now asked knowing that Hop Sing and Hoss would
still be worried about Joe and the burn.
"Yeah" Joe muttered in an uninterested voice again. He really just wanted to sit on his own again but did Adam's
bidding and followed him out the bedroom door downstairs to the living room. Hop Sing had returned to the
living
room and Hoss was sitting in Pa's blue leather chair.
"You okay punkin'?" Hoss no sooner had Joe put his foot on
the last step.
"I'm okay Hoss" Joe answered and went to sit on the settee. A look from Adam to Hoss told the middle Cartwright
boy that Joe was stilling wrestling with something.
Adam went into the kitchen to enquire about supper and also to tell Hop Sing about Joe being okay. Adam told
the little oriental man about dressing the burn and how it didn't look too serious. He could see relief in the little cook's
face.
About fifteen minutes later the three boys sat down at the table ready to eat supper. Joe was seen to look at Ben's
empty
chair and sigh. Hoss and Adam
both hoped that Ben would soon return home for their brother's sake.
Ten minutes later and not much food had been eaten from the boy's plate. He had pushed a few things around to
make it look as though he had but he had only managed to play with the fork. His head remained bowed and he
barely
acknowledged his two brother's presence at the table.
"May I be excused?" Joe asked. Adam could see that starting the
battle all over again about his eating wasn't
going
to solve anything tonight, and therefore reluctantly agreed to Joe leaving the table with his dinner mostly untouched.
Joe went back to his place on the settee and now stretched out slightly, leaning his head back against the cushioning
of the couch's
armrest. Within a few minutes he looked to have fallen asleep.
Adam and Hoss's conversation at the dinner table was mostly about Joe's
moody behaviour over the last day or so
and what they were going to do about it. Just as they too were about to leave the dining table, the front door burst
open and their father walked wearily through it.
Ben unbuckled his gun-belt and hung his hat on the pegs behind the door, glancing briefly at Hoss and Adam,
"Hello boys" he greeted. He frowned a little when both of them shushed him quiet and pointed in the direction of
the settee.
Ben crept over to the settee and looked down at the sight of his youngest son, appearing to be sound asleep. It
brought a lump to his throat no matter how tired he was. His frown soon returned though as it dawned on him
that the boy was wearing no shirt and a bandage now adorned his son's left upper arm.
Ben gave a questioning look to Adam, not wanting to disturb Joe. Adam motioned for Ben to come closer to
them and a litter farther away from the settee and they would explain.
Adam then proceeded to tell Ben about Joe's moody afternoon and the incident in the barn with the pitchfork.
Ben had then been told about the mishap in the kitchen with Hop Sing and the boiling water, resulting in the
bandage on Joe's arm. Adam assured him that the burn was painful but not serious enough to warrant Paul's
presence.
Ben brow furrowed deeply in concern as he listened to what had been happening to his youngest son while he
was forced to be at the timber yard. He agreed with his two eldest sons that Joe's odd behaviour needed
more attention than they had been affording him. For the second night in a row he promised that he would have
a talk to Joseph in the morning and try to figure out what was troubling him so much.
"Maybe I should stick closer to home tomorrow?" Ben finally said, willing to forgo other commitments when his
son needed to come first.
"I don't think that's totally necessary Pa." Adam said, not wanting to diminish his father's concern. "Joe will be
at school most of the day anyway so you can't be there with him then. Maybe if you could make it home a littler
earlier it would help." he then added.
"I just hate it when he knows something is wrong but won't share it with us. We are his family. He should know
to come to us with any problem he has and we will help him through it." Ben said.
"I take him upstairs and put him to bed anyway since I haven't been here for the other things that have happened
today." Ben now announced. He walked over to the settee and where his youngest son lay asleep.
Ben stood there for a few seconds, perfectly content enough to stand there and drink in the sight of innocence in
it's purest form. He then placed one arm underneath his son's knees and one around Joe's slim shoulders and
lifted him into his arms. The boy weighed next to nothing so he was not a burden to his father's strong arms.
Joe stirred a little when he felt himself being lifted. He opened his eyes a little and wasn't sure if he was dreaming
or not. "Pa?" he whispered, still not sure if his eyes were telling him the truth or not.
"Hello son" Ben replied softly with a smile. "You've had a rough time of it this afternoon I hear?" he then said
as he carried his son up the stairs to his bedroom.
Joe chose not to answer his father's question about his injured arm. He was content though for some of Ben's
old fashioned fussing and laid his head against his father's broad chest. Ben could feel his son's need to be
close to him right at this moment and he was willing to comply.
Ben lowered Joe onto the bed and started to take Joe's boots off. Joe lay against the soft white pillows with his
eyes mostly closed, just content enough for his father to be in the room. Ben then gently removed the boy's
trousers and put a loose night shirt over his curly head, ready for bed.
"How are you feeling now son?" Ben asked as he made himself more comfortable on the edge of the bed,
pulling Joe into his embrace once again so that his son's curly head lay against his chest again.
"I'm okay Pa" Joe said in a quiet voice.
For the longest time he and his father just lay there in silence, enjoying the closeness that they both looked forward
to. It was Joe however who finally broke the silence with a question.
"Do you think I am backwards Pa?" Joe asked simply, not enlightening his father anymore as to where the insinuation
came from.
"Backwards?" Ben asked a little perplexed by the question. It sounded like such an unusual question for such a
young boy.
"No I don't think your backwards Joseph, why do you think you are?" he replied and then asked a question of his
own.
"Oh just some of the things that have been happening lately. I can't seem to do anything without tripping over my
own feet or somebody else's that's all." Joe replied "Just like today when I knocked into Hop Sing in the kitchen
and burnt my arm." he said using it as an example.
"Oh Joe, sometimes accidents happen for no reason at all" Ben now said trying to reassure his son. "Nobody
thinks your backwards son."
Joe continued to lay back against his father, but still unconvinced. He knew of at least one person who thought
he was. Mr Watson.
Ben gently began caressing his son's forehead in a soothing and gentle show of affection. It wasn't long before it
had the desired effect and Joe started to drift off to sleep. Ben only hoped that when asleep Joe would forget all
about his problems and get a restful night's sleep.
AUTHOR – SORRY IT TOO SO LONG TO UPDATE FOLKS – I PROMISE IT WON'T BE SO LONG
NEXT TIME – HAVE MADE A SMALL NUMBER OF CHANGES FROM MY ORIGINAL IDEA BUT
NOT SO AS YOU WOULD NOTICE. HOPE YOU ARE LIKING THE STORY SO FAR.
JULES