Detective Joe

For the next few days, the tension never really left the Cartwright family. Ben's fatherly instinct and strict demeanor resulted in him watching his oldest son's every step like a hawk. Adam, aware of his father's constant scrutiny, tried his best to act normal. Fortunately, the moon had spared him the recent nights and he was able to sleep comfortably in his own bed and give his feet the chance to heal. But Adam also knew from Dr. Robertson, that the moon and the resulting lunatism was unpredictable. Adam went to bed at night, always having to fear waking up in a different place, having injured himself, being caught by his family or, remembering the bone-crusher-ledge incident, fearing that he might never wake up at all. The constant fear also made him try stalling to go to bed. He went hours and hours on without sleep after telling his family that he'd like to retire to his room for the night. With his sudden, newfound time, he was able to study things he'd wanted to learn about for a long time now, was able to catch up on a lot of reading and also spent time on work related things, like putting up a contract for timber, going through work contracts of their hands, organizing schedules to install new fences in the most effective and well-managed way possible and checking their time schedules for the next cattle drive. For Adam, sleep slowly turned into a game of pure chance and the stakes were high; Even if he was spared from a nightly escaped through the wilderness, Adam often awoke in a cold sweat, blinking tears away and trying to catch his breath. He'd then lie there, motionless on his back with only his chest rising and sinking slowly, trying to chase the nightmare away. Another way of Adam's idea of dealing with his situation was getting a slim pair of shoes he was able to wear to bed to prevent further damage to his feet in case he'd leave the bed at night and to put a chair under his door's doorknob, effectively locking himself in his room. Adam knew he was very intelligent, but he hoped that moonstruck-Adam was not capable of figuring out this complex installation to be able to leave the room at night. The idea of staying put in his room, however naïve it might seem, helped in easing down his nerves a bit and helped him catch up on some much-needed sleep as well. Nevertheless, he was still suffering a lack of said sleep and that resulted in working sluggish and sloppy during the day. Due to his injured feet, Ben assigned him work he could only do at home, which Adam was very grateful for but he also had a feeling that his father just grabbed the opportunity to keep his son close-by in case… something happened.

Recently, there were other happenings taking place as well. Little Joe Cartwright wanted to be a man, to finally rule the roost, to prove himself to his father and brothers and seeing his big brother so vulnerable, so… fragile that one-night, little Joe knew that Adam needed his help. His Pa had said that they should leave Adam alone, that cornering him, forcing him to tell them what exactly was wrong, would only result in pushing Adam away, but Joe knew better; He knew that if you don't force Adam to accept your help, he'd never voluntary get help from you, which might result in things turning from bad to worse in the blink of an eye. But Joe also wanted to be clever. He couldn't let Adam know about his plan to find out what was bothering his brother until he had a solution as to how to address the problem and how to solve it. Making a premature move towards Adam would endanger the whole operation as Adam would push him away, telling him to stop snooping around. So, Joe made it his task to snoop around Adam and gather as much information which might explain his odd behavior. I'm so mature, Joe thought, mentally patting himself on the shoulder. The first thing, Joe took note of, was the dark circles under Adam's eyes, his sluggish movements and being unusually sloppy while working at his father's desk. Whenever he noticed that Joe was looking in his direction, he straightened, sending a calming smile at Joe. Typical Adam. Joe added 'tired', 'lack of sleep (?)' and 'stubborn!' to his mental list of clues about the Mystery of Adam. Despite having trouble working, Adam still seemed to finish all his tasks effortlessly, even meeting a few extra tasks, too, while trying to not fall asleep. Joe sighed, shaking his head slowly while pacing in their living area. Adam was clearly not getting enough sleep. Joe even doubted that he got any sleep. But seeing Adam retire early for the night almost every evening, Joe wanted to know what Adam was doing in his room. One night, he snuck out of his room on tip toes, quietly closing the distance to his brother's chamber. The gap under the door revealed that there was still a source of light flickering in the room. Joe knew that Adam always extinguishes a candle before going to bed, which meant that he was still up. Joe slowly and carefully pressed one ear to the cold surface of the door but couldn't hear a thing. Not wanting to get caught, Joe scurried back to his room, slipping under the covers into his still warm bed, brooding over the newfound clue. Maybe Adam is working on something…? If so, he has a reason to keep it secret from us, Joe thought while slowly slipping back to sleep. Sneaking out again one night, Joe was surprised to see no light flickering through the gap under Adam's door. Thinking that his brother was finally asleep, Joe thought it was the perfect opportunity to cast a glance at his sleeping brother. Even though Adam admitting having a nightmare seemed to be a distraction in Joe's eyes, he still couldn't dismiss the simple idea of his brother's lack of sleep being induced by afflicting nightmares. First, pressing his ear to the door, checking for sounds, Little Joe dared to slowly grab the doorknob, turning it and trying to push the door open. Turning the doorknob went well, but when he tried to push the door open, it wouldn't budge. Even using more strength wouldn't grant him entrance. Momentarily shocked, little Joe let go of the doorknob, stepping away from the door and staring at it in disbelief as he recognized the hindrance for what it was: Adam had locked the door from the inside by placing a chair underneath the doorknob. Joe knew, because he had done the same thing when he was little, did something stupid and feared his father was coming for his hide. Now, Joe was at a loss for words. Why would Adam lock himself in his room while he is sleeping? Their father always taught them to be there for each other, to help each other out, because in his eyes, family was the most important thing in life. There was more than one time when they had sat by each other's beds while one of them was sick or injured, more than one time they went to comfort each other when someone woke up from a nightmare in the middle of the night. And knowing that his family was just a door away from him, made this house, this ranch more than a home for little Joe. It was a safe-haven in the middle of a stormy sea. In little Joe's eyes, it was also a matter of trust that Adam betrayed by locking himself away from his family. Suddenly furious, Joe stomped away, not even bothering to be quiet. He went back to bed, almost fuming and angrily stared at the ceiling. And while trying to fall back to sleep and miserably failing doing so, little Joe decided that someone needs to know about this and he had just the right person in mind.