(This has been edited and reposted. Thanks to all who read and leave reviews.)
Thursday
"Mr. Axelrod, Ben has something to say to you." Ethan says standing behind Ben with his hands on the boy's shoulders. Ben wonders to himself "Is he keeping me from running away or just helping me be brave?" At the slight pressure on his shoulders he takes a deep breath, licks his lips and says "I came to apologize for my behavior yesterday. I also want to apologize for stealing from you. I took the bowls and that small rug too. I'm very sorry Mr. Axelrod and I won't ever steal anything again." He looks up to see what the storekeeper thinks of his apology.
Mr. Axelrod is glaring at him so he shifts his eyes back to the wall behind the man. "You mean to tell me this child stole from me several times? What of the saddle blankets Boy? Did you take them too?"
"No sir, I never took any saddle blankets. I don't know what happened to those if you are missing some." Ben says quietly.
"Mr. Axelrod?" Ethan's voice makes the man jerk his glare away from Ben. "Yesterday, I agreed to letting you come up with a suitable punishment for Ben for what he has done. If you would be so kind as to inform us as to what you would like for him to do, he will accept whatever you say."
"And what if I say he deserves a sound thrashing? After all, stealing is a crime! You being a lawman must agree with that!" Axelrod snaps hatefully.
"I think most people agree with the fact that stealing is a crime whether or not they are lawmen, Mr. Axelrod. As to Ben deserving a sound thrashing as you put it, that punishment is reserved for a parent to administer. What you may do is assign him chores to do, assign him a written essay on stealing, or even have him write sentences such as "I will not take things that do not belong to me without paying for them." one hundred times. You may not administer any kind of physical punishment!" Ethan replies giving the man a firm look.
Sensing the anger between his Uncle and Mr. Axelrod, Ben says quietly "What punishment do you want me to do Mr. Axelrod?"
Breaking his gaze away from Ethan, Mr. Axelrod says "You can work here in the store for today. I'll find things for you to do. To start with you can scrub down the front porch and then wash the front windows. After you do that I will find more for you to do."
"Yes Sir, Mr. Axelrod." Ben says glumly.
Ethan says sternly "Ben, you are to do whatever Mr. Axelrod assigns you without complaint or argument. I will come at lunchtime to take you home for lunch. If you are not finished with his list of chores you will come back here after lunch and finish. Do you understand me?"
"Yes Sir."
.
"If you give Mr. Axelrod one bit of trouble, you and I will have another discussion about behavior when we get home. Are we clear on this young man?"
"Yes Sir! Uncle Ethan, I understand and I'll behave. I don't want any more discussions in the barn!" Ben says quickly.
After washing the front porch and the two large windows, Ben brings the empty bucket and rags inside the door. Feeling extremely thirsty and wishing he could stop for a few minutes he calls "Mr. Axelrod?" Getting no answer, Ben walks towards the counter. He sees Mr. Axelrod looking at some account books and mumbling to himself. "Excuse me, Sir? Could I please take a break?" Ben asks politely.
"What?" Mr. Axelrod snaps "I'm busy go finish washing those windows!"
"Excuse me, Sir? I am finished washing the porch and the windows. I'm very thirsty. May I please take a break for just a few minutes? Please Sir, I truly need to go out to the well for a drink."
"Come here and sit on this stool. You will polish this silver until I say get up." Mr. Axelrod tells him.
Wishing he could just walk out the front door and forget his punishment, Ben follows the man to the stool and sits down slowly. Watching the boy's hesitation at sitting down, Mr. Axelrod smirks and says "You seem to be a little sore in your backside today. Is that because your Uncle exhibited his displeasure with your behavior by putting a strap to your backside by any chance?"
"Yes sir, he whipped me with his belt." Ben admits squirming around on the seat. Ben wonders to himself "Why am I telling him all this? It must be just being tired."
After several more minutes and having polished three pieces of silver, Ben speaks up again "Mr. Axelrod, Sir?" he asks..
"Yes child, what is the problem now?"Mr. Axelrod thinks "This child can't be quiet for longer than five minutes at a time! He must drive the teacher insane!"
"Sir, I'm in desperate need of a drink. My mouth is so dry I can't even swallow. Please Sir may I go now?" Ben asks.
"Come with me, child." Axelrod says holding a door open. Following him Ben sees a set of stairs leading up above the store. "Come on, follow me." Mr. Axelrod climbs the stairs quickly. Ben follows him up the stairs wondering where he is being taken and why. In a few minutes he sees Mr. Axelrod open another door at the top of the staircase. As Ben catches up Mr. Axelrod
says "This way, child." He leads Ben through what is obviously his living quarters, to what looks like a small fold down table and some chairs.
Ben looks at the man curiously thinking "I wonder why he brought me up here. This is where he lives. No one ever comes up here!" He sees Mr. Axelrod looking at him strangely and waits for the angry words he expects to hear.
"Why didn't you speak up sooner? I would have let you stop working to go get a drink. I may seem mean to you but I'm not cruel. Come sit down here for a minute." Mr. Axelrod tells him pulling out a chair beside the one he himself is sitting in.
"Are you afraid of me, child? Is that why you didn't speak up?" Mr. Axelrod asks quietly as Ben sits down.
"Maybe I am a little but I did speak up. I asked you if I could go and told you I was thirsty when I came in from washing the front, Sir." Ben answers. Then as he suddenly remembers his Uncle's words from earlier he says "Please Sir! I didn't mean to cause you trouble by making you bring me up here. Please don't tell my Uncle I did, I'll do any work you say, honest!"
"Slow down, son. I'm not going to be telling your Uncle any such thing. You haven't caused me any trouble. I'm the one who caused you a problem. I apologize for not listening to you. After so many years of living alone I get lost in my own thoughts when I don't have customers in the store. I wasn't ignoring you at all. I simply did not hear you. Will you forgive me?" Mr. Axelrod asks.
Ben stares at him in surprise. "He's asking me to forgive him? He says he did something wrong? I must be dreaming!" he thinks. Then he says "Sure Mr. Axelrod, I'll forgive you."
Mr. Axelrod gets up and goes over to a small box near the sink. Watching curiously, Ben sees him open the box and reach inside. Mr. Axelrod pulls out two bottles and brings them back to the table. "Here son, have a bottle of root beer. It's a fairly new drink. I think you'll like it."
"Thank you Sir." Ben says politely but doesn't reach for the bottle.
Noticing the boy isn't drinking, Mr. Axelrod says "Go on son, try it. You may really like it. You said you were thirsty."
"I can't sir." Ben says shaking his head. "If Uncle Ethan found out I was drinking beer, he would take that strap down and whip me! He's told me and Joseph that if he ever heard of us drinking alcohol he would give us a whipping with the strap! He whipped me just yesterday. I don't want to get another worse one today!"
At this statement, Mr. Axelrod actually laughs out loud.
Ben gapes at him thinking "The man has truly lost his mind. A whipping is NOT funny."
"Have you ever had a soda, Ben?" Mr. Axelrod asks surprising himself at using the boy's name.
"Yes Sir. Last year in Colorado Springs when we went to a soda shop we all had one."
"Well this is just like a soda. It's a flavored drink with soda in it. I promise you it is not a real beer. It is not alcohol of any kind. You will not be in trouble if you drink it." He tells Ben.
At Ben's skeptical look Mr. Axelrod says "I assure you son, this is not going to get you in any trouble. Go ahead try it. If you want me to I won't even mention you had any to your Uncle."
"Alright if you promise you won't tell, I'll try it." Ben says reaching for the bottle. After taking several sips he smiles and says "This is very good, Mr. Axelrod. I really like it. Are you going to sell this downstairs in the store?"
"Well, I hadn't thought about doing that. I probably could sell it." Mr. Axelrod answers.
"Loads of people would buy this once they tasted it! You could give out little cups to taste it and then people would want to buy it! I would buy some if I had any money! Ben says getting excited. "I could probably get Uncle Ethan to get us some once he gets over being mad at me."
Remembering how his Uncle gave him the stern talk that morning he says "Mr. Axelrod? I need to go back downstairs and get back to work before Uncle Ethan comes. Thank you for letting me try the root beer I really like it a lot!" Ben quickly goes back down the stairs and hurries to his stool to begin polishing the silver again.
In a few minutes he sees Mr. Axelrod come back downstairs and begin placing things on the shelves behind the counter. Ben smiles to himself as he continues to work. "Mr. Axelrod's really not as mean as I thought. Actually he's kind of nice." He thinks.
Several customers come and go. As Ben watches Mr. Axelrod fill their orders, he begins to wish he could help get some of the items. He's just about to suggest that he could help when the door opens and his uncle comes in. "It's lunchtime Ben. Are you ready to go home?" Ethan asks.
"Yes sir, I could eat something." Ben says smiling.
"Mr. Axelrod, has Ben behaved himself this morning? Has he caused you any problems at all?"
"No Sir, Mr. Cord." Mr. Axelrod answers. Then at Ben's sharp gasp of horror realizes how Ethan might take that answer. "What I mean to say is, I haven't had one second of trouble out of Ben.
He's actually been a very good helper this morning. So good I wouldn't mind if he came back sometime just to help again. His punishment is over."
"That's good to hear. I'm very proud of you Ben for being such good help." Ethan tells him.
"Mr. Axelrod?" Ben asks.
"Yes Child?"
"May I come back this afternoon after lunch? I still have four more silver pieces to polish."
"You didn't hear me? Your punishment is over now. You don't have to finish the silver." Mr. Axelrod says looking at Ben strangely.
"Yes sir I know. But may I come back anyway? I want to finish helping you." Ben says.
"If it's alright with your Uncle then I guess I can put up with you for a little longer." Mr. Axelrod answers giving Ben a small smile.
"Good, see you after lunch Mr. Axelrod." Ben says as he walks out the door.
"I'll see you later son." Mr. Axelrod whispers to himself smiling
When Ben comes back in from having lunch, he hears Mr. Axelrod scolding "I have told you boys not to come in here without one of your parents. I want you out of here! Both of you leave before I send for the law" Ben is surprised to see Joseph's friends Jeff and Jason when he walks close enough to see who Mr. Axelrod is talking to.
"Hi, Jeff. Hi, Jason. What are you doing here?" Ben asks
"Ben! Is Joseph in town too?" Jason asks eagerly. Jeff says "We were sent here to get some things for our Mama but he won't let us! Jeff glares over at Mr. Axelrod at the word "he'.
"No, Joseph isn't with me. I came in with Uncle Ethan. I'll tell Joseph I saw you though." Ben says as he walks with the twins to the front door.
Walking back to the counter he says "Mr. Axelrod, could I help you put things up on the shelves? I can climb really well and I'm not scared of high places."
"That will be fine, child. If you'll just dust off the shelves and straighten them up that would help." Mr. Axelrod watches as Ben scrambles up the ladder. He turns back to the counter to finish checking the account books. Later after helping take a lady's purchases to her wagon, Ben hears Mr. Axelrod calling him. "Yes sir?" he asks.
"I need to go over to the post office and then the bank for a few minutes. Will you be able to stay in here by yourself without getting into trouble?" Mr. Axelrod asks.
"Yes sir, I can handle the store for you. I'll write down anything somebody buys. Claire says I'm good at keeping figures and money." Ben tells him.
"You just keep out of the money drawer! I'll handle that. I doubt anyone will buy anything while I'm gone anyway. Stay out of the candy and make sure to stay off that ladder. I don't want you on it unless I'm here! Do you hear me?"
"Yes Mr. Axelrod, I hear you." Ben says trying not to sound resentful.
Not long after Mr. Axelrod left, the door opens and a well -dressed woman comes in. Ben recognizes her as the mayor's wife. All of the town children have let it be known she is mean to children. Ben hears "Young Man, do you work here?" Before he can even open his mouth she shoves a list into his face snapping "Well fill my order! I'm in a hurry and don't have time for laziness!"
Ben is almost finished with her list when he sees " a box of bluing" written on the list. "It's a good thing Claire makes me help with the wash or I wouldn't know what to look for! " Ben thinks as he climbs the ladder to reach the box. Just as he reaches for the box on the second highest shelf his foot slips off the ladder and he starts to fall. He reaches out to grab on to the shelf but misses and lands on the floor.
"Ben? Ben open your eyes and look at me. Do you hear me? Open your eyes." Ben hears Uncle Ethan talking to him and wonders why his Uncle is telling him to open his eyes. Sleepily he follows his Uncle's order and opens his eyes. "Where am I? he asks looking around. "How did I get here?"
"You are at Doctor Americus' office, son. I brought you here. Do you remember what happened at the store?" Ethan asks as he helps Ben sit up on the cot.
"I was helping a lady fill her order and I reached up to get something and fell off the ladder." Ben answers hoping he won't be scolded for being on the ladder.
"Well son, when you landed you knocked yourself out and I'm afraid you also broke your arm. Doctor Amy has put it in a splint. You'll have to keep it tied to your chest for several weeks. I have pain relieving powders for when it starts to hurt. She's given you some powder here so that we won't need any until later tonight. Are you up to going home or do you feel sick?"
"I want to go home. I don't feel sick just very sleepy. Will you tell Mr. Axelrod that I'm sorry?" At his Uncle's questioning look he says "I'm sorry for not staying off the ladder like he told me to do. I wasn't supposed to climb it when he wasn't there but I did it anyway." Ben says. "Are you going to punish me for not minding?" Ben asks.
"Normally you would be in trouble for disobeying an adult, Ben. You know how I feel about doing as you are told." At Ben's crestfallen look he continues "In this case, I think having to put up with a broken arm is punishment enough. Let's go home. I warn you this wagon ride is going to be rough. I hope the pain medicine helps your arm not to hurt to badly. "
Friday- Ethan's birthday
"Good Morning Uncle Ethan. Happy Birthday!" Claire greets him as he enters the front room.
"Good Morning, Claire. Is anyone else up yet?" Ethan asks.
"Yes sir, Joseph's outside in the barn already. He said he wanted to get started before breakfast. When he had to go to town yesterday he didn't get all the chores done. Did Ben sleep much last night? I heard him crying several times."
"He had a difficult night. He woke up about every two hours in pain. The pain medicine works but I can't give him enough to last more than a couple of hours. The doctor said not to give him more than three doses during the night. I'm sure that arm is really hurting him." Ethan replies his voice weary.
"I can look after Ben if you want to go back and get some sleep Uncle Ethan. You look very tired. Joseph and I can take turns with him." Claire tells him.
"Thank you Claire, I will need you to look in on him later this morning. I need to go to town to check on something but I'll be back by lunchtime. I'm not going to stay in town today. I will take George with me so you won't have him to look after too. Is he sleeping in Joseph's room?"
"No sir, he's asleep in my room. He came in my room late last night upset because Ben was hurting. He didn't sleep much either so I left him in bed this morning to let him sleep." Claire replies.
"Well in that case I guess I should leave him here. If he wakes up before I leave, I'll take him with me." Ethan says thinking out loud. As he sits at the table to have breakfast the side door opens and Joseph comes in also looking tired.
"Morning Uncle Ethan and Happy Birthday. I finished all of the barn chores but I haven't done the chicken coop yet or put the horses out. I figured it would be okay to wait until after breakfast."
"Of course Joseph, I appreciate you going and doing all of that so early. You look tired son. Did Ben keep you awake last night?" Ethan asks watching the boy scoop eggs onto his plate.
"I heard him crying and it made it hard to sleep. Also George came in crying sometime early this morning saying Ben was dying. I tried to convince him Ben would be alright but I'm not sure he believed me. He left me and went back to Claire. I guess she makes a better Mama than I do!" Joseph says grinning at his sister a little.
"I'll talk with George later and try to convince him Ben will live. I'm not that good at being a Mama either Joseph. I guess we'll have to leave that up to Claire. She can do a better job than both of us together."
"Maybe because she looks the part." Joseph says teasing his sister.
"Joseph Carroll Cord! Are you trying to say I'm old?" Claire asks pretending to be aggravated.
"Well you are much older than me. I'm twelve and you are turning fifteen next week! You are old enough to be a Mama now." Joseph answers back.
"Claire has a long time before she's going to be anybody's mama Joseph. She needs time to be a young lady first. Claire, I hope you take several years being a young lady before you decide to become a wife and mother." Ethan tells her seriously.
"Claire? A young lady? She's not a lady." Joseph says laughing.
He stops laughing at the look in his Uncle's eyes when Claire runs out of the room crying.
"What did I say? I didn't mean anything, I was just teasing." Joseph says sounding confused.
"Joseph, you insulted her when you said she wasn't a lady. She took the teasing as fact. I think you should go apologize to her." Ethan says quietly. "Why would you say she wasn't a lady? That was cruel, Joseph."
"I only meant she wasn't grown up yet! I didn't mean it any other way." Joseph explains. "She never used to cry when I teased her. She'd just come back at me or get me back somehow."
"Go talk to your sister Joseph. You need to watch what you say and how you say it from now on. She is more sensitive now than when she was younger. Now go on, go talk to her." Ethan tells him.
That evening
"Papa took me to the hotel for lunch, I had a ham and cheese cooked sandwich and some apple pie we went to Mr. Axelrod's and he gave something called a sting for us to give Ben for his arm and we went to the woods and picked some kind of plant Papa says will help Ben sleep and we stopped by Dr. Amy's and she did something with it and we…." he's running out of breath but tries to keep talking.
"George." Ethan says somewhat sternly watching Joseph and Claire try to smother their laughter with their napkins.
"Yes Papa?" George asks wondering just what his brother and sister find so funny.
"That word you were looking for is sling. Mr. Axelrod gave Ben a sling to rest his arm in not a sting." Ethan says smiling at the boy. "You need to stop talking now so you can eat this delicious supper Claire has made."
"This chicken pie melts in my mouth. However did you learn to fix this so well?" Ethan asks Claire.
"I went to Mrs. Anderson and she taught me how to make it. She also gave me a recipe for chocolate cake that she says you are sure to love. We have that for dessert." Claire replies.
Noticing that Ben isn't eating and is very quiet Ethan asks "Ben, is your arm hurting you now? Is that why you're so quiet and not eating? If it is we can try some of the new medicine I brought back from town earlier."
"No sir it doesn't hurt now. I'm just not very hungry. The powder makes my stomach hurt." Ben says thinking "I don't want to tell him the real reason. I wanted to give him that tie clip today."
"Oh! Ben?" Joseph says. "Mr. Axelrod asked me to give you this." He hands Ben a small wrapped package. Ben unwraps it and just sits and stares at it. "What is it? Let me see." George leans over to look. "OH! " he says surprised.
"What did he send you Ben? Put it up here on the table so everyone can see." Claire tells him.
"Uncle Ethan, I wanted you to have this for your birthday and I told Mr. Axelrod I would work to pay for it." Ben says as he lays the horse head tie clip on the table. "Now I can't pay for it so I'll have to give it back again." Ben says as tears start to roll down his face.
Ethan starts to say something but Joseph beats him to it. "Ben, when I was in town yesterday afternoon, I told Mr. Axelrod why you took the tie clip. I also paid him for it. So you don't have to worry about paying for this." Then taking the tie clip Joseph hands it to Ethan. "Happy Birthday Uncle Ethan from Ben and me!"
Claire whispers something to George and he leaves the room. He comes back with a package wrapped in white butcher paper with a black string tie bow. Happy Birthday Uncle Ethan love from Claire, Joseph, Ben and George is written on the package.
"Happy Birthday Papa!" George says as he hands Ethan the package. All of the children watch Ethan's face eagerly as he unwraps the new shirt. Holding it up in front of him Ethan says "This shirt is wonderful! I love it. Thank you children!"
"Claire did the sewing but Ben, Joseph and I picked out the cloth and the buttons The string tie is from Ben and me and now you have a tie clip for it too!" George says all excited.
"Well boys, I think I'll let you pick out the cloth for all my shirts from now on. This is going to be so soft and I can already tell I'm going to be the handsomest man in town when I get all dressed up!" Ethan says reaching out to hug George. Getting up from his seat he hugs each of the other three children also. "Ben, Joseph, Thank you for the tie clip."
"You're welcome and now let's have cake!" Ben says looking up at Claire.
"Ben you really need to eat some supper before you have the cake. You need to …" Claire starts to scold.
Ethan says "Claire just this one time I think it would be OK for Ben to have dessert before supper. Just as long as he promises to eat some supper afterwards. Do you promise that Ben?"
"Yes Sir! I promise!" Ben says.
"How about that Claire? Don't you think he'll live through dessert first just this once?"
"It's fine with me as long as you don't mind. I was just going by the rule of eat most of what is served before you can have dessert." Claire says cutting the cake.
Sunday – Father's Day
As soon as breakfast and chores are finished the children coax Ethan into the front room.
"Okay, you have to sit right here and keep your eyes closed until we say you can open them." Ben tells him seriously. Joseph and George come in the side door carrying the display case. They lay it down on the small table next to Ethan's chair.
"Alright Uncle Ethan open your eyes." Joseph says as the children all sit on the floor around Ethan's chair. Ethan opens his eyes to see the display case with his two special revolvers inside. The case is brown with brass hinges and a brass clasp on the front. The glass top shines in the sunlight coming in the front window.
Ethan looks up at the children as they say "Happy Father's Day!"
"Where did you find such a case? How did you ever afford it? You all must have spent all of your savings for this. " Ethan says sounding a little stern in his surprise.
"Don't you like it Papa?" George asks his voice trembling. Ethan looks down at him sitting on the floor and sees that he is about to cry.
"Boys, I absolutely love it! I've never seen a case like this. I'd like to know where you got it."
"We didn't buy it Uncle Ethan." Joseph tells him proudly. "Ben, George and I made it!"
"You three made this?" Ethan says sounding shocked. He turns the case around in his hands examining all sides.
"Well boys, I couldn't buy a case as nice as this one. You all did a wonderful job." He says looking mostly at Joseph as he knows Joseph is the one who actually built the case.
"I do have one question though." Ethan says. "Which one of you put the guns into the case?" He looks at each boy curiously. Then seeing the looks on their faces he says "I'm not angry and no one is going to be punished. This is just such a wonderful job of displaying these guns I'd like to know who did it."
Ben and Joseph exchange looks. Both are thinking about the same thing "We were right. He would have been mad at us."
Ben speaks up first "We didn't put the guns in there Uncle Ethan." At Ethan's firm glare, Joseph says "We asked Mitch to do it for us. He put the guns on the board and tied them down. All we did was build the case. We never touched the guns."
"We thought if we did touch the guns you would get mad and wallop us!" Ben says.
"I would have been a little upset but I would have understood why you did it. I just want each of you to always remember not to handle any guns you have not been taught to use."
Ethan says smiling at the children. "You did exactly the right thing in having an adult handle the guns. I am very proud of you boys to have been able to make such a grown up choice. I think most boys would have jumped right in and used this as an excuse to play with the guns. I am so glad I can trust all of you to make the right decisions!"
Claire speaks up "Uncle Ethan we want to do one more thing for you today. We want to take you out to lunch at the hotel. Will you let us do that?"
"Claire, I would be pleased to be escorted to lunch by such handsome gentlemen and a beautiful lady! I'll have to go get dressed in my newest shirt and tie first."
Hotel dining room
"Thank you children for making this day very special. I have a wonderful new display case and now I'm getting another special meal too. And on top of that I get to be around my favorite niece and nephews too!"
"Uncle Ethan! We're your only niece and nephews!" Ben says frowning.
"Which is why you all are definitely my favorites, Ben!" Ethan teases him.
"Well Uncle Ethan, we wanted to do something really special for our first real Father's Day together. Last year we didn't get to really call you our father and now we can." Claire tells him.
"You have been more a Father to us than an Uncle in the almost three years we've been with you. We wanted to show you how much we thank you for all you have done." She looks at her brothers and nods giving them the signal to speak.
"Thank you for taking us places with you and for teaching us to ride horses and to swim." Ben says.
"Thank you Papa, for our birthday parties and our tree house and for reading to me at night." George says standing up by his chair as if he were reciting in school.
"Thank you for caring enough to punish us when we deserve it, for staying up with us when we're scared or sick and for just being there when we need to talk about something." Joseph says when George sits down.
Then Claire says "Most of all we want to say: Thank you for loving us so much that you gave up your life to take us in and make us your children. We love you for it."
"Happy Father's Day" all four say together as they each get up and give Ethan in a hug.
Feeling too emotional to speak, Ethan just hugs them back as they all hear a woman sniff loudly as she says "My what a loving group of children. I wish my children showed that much love and great manners. He is one lucky father."
"She's right you know." Ethan whispers to his children. "I am one lucky Father!"