On Sunday, the children noticed that Reverend Long's sermons were starting to get long and he said the same thing different ways several times. Some of the boys tried to talk about it after church but there were too many adults present so they decided to wait until recess on Monday. They talked about the problem at morning recess on Monday and decided to wait several weeks to see if the problem got better just in case he was just having a bad day.
The school week drug on for Cat. Working with Laura made it a little more tolerable but she still hated being cooped up inside and made to sit still. With Laura's help, her arithmetic began to improve until Miss Winter introduced multiplying three digits by three digits. While doing her homework, Cat became frustrated and threw her arithmetic book out of the pasture. Joe walked out to check on her, saw the book lying in the grass outside the pasture and guessed that his sister was having problems with her arithmetic. He picked the book up, walked into the pasture, sat down next to Cat and said, "Hi Squirt. It looks like you're having some trouble with your arithmetic."
"Yes. It's awful. I can't do it. Nothing comes out right."
"Have you finished the rest of your homework yet?"
"Yeah. I just finished reading. Pa's gonna be mad at me 'cause my arithmetic isn't done and it's almost suppertime."
"Let's go in the house and I'll help you with it. Pa won't be angry that it's not done as long as you're getting help."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. Let's go and I'll help you."
"Why can't we do it right here?"
"Because it's almost suppertime and Pa wants you in the house.
"Oh."
"I told you not to worry. Pa won't be angry that your arithmetic isn't done yet because you're getting help with it. You're not the only family member who hates arithmetic. I hated it too when I was in school and so did Hoss, but Pa and Adam helped us and I managed to graduate with a passing grade." When they walked into the house, the table was set for supper, so Joe put Cat's book down on the table in the great room and sat on the floor next to her. "Give me your tablet so I can see what you've done & what your problem is." Cat handed her tablet to Joe who looked at it and said, "I see what your problem is. You need to keep your numbers under each other. I know what will help you. Copy that first problem onto another page and I'll be right back."
Joe walked over to his father's desk and asked him for a ruler. "I take it that your sister is having the same problem you did with arithmetic."
"Yes. Her problems are wrong because she's not keeping the numbers where they belong. I'm going to show her the trick Adam showed me and I'll see if I still have my ruler to give her."
"Thank you for taking care of your sister son. I'm sure she appreciates it. I know that I do."
Joe walked back over and sat down next to his sister and told her to solve the first part of the problem. Then he took her tablet and using the ruler, drew lines down the page between each number. "It's not that you can't do the work Squirt. The problem is that your numbers aren't under each other. Now solve the second part of the problem and put the numbers between the lines I just drew." Once she did that, Joe had her solve the third part of the problem and add all of the columns together. "Ok. You did a good job with that one. Now do the next one the same way. If you don't keep your numbers lined up when you're doing multiplication, you're going to have a real hard time when you start doing long division."
"What's long division?"
"Don't worry about it right now. You'll find out when the time comes. Right now, we need to get the rest of these multiplication problems done." He sat with Cat as she worked each problem, offering encouragement and pointing out her mistakes.
When Hop Sing called everyone to the table, Ben asked, "Joe, how many problems does your sister have left?"
"Just two."
"How many did she start with?"
Joe looked at Cat's paper and said, "She started with twelve."
"That's excellent. Cat, you can finish those last two problems after supper. I am very proud of you for getting help when you needed it. Go wash up for supper and join us at the table."
After Cat walked out to the bathhouse to wash up, Adam said, "I thought she was supposed to have her homework finished before supper."
"Yes she is, however, she had trouble with her arithmetic. Joe decided to help her and since all of her problems were wrong, she had to start all over again. She has been working steadily for the past hour and asking for help and getting the problems done correctly are more important than getting everything done before supper."
When Cat joined her family at the table, she said, "I didn't really ask for help. I got mad and threw my arithmetic book out of the pasture. Joe found it and said he'd help me."
Ben laughed. "I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to do that same thing with my books. Maybe I'll try that the next time I get frustrated with them and then maybe somebody else will do them for me. In fact, I may even do it tonight."
"You have to do arithmetic?"
"Yes I do Kitten. Running a ranch this size requires a lot of arithmetic. After you finish those last two problems, I'll show you a little bit of what I have to do. You're eventually going to have to learn how to do the books too because someday this ranch will be yours. Of course, it will be quite a while before you have to learn how to do the ranch books, but looking at them might help you understand why I insisted that your brothers graduate from school and why I am insisting that you do too."
"But Hoss didn't graduate."
"Well Punkin' that's 'cause I had a real hard time keepin' up with the other kids. Adam and Pa helped me as much as they could but I still couldn't keep up but Pa still made me stay in school until I was fifteen."
"Oh," said Cat dejectedly, causing the rest of the family to laugh. "I know. I'll just find a nice boy and get married. Then I'll never have to go to school again."
"Sorry Kitten," laughed Ben. "You are forgetting one very important thing. As your father, I have to give my permission for you to marry and that won't happen until after you graduate and turn eighteen."
"That's not fair."
"Sorry Squirt," laughed Adam. "But as we've told you before, life isn't fair."
"It should be."
"You won't get an argument about that from any of us," laughed Ben. "Right now, you need to finish your supper so you can get those last two arithmetic problems done before bedtime."
On Wednesday, Mike noticed that Mrs. Warren had been released from jail. He talked with Jasper and Mitch and together with some of their other friends, made plans to extract vengeance for what she had done to Cat. "Be careful not to get caught," said Jasper. "If you do, we're all going to be in huge trouble. I don't want my father using his razor strop on my bare bottom and restricting me to the ranch until I'm eighteen."
"Whatever you do, do not let Cat know what we are doing," said Mike. "As soon as we start using our slingshots on the old witch, Sheriff Coffee will go out to the Ponderosa and ask Mr. Cartwright if Cat knows anything. If she knows anything and doesn't tell, she'll get a whipping and so will we. Also, don't tell your older brothers. They might tell Little Joe and he might tell his Pa and the sheriff. If that happens, none of us will be able to sit down comfortably for a long time."
"Don't bring your slingshot to school," added Mitch. "Hide it somewhere away from the school. When word of what we're doing get out, if Miss Winter sees one of us with a slingshot at the school, she'll figure out it's us and tell the sheriff. Like Jas said, if our Pa's find out, they'll be using razor strops on our bare bottoms and God only knows how long we'll be restricted for."
"When do you want to start?" asked George.
"How about tomorrow?" answered Mike.
"Tomorrow is too soon," said Dave. "I've got an idea that might help keep us out of trouble. There's always the chance that a hidden slingshot could be found and most of us have our initials on ours. We should make new slingshots with no initials and hide them around town. That way if one gets found, Sheriff Coffee won't know who it belongs to. We'll have to be careful not to get caught making new ones."
The boys agreed with Dave and they all decided to make new slingshots before using them on Mrs. Warren. Since it was already Wednesday and it would take several days to make new weapons without being caught, they decided to put their plan into action on Saturday. Mitch and George said since they lived closest to town, they would attack on Saturday. The boys decided not to do anything on Sundays because it would be hard to get away from their families and the risk of getting caught was too great. They also decided not to attack Mrs. Warren every day so there was less chance of getting caught. Miss Winter rang the school bell and the six boys joined the rest of their schoolmates in the classroom.
After school, Annabel walked up to Cat and said, "I want your saddle bags. Give them to me."
"No. They were a present to me and I'm not giving them to anybody. Ask your parents to buy some for you."
"I want yours. Give them to me."
"I said no. I don't want to be friends with you and I'm not giving you my saddle bags. Now go away and don't bother me. I've got to get home so I can do my chores and homework before supper." Cat walked toward the corral to get Beauty.
"I want those saddle bags and I'm going to get them. You just wait and see. I always get what I want. My mother said that I can have anything I want and I want your saddle bags."
Cat ignored Annabel and asked Mike Devlin to check to see if she got her cinch tight enough. Mike tightened it and teased, "You're going to have to strengthen those arm muscles. I think you should pick Hoss up and carry him around for a while. You'll get plenty strong then."
Cat stuck her tongue out at her friend and said, "I'll pick Hoss up right after you do. If you can do it, then I can too. I've got to get the mail. Then I'll race you home."
"We'd better not race all the way. Your Pa feels the same way about long races as mine does. If we get caught racing all the way home, we'll both have trouble sitting down & will have to ride double to school with someone for a while. Believe me, there's nothing worse than being laughed at because you have to ride double with an adult. You're a Cartwright and I know about the famous Cartwright temper. Mitch told me about Joe attacking kids who laughed at him when he had to ride double with Adam or your Pa. He said that Joe lit into the kids who were laughing at him like a cyclone. Miss Jones paddled him hard and sent a note home to your Pa and Joe got into even more trouble. The same thing will happen to you too. Your Pa and mine get mad when their kids getting in trouble in school. Even though Mitch warned me, I learned the hard way that if I get in trouble in school, I get in even worse trouble when Pa finds out."
"Grownups are no fun."
"I agree. But unless we can figure out how to get them to go somewhere else, we're stuck with them."
"Ok. I don't want a sore bottom and I sure don't want to ride double to school tomorrow. We can race when we get close to the road that leads to your house."
"Yeah, that's a good plan. It's not that far so we shouldn't get in trouble for racing. We can race to my house and maybe Ma will have some lemonade and cookies for us."
The two children got the mail and rode toward the Devlin ranch. They began their race when they reached the road leading to the ranch. Mr. Devlin was in the yard when they rode in, laughed and declared the race a tie. "Go in the house you two. I believe that your mother has some lemonade and fresh cookies for you. I am curious, what did you wager on your race?"
"The winner got to go first the next time we play marbles," answered Cat.
"Well, I think that is a very fair wager. Now go and get your snack. Cat needs to get home before her family starts to worry about her."
Adam was cutting wood when Cat rode into the Ponderosa yard. He looked at his sister and said, "You should have been home a while ago. I suppose you got in trouble and were kept after school just like Joe used to be."
"No I didn't get kept after school. Mike and I raced to his house and his Ma gave us lemonade and ginger cookies."
"You'd better let Pa know you're home and then start on your chores."
"I'm not a baby. I don't need you telling me what to do."
Ben walked out of the house just as Cat was talking back to Adam.
"Catherine Michael! You need to watch your tone of voice. I will not tolerate you being rude to anyone, including your brothers."
"Then tell Adam to stop treating me like a baby. He sounded like he was glad I was a little late coming home because I might have gotten in trouble in school. And he doesn't need to tell me what to do. I'm not a baby and nobody tells me what to do."
"We'll talk about that later. Why are you late getting home?"
"Mike and I raced to his house and his Ma gave us lemonade and cookies."
"Alright. I'm glad you weren't kept after school."
"If it's ok with Adam, I'm going to do my chores and homework." Cat led Beauty into the barn before Ben could say anything.
"You'd better do something about her attitude. She's starting to sound like Joe used to when he was nine."
"I'll deal with your sister's attitude but you had better deal with you own. Did you ask her why she was late or did you just assume she got in trouble in school?"
"I assumed she got in trouble just like Joe used to."
"For almost two months, you and your brothers have been reminding me that Catherine is not Joe and I should stop assuming she is doing things because she's so much like him. Now you are doing exactly what you have been reminding me not to do. Also, why did your sister say that you sounded happy that she might have gotten in trouble in school? You used to take that same attitude when Joe was a boy and got in trouble. I realize you always thought that I spoiled him and maybe I did, but, as we have discussed before, I did not have to be as hard on him as I was on you because by the time he was born, we were settled here and not on the trail. I will discuss your sister's attitude with her but you need to think about your own. Also, she was only fifteen minutes later than normal so there was no need to question her about her whereabouts or assume she got in trouble. There were many times over the years when you or your brothers were a little late getting home and I did not accuse you of getting into trouble. I just figured you had lost track of time or had stopped to talk with a friend."
Ben walked into the barn and heard Cat talking to Beauty and her puppies. "See, I told Hoss and Joe that Adam didn't love me or want me here but they said I was wrong. I wasn't wrong, they were. You heard him. He was happy when he thought I had gotten in trouble in school and he keeps saying I'm a pest and a nuisance. Nobody every called me a pest except when I was five and kept begging Uncle Matt to buy me some candy. But he didn't do it all the time, just that once when I wouldn't stop begging him to buy me candy. If being part of a family means being called a pest and a nuisance and someone being happy 'cause I might have gotten in trouble in school, then I don't want to be part of a family. Fury is still a baby and can't travel fast, but if we leave tomorrow, we should be at Uncle Rip's fort on Saturday or Sunday. I'll send Lady back when Fury doesn't need her any more and Beauty, I'll send you back when Fury is old enough for me to ride."
"Why are you talking about leaving?"
"'Cause Adam doesn't want me here and neither do you. Hoss and Joe are the only ones who want me. They don't treat me like a baby and they don't always say I'm a pest and a nuisance and they're not happy when I get in trouble or they think I did something wrong and they don't hope I'm gonna get in trouble."
Ben put his arm around Cat, guided her over to a hay bale and said, "Let's sit down and talk about this. First of all I love you and I want you. So does Adam. How often does he call you a pest and a nuisance?"
"All the time. Ever since I sat on that beaver dam. Even if I ask him to make sure my cinch is tight."
"I'll have a talk with him about that. He should not be talking to you like that. I didn't want him talking to Joe like that and I don't want him talking to you like that. However, you need to watch your attitude. I will not have you being rude to anyone and that includes your brothers."
"But Adam was rude to me. He acted like I was a baby."
"That's no excuse. You are not to be rude to anybody."
"It's ok for Adam to be rude and mean to me but I can't be rude and mean to him. That's not fair. I knew you didn't really love me or want me here." Cat ran over to Beauty's stall and started saddling him again.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"I'm going to get my money from Uncle Roy and send telegrams to Uncle Matt and Uncle Rip. I spent lots of time at the Tanners and they were never mean or rude to each other. So I'm going back to Dodge where I belong."
"Come here and sit down. We're not done talking yet."
"We are too. You said that Adam could be mean and rude to me but I had to be nice to him. I don't want to live where someone can be mean to me but I have to be nice to them. You don't love me and neither does Adam. If you did, you wouldn't have let that nasty lady attack me and you wouldn't say I had to be nice to Adam but it was ok for him to be mean to me."
Ben sighed. He wasn't used to having a child whose feelings were easily hurt, around the house. "Catherine, you misunderstood what I said. I never said that it was alright for Adam to be mean and rude to you. What I said is that you have to be polite, even if he is mean or rude to you. It is never alright for anyone, including myself, to be mean or rude to anybody, even a family member. I'm going to have a talk with Adam too and remind him of the same things I just told you. He is much older than you and shouldn't need to be reminded of the rules about being polite. Also, you have got to stop talking about going back to Dodge whenever you get upset. Running away has never solved any problems. You need to learn to work your problems out and with whoever has upset you. Now I believe you have some work to finish so you had better get it done. Because if you don't get it done before supper, I am going to tickle you until you wet your pants."
"Adam doesn't want to talk to me because he thinks I'm a baby. I won't have a problem if I go back to Dodge. Nobody there treats me like I'm a baby."
"Sweetheart, nobody is treating you like a baby."
"Adam is. He acted like I was too dumb to know I had to do my chores and homework. Uncle Matt stopped telling me to do my homework before I was five and a half."
"Alright. You and I need to just sit down together and talk about a few things. Why don't you go ahead and fill Hop Sing's wood box for him and then we'll sit and talk for a bit? Don't worry if your homework isn't finished before supper. You can finish it before bedtime. It's more important for us to talk some things out than for you to do your homework right away."
Cat walked out of the barn to fill the kitchen wood box and Ben mucked out Beauty's stall and started grooming him. "I was going to do that," said Cat walking back into the barn.
"I know but I thought I'd do it for you. You don't mind me helping you out a little, do you?"
"No. I just didn't want you getting mad at me 'cause I didn't do it."
"That's something we're going to talk about. Right now, I want to let you know what a good job I think you're doing taking care of this horse. He was a little dusty from your ride to and from school and a little bit of dirt in his hooves, which is normal, but other than that, he's in excellent condition. In fact, I think you're doing a better job taking care of Beauty than Joe did his horse when he was nine. Now, why don't you put some grain in the stall for Lady and Fury and give Beauty some while I fill their mangers with hay? Then all you'll have left to do is take care of Fury and play with him. Then you can start on your homework. Now, let's sit down and talk a bit."
They sat down on a hay bale and Ben put his arm around Cat and hugged her. "Now little one, there are some things you need to understand. First of all, everybody in this family including Adam loves you very much. Just because someone teases you or accuses you of doing something Joe used to do doesn't mean they don't love you or want you here and if someone tells you to do something you already know you need to do doesn't mean they're treating you like a baby. We all have some adjustments to make. You haven't even been here two months and haven't completely adjusted to the fact that things here are a lot different than they were in Dodge and that is understandable. You spent most of your life there and living here is a big change from what you are used to. On the other hand, having you living here is a big change from what we're used to. It has been a long time since we had a young child living here. Just like you have to get used to the way we do things, we have to get used to the way you do things.
Right now, you don't have a lot of freedom like you did in Dodge, but the longer you are here and the older you get, that will change. You currently have more freedom than you did when Adam and I first brought you home from Dodge and as I said, you will be getting more but first we have to teach you how to get around the ranch. We live too far from town for me to allow you to have jobs there. That is why I am paying you to get the mail and newspaper after school each day and to help Hop Sing weed his garden and I will pay you again the next time you help me clean tack. Your brothers have been told that if they want you to help them with their chores, they cannot ask you to do something dangerous or too hard and they have to pay you.
We have to remember that you have never lived in a family before and are not used to being teased or told what to do. I will talk to Adam and make sure he knows I don't want him treating you the way he treated Joe. I didn't like him calling Joe a pest and a nuisance and I did not like it when he was happy that Joe got in trouble. At the same time, I do not want you to keep threatening to go back to Dodge whenever you don't get your own way, someone teases you, or you think someone is treating you like a baby. You are nine years old now and need to learn how to work out your differences with your family members, including Adam. He is my oldest son and if anything ever happens to me, he will take care of you and raise you. You aren't always going to agree on things. Nobody always agrees on everything. I know that you and Matt had disagreements but you worked them out. You need to learn to do that here.
Another thing you need to learn is that you will not get in trouble if someone else decides to do all of some of your chores for you unless you have been kept after school or are being punished. That's what being part of a family is all about. Hoss didn't think I knew what he was doing, but he used to do Joe's chores a lot so that I wouldn't know he was late getting home. I let them keep their secret unless I walked out to the barn and saw that Joe wasn't home. Then Hoss got scolded for doing Joe's chores and Joe got in trouble for getting home late. Hoss knew not to do Joe's chores if he got kept after school because then I would know that he had been doing his brother's chores.
Don't be afraid to ask for help with anything whether it's doing your homework, chores, making sure your saddle cinch is tight, or anything else. Families are supposed to help each other out. If you come home from school and there's no wood cut for Hop Sing's wood box, don't try and cut some yourself. You are much too small to use the axe and could get hurt or worse. Try and find an adult to do it for you and believe me, whoever was supposed to cut wood is going to be in big trouble. The same thing goes with hay. When you are finally strong enough to use the pitchfork and fill your horse's manger with hay, if there are no hay bales on the barn floor, do not go into the hayloft. Find an adult to do it for you. I don't want you in the loft without an adult. It isn't safe. If you fell out of it, you could be seriously injured and nobody wants that to happen. The next time we fill the loft, I will take you up there so you can see how it's done, but I do not want you up there alone. If I catch you up there alone for any reason, you will be in a lot of trouble. Now, your chores are done so go and see that colt of yours before he thinks you don't love him. I'll send one of your brothers out to get you when supper is almost ready. Remember, even though you don't always think we do, we all love you and want you here. I will talk with your brothers about how much they tease you and I will let Adam know that he is not to call you a pest and a nuisance. I thought I had made that clear to him when Joe was little. Now scoot before I decide to make you clean and paint the whole barn before supper."
Cat grabbed a curry comb, a brush and her saddle bags and ran out to the pasture to see Fury. Ben decided to visit the Ingalls the next morning to see if it was normal for a little girl to have her feelings hurt easily. After Cat went to bed, Ben talked to his sons about not teasing their sister. He reminded them that although they were used to teasing each other, Cat was not used to being teased and was getting hurt feelings because of it. He also strongly recommended that Adam spend some time alone with her. The next morning Ben rode over to the Ingalls' house and was told that little girls do indeed have their feelings easily hurt. They told him that while Cat and her friends in Dodge may have engaged in some teasing, it was most likely lighthearted and nothing like what she was experiencing at the hands of her brothers. Caroline said that it was alright to tease and say things like, 'My horse is faster than yours,' or 'I'm going to catch the biggest fish in the lake,' but things like calling Cat a pest and a nuisance were undermining efforts to help her feel comfortable being part of the family. Charles said that if most of the teasing didn't stop immediately, they would wake up one morning to find that Cat had left in the middle of the night. "I'm serious Ben. If the hurtful teasing doesn't stop immediately, you are going to lose that child. I'm not talking about things such as when you tell her she has to eat as much as Hoss so you won't lose any more horse races. I'm talking about the things that hurt such as one of her brothers calling her a pest and a nuisance. Talk to your son and ask him how he would feel if he was in Cat's place. I'm sure that her uncle may have told her to stop being a pest when she was younger and kept begging for something. I know I did with my girls, but that's not the same as what her brother is saying to her. Cat needs to be absolutely certain that she can depend on all three of her brothers to take care of her if the need arises. Right now, she doesn't even feel like she's part of your family." Ben thanked Charles and Caroline for their help and decided to talk with his sons again that night.
Friday finally arrived and six boys gathered at the edge of the school yard before the school day began. All of them had finished making new slingshots and started discussing where to hide them around town. They finally decided on six good hiding spots and six more in case a slingshot was found. Then they decided who was going to attack on what days. Finally George looked at his friends and said, "Operation Slingshot begins tomorrow. We need to make Mrs. Warren move away from Virginia City. Just remember, don't tell anyone including Cat, what we are doing." Just then Miss Winter rang the bell and all of the children entered the school to begin another school day.
Adam was waiting for Cat when she rode into the yard after school. "Hi Squirt. How was school?" he asked as he helped her down from her horse.
"I hate school. I hate being cooped up inside and being made to sit still and I hate arithmetic even more."
Adam laughed. "I think I'm the only member of this family who actually liked school. I've given you a head start on your chores and already mucked Beauty's stall out for you."
Cat eyed him suspiciously, wondering why he was being so nice to her all of a sudden. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Cat grew even more suspicious when Adam led Beauty into the barn. She filled the kitchen wood box and walked out to the barn. Adam had already unsaddled Beauty and was filling the manger with hay. While Cat was brushing Beauty, Adam asked, "What are your plans for tomorrow?"
"I don't know. Maybe I'll see if Laura, Mike, and Jas want to go fishing."
"How would you like to go hunting with me instead? I want to go hunting and I know you haven't been in a while so I thought I'd ask if you wanted to go with me. But you have to promise not to shoot me in the bottom with one of your arrows."
Cat had been wanting to go hunting for a while but wasn't allowed to go alone. Ben had explained that nobody was allowed to go hunting alone because if they got hurt, nobody else would know that they were hurt or where to find them. "Sure, I'll go hunting with you tomorrow, but I'm not going to promise that I won't shoot you in the bottom with an arrow. It might be fun."
"Scamp! Go and take care of that black colt before I decide to feed you to him."