Cat was surprised when Hop Sing served chocolate cake for dessert. "Gee thanks Hop Sing. I love your chocolate cake. I would eat it for breakfast, dinner, and supper if I could."
Hop Sing hugged her and said, "Missy Cat bring home good grades and get rewarded with chocolate cake."
After Cat finished her homework, Ben said, "Grab your jacket Cat and let's go sit on the porch and talk for a little while. Don't worry, I'll let you stay up long enough to play two games of checkers." They walked out to the porch where Ben sat down in the rocking chair and pulled Cat into his lap. He pointed out several constellations, called her attention to the man in the moon and said, "Do you see those clouds over the mountains? If this were spring or summer, those would be rain clouds but since this is late fall, it's snowing up there. That means we'll definitely have snow here before Thanksgiving. Now, let's talk about what happened today. I want to stress that I am not angry at you and you are not in any trouble at all. However, the next time you pull a disappearing act like that over your grades, I will eat your piece of chocolate cake and mine too.
I don't ever want you to be afraid to ask me anything. If someone tells you something and you're not sure if it's true or not, ask me. If I'm not here, ask one of your brothers. We won't lie to you. You have no idea how worried I was when you didn't come home from school. I was ready to ride into town and send telegrams to your Godfathers, asking them to send the Army to help look for you. All of us love you very much and would have been brokenhearted if anything had happened to you.
You are my little girl and I love you more than anything in the world. I love you just as much as I love your brothers and I love them just as much as I love you. I don't know what I would do if anything happened to any of you. I want you to promise me that the next time someone tells you something like what those women did, that you will come and ask me, your brothers, grandfather or Hop Sing if it's true. I can't have you afraid that you're going to be in a lot of trouble over something that may not be true. I have never expected any of my children to get perfect grades. I do expect them to do the best job they can at everything they do. If I expected my children to get perfect grades, all three of your brothers would still be restricted to the yard with extra chores." Cat giggled at the thought of Adam and Hoss still being restricted to the yard with extra chores because they didn't get perfect grades in school. "Adam was an excellent student but his grades weren't always perfect. Hoss struggled so much that I let him leave school when he was fifteen and Joe struggled with arithmetic just as you do. So as you can see, I don't expect perfect grades. I never have and I never will. I just expect you to do your best. Now go and play checkers with your brothers before I change my mind and make you do extra arithmetic pages just because I can."
After Cat left for school, Ben rode over to the Devlins only and discovered that Mary had her horse saddled and was going to town with the men. As they approached the King ranch, she told her husband and Ben to stop there. She knocked on the door and Mrs. King answered it. Mary told her friend what some of the other women had said to Cat and what had happened because of it. Betsy was outraged, changed into riding clothes, saddled her horse and accompanied the others to town. They stopped at the parsonage and the Martins where they were joined by Joanne Long and Virginia Martin. "You men find yourselves something to do for a while," said Mary. "We are going to take care of those women once and for all. We know why they said the things they did and we intend to put a stop to it now."
About two hours later, the four women joined the men at the International. "It will be a very long time before those women say or do anything to hurt Cat again," said Virginia. "The four of us had a long talk with each of them and the husbands of the married ones. Among other things, we told them that we are going to stand up in front of the entire church on Sunday morning and tell the whole town what they had done and why."
"They didn't like that one little bit," continued Mary. "They liked it even less when Joanne said she was going to talk to her husband, tell him what they did and why and ask him to call a meeting of the church elders to see what could be done about the problem."
"Why did they say those things to Cat?" asked Paul.
"Margaret Winter was upset because Ben said that her sons were poorly behaved, which they are, and criticized her because she wouldn't let John spank them," said Virginia. "She is also upset he lets Cat's puppies sleep in her bed, doesn't make her dress like a girl, and lets her help her brothers with the ranch work. Anne White was angry because Annabel got caught stealing and blames Cat for it. She thinks that Cat should have just given her saddle bags to Annabel. The other married women think that you're overindulging Cat by not forcing her to wear dresses all the time and allowing her to play with boys, and decided to put her in her place. I'm quite sure you know why the widows said the things they did."
"I'm going to talk to David," said Joanne Long, "But you and your family may want to come to church a little bit late on Sunday. We fully intend to fulfill our promise to those women and tell the entire congregation what they did and why. They can't blame you if you're not there."
"I don't like being late for church services and may add my own comments to yours," replied Ben. "This is the second time they've hurt Cat with their words and I won't let it happen again. I am not going to risk Cat's happiness because two women have badly behaved children and a bunch of widows want to marry me but don't want another woman's daughter in the house. I have no intentions of marrying any of them and it's time I told them to their faces!"
Adam met Cat in the yard when she returned home from school. "I'll take care of Beauty. Go let Pa know you're home then read to Fury and then meet me in the barn. I'll help you with your homework and then I'm going to teach you a song to sing for Grandfather. It's a song I used to sing for him when I lived with him while I was in college."
"Why do you want to teach me a song to sing? I don't sing very good."
"The word is well not good and you do sing well. You have a very good voice and I'm sure that Grandfather will enjoy hearing you sing." Cat looked at Adam like he was crazy. He laughed and said, "Trust me little sister. I know what I'm talking about. Now go play with that colt of yours before I decide to feed you to Sport."
"Adam?"
"Yes Cat?"
"If I feed Fury more, will he grow up faster? I don't want to wait until I'm eleven before I can rid him."
Adam laughed and hugged his sister. "No silly girl. All that will happen is that he will get fat and a fat horse is not a healthy horse."
Cat sighed. "Then how can I get him to grow up faster?"
"You can't. Just like human children and every animal, Fury will grow up at his own pace. Depending on how much you weigh and how strong his bones and muscles are, you may be able to ride him when he's eighteen months old but not before."
"That's not fair. I want to ride him at Christmas, not when I'm eleven."
"Sorry Squirt. That's not the way life works. How much weight are you putting on him?"
"Not much. Just my saddle bags and school books. They weigh less than Lassie and Silver Chief did when I used to put them on his back."
"Good. I'm glad you're not putting much weight on him. The idea is just to get him used to carrying weight on his back. We'll increase the weight as he gets older. Now go, read to and play with him before we run out of time to do your homework. If that happens, I won't be able to start teaching you that song."
Cat walked into the house to let Ben know she was home and found him and Abel sitting in the great room, talking about their days at sea. Ben looked up, saw Cat and said, "Come here Kitten. I have something to tell you I think you'll want to hear." Cat walked over to Ben's chair and found herself being pulled into his lap and being hugged. "You know Abel, I could do this twenty four hours a day. The only thing more fun than hugging Cat is tickling her. Cat, I thought you would like to know that the women who have been so mean to you will not do it again. Mrs. Devlin, Mrs. Martin, Mrs. King, and Mrs. Long talked with all of them and the husbands of the married women and while I don't know what they said, it will be a very long time before those women are mean to you again. What do you have to do for homework tonight?"
"Reading, history, and yucky arithmetic. School wouldn't be so bad if it was outside and there was no arithmetic."
Ben and Abel laughed at Cat's pronouncement. "And just how would a teacher get the students to pay attention if school was held outside? I've already explained to you how important arithmetic is for ranch work. Now you had better get your homework done or you won't be able to play checkers with your brothers tonight." Cat tried getting down off Ben's lap but he held her tight with one arm and tickled her with his other hand. "I thought I told you to start on your homework." Cat giggled and tried to get down. "Well, what are you waiting for? You have homework to do."
"Pa, stop. I'm gonna wet my pants."
"Alright Kitten. Go on and get your homework done. Just remember, I only want you doing your reading out in the pasture. It's too cold to sit on the ground for long."
After helping Cat with her homework, Adam picked up his guitar and played and sang the song he was going to teach Cat. Then he started teaching her the lyrics. "As you can hear, it's not a hard song and the verses are short. You're doing good job and with a little more practice, you should be able to sing it by Thanksgiving."
After supper the next day, Cat asked, "Pa, when is Thanksgiving?"
"It's next Thursday."
"Can Thaddeus and Joshua come to dinner?"
"Sure. I don't see why not. I'll invite them in the morning."
"What about the Ingalls and the Kings and the Devlins and …"
"Whoa there little one," laughed Ben. "I am not inviting half of Virginia City to Thanksgiving dinner."
"Why not?"
"Well, for one thing, there isn't room for everybody. Also, it takes a long time to make a meal for that many people. Hop Sing would have to start cooking on Tuesday and the food would be ruined by Thursday."
"Oh. Well what about just the Ingalls and the Kings and the Devlins?"
"I'll have to ask Hop Sing. That's still a lot of people. Do the arithmetic. I'll tell you who's coming, including the Devlins, Ingalls, and Kings and you tell me how many people will be here for Thanksgiving dinner. Let's start with the family. Including Hop Sing, how many people live in this house?"
"Seven. You, Grandpa, Hop Sing, Adam, Hoss, Little Joe, and me."
"That's right. Now add Joshua and Thaddeus."
"That makes nine."
"Good. Now, add everyone from town who's already been invited. I have invited Roy and Clem, the Martins, and the Longs."
"That's six more. Nine and six is fifteen."
"You're doing fine. Now add in the Ingalls."
"That's five more. Fifteen and five is twenty."
"Excellent. Now add the Kings."
"Three more so that's twenty three people."
"Lastly, add the Devlins."
"There are four of them so twenty three and four is twenty seven."
"Excellent. If Hop Sing says yes to inviting your friends and their families, we will have twenty seven people here for Thanksgiving dinner. We'll need to borrow at least one table and some chairs. How many turkeys do you think we'll need for that many people? Don't forget, you asked Hop Sing to make Thanksgiving dinner for the hands too."
Cat thought for a minute and said, "At least twelve because Hoss will probably eat ten all by himself."
"You better watch yourself Squirt," growled Hoss. Yore liable to end up takin' a bath in the trough ifn ya keep that nonsense up. I can't eat no more than four turkeys."
"Let me go and ask Hop Sing about your friends," laughed Ben. He walked into the kitchen and talked to Hop Sing. "Cat wants to invite Joshua, Thaddeus, the Ingalls, the Devlins, and the Kings to Thanksgiving dinner. I told her that Joshua and Thaddeus could come but everyone else was up to you because counting everyone in this house, that would be twenty seven people for dinner."
"Yes Missy Cat friends come. It not right she be only child at big holiday meal. We need six turkeys. Two for bunkhouse and rest for family and guests. Hoss eat almost whole turkey himself. Ladies need to help. Oven not big enough for turkeys, pies, and potatoes."
"You have just made Cat a very happy little girl. I'll invite the families and tell the ladies you'll need help preparing the meal. I'm quite sure they will be more than happy to help." He returned to the great room and said, "I've got some good news for you Cat. Hop Sing said your friends and their families could come to dinner on Thanksgiving."
Before Cat could run into the kitchen, Adam picked up his guitar and said, "That give me an idea. Come on Squirt. Grab your hat and jacket and come with me. If you're lucky, I'll let you ride Sport."
Cat giggled and said, "Pa, you're gonna have to get a lot more food. I think that Little Joe is gonna get real big soon. The last time I asked Adam when I could ride Sport again, he said maybe when Little Joe got to be as big as Hoss."
Ben laughed. "I certainly hope that Joseph is not going to get as big as Hoss. I don't know if I could afford to feed both of them. Where are you taking your sister Adam?"
"We're going over to the Ingalls. I have an idea I need to talk to Charles about. I'll invite them while we're there."
When they reached the Ingalls' farm, Adam helped Cat down from Sport and knocked on the door which was opened by Caroline. "Adam, Cat, what a wonderful surprise. Please come in. What brings the two of you over here tonight?"
"Hello Caroline, Charles, girls," said Adam. "First, we've come to invite you to Thanksgiving dinner at the Ponderosa. Second, I need Charles and his fiddle to see if he can play along with a song I learned the last time I was in San Francisco."
"Thank you for the invitation which we gladly accept," said Charles. "Half Pint, please go and get my fiddle for me." Adam played and sang a lively tune while Charles, Caroline, and the girls tapped their feet along with the music. "I think I can play something to go along with that." He played along with Adam while Caroline and the girls joined hands and danced to the music.
"Please play it again," said all the girls together.
"Alright," said Adam. "Then I need to teach all of you the lyrics so you can sing it too."
Once everyone knew the words, Adam and Charles played the song again. This time Caroline and the girls sang while they danced. Charles said, "You know Adam, I think with a little more work, we might just be able to play this for your grandfather on Thanksgiving."
"I had hoped you'd say that Charles. This will be his first Thanksgiving away from the sea and I thought he would enjoy it."
"Why don't you come over tomorrow evening and Sunday afternoon? If you think we'll need more practice than that, Cat can come here after school and you can meet her here. She can work on her homework with Laura while you and I practice. Then all of us can work on the lyrics."
"Please play it again," said Mary. "It makes me smile and want to dance."
"Alright," said Adam. "One more time and then I need to get Cat home. We've already been here almost two hours."
The next morning, Cat looked out her bedroom window that overlooked the yard and was delighted to see the ground dusted with white and more snow falling. "It's snowing," she exclaimed happily. "Lassie, Chief, let's go. I want to play in the snow."
She hurried down the stairs and headed toward the door when Abel picked her up. "Avast there Mate. Where are you going in such a hurry?"
"It's snowing and I want to play in it."
"In your nightgown, robe, and slippers? I hardly think so. You'll catch a cold if you go outside dressed like that. Go and get dressed. I'm sure that you'll be allowed to play in the snow after you are dressed and eat breakfast."
"But the snow might be all gone by then."
"Not hardly Punkin," laughed Hoss. "That snow ain't goin' nowhere until spring and even if it does melt, it will snow again. You've been spendin' Christmases here since ya was five and know how much snow we get so don't worry about it goin' away. Grandfather is right. You need ta get dressed. Pa ain't gonna allow ya at the table unless yore dressed and he shore won't let ya play outside in yore night clothes."
Ben and Adam walked into the great room carrying a pot of coffee and cups. They saw Hoss and Abel laughing and wondered what was so funny. "I can't believe how much that girl is like Elizabeth was at that age. She was headed out to play in the first snow dressed in her night clothes. There must be something magical about the first snow of the season to little girls. I believe that Elizabeth was only five or six when I caught her doing the same thing Cat tried to just now. Even after she grew up, she did the same thing when it snowed for the first time every year."
"Great! So you're telling me that from now on, even after she's a grown woman, my daughter is going to try to go outside in her nightclothes to play in the first snow of the season."
"I can't say exactly what Cat is going to do. I'm just saying that's what Elizabeth did and my granddaughter is a lot like my daughter was at that age."
Cat came back downstairs and headed for the door without saying good morning to anyone. "Where are you going?" asked Ben.
"To use the outhouse and play in the snow."
"First of all, you walked right past the entire family and didn't bother to say good morning to anyone even though we all said good morning to you. That was rude and I know Matt didn't raise you to be rude. Second, you may use the outhouse but you may not play in the snow. In this house, the only things we do before breakfast are morning chores because the animals have to be fed, the cow needs to be milked and Hop Sing needs eggs and wood so he can cook breakfast. Now, be the polite little girl I know you are and say good morning to everyone. Then use the outhouse and wash up for breakfast."
Cat said good morning to everyone and headed out the door. "Pa's just being mean," she said to her puppies. "He shouldn't have said not to play in the snow. He just doesn't understand. It's the first snow of the winter and I have to play in it." She did her business and then started throwing snowballs for her puppies to chase.
When Hop Sing said breakfast was ready and Cat still wasn't in the house, Ben knew that she was disobeying his instructions not to play in the snow. "Adam, will you please get your sister? Unless she's sick, she should have been in her a while ago."
Adam walked outside and saw his sister throwing snowballs, walked up to her, swatted her and said, "Girl, don't you ever listen to what you were told? Pa told you not to play in the snow before breakfast and that's exactly what you are doing. He doesn't like to be disobeyed and I'm sure that there will be consequences for you. Now let's go. Breakfast is ready and we don't eat until everyone is at the table." He grabbed her by the shoulders, turned her around and gently pushed her toward the house.
As they walked through the house, Ben looked at Adam who nodded. When they came back downstairs, Ben asked, "Catherine, why were you outside so long?"
"I was throwing snowballs for my puppies to chase."
"Didn't I tell you not to play in the snow?"
"Yes, but you don't understand. It's the first snow of the winter and I had to play in it. Uncle Matt always let me play in the snow so I should be able to do it here too."
"I told you not to do something but you chose to do it anyway. I am not accustomed to my children deliberately disobeying me. We will be discussing this further after breakfast and I guarantee you will not enjoy that discussion. Breakfast is ready. Go and sit at the table." After Adam, Hoss, and Joe left, Ben told Cat to sit on the settee. "I told you not to play in the snow before breakfast but you did anyway. Why didn't you just wait until after breakfast?"
"You just said I couldn't play in the snow. All you said about breakfast was why we had to do chores before breakfast. It wasn't fair telling me I couldn't play in the snow when I always did in Dodge. You were just being mean and the kids at school are right. You only adopted me because you felt sorry for me after my mama was killed."
Ben fought the urge to put Cat over his knees right then and there. "Go up to your room and wait for me. We will continue this discussion there."
Once Cat was upstairs, Able said, "It seems that right now at least, Cat is taking everything you say literally. Matt must have been very specific in what he told her and she's not used to reading between the lines. Until she is completely used to the way you give instructions, you are going to have to be very specific. All she heard was use the outhouse and don't play in the snow. She took that to mean she wasn't going to be allowed to play in the snow at all. The part about why chores are done before breakfast held no meaning for her."
"You tell Missy Cat exactly what you want," added Hop Sing. "If you no want her to play in snow before breakfast, say no play in snow before breakfast. That way she know what not to do."
Ben started to say, "I shouldn't have to…" and was interrupted by Abel.
"Benjamin, that child has only lived her three months and was raised differently than you raised your sons. Right now, you need to be very specific with her. If you aren't, it will lead to misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and sore bottoms."
"Alright. The last thing I need is for those things to happen so until Cat is used to the way I do things, I'll be very specific when I tell her not to do something. Now I had better go and deal with her disobedience. Even though I wasn't specific enough in my instructions, she did play in the snow after she was told not to." He walked into Cat's room, put her desk chair in the middle of the room sat down, and had her stand in front of him. "Why are we up here?"
"'Cause you were mean and said I couldn't play in the snow. It's not fair. Uncle Matt always let me play in the snow and sometimes we even had snowball fights on the way to Delmonico's for breakfast."
Ben fought the urge to smile. "Catherine."
"'Cause you said not to play in the snow and I did."
"That's right. If you had waited until after breakfast, you could have gone outside to play in the snow."
"But you didn't say that. You said I couldn't play in the snow and then started talkin' about why we have to do chores before breakfast. I wanted to play in the snow and you talked about chores. It just doesn't make sense."
"I realize now that I should have said before breakfast when I told you not to play in the snow but you still did something you were told not to do."
"Does that mean I don't get a spanking?" she asked hopefully.
"No. But it does mean you get to keep your pants up. Normally deliberately disobeying me means a bare bottom spanking. However, because I wasn't specific enough in my instructions, you may keep your pants up." He pulled Cat over his knees and delivered five hard smacks to her bottom. When he was finished, he helped her up, hugged her, rubbed her back, and told her all was forgiven while she cried on his shoulder. When she finished crying, he said, "Go downstairs and stand in the corner. You have one hour and remember, no rubbing or you'll get another, harder smack. You may use the outhouse if you need to while you are in the corner. However, you are not to stop and play in the snow. You are to use the outhouse and come right back in the house."
After Ben went upstairs to Cat's room, Hop Sing walked up the stairs and stood on the landing as he had done many times before. He listened as Ben spanked Cat and, being satisfied that Ben wasn't being too hard on her, walked back downstairs. Abel was surprised at his actions and asked, "Hop Sing, how long have you been listening while Benjamin punishes one of his children?"
"Ever since Little Joe was little boy. Missy Marie worry that Mr. Cartwright be too hard on little boy and ask Hop Sing to listen. Hop Sing listen now because Missy Kate would want same thing. Hop Sing even listen outside barn when Mr. Cartwright punish children there."
"What would you do if you thought Benjamin was being too hard on one of the children?"
"Hop Sing tell him stop and not be too hard on little children. Remind him he big, strong man and children little and get hurt easy."
"Did you ever have to do that?"
"Once only. Little Joe get into big trouble when he seven, make father very angry. He forget to calm down before punishing boy and start to be too hard on boy. Hop Sing tell him stop and even though she in heaven, Missy Marie be very angry with him and he stop."
"You are a good friend Hop Sing and I am very glad that you are part of this family. I appreciate the way you are looking out for my new granddaughter."
After being released from the corner, Cat started to put her jacket on. "Where are you going?" asked Ben.
"Outside to play in the snow."
"I'm afraid not. You are in the house until after dinner." He saw Cat start getting angry and said, "Normally when one of my children deliberately disobeys me, besides a spanking and having to stand in the corner, they are assigned extra chores to do for the rest of the day. I am not doing that to you this time, however, you are not allowed to go outside and play until after dinner. If I hear one word about it not being fair, I will find chores for you to do and you will not be allowed to play until tomorrow. Tack always needs to be cleaned and if I assign that job to you as punishment, you will not be paid for doing it. Also, if you complain about your punishment not being fair, you will not be going with Adam when he goes to the Ingalls after supper. You may read, play with your toys, write letters to Mark, your uncles and God parents, write in your journal, help Hop Sing, but you are not allowed to go outside and play."
"But the snow might be gone by dinner."
"That is a chance you will have to take. You were told not to do something but did it anyway. Now you have to suffer the consequences of your actions. I did not tolerate your brothers deliberately disobeying me and I will not tolerate you doing it either. Does Matt allow you to disobey him?"
"No sir."
"Does Rip allow you to disobey him?"
"No sir."
"Did I allow you to disobey me when you came here at Christmas and during the summer?"
"No sir."
"That's right. And the rules haven't changed. When an adult tells you not to do something, don't do it. Then you won't get in trouble. Because you disobeyed me this morning, you have to stay in the house until after dinner instead of being able to play outside. The next time you are told not to do something, remember what happened to you today and think about the fact that your punishment will be worse if you choose to do what you were told not to do. Now go and find something to do until dinner is ready."
Knowing that their father had been very angry with Cat, when Adam, Hoss, and Joe returned home for dinner, before going into the main part of the house, they walked into the kitchen, worried about their little sister. "Missy Cat have very sore bottom and have to stay in house until after dinner. She like animal in cage trying to find way out. Hop Sing catch her climbing out bedroom window. Tell her how bad punishment be if she get caught by father. She change mind and come back in house. Hop Sing no tell father."
"Thank you fer lookin' out fer little sister," said Hoss.
"Missy Cat good girl. She not used to being told no and need to learn to do what she told."
"I'll talk to her after dinner," said Joe. "Maybe she'll listen to me. If she doesn't, Adam or Hoss can try talking to her. I'm probably the best one to tell her just how lucky she was today."
After dinner, Joe took Cat out to the barn so he could talk to her. "You have got to start listening to Pa when he says not to do something. I don't care if he didn't say you could play in the snow after breakfast. He said not to do it but you did anyway. You have no idea how easy you got off today. All that happened to you was you got five smacks on the seat of your pants, had to stand in the corner for an hour and stay inside until after dinner. You won't be so lucky next time. Believe me, I know all too well what the consequences for deliberately disobeying Pa are. If you think Pa hits hard when you get a spanking with your pants up, wait until you get a bare bottom spanking and he won't stop with just five. You won't be able to put enough cushions on your chair to make it easy to sit down. Besides standing in the corner for an hour, you will also have at least a day's worth of extra chores. Do you see how big this barn is? Now imagine having to clean it all by yourself. There have been many nights when I had to eat a cold supper because I wasn't done cleaning it at suppertime.
Think about it hard little sister because I can guarantee that your days of getting off easy are rapidly coming to an end. Pa has been cutting you some slack because he's trying to give you time to adjust to being part of the family but that's going to stop soon. It's not going to be much longer before he starts treating you like he treated me when I got into trouble." He took the strap down off its nail and handed it to Cat. "Do you see how wide this is? Look at how thick it is. Now imagine it being used on your bare bottom. Believe me, even though I'm nineteen now, Pa will still use it on me if he thinks I deserve it. Nobody wants to see that happen to you. So when Pa tells you to do something, do it. When he tells you not to do something, and that includes running in the house, just don't do it. You also have to stop saying it's not fair when you're told not to do something. Pa usually has a good reason for saying that and he's getting tired of you saying something isn't fair. Now let's go and see what plans he has for you this afternoon. Maybe he'll let you ride out and help us mend fences. First, I think you should apologize for disobeying him this morning."