Summary: (Excerpt from the Cherry Tree Sagas – Revised September 2016)
Word Count: 4150
Just Two Friends
June 1856
The youngsters stood in a knot in the church yard under the shade of the wild cherry tree on a sunny, Sunday morning. The congregation was walking out church when Nancy Coffee grabbed Little Joe’s elbow and pulled him aside.
“Billy Felcher is going to get in trouble big time if we don’t help him out,” Nancy started. “We have to do something.
“He has a bottle of whiskey and he is going to drink it behind the church this morning. His father is going to kill him dead if he catches him,” Katie added.
“Huh?” Joe wondered. He completely missed the point the two girls were trying to make.
“Joe, you big fool, Reverend Felcher! Billy’s father, that Reverend Felcher who is thinks you burn in hell if you even glance at the sign on the saloon no less having his very own fourteen-year-old son hiding a bottle of whiskey in the church bell tower,” Nancy said.
“In the bell tower?” Joe yawned. He still wasn’t quite awake from the nap he took during the sermon. Somehow he misinterpreted what the girls were saying and started wondering if chubby Billy being in the church bell tower was of some concern. “The bell tower was built pretty sturdy. Billy will be just fine.”
“And Reverend Felcher said if he catches Billy misbehaving one more time, he is going to ship him back East to a very strict Mission boarding school. Billy doesn’t want to go back East or to a strict boarding school. We need to keep him from getting in trouble,” Nancy continued her explanation.
“Little Joe, be a pal. You can’t let him get caught by his father.” Katie looked him in the eyes. She was more than head shorter than he was but that never stopped her from giving him a piece of her mind. She stood with both her hands on her hips, determined that soft hearted Billy should not get in trouble. Phil Bartlett, who worked at the Enterprise, once described her stance as “Katie’s Mule Stubborn look”. To Joe, that posture was the signal that Katie was not going to let up.
”Joe, you got to help us.” Nancy was wearing her best pink dress, hoping to look appealing to Joe in case he just might notice. She had a lifelong crush on him and was always figuring how to get his attention. She felt he was the most gloriously handsome boy in the entire Territory. She was not going give up trying to win him despite the line of Virginia City girls who thought exactly same thing.
Probably the only girl in town who wasn’t obsessed with Little Joe was Nancy’s best girlfriend Katie Wallace. All the other girls chattered endlessly about how curly Joseph Cartwright’s hair was or how long his eye lashes were or were his eyes hazel or green and how they sparkled or how well the boy rode a horse and danced or if he would steal a kiss if they were alone together, except Katie. The peculiar part was that Katie spent more time with Joe than any other boy or girl in the Territory.
When Nancy would ask if the two of them were sweethearts, both of them would laugh hysterically and Joe would say “Are you ridiculous?” Katie would wrinkle her freckled nose and tell her how Joe was always getting into trouble and certainly not mature nor responsible enough for her tastes in a beau. Joe would respond with some quick comment about liking girls who preferred dancing and perfume to climbing trees and riding horses. Then Katie would pinch him or stick out her tongue at him and tell him he was a jughead and he would pinch her or stick out his tongue and tell her that she was a bigger lunkhead than he was.
”And anyway,” Joe would add with a devilish wink, “Katie knows too many of my tricks and I know too many of her secrets for us to ever be more than just friends.”
“Just two friends!” Katie would agree.
“Little Joe Cartwright! You must do what we are telling you!” Katie raged. She had her hands planted on her hips and she stood firm. “You can’t let Billy get into trouble with his father. If it was anyone else, I wouldn’t do this and we wouldn’t be butting in…”
”Sure you would, Katie.” Joe grinned. “You and Nancy just love to poke your noses in to everyone’s business. Katie would write about anything she sees in the Enterprise if her Aunt would print it. And she loves to nag at me too! “
“No, I don’t, Joe Cartwright!” Katie spit out. “I do not nag you!”
“Sure you do,” he continued. Joe was just teasing her, much like he did with Adam and Hoss and the boys he palled around with like Dean and Billy. He didn’t mean any harm and really had no clue that Katie was hurt by his snappy comment. As much as she kept up with the boys, she still was a female who did not enjoy that type of good-natured bantering that boys took for granted. His cutting remark hurt her far more than the good-hearted boy had intended.
“Sure you do!” Joe went on. ”You nag me more than my Pa and Adam. Pick, pick, pick.”
Katie’s lip trembled. It was not easy being a thirteen-year-old girl. She spun around and took a few steps away from the others, hoping that neither Nancy nor Little Joe would see how upset she really was. That would be even more embarrassing to her. For some reason, Joe’s comment cut her to the core and tears started welling up in her eyes.
“And, for your information, my pal Bill offered to share that bottle with me too. And what do you two have to say about that? I want to have some fun too,” Joe said defiantly to her back.
Suddenly, Joe sensed Katie was not enjoying this banter and she was really upset. He was a good-hearted boy and realized his joshing had gone one step too far. Joe awkwardly took two steps closer to her and tried to figure what to say next to smooth over his barbs.
“Hey, you guys! What are you doing?” Smiling, Billy Felcher strode up to the friends. “You’ll never guess what I have!” He lifted the front of his tan woolen jacket to reveal a pint bottle stuck into the waist band of his good Sunday trousers. “Come on, Joe,” he tugged on the slender boy’s arm.
“Oh goodness,” Joe thought, “I should have kept my big mouth shut.” He took a step closer to Katie and looked down at his boots, trying to think of what he should say next.
“Come on, Joe, my father isn’t looking this way; have a sip.” Bill pulled the bottle out, took a pull and pushed it towards Little Joe. Joe took a step away from Billy and awkwardly moved even closer to Katie.
Not realizing Joe had moved so near to her, Katie quickly whirled around. She had her clenched hand raised as she was about to make a point in the discussion, and in her haste, spun right into Joe. She accidentally caught the point of his chin with her fist. In a quick motion that could not have been repeated if she tried a hundred more times, five-foot- tall Katie caught the youngest Cartwright on the point of his jaw with her petite fist and knocked him out cold.
Joe pitched forward. He would have hit the ground face first if Billy and Nancy hadn’t caught him. “Oh my goodness, Katie. What did you do that for?” Billy stammered. “You punched Little Joe in the mouth!”
“Jeez Louise, he’s out cold!” Nancy added.
Billy quickly grabbed his unconscious friend with one hand and jammed the pint bottle back into his coat pocket with the other.
“I…I didn’t mean to sock him! I just turned around and there he was! “Katie’s eyes were wide with amazement. She unclenched her unladylike fist and dropped her hand in shock.
”Joe, quit making believe you are knocked out!” Nancy pleaded. “Stop playing!” She strained to hold him up.
Katie took his chin between her thumb and forefinger and turned the boy’s face to look at the violet bruise that was already appearing on his jaw.
“He’s not fooling,” Billy said as he struggled with Joe’s dead weight.
“Do something quick!” Nancy growled at him. “I’m going to drop him!”
“The Reverend and Mr. Cartwright and my Aunt Mim are coming!” Katie declared grabbing Joe’s arm. ”Get in back of him, Billy. Keep Joe standing. Hold him up! Hold him up!”
Balanced precariously between Nancy and Katie, Joe wobbled on rubbery legs, his chin resting on his chest. Each girl gripped him under an arm and struggled to keep their friend upright. Behind them, husky Billy grabbed Little Joe’s belt and hitched him upright as best he could. They hoped that the approaching adults would never guess that Little Joe had been knocked unconscious and being propped up by his friends.
“Hold him up!” Katie hissed. “Hold him up!”
“It’s Reverend Felcher, Aunt Mim and Mr. Cartwright!” Nancy gasped.
“Jeez Louise,” Billy muttered under his breath. “Katie, you are in deep trouble. You kilt Joe! Oh dear God help us in our time of need.” Then Billy started to pray more fervently than he ever did in church.
“I didn’t kill him, Billy. He’s just knocked cold. Hold him up,” Katie ordered as Joe started to sway like a sapling in the wind. “Hold him up!”
“He’s tipping, Katie! I can’t hold him. He’s slipping over” Nancy gasped.
“Joe, stand up!” Katie pleaded. “Please, Joe.” She could see his hazel eyes opening a slit as the adults approached. “Stand up!” She pinched him hard hoping that might help but it did absolutely nothing.
“Wonderful inspiring sermon, Reverend,” Katie offered smiling as angelically as she could. She yanked Joe’s arm up and over her own shoulder and squeezed in closer. Maybe they could hold Joe’s dead weight up a few more minutes until the adults passed by and went over to the refreshment table across the yard.
“It was very, very inspiring,” Nancy echoed hoping to distract them from Joe’s semiconscious condition. “Go have some punch…”
“Punch?” Katie gasped thinking of how she accidentally had just punched Little Joe into a coma.
“I mean, go have some lemonade.” Nancy said.
Mim looked at the knot of nervous youngsters and was sure that something was amiss but could not quite figure what was happening. Katie rarely listened to the sermons and certainly would never have complimented this morning’s long-winded, rambling speech on hellfire and damnation and demon rum with any enthusiasm.
“William, go help out at the refreshment tables,” Reverend Felcher said, grabbing his son’s arm, not realizing the husky lad was propping up Little Joe Cartwright from the rear. As Billy lost his grasp on the other boy’s belt, Joe’s dead weight wobbled and then pitched backwards. He knocked into his three friends. They fell like a collapsed house of cards into a tangled heap at the foot of the cherry tree. The bottle that had been in Billy’s pocket crashed to the rocky ground and shattered loudly. The whiskey splattered on the boys and seeped into the grass around the cherry tree’s roots.
”Joseph!” his father bellowed “What is going on here? “
”Hi Pa.” Joe grinned groggily at the first person he saw as he looked up from the tangle of arms and legs and pink dresses with crinolines. The warm air had heighted the color in his cheeks, making the quick flash of his smile all the more brilliant for its contrast. The smell of cheap whiskey perfumed the air.
“Inside, Joseph!” Ben growled, hauling his youngest boy up by the scruff of his neck with one strong hand and pointing to the church with the other. “Inside NOW!”
*****
Adam and Hoss were standing together in front of the barn when they noticed one horse with two riders approaching from Virginia City. Hoss had just returned from riding fence and was putting up his horse, and Adam was supposed to supervising Joe. The day was hot and dry and they were both thirsty.
“Who do you suppose that is?” They tried to see through the yellow dust the horse was kicking up. Hoss shaded his eyes against the sun and squinted down the ranch road past the corral. “Looks like two little gals on Roy Coffee’s old nag, Daisy.”
”Ah ah, the broken-hearted ladies are coming to check on the captive Prince of the Ponderosa.” Adam chuckled, pointing his thumb at Joe who was industriously but sullenly chopping wood at the side of the barn.
Hoss laughed heartily. “That rascal! Drunk in church! What is Pa going to do with him?”
“You know how Pa always said that this last one was three times as much trouble as his first two sons put together.” Both brothers had a hearty laugh at Joe’s expense on Adam’s droll comment.
As the horse got closer, they could see Nancy riding behind Katie Wallace. Nancy was dressed in a blue flowered dress with a matching bonnet neatly tied under her chin. Katie, as usual, had her bonnet flapping around her shoulders and her braids were blowing in the breeze. Her brown hair had blonde streaks in it from the time she had spent hatless that summer despite her mother’s constant reminders.
The two girls trotted up to the corral on the back of Daisy. Ben Cartwright was checking the tally on the horses that he had purchased the week before at auction.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Cartwright, sir,” the girls chorused politely in unison. They slid to the ground and walked over to the corral. Katie efficiently tied the reins onto the fence.
Ben Cartwright looked up from the ledger and said, “Afternoon, ladies. What brings you out this way? You do know that Joseph is being punished and isn’t allowed to have any visitors.” Ben closed the ledger over his finger to hold his place and waited for the girls to respond.
“Yes sir, Mr. Cartwright. We know that Joe is being punished but Katie needed to speak with you,” Nancy answered politely.
“We rode out to see you, Mr. Cartwright; not Little Joe. I know he is in extremely big trouble from what happened in church and all, but I need to speak with you, Mr. Cartwright.” Katie looked very serious and nervous as she boldly walked up to Ben.
Ben handed his ledger to his foreman, Hays Newkirk, and directed him to finish the last few entries.
Knowing that the girls were somehow wanting to discuss their little brother’s behavior with their father, Adam and Hoss strained to hear the conversation but could only make out bits and pieces from where they stood. ”Adam, what do you think is going on? Do you think Joe’s been messin’ around with one of those little gals?” Hoss asked.
Adam shook his head. “Hoss, I think Joe may have big dreams about that sort of thing but I think we don’t have too much to worry about that. So far at least. Anyway, if he was being disrespectful to either of those pretty young ladies, we would be seeing Ray Coffee and Hank Wallace riding out here with a shotgun to talk to Pa and Joe.” He stepped closer to the big man and then clapped him on the back. The two brothers laughed loudly at the image Adam had painted.
“You know, Adam, if we sort of go into the barn and stand by the window on the far side we just may be able to hear everything,” suggested Hoss.
”Good idea, brother.” Adam grinned mischievously. “After you, sir,” Adam extended his arm as if he was the maître d’ in the fanciest restaurant in San Francisco. He bowed deeply and pushed open the barn door for Hoss. They both slipped into the dark barn to find a better eavesdropping location.
“Mr. Cartwright, sir, I want to tell you that Joe is totally innocent and you have made a…a… grave and serious mistake.” Katie tried to remember the speech she had written in her room last night and practiced with Nancy all the way out to the Ponderosa. “A grave and serious mistake and a serious miscarriage of justice.”
“Yes sir, Joseph is totally, and completely innocent.” Nancy nodded. She tried to catch Joe’s eye as he continued to stack firewood near the side of the barn, twenty yards away. Joe, on the other hand, was trying his darndest to not acknowledge either of the girls as he was furious at both them. First Katie knocks his lights out and embarrasses him in front of Billy and whomever else might have seen the incident in the church yard. Then she gets him in trouble for drinking when he didn’t even have one sip. Now the two girls show up to annoy his father, who certainly will take it out on him and give him more punishments.
He was doomed.
With both hands, Joe picked up the closest chunk of firewood and pitched it overhand into the stack with all his strength. It made a satisfying thud as it hit the pile. A few other logs escaped from the neat stack and clattered noisily to the ground
“Mr. Cartwright, sir, Joe was wrongly accused and he is totally innocent. I’m not going to say you were wrong in what you did, sir, but…” Katie hesitated, looking at Ben’s scowling face and gave him her sweetest, most appealing smile. “You are a fine father and certainly know how to punish your son when he did something wrong. But Joe didn’t do anything wrong.”
Ben frowned at her and she smiled back like Joe did when he was trying to get out of something. Had Joe contrived some sort of deception with Katie Wallace? Not likely unless they had somehow gotten together without him knowing and that was unlikely. Not only was he watching Joe with an eagle eye, but so were his other sons. Even Hays Newkirk had taken a turn supervising Joe. Hop Sing had the boy scrubbing pans and peeling potatoes and washing floors. They all were keeping the boy so busy with punishment chores that there was no way he had snuck away from the house or gone far from the yard. The previous night the boy had fallen asleep at the dinner table and almost let his face fall into the mashed potatoes before Hoss hollered at him from the other side of the table. And anyway, Katie was too “Joe savvy”, as her aunt, Mim Wallace labeled it, to be taken in by him. Nancy might have fallen for one of Joe’s schemes but certainly not Katie.
“Mr. Cartwright, sir, er, could I just explain what happened at church last week? Joe wasn’t drunk at all, sir. Not one tiny bit,” Katie started nervously. “It was someone else’s whiskey and we were trying not to let that person get into trouble with that person’s father.”
Ben raised his eyebrow. Was the little girl telling him that she or Nancy walked into church with a pint bottle of cheap rot gut? Sheriff Ray Coffee’s sweet thirteen-year-old daughter? He took a look at Nancy, who was still trying in vain to get Joe to notice her. Ben shook his head. Joseph was going to be more of a handful than his other boys put together.
On the other side of the yard, Little Joe picked up another split log and pitched it angrily into the pile. The wood bounced off at an angle and clattered against the barn wall. The barn door swung open and his brother Hoss strode out with a pitchfork in his hand.
”What the heck do you think you are doing, Joe? “ Hoss roared. “You are supposed to stack the wood real neat, not play games with it. Now do the job right and restack the pile properly before you break the siding of the barn. Then you go get a hammer and some nails and fix that siding that you just busted.”
Joe glared at the girls on the other side of the yard.
“Joseph!” Hoss’ voice brought him back to the task at hand. “You finished lolly-gagging so’s you can help me with this fire wood or are you too busy eyeing those little gals?”
“What are they doing out here? Can’t Katie Wallace just keep her nose out of my business?” Joe raged and unconsciously put his hand on his bruised chin.
“Just get back to work, boy, before Pa decides to tan your hide,” Adam angrily ordered Joe from the doorway of the barn.
“Don’t you think you are in enough trouble already?” Hoss added. “And stop pitching wood at the barn. You are getting all the horses riled up.”
“Hey Romeo, stop looking daggers at the ladies and get back to work,” Adam ordered. He leaned against the door frame and watched his little brother squirm. Then he smiled at the sweet little girl conversing so earnestly with his father. ”Not an easy task to stand toe to toe with Pa, especially if you are barely five feet tall,” Adam laughed.
“That Katie Wallace is sure a piece of work” Hoss remarked.
“She’s going to be a pretty woman when she is done. More than pretty…beautiful,” Adam pointed out to no one in particular.
Joe wasn’t the only one on the Ponderosa squirming. Katie caught Adam looking straight at her and she turned beet red. “Mr. Cartwright, could we speak to you in private?” There was no way that she was going to complete her errand standing in the barn yard with handsome Adam so near and him looking at her while Nancy made ridiculous stupid cow eyes at Joe.
“Come inside, ladies. I think I can get Hop Sing to give us some refreshments.” Ben Cartwright was now intrigued with this turn of events. What tale could Katie contrive to bail out Joe?
“Adam, take care of this horse,” Ben ordered as he led Katie and Nancy toward the porch.
“Hoss, take care of the horse,” Adam quickly said.
“Little Joe, after you fix that board, take care of this horse,” Hoss passed the chore down the line.
“Hop Sing, we have company!” Ben called to the cook “Please bring out some refreshments for these young ladies.”
The two girls took seats side by side on the porch bench and Ben sat on the arm of a wooden chair. “OK Katie, what were you trying to tell me?”
”On Sunday, Joe didn’t get drunk,” Katie stated.
“Not one bit!” Nancy added.
”Really? Then why was he stumbling all over the church yard reeking of whiskey and falling over in a heap on the ground?”
Katie silently looked down at her toes.
“Katie, tell him, I didn’t ride all this way out here for you to examine your shoes! Tell him,” Nancy urged. Nancy just wanted a chance to set Joe free and then he would be so happy and beholding to her that he would be forever grateful and fall in love with her forever. Then Joe would be hers alone. Nancy sighed to herself at the fantasy. She could be Mrs. Little Joe Cartwright and live happily ever after.
“I hit Joe and knocked him out cold.” Katie admitted honestly.
Ben Cartwright threw his head back and laughed so loudly that Hop Sing almost dropped the plate of cookies he was carrying. “Honey, how could you knock Joe unconscious? And why?”
Then Katie and Nancy pieced together the saga of Billy and the whiskey and Katie’s once in a lifetime sucker punch. Ben laughed so hard tears started pouring out of his eyes.
“We’re not lying, sir.” Katie pleaded. “It is really not Joe’s fault one bit. I take all the blame. It was really an accident. Really. Joe is my very good friend and I certainly don’t want to hurt him.”
Ben poured each girl a cold glass of lemonade and offered them the plate of cookies. “Hop Sing, please go tell Little Joe that he should finish up with the fire wood and come see me. His punishment is finished. His attorney has bailed him out and this jailer is setting him free.”
The End
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