Summary:   Some light-hearted chat between father and son.

Rated: K+  Word Count:  665

                                               Like Father Like Son

He raised his hand to knock, then pulled it back at the last second. Joe sighed. He would soon wear a hole in the rug if he paced outside his father’s bedroom door any longer. Deciding it would be better to just get it over with, Joe knocked hesitantly and waited for his father’s “Come in”.

Ben looked up from the book he was reading but he wasn’t surprised in the least by who it was that came through his door. Joseph had been troubled lately and Ben had known that given time, his son would come to him for help.

“Evening, son,” Ben greeted softly and laid the book aside on the blue quilt top.

“Pa,” Joe started then stopped, unsure of how to continue. He closed his eyes briefly. “Pa, I wondered if I could talk to you a minute.”

“Of course,” Ben said, expecting Joe to sit in the chair part way across the room. Instead his son flopped down onto the side of the bed, one leg tucked up under the other, facing his father. “What is this about, Joe?”

“Well it’s just that….” And the hesitancy in his voice spoke volumes to Ben. Ben reached over and let his hand come to rest on Joe’s knee, signaling for his son to go on. “Just that…well…something has happened that I need to talk to you about. Just you. Oh God, please don’t say anything to Adam. He would tease me forever and I don’t think I could stand it, Pa!” and the restlessness inherent in Joe came back out as he shot to his feet and began to pace the room.

Ben simply watched and waited, knowing his son so well, he knew the force building inside would eventually boil to the surface.

“It’s just that…Pa, I guess I need some sort of reassurance about what is happening to me. I mean, I look at you and try to judge myself against you. Then I look at Adam. He’s your son same as I am but we are just so different. Everything about us. I know, different mothers but we have the same father so in some respects we should be alike.” And as Joe spoke, one hand balled into a fist and kept burrowing into the palm of the other hand.

“Joseph, all men are different-” Ben started to explain but Joe cut him short.

“Not in this they aren’t. They are either like you or like Adam. No in between and Pa, I’m trying my best to figure out where I’m gonna come out at. Help me, Pa, please?” And he came to a halt before the mirror over the dresser and ran his hands through his hair.

“I told you I would help you, son and I will.”

Joe dropped his hands to his hips and turned to face his father. “You gotta understand something, Pa. You have always been just like you are now. At least to me you have. I can’t imagine you any other way but I know that you were my age once. What made it happen for you? Age? What?”

Ben looked at Joe pensively then the bright light of understanding showed him the way as Joe pushed his hands back through his wild unruly curls again.

“Well, I don’t really know. But don’t worry Joseph. From what I know of the family, Adam is the odd one in this.”

The look of relief on Joe’s face was a joy to behold and Ben nearly laughed aloud when he saw it.

“So you really don’t think I have anything to worry about?” Joe asked and turned back to study his reflection in the mirror.

“No, Joseph. I don’t think so. But let me give you a word of fatherly advice. Don’t go pulling those gray hairs out or you will be bald like Adam.”

The end, well maybe……

Tags: Ben Cartwright, Joe / Little Joe Cartwright