Summary: Everyone at school had a secret in the family so Joe was convinced there had to be a secret in his own, and where better to find it than in a certain box in his father’s room

Rating:  G  (2,190 words)

 

Pandora’s Box

 

As with all good intentions there is always something that comes along right at the wrong moment to cause trouble. Without doubt Little Joe Cartwright had every good intention when he decided to take a peek inside a certain box in Pa’s room, but then, almost as though ordained to happen, he broke it.

 

He hadn’t intended to break it, in fact, he would much rather it had never broken at all, but the fact was, despite the numerous times Pa had told him not to touch it, he had done. Now he was going to be in trouble, he knew it as well as he knew his own name.

 

There was something in that box, he was sure, that had something to do with his big brother, Adam. Hoss never showed any interest in it whatsoever, and Joe, being more curious by nature, showed a great deal more interest in it than was good for him.

 

It seemed to him that that box contained the family secret. Well, every family had one after all; he knew that because at school Charlie Higgins told them that he had found out that he was adopted by looking into an old box in his Pa’s closet. That meant that Charlie Higgins wasn’t Charlie Higgins at all, but was born someone else … well, didn’t it? And what about Laura Bigglesworth? She discovered that she was her big sister’s daughter, and that caused no end of a ruckus when she started asking awkward questions that no one in the family seemed inclined to answer. Everyone at school said that there must be some big secret in the Cartwright family, seeing how Joe’s Pa had had three wives after all.

 

At first he tried wheedling it out of Hop Sing who just said that he would only find trouble if he kept on looking for things that he didn’t need to know about, which only confirmed in his mind that there just had to be some big secret for sure, considering how much trouble Charlie and Laura had come across. So he thought hard about it for a whole couple of hours before knowing exactly where to go if he wanted to find out about The Family Secret, it was quite obvious that the little box in Pa’s room, that no one touched, just has to contain the Family Secret. Now all he had to do was wait for Pa to leave the house for a while and give him time to ‘check it out’.

 

The house grew quiet as one by one the family dispersed, Hoss and Adam to do chores in the stables and Ben to attend to business in town. Just when Little Joe felt he could remain sitting in the chair pretending to read any long, Hop Sing eventually disappeared outside to attend to the chickens. This was the chance he had been waiting for and running light footedly upstairs he sneaked into his father’s room.

 

The times he had been in that room, he probably couldn’t even have counted the number of times (50 was his max at the present time, beyond that everything was a bit of a haze). But this time, it was different. As soon as the door was closed behind him his heart began to thump and act as though it would bust right out of his chest. He could barely breathe. The box was on the side table and as soon as he picked it up he began to get a kind of rasping in his throat, his hands got slippery and the box simply fell right out of his hands onto the floor.

 

Thankfully it hit the run, so it didn’t smash, but it did kinda crack across the middle. He picked it up very carefully and set it back down. The top was a bit skewed now, it didn’t look quite right, not like it did before it had been dropped. He stood there and looked at it for some time before realising he should get out of the room before Pa returned home to find him there.

 

As Joe scampered down the stairs and resumed his seat, picked up his book, and held it in front of his nose, he began to speculate on the future. Short term that is … when Pa noticed it he decided it would be better to pretend he knew nothing about it, it’ll be his secret. If Pa never found out who did it then it would be some kind of family secret, however, should he discover who broke it, then it would be what Adam would have called an open secret … cringing into the back of the chair Joe wished he had left the wretched thing alone.

 

………….

 

A few days trickled by and with Little Joe’s mercurial temperament the matter of the box slipped away from his memory like Scotch mist fades once the sun rises over the lochs to disperse the slender gossamer tendrils.

 

The days were full for him as he had to go to school and then back to do his chores before supper. In the evening Ben or Adam would read him a story and discuss what had taken place during the day. As Joe’s account often conflicted strongly with Miss Jones version no one really took great stock in what Joe had to say.

 

The week drifted towards its end and one evening Joe ran to the supper table in his usual high anticipation of what Hop Sing had prepared for them to eat. He was surprised when Ben came from the study area of the big room to ask Adam if he could spare a moment before they ate. He was disconcerted when Adam reappeared with pursed lips and a frown furrowing his brow, and a request to Hoss to go in and see Pa. Joe scrambled around in his brain to find out what he could possibly have done wrong and then … remembered. Hoss came out from the study area with a downcast face and took his seat. His blue eyes didn’t turn towards his little brother but remained fixed on his plate.

 

“JOE”

 

Ben’s stentorian voice seemed to echo around the room. Both Hoss and Adam gave Joe a long look of mingled commiseration and reproach. The little boy sidled from his chair and after looking beseechingly at his brothers, trailed mournfully to his father’s study where Ben sat at his desk.

 

He knew immediately what the problem was for on the desk was the box with the cracked lid. Ben pointed to the edge of the desk and Joe dutifully approached until he was right close to the desk and looked up at his father as Ben looked down upon him with a stern frown upon his dark face. There was no reassuring gleam in Ben’s black eyes. Joe felt his stomach churn over and an overwhelming longing to run to the outhouse.

 

“Explain.” Ben said and pointed to the box.

 

“I…”

 

“Don’t even try to make any excuses, Joe, nor make any attempt to blame either of your brothers. I know it was you. I want you to tell me what happened or, by thunder, lad, I will take you to the barn and give you the tanning you deserve.”

 

“I …”

 

Joe blinked. He had an instinctive awareness of just how far he could go having had some years of practice. He knew some pranks of his would pass over with a laugh, others with a sad shake of the head and dismissal, others – well, others meant the barn. However, there were the occasional situations where he knew he could avoid the ultimate punishment by one simple line of conduct. Something that Ben prized more highly than any other and that was by simply telling the truth.

 

“I’m waiting, Joseph. On the count of three I want the truth.”

 

“Pa, I -” he struggled, somehow he couldn’t get the words out, he wanted to tell the truth but there were no words coming out. He felt a shiver go down his spine and he hic-coughed.

 

“ONE!”

 

“Pa, I’m sorry,” he whispered and hung his head.

 

“What did you say? I didn’t hear you?”

 

“I’m sorry, Pa, for breaking the box.” Joe looked up and tears rimmed his eyes and spiked his lashes, “I wanted to see if there was a family secret there.”

 

“A what?” Ben looked stunned, and surveyed Joe as though he had never seen the boy before in his life.

 

“A family secret. Everyone at school has one, they said that seeing how you had three wives you were bound to have a family secret. I dropped the box and the lid cracked.” and for good measure he ended with a sob.

 

“By thunder, so I’ve had three wives and must have a black secret, huh? Who do they think I am, Bluebeard or what?”

 

Joe frowned; he had never heard about Bluebeard and so just gulped.

 

“I know I shouldn’t have gone into the room without ‘mission, Pa, and not to have touched the box. It just slipped out of my hands, Pa.”

 

“And did you see what was inside?” Ben growled.

 

Joe shook his head, his chin wobbled. He looked down at the rug and watched all the colours intermingle and merge into a kaleidoscope of patterns as the tears spilled over.

 

“So you didn’t achieve what you intended? The box was broken for nothing?”

 

“Hic,” Joe gulped.

 

“Come here,” Ben’s voice gentled and he picked the boy up and settled him on his knee, “In this family, Joe, there are no secrets, not unless they are pleasant ones, like buying you a present for being a good boy, or giving Hoss something special for working so hard. Things like that are the kinds of secret we like to have in this household, isn’t that right?”

 

“Yes, HIC, Pa.”

 

“Do you want to see what’s in the box?”

 

Joe wasn’t sure. He kept his head down and hic coughed again. Ben took off the lid and emptied the box on to the desk. Now Joe looked to see the treasures in the box he had thought to contain so many secrets. Ben picked up a brooch and showed it to him, a cameo,

 

“This belonged to my Grand Mother, I remember seeing her wearing it as she sat in the old rocking chair by the fire of our home before I went to sea. This -” he picked up a frail battered little book, “belonged to my father, a book of Psalms, from which he would read to us each night.” The next item was a small collection of letters tied with pink ribbon, “these are letters from Elizabeth written to me while I was at sea and before I went into business with Abel.”

 

Joe nodded, blinked, watched as his father began to gather the items into his large hands to replace them, then he blinked again,

 

“What’s that there then?” he pointed to a brown envelope which seemed pleasantly fat and positively busting with secrets.

 

Ben sighed, he picked it up and held it in his hands, looked at it and then looked up at the expectant little boy who looked into his face with beguiling innocence,

 

“This is money. This is what I set aside at the end of each month so that Adam will have money for when he goes to college. THAT is OUR secret. Do you understand, Joseph?”

 

His dark eyes stared sternly into the hazel eyes of his son, and Joe nodded. Not for the entire world would he divulge this wonderfully awesome secret. Not even if someone threatened him with red hot pokers, to tear out his heart or – or something like that. He inhaled a long, deep, breath.

 

“I swear, Pa, cross my heart and hope to die,” he was about to do a good spit to seal the oath but Ben put a finger to his mouth. He had experience of Joe and his spit, it tended to splatter.

 

“Good boy,” Ben said quietly as he replaced the brown envelope with the other things in the box, “Now promise me never to peek and pry into anyone’s personal belongings again, do you hear?”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“Anything else?”

 

Joe frowned, he put his arms around Ben’s neck and hugged him tight,

 

“I’m sorry, Pa.”

 

“Good, let that be a lesson to you then,” and Ben set the boy down, tapped him on the bottom and pushed him away.

 

Joe turned and smiled like a sweet good little cherub which he wasn’t,

 

“I was right though, wasn’t I, Pa? There was a family secret there, wasn’t there?”

 

He scampered away, a broad smile wreathing his face, every freckle seeming to dance across his snub little nose while his father replaced the items into the box, and carefully replaced the cracked lid upon it.

 

The End

 

May 2010