No, it isn’t very pretty what a town without pity can do.

A Town Without Pity by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington

“Pa.”

Ben looked up from his paperwork at the sound of Joe’s voice. He was supposed to be finishing the schoolwork he had conveniently forgotten about the week before. Now he was spending his Saturday afternoon doing what he should have done already. Ben looked at the boy, trying not to allow his irritation show. The note home from his teacher had explained that Joe had chosen to ignore the assignment. It wasn’t like Little Joe hated school as much as Hoss had, but he certainly didn’t put in any effort with some tasks beyond the bare minimum. It still amazed him sometimes just how different his three sons were.

“Pa?”

Ben startled to realised he hadn’t responded and he looked again to see Joe staring at him.

“Yes, Son.”

“Pa … did you … I mean …”

“Joseph, I am busy with finishing these contract calculations and you have work to do, young man.”

Joe swallowed and looked down at his page with barely a dozen words.

Something in his son’s posture alerted Ben that this wasn’t just a timewasting attempt and he started over.

“What did you want to know?”

Joe looked up again and Ben was surprised at the look on his face.

“Joe?”

“Pa, did you ever think about stopping someplace before you got to … well before you found the Ponderosa?”

Ben almost smiled at the wording as he hadn’t just found the place they all called home. He had carved it out of the wilderness, but Joe was too young to have any other memory besides what they all enjoyed now.

“A few times.” Ben found himself transported to a small town with a general store tended by a lady with a pretty face and a lilting voice. He’d have stayed put there if she had insisted on it and built a home for his family in a different place.

“Why didn’t you stay? Didn’t you get sick of movin’ all the time?”

“No.” Ben paused as he recalled his introduction to that same town. “It isn’t very pretty what a town without pity can do.”

“Huh?”

Ben looked up to see Joe’s puzzled expression. He decided he needed to shift the focus of the conversation back where it belonged. Namely, why was his son not doing his assignment as expected?

“Joseph, what exactly are you meant to be writing about?”

Joe shifted uncomfortably in his chair as he frowned again at the almost blank paper.

“We’re s’posed to write about where our family comes from and how they came to live here.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“I was just thinkin’ that you and Adam took years just to get here. If you woulda went a different way … or got lost … you would never have … I wouldn’t … ”

Ben quickly made his way over towards his son. He hooked a thumb under his chin and lifted his small face upward.

“Joseph, I came exactly the right way to get here.”