Chapter 10
The Big Bang
Joe Goodman was engrossed in reading over the galley proof for the next day’s issue of the Territorial Enterprise when a shadow fell across his desk. Startled, he glanced up to look into the set face of Adam Cartwright, which bore all signs of barley restrained anger. Cartwright held a copy of the Enterprise in his hands. With a loud thud the paper landed on Goodman’s desk.
“Hello, Mr. Cartwright. What can I do for you this fine morning?”
Cartwright’s voice was low, but held a certain cold, steely note when he said, “I demand a retraction!”
Goodman felt as if he had had an epiphany. This was going to be it, and far earlier than expected. He bathed in anticipation for a moment and then purred in delight, “Miss Heatherstone will see about that in a moment.” Sweeter words he had never spoken.
“You can take care of that. You are the editor after all. And as the editor you are responsible for everything the Enterprise contains. Don’t run away and hide behind a woman. I’m mad, Goodman; I am really mad. You should have known better than to publish this leprechaun rubbish. The Ponderosa is not by any means some sort of Sutter’s Mill and I want a clarification in this next edition you’re just proofing.” Cartwright clearly was a good deal annoyed. Well, good! Goodman was only happy that he wouldn’t have to deal with that.
“Mr. Cartwright, I’m sorry, but Miss Heatherstone now is in charge of the complaints department.”
Cartwright narrowed his eyes at him and came closer. His legs touched the rim of Goodman’s desk and he leaned over, so that his nose nearly met the editor’s. “Goodman, stop kidding me. I’m not in the mood to be fooled with. You don’t have any complaints department in this poor excuse for a—”
Goodman interrupted, “My, my, Mr. Cartwright, we don’t want to get personal here. See, I wouldn’t dream of kidding you. We do have a complaints department since, um, Miss Heatherstone came to help us out. It’s part of the new company policy.”
Cartwright screwed his face up at that. The man now looked downright menacing. Goodman pushed his chair back, stood up and took two steps back. Better get some space between him and Cartwright. “Miss Heatherstone wrote that article anyway, so she will be the right person to speak to.”
He quickly turned around and called, “Miss Heatherstone, please be so kind as to join Mr. Cartwright. He has some, er, issues to discuss with you.”
The pause in Goodman’s speech was only brief but Adam heard it anyway. He glanced suspiciously at the editor. “What’s going on?”
Goodman was relieved from answering by the arrival of Juliet.
“Oh hello, Adam, good morning! How very lovely of you to stop by”, she chimed.
“Good morning, Juliet. I—”
“How are you this morning, Adam?”
He was cut off again. This was getting very annoying. He wondered if the Territorial Enterprise considered constant interruption as a new company policy, too.
Juliet literally beamed at him. Adam felt a tickle between his shoulder blades. Something wasn’t right.
Joe Goodman, who had silently retreated behind the printing machine, smiled contently. There was battle in the air. He barely refrained from sniffing. But he sensed it anyway: the foreboding smell of war.
“This isn’t a social call, Juliet,” Adam announced.
“Oh. No?” Juliet’s eyes went wide in wonder. She looked entirely clueless. Purely naïve. Adam pursed his lips. This display of complete and utter innocence was just…fishy.
He squinted at her. “You know why I am here. You wrote this all-fired article that you knew you had no right to.” There was a certain amount of, yes, venom in his voice.
The pleasant expression on Juliet’s face fell away in a split second. “I will not have you talk to me in that kind of voice, Adam!” She scowled at him. “This is not a way to talk to a lady!”
“I will talk to you in any way I find suitable.”
“Is that so? You find this ‘suitable’?” Her eyebrows sped to her hairline in one dizzying movement. “Then, Mr. Cartwright, you are less a gentleman than I thought!”
“While you’re quite the lady, right? I can’t find anything ladylike in ranting openly about things I entrusted you with in complete confidence,” he spat in disgust.
“You never asked me for discretion,” she answered indignantly.
“I told you a family story. I assumed you understood—”
“Oh, how very naïve of you, Adam. You tell me the most hilarious story I have ever heard and expect I won’t be using it?” She straightened her back to an imperious posture. “Anyway, how was I to know you didn’t tell me the whole story only because you wanted me to write an article?”
“Why should I? And if I wanted that—and I did not—I would have told you so. But I did not do that!” His enraged voice thundered through the office. He couldn’t believe she had taken him from anger and annoyance to purest fury in so short a time. He calmed himself with some deep breaths. “You had no right to use this story. You encouraged hundreds of people to trespass on Ponderosa land and search for a silly pot of gold that doesn’t even exist!” His voice rose once more while speaking, and he felt rage coming up from his stomach again.
“I have every right to use every bit of information I can lay my hands on. That’s what I’m paid for, after all. If you don’t understand that, I am sorry, but there’s nothing to be done for it.” There was dismissal in her voice, but he would have none of it.
“Ah, but there is something to be done for it. You can write a retraction. Tell the readers you made this up. Maybe that way the worst can be prevented.”
“The worst,” she emphasized ironically. “You have absolutely no way of knowing if there will be any gold seekers on the Ponderosa at all.”
“Oh, I know they will come. They did it before, and they will do it again!”
“Well, either way I will not write a retraction.” She snorted. “I didn’t make the story up. And it is the company’s policy never to write retractions anyway. It is a brilliant story and I—”
Now Adam resorted to the new company policy of interrupting. “You will write a retraction!”
“I will not.”
“You will!”
“I won’t.”
“You—”
“No.”
“You—”
“NO!”
Adam closed his eyes and heaved a very, very deep breath. He pinched the bridge of his nose, inwardly counting to ten. Then to twenty. Finally he let out a snarl and growled with emphasis, “You will write a retraction.” He deliberately stressed every single word. “Or, by all that is holy, I will give you the tanning you deserve.”
“You wouldn’t dare lay a hand on me, Adam Cartwright!” Juliet replied, beside herself with indignation.
He lifted a corner of his mouth for a moment then pursed his lips considering her. Eventually he said casually, “I wouldn’t count on that.”
Juliet quite obviously had had enough. She lifted her chin in an imperial gesture and glared at him. “You have no manners, you, you…pig-headed peasant.” At that, Adam winced visibly. But he recovered in record time and narrowed his eyes at her.
“Now you overstepped the line, mylady, and I won’t let you get away with it. Write. The. Retraction.”
He stared at her. She held his gaze. They stood like this for what seemed an eternity. Face to face, eye to eye, hazel to green. Neither of them did even so much as blink. Their heavy breaths abated slowly while the minutes ticked by.
The sun threw its golden glow through the front window and lit the room. Dust danced in the warm air. Silence once again settled in the office of the Territorial Enterprise. Goodman heard a fly buzzing lazily through the room. Eventually the fly made the fatal mistake of coming to rest on the very corner of the printing-press the editor had leaned on through the whole episode. Goodman grabbed one of the galley proofs lying on the desk nearby, folded it into a tight roll, and with one swift motion murdered the poor, oblivious insect.
The smack made Adam and Juliet jump. Coming out of their daze, they looked at each other in wonder. Finally Juliet offered in a muted voice, “I could write an article where I explain that the whole story is based on a legend and that there is no gold on Ponderosa land.”
“That would be very kind of you,” he answered, equally restrained.
“Fine, then.”
“Fine.”
One last glance, and then both turned on their heel and left the battlefield in opposite directions. Juliet went back to her desk at the back of the office, Adam headed out the front door and across the street to the Silver Dollar saloon.
He was in desperate need of a drink.
Joseph Goodman sat down in his office chair. He rested his arms on his desk and steepled his fingers in front of his mouth, cupping his chin with his thumbs. He did not suppress the smile that made its way across his face. He surely had had his day. A dream had come true. The Queen of England had been, well, not exactly dethroned, but certainly her chair had been rattled, and Adam Cartwright surely had met his nemesis. Two worthy opponents, Goodman had to give them that. ‘Pig-headed peasant’—that had clearly shaken the man. And Goodman just loved the degrading emphasis Adam had put on designating Juliet ‘mylady’ in return.
The only irritating thing was—and Goodman couldn’t shake the feeling—that Juliet Heatherstone and Adam Cartwright had enjoyed their fight far more than one would have expected. Thinking this, somehow Goodman felt betrayed.
I just love so much that you developed a friendship between Adam and Juliet in this series before developing a romance (though of course there were sparks from the start). ? I just always feel like friendship is so important for a couple …
Enjoyable, as your writing always is. So glad there’s more to go. Thx for writing! (And hope all is well w you …)
Oh, oh, I’m so happy you are starting to read the series!
I agree, friendship is important for a couple. And I really wanted to explore why they would fall for each other rather than making it love at first sight. Even though I suspect ghat at the end of the day it was love at first sight, only they did not recognise it for what it was.
I hope you’ll enjoy the otherbstories, too.
(And yes, all is well. Just keep my fingers crossed it stays so.)
I would pay to give Adam a bath!!!? Like the way this is headed.
Well, yes, who wouldn’t? 🙂
Thanks a lot, Neano, for reading this and for letting me know you liked it. It’s very much appreciated!