Summary:  In this prequel, Little Joe is upset and has a lesson to learn that the opposite of love is not hate and that caring can mean criticism and advice as well as help. But don’t expect a magical transformation. He’s still Little Joe.
Rating: PG  Word count: 1566

The Love v. Indifference Lesson

All Ben Cartwright wanted was for his son Adam to teach his youngest son Little Joe how to do some basic tasks correctly. The youngster tended to act impulsively and impatiently. The end result was that he took shortcuts far too often and left tasks done poorly or incorrectly. It was unacceptable. Now Adam was one of those who as a boy was meticulous in most cases when completing a task. Sometimes he had to be reminded to hurry and get it done as things didn’t have to be perfectly lined up or symmetrical all the time. Ben wished somehow there could be a happy medium in how the two did things, but certainly Little Joe had to improve his method. He did caution Adam not to have too high a level of expectation for his little brother. There were on a ride when he broached the subject. The sideways look told him that his eldest wasn’t fond of the idea but would do it.

“He’s not like you. He doesn’t see a natural order in the world as being important. So, take your time with him, and remember that a little progress each day is all I hope to see. He’s only a young boy no matter if he wants to be your age. One lesson at a time, Adam. One lesson at a time is all that he can handle.”

Shrugging as if to say he didn’t agree but would do it, Adam accepted the assignment. It was what Ben had expected and so was the progress that was made. At first, Little Joe liked the one-on-one attention. For a week, Adam was in charge of his youngest brother and they were together all day every day. They did everything together from making horseshoes to clearing mud out of the large horse trough near the barn or brush out of the pond in the nearest pasture. They packed lunches when they were away from the house and took breaks to eat and relax at midday with Adam making sure his little brother got enough rest. It was when they began to set the posts for an expansion of the main corral that Little Joe chose rebellion. Every time Little Joe set a post, Adam reset it explaining to his youngest brother why it was set incorrectly. Little Joe Cartwright had had enough. He decided to take a stand, and confronted his oldest brother. Adam had been expecting rebellion but not in the form it was delivered.

“You hate me, don’t you?”

Shocked by that, Adam gave the only answer he could. He was honest.

“I do not hate you.”

However Little Joe was convinced he was correct. Of course, he had not thought this through. As per his habit, he acted impulsively and emotionally. He said what he was thinking and had no concern for the consequences.

“Yes, you do. All you do is complain and tell me what to do and then you tell me what I’m doing wrong. You don’t care how I feel at all.”

“Little Joe, I do that because I care. If I didn’t care, I would ignore you and let you keep making mistakes and make a mess of things.”

“You mean like you could ever leave me alone?”

“Yes, that’s about what it would be but then you would likely get in trouble for not doing the job the way it was supposed to be done.”

“But you wouldn’t be picking on me and yelling at me and always telling me what I’m doing is wrong. That wouldn’t be any fun for you, would it?”

Leaning against the last post that they had set, Adam contemplated his youngest brother. Clearly continuing on as they had been wouldn’t do any good. A new plan was needed and soon.

“It would be no favor to you to let you make a mess of things by letting you do them incorrectly. That would be the proof that I don’t like you.”

“Well, maybe that’s what I want. I think it would show that you do like me. In fact, you could show that you like me and leave me alone. That’s what would make me believe you. Otherwise, you’re telling me you hate me.”

Although Adam didn’t want to do it, it seemed as if he had let himself be talked into a corner.

“If that’s what you want, I guess I have to do it. I’ll have to leave you alone.”

“It’s what I want.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. I’ll be a lot happier if you stay out of my life and let me be. I don’t need your dumb comments all the time about how I could do things better or be a better man.”

That night, Adam told his father about that conversation and that he could no longer work with his youngest brother. Ben didn’t like it, but he could see too that it might be the only way for the youngest to learn several lessons. For three days, Adam completely ignored his six-year-old brother. At first, Little Joe seemed quite proud of that. He bragged that he was his own man which got smirks and smiles. It all started to fall apart though when his tasks weren’t done correctly. Ben’s solution was to have him do those over after he finished working on his new tasks for the day.

“But I won’t have any time to play at all.”

“I’m sorry, Little Joe, but Hop Sing said that you made a mess of weeding in the garden so after chopping those boxes of kindling, you will have to go back out to the garden and spend a few hours doing a better job of weeding and cultivating than you did yesterday. If those two jobs aren’t done correctly, you will have to work on them again tomorrow after your jobs tomorrow.”

“But he told me I already have to clean out the chicken coop again because it wasn’t cleaned out enough. I won’t have time to do all of that and do more.”

“You’ll have to find the time. You have jobs to do every day including tomorrow.”

“What do I have to do tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow, you will be mucking out the stalls and putting in fresh straw.”

“But Adam usually helps me, oh, ah, well, I guess I can do it myself. All right.”

The next day, Little Joe had four jobs. He was exhausted by dinner and headed up to bed after dinner declining to play checkers with Hoss. When he was out of sight upstairs, Adam asked his father if perhaps they had pushed it too far.

“No, we have not pushed it too far. He has pushed it too far. Let him figure that out. I think he’s close.”

“I would like our relationship on a better footing before I leave for school.”

“Oh, I’m sure it will be. After all, he’s only six. This problem is only some practice for handling the challenges that await you in the next few years.”

Adam raised his eyebrows then in a great imitation of his father. The two had to chuckle. Ben was correct about Little Joe being close to his limit. Being ignored by Adam and working so hard got to Little Joe until he couldn’t take it anymore. Early in the afternoon of the next day, he walked into the house and burst into tears.

Ben and Adam were at the desk working on plans for a new pasture. Ben stood to go to his son but realized there was a better solution. He sat back down and gestured to Adam to respond instead.

“Little Joe, can I help you?”

That offer brought more tears, and Little Joe rushed toward Adam who had no choice except to hold out his arms and gather his brother into a hug.

“Adam, please work with me. Please tell me what to do. You can tell me what I’m doing wrong. You can even yell at me. Don’t ignore me no more.”

“If that’s what you want.”

“Yes, it’s what I want. Can you do it?”

“Yes, it’s what I want, and am I able to do it?”

Wiping away his tears with his sleeve, Little Joe looked up at his dark-haired brother and smiled at him.

“You want it too? That’s even better. I’m pretty sure you can do it too. Let’s go out to the stable and do our chores. You can tell me what to do.”

As Adam grabbed his hat and the two headed out the door, Little Joe was jabbering away about what he needed his oldest brother to help him do.

Ben had witnessed the whole encounter. He had an exclamation to the heavens when the door closed.

“Tarnation! Sons! I should have had daughters!”

Then he laughed and walked to the kitchen to get a refill on his coffee. Hoss walked in and followed his father.

“Pa, it looks like Little Joe and Adam done patched everything up. What did you do to fix things?”

“I didn’t do anything. Little Joe fixed it himself. All he needed was enough time to think it through.”

“Yeah, he told me if he cried, he figured you would make Adam help him again.”

Ben slammed his fist on the table in the kitchen.

“That scamp!”