Summary:   All the Cartwright boys know you should concentrate on the Sermon in church, but sometimes you can’t help your thoughts wondering.
Rating G  (2,800 words)

THE SERMON

The little church was hot and stuffy on a warm August day.  It was certainly not conducive to listening to a long sermon on the Ten Commandments.  Reverend Wilkins had taken this as his subject for the summer and had reached number five; ‘Honor thy mother and thy father.’

Three rows back from the front the Cartwright family sat listening to the preacher.  They were seated in the same order every Sunday and for good reason. First into the row and now seated nearest the wall was Adam, next to him Hoss and then Little Joe next to his father, who occupied the aisle seat.

Ben glanced along the row before turning his eyes back to the front; all three boys appeared to be paying rapt attention to the sermon.

Adam leaned back in the uncomfortable wooden pew and allowed his thoughts to drift.  He had got out of the habit of attending church while in Boston.  There were so many other things to do.  Harvard students were supposed to attend a church service but most managed to find a way around the rule and he had been no exception.  Religious instruction classes had been compulsory and he felt that twice a week in class was sufficient for his immortal soul, why endure it on Sundays too.  Sometimes he had gone to the North End Church with his grandfather and had enjoyed the services up to a point.  Maybe that was because the church had such an illustrious past.  He had often allowed his mind to wander there too, thinking of the lantern, and the bell, which had rung out to tell the country the British were coming.  ‘One if by land and two if by sea.’

His thoughts came back to the present.  A row in front of him and on the other side of the aisle he could see the back of Emily Jordan, his current girlfriend, and such a pretty back it was.  She was wearing a very fetching pink hat with a cream feather that curled around her ear.  Pretty ears too, he recalled.  Her dark hair was loose around her shoulders and when she had seen him earlier there had been a dimpled smile on her face.  He could recall every detail of her.  Her dress was pink and cream too, with ribbons laced down the bodice to her tiny waist.  The skirt of the dress was straight with a bunch of pleats from knee to ankle; such lovely ankles.  He sighed then caught himself; he hoped he hadn’t been heard. A glance sideways told him Pa was concentrating on the sermon.  He had escaped.  Pa was a stickler for behaving in church as they had all found to their cost at one time or another.

A quick glance at his brothers told him that they too were listening to the preacher.  Maybe he had better listen in case Pa asked questions as he usually did.  He’d learn an awful lot of the Bible as a punishment for not listening in church. He managed all of three minutes before his thoughts drifted again.   If he could just find a way to slip off with Emily and be alone.  Maybe they could eat their picnic with her family and then tell her father that they were joining the Cartwrights for the afternoon.  Surely it would be possible to find a quiet spot where no one would bother them.  He had had much more freedom in Boston; here everyone knew him and his slightest transgression would be reported to his father.  Not that he planned to do anything he shouldn’t but that didn’t stop his thoughts from straying.  Such thoughts had no place in church that was for sure.  He looked across the aisle again and caught Emily glancing back at him.  They both smiled and she blushed.  Maybe her thoughts weren’t so different from his?

In another half an hour, he would be escorting Emily to a summer picnic.  In half an hour he would be free.  He settled back in his seat to dream of Emily.

Beside his older brother, Hoss fidgeted.  He hated wearing a tie and Pa insisted that all of them do so for church.  A glance from his father made him sit still but didn’t stop his mind wandering.  His right hand dipped into his jacket pocket to check that his fishhooks were there, carefully wrapped in wax paper ready for his fishing trip with his friends this afternoon.  He was gonna catch a mess of big rainbow trout this afternoon, he was sure of it.  He and his friends planned to cook them on a campfire tonight.  He hadn’t told Pa yet that he wouldn’t be at the picnic.  Pa set such store by being a family at such events that it hadn’t seemed a good idea.  He’d just drop it into the conversation after church and hope Pa didn’t say nuthin’ to stop him.  Adam was going off with his girl, he’d bet on that, so Pa couldn’t’ … oh yes he could, but he wouldn’t’ would he?  Even worse would Pa insist that Little Joe go with them?  He loved his little brother, dearly, but he wanted to be with his grown up friends.  He was almost nineteen and Pa still treated him like a little kid.  He grinned.  He was bigger than all of the men here in church, bigger than Pa too.

He looked to his right; Pa was frowning at him.  He must have seen the grin and wonder what his middle son was up to.  Hoss put on a sober expression and tried to listen to the preacher.  He tried, he really did every week, but he didn’t understand all of it and the preacher had that sort of voice that made you fall asleep.  He’d done that a time or two lately.  Saturday nights in town, late nights, and more beer than he should have had, made Sundays a day for sleep.  Twice Pa had caught him, once because he had snored loud enough for the whole congregation to hear.  Boy had Pa been mad at him that time.  No, he mustn’t fall asleep.

He thought back to last night.  He had accompanied Adam to the Silver Dollar.  Was it a sin to think about a saloon in church?  He guessed it probably was but he couldn’t help himself.  Adam had sat in on a poker game with him and had helped him to understand how the game was played for real high stakes.  He’d lost most of his wages and he hated to think what Pa would say if he knew.  Adam seemed to have won so maybe he could borrow some from him if he needed to.  Thinking about gambling was a sin; he was certain sure.  Seemed like today he couldn’t help sinning.  All his thoughts were bad ones.

Maybe if he just thought about the trout he planned to catch, slathered in butter and served up with potatoes fried in the fat.  Was thinking of food a sin.  He was sure it wasn’t a commandment but he remembered Adam telling him something about seven deadly sins and what was that word …. gluttony, yeah that was it.  Seemed everything he enjoyed was a sin.  He heard Widow Morris sneeze, now there was someone who believed that anything fun was a sin; silly old biddy.  He and Joe had fallen foul of her many times.

He listened to the preacher again he was talking about honouring thy father.  Well he was on safe ground there.  He admired his Pa and considered him an authority on everything; surely that was what the preacher meant.  Maybe he meant obeying too; Hoss was pretty good at that, excepting when Joe came up with some hare-brained scheme.  If Pa said he couldn’t go fishing he wasn’t so sure he’d honor him them.

He could feel his father’s eyes on him again and it made him squirm in his seat and get a nudge from Adam.  Only half an hour to go and he’d be outside in the warm summer air.  He’d rather worship God in the mountains He created or by the lake than in a stuffy church anyhow.

Joe saw the look Pa was giving Hoss and sat up a bit straighter in his seat.  Adam and Hoss might only get a look; he’d get Bible verses to learn if Pa thought he wasn’t paying attention.  A few more boring sermons and he’d know the whole Bible, he thought.  Pa’s standard Sunday punishment for trouble was to learn ten verses and as trouble followed him seven days a week, Joe had done more than his fair share of learning.

He glanced at his oldest brother at the end of the row, dreaming of Emily no doubt.  Joe had to admit he looked handsome, his boots highly polished and his dark suit with a white shirt and black string tie.  He, himself, was just beginning to appreciate how important good looks were with young ladies and he knew he was a handsome kid.  He wasn’t however too old to enjoy a good laugh at his brother’s expense.  Now if he could just think of a way to play a prank on Adam and Emily this afternoon.  He’d have to give it some thought.

The preacher was droning on about respect for your parents.  He didn’t need to hear this, he respected his Pa, sure he did.  He respected his Pa’s right hand a whole lot too.  Pa had made him learn the commandments a while back.  He couldn’t quite remember what he’d done wrong that time but he could remember the words.  This was number five so that meant five more sermons like this on five more Sundays.  He ran through them in his head, six was about killing; maybe the preacher would put in a few gruesome murders to liven up the sermon.  Seven, now that was going to be a good one, how was  Reverend Wilkins going to talk about that without making some of the ladies faint.  Even Pa had found it hard to explain when Joe had asked him what adultery meant and Pa could usually talk to him about anything.  Stealing, well he knew that was wrong, it was just that his brother had such interesting things in his room and he wasn’t really stealing, only borrowing.  Perhaps using Adam’s bay rum last week had been stealing, sorta, because he couldn’t put it back, but Annie had said it smelled nice and it made him feel grown up.  Anyhow, Adam hadn’t noticed.  Then came what the Bible called ‘false witness’.  Pa said it meant lying; well he sure tried not to do that, maybe bend the truth a little but not outright lie.  Pa came down pretty heavy on a son who lied to him.  The last one was coveting. Pa had explained that too.  In Joe’s opinion if God didn’t want folks coveting then he shouldn’t have given more to some than others.  He had to admit he did kinda covet Adam’s new pistol and then there was that bridle with the silver conchos that Mitch had been given for his birthday, he’d sure like one of those.

Thinking of his best friend Mitch, made him consider what they could do to embarrass Adam this afternoon.  He ran through a few options in his head but none of them were quite right.  He leaned forward a little and looked across the aisle to where Mitch was seated.  He caught his friend’s eye and gave him a grin and a signal to meet him outside after church.  At that point a hand descended on his knee and squeezed hard.  Joe swallowed and looked up into the dark brown eyes of his father.  Pa was not amused.  Joe immediately straightened up and stared ahead at the preacher.  Better not give Pa any reason to be mad at him; he wanted to be free this afternoon to play a trick on Adam.

Ben slowly relaxed his grip on his youngest son’s knee but kept his eyes on him until he was sure he had got the message to behave.  He glanced along the row to his other sons; yes, both were staring straight ahead, no doubt concentrating on the Reverend’s sermon.  Ben had heard this sermon many times before he wished preachers would change their subject more often.  He suspected that there was a trade in sermons among young preachers.  He was sure this was almost word for word the same one he had heard as a boy back in Boston.  It wasn’t really surprising that young Joe’s interest was minimal.  Ben could recall tying fishing flies, counting the candles in the church and other such past times to get him through a boring sermon.

He saw Emily Jordan look back and give Adam a smile.  He’d have to have a word with his eldest son.  Adam had been seeing far too much of the girl and often unchaperoned.  Unbidden, thoughts if his clandestine meetings with Liz came back to him.  They had met when he was just seventeen and he knew how Adam was feeling.  He and Liz had often slipped away for a picnic on a cliff top overlooking the harbor. It took very little for him to remember a kiss or the scent of her hair. There had never been enough time on their own.  He also knew how Jeff Jordan must feel about protecting his daughter.  There were times when Ben was very glad he had only sons and this was one of them.  Adam was restless since he had come back from college and Ben wondered if he would stay or if he would go off in search of new challenges.

Hoss had responded very quickly to the frown he had been given.  What was that young man planning?  At nineteen he was considerably bigger and stronger than his friends, his older brother and if truth be told, Ben too.   It was lucky that Hoss was the most amenable of his sons, for Ben didn’t think he would be able to control him if he weren’t.  Like his mother, Inger, he was easy going, but Ben knew it wasn’t a weakness.  If something mattered enough to his middle son, then nothing and no one would deflect him from his purpose.  Inger had been the same, a strong woman with firm opinions and a very caring person.  In to his head came a picture of her cradling their newborn son in her arms with a little dark haired boy leaning over to peek at his new brother.

Joe fidgeted in the seat beside him and brought him out of his reverie.  He tapped his hand impatiently on the youngster’s knee and shook his head in admonishment.  The curly haired boy looking up at him reminded him so much of Marie that he almost allowed the frown to become a smile.  Marie had never been able to sit still for five minutes.  She, like her son, had taken life by the throat and squeezed every ounce of adventure and pleasure from each moment.  Her son was so much like her, impulsive and full of life.  Marie would have enjoyed this afternoon’s summer picnic.  He could almost hear her laughter and see her smile.

He looked up startled as Joe nudged him.  The preacher had stopped speaking and the congregation was standing for the final hymn.  He saw Adam’s eyes on him.  His eldest son was smiling and there was a mischievous twinkle to those brown eyes.  He had been caught out by his own son.  He grunted softly and picked up his hymnal, sought out the correct page then held it lower so that Joseph could share with him.

The hymn concluded and the final pray said; they filed outside into the sunshine.  He waited in line with the boys to shake hands with Reverend Wilkins.

“Mighty fine sermon, Reverend, as always.”  He said clasping the man’s hand firmly.

As they moved out of earshot of the preacher and the rest of the congregation, Adam moved up beside his father.  “You’re mighty quiet, Pa.  Aren’t you going to ask us about the sermon?”  Adam’s usually serious voice had a hint of laughter in it.

Ben grunted again, he couldn’t recall enough of the sermon to ask questions or know if he was getting the right answers.  He sought, quickly, for a suitable response. “I thought as it was a holiday today, I’d let it go.”

Was it his imagination or did all three boys smile then sigh with relief.

The End