Summary:  Joe becomes concerned that his brother may be something other than human after reading a book about the behaviorisms of non-human beings. When Adam gets wind of Joe’s beliefs, he decides to have a little fun with younger brother.

Rating: K+  WC  5300

 

Howling at the Moon

Ben Cartwright entered his youngest son’s bedroom. He found him thoroughly engaged in his studies, reading his history book… or so he thought.

“Joe it’s time for dinner.”

There was no response. Ben smiled as he made his way closer to his son’s desk. The boy was sitting on the edge of his seat with his eyes intensely shifting from left to right as they devoured every word on the page.

This action alone made Ben suspicious. He glanced down and soon realized that his son was holding the presumed history book upside down.

“Joseph!”

Joe immediately closed his book at the sound of his father’s voice. He looked up at Ben and nervously responded, “Oh… sorry pa. I didn’t hear you come in…” The eight year old tried to conceal the book under his arm, which only made his father furrow his brow even more.

“So, how’s the STUDYING going?”

“Uh, fine… just fine…” Joe glanced once more up at his father before averting his eyes. He knew he had been caught. There was a long silence before Joe felt Ben step up alongside of him and remove the book from under his arm.

Ben found a very thin, well worn book wedged within the pages of his son’s history text. He pulled it out from its hiding spot and snapped the history book closed. The sound made Joe jump.

“Well, what do you have to say for yourself, young man?”

“I…I… have been studying, Pa. I just decided to take a break is all. I’ll go back to the history stuff after dinner.”

“You’ll go back to the history ‘stuff’ right now,” Ben bellowed. “I told you to study for an hour before dinner and my guess is that you still need that hour.”

Joe remained with his eyes down. His stomach was growling but he knew he hadn’t a choice. “Yes, Pa.”

“Good. I’ll tell Hop Sing to put your food in the warming oven then.” Ben turned towards the door.

“Pa… When can I have the book back? I… I… borrowed it from Mitch.”

“I will give it to you tomorrow morning on your way to school, Joseph.” Ben did not wait for any response from his son. He just closed the bedroom door and started down the hallway. When he appeared at the top of the stairs, his eyes were perusing the reading material that so enticed his son’s interest.

It was a manual of some sort in regards to non-human beings. Ben just shook his head as he made his way towards the table. Adam and Hoss were waiting.

“Where’s Joe?” Hoss questioned as his father sat down to join them.

“He still has an hour of studying to do,” Ben answered curtly as he set the small book down on the corner of the table and scooted  in his chair. Adam knew right away what had happened.

“The old book inside the school book trick, huh?”

Ben just smirked as he placed his napkin on his lap.

“May I see it?” Adam asked. It wasn’t often Joe found books of pleasure to read and he was curious as to what may have sparked his interest.

The book was passed down to Adam who laughed out loud when his eyes fell on the title.

“How to Identify Non-Human Beings! Where did he get a hold of this?”

“Mitch,” Ben muttered.

There was a long pause as Adam flipped through the pages, thoroughly amused.

“Hey, listen to this. ‘Characteristics of a Werewolf: Werewolves can appear like normal every day humans but there are certain things that give away their true identities. Werewolves roam at night, so they are often tired during the day and will sleep at odd hours. They also sleep with their jaws open and relaxed so that they are ready to attack at any moment.’”

“That’s enough Adam.” Ben sounded a warning that he was not interested in hearing anymore.

His son did not take heed. “Werewolves are hairy. They have dark hair all over their bodies. However, they will shave their faces and palms of their hands to appear humanlike.”

“Adam!” Another warning, slightly higher in decibel but once again ignored.

“Their index and middle fingers are the same length… they have curved yellowish nails and like raw or undercooked meat…”

Hoss snickered and Adam sensed an audience. He took in a deep breath and waved his hand around dramatically as he added, “Oh, and they have distinctive eyes that draw you in.”

Hoss burst out laughing.

“That’s ENOUGH!” This time Ben added more emphasis by pounding his palm on the table.

Adam instantly looked up at his father. As their eyes met, he stifled a laugh.  He couldn’t help but think that the distinctive glare he had just received qualified his father as a potential werewolf.

“Oh, sorry pa,” he sheepishly announced, as he cleared his throat and set the book down.

Ben shot the same look over towards his middle son which meant the topic of werewolves were now closed.

Hoss swallowed hard and decided to abruptly change the subject.

“Can…can…  you pass me the taters, pa?”

Ben reached over and handed Hoss the requested bowl. Dinner continued on without further interruption.

 

The next morning Ben gave Joe back his book with the direct orders to return it to Mitch promptly. “I don’t want to see such foolishness brought home again, understood?”

“Yes, Pa,” Joe automatically responded as he jumped down from the wagon in front of the school yard. His brother Hoss had already made his way over to a group of his friends.

Good luck with your history test,” Ben stated as he snapped the reins and drove off.

Mitch walked up to greet his friend. “Hey, Joe. Your pa seems a little upset this morning. What did ya do?”

“Oh, I was caught reading YOUR book instead of studying for that stupid history test we have today.”

“What did ya think of it?” Mitch prodded.

“Oh, I didn’t get much into it before Pa caught me and took it away.”

“Why don’t you keep it then?”

Joe looked out towards the road and bit his lip slightly. The eight year old knew that if his father caught him with that book he might as well forget about sitting properly for a week.

“Oh I don’t know. You better keep it,” Joe responded.

“Nah, you take it. Yah got to read it so that we can talk about it you know. C’mon. Let’s go tease the girls before we have to go inside. There’s a huge frog over by that log.”

Mitch turned and started that direction. Joe paused a moment with the book in hand before shoving it in with his schoolbooks and following after his friend.

That afternoon Joe found a spot in the barn he felt was safe and opened the book once more. He was so captured by the words on the page he didn’t hear Adam lead his horse into the barn and walk over to him.

“Joe! Didn’t you hear me?”

Joe jumped clean out of his skin.

“Oh, it’s only you. I thought you were Pa.”
Adam eyed his little brother wisely.

“You are supposed to be doing your chores.”

“Yeah, uh…I’ll get right to them, Adam.” Joe jumped to his feet and shoved the book inside his coat pocket. As he stepped around Adam, Adam reached out and grabbed a hold of his arm. Something told him he had caught his brother with something more.

“Does Pa know you’re reading that book?”

Joe looked instantly down. “Does he?” Adam persisted.

Joe shook his head then raised his eyes and looked at his brother pleadingly. “Please don’t tell Pa, Adam. I’ll… I’ll return it tomorrow. I promise. I just wanted to finish reading it is all.” Joe put on the best puppy dog eye look he could muster before going in for kill.

“You know how it is when you find yourself wrapped up in a good book.”

Adam smirked at his brother’s comment but let him feel the victor. “You make sure that book goes away by tomorrow so I won’t have to tell Pa, understood?”

Joe smiled in relief and answered with a simple, “Thanks, Adam.”

Adam watched his younger brother head off towards the chicken coop before turning his attention back to his awaiting horse.

Joe tried to do as his brother requested, but Mitch wouldn’t take the book back until Joe finished it. Joe didn’t argue with his friend because he, too, wanted to become an expert in identifying non-human beings. So Joe found a secret spot to hide the book out in the barn and every night after dinner he asked to be excused to brush down his horse before he started his homework.

At first, there was nothing thought of it. Joe had received a new horse for his birthday and everyone felt he was trying to show them that he could be a responsible horse owner. Then one morning, Adam entered the barn to find Joe brushing his horse like he was supposed to have done the night before. He eyed his brother as he walked over to grab some firewood, but said nothing.

“I…I… must have missed some spots last night. Cochise doesn’t like it when I do that so I thought I best brush him down again.”

Joe stopped brushing the horse and set the brush down. “Here let me help you carry some of that into the house. He grabbed a few logs from out of his brother’s hand and scurried out the barn door. Now Adam knew there was something definitely up. He turned back to the wood pile and began loading his arms up once more. Hoss entered and squatted down next to him.

“Pa wants me to fill Hop Sings box, too.”

Just as Hoss reached down to pick up his first block of wood Adam noticed something wedged between the layers. He set his armload down and reached in to grab what his eyes had seen. There was the book.

“That little…”

“What’s that, Adam?” Hoss questioned as he continued to go about his business.

“That book Pa took away from Joe.”

“Ya mean the one about the werewolf?”

“Yes, pa told him he didn’t want it in the house anymore.”

Hoss laughed. “Well, in a way, it ain’t in the house, Adam.”
Adam chuckled.

“No, that’s true, but Joe knew what Pa meant.”
Hoss’ face instantly showed concern. “You’re not going to tell on him are you?”

Adam pondered for a moment. He knew if he walked in with that book right now that his Pa would have Joe over his knee in an instant.

“No, but I do think our brother needs to learn a lesson from this.”

Adam’s face took on an evil grin as he cocked an eyebrow. “Care to have some fun, brother?”

“Fun? What sort of fun, Adam?” Hoss answered willingly.

“Well…” Adam began.

That evening Joe found his book in the same spot he had left it. He made the same excuse to tend to his horse and scurried out to the barn for his few pages of reading. He was surprised to find Adam in there before him setting up a bath.

“Hey, Joe. I won’t be long. I’m going into town tonight on a date so I want to take a quick bath.”

Joe said nothing and walked over towards his horse. Now he’d have to brush the horse down with an audience. He picked up the brush and began the task.

Adam was whistling happily as he brought in the last bucket of hot water and dumped it into the tub. Joe heard the wrestling of clothes being removed and then the splash of a body sinking into the water.

“Hey, Joe,” Adam suddenly announced. “I forgot to grab the soap. Can you hand it to me?”

“Sure,” Joe responded as he set the brush down and walked over to barrel where the bar of soap had been left. When he turned towards his brother, Joe’s eyes jumped out of his head. There was Adam sitting with his back facing him. His whole upper body was covered in black hair. Joe dropped the bar of soap out of shock.

Adam turned and looked over his shoulder at him. “Hurry up, Joe. I don’t want to be late for my date.”

Joe said nothing as he picked up the soap and walked slowly over towards Adam. He handed the bar of soap to his brother and stood there with his mouth agape.

“Joe, are you okay? You look a little white?”

Joe swallowed hard. “I’m… I’m… fine… I… I… best get back to brushing my horse.”

Joe then immediately made his way back over towards the animal. Joe’s mind was filled with panic. Was he imagining things? He once again heard Adam whistling a happy tune as if nothing was wrong. Joe took one more look before squatting down next to the wood pile and grabbing the book from its hiding spot. He shoved it down the front of his shirt and made a quick exit.

Joe burst into the house at full speed in a hurry to get to his room.

“Just a minute, young man,” Ben bellowed as his youngest tried to speed by him. Joe froze by the steps.

“That is not how we enter this household.”

Joe turned back towards the door with a simple, “Sorry, pa.” He stepped briefly outside before making his entrance again. This time he walked quietly by his father and started up the stairs. “I’m going to do my homework now,” he added as he disappeared around the top of the staircase.

Joe met Hoss in the hallway.

“Hey, Joe. What was pa yelling about?”

“I…I… ran into the house again is all. I…I… need to do my homework now,” he simply stated and started into his room. Hoss followed.

“Do you want some help?”

“No.  I can do it myself. Thanks, though.”

Hoss turned to leave and Joe abruptly asked.

“Hey Hoss, have you ever seen Adam with his shirt off lately?”

Hoss turned back towards his brother with a confused look on his face. “No, I reckon I haven’t but what sort of question is that to ask anyhow?”

“I… I… don’t know. Just thought I’d ask is all. I best get started on my homework.”

Joe sat at his desk and opened up his math book. Hoss exited. The minute the door closed, Joe whipped the black book out from under his shirt. He flipped through the pages until he came to the chapter on werewolves. His eyes feverously scoured the pages until they found the segment of text he was looking for: “Werewolves are hairy. They have dark hair all over their bodies.”

Joe swallowed hard. “Do you think Adam’s a….” he thought. “Nah, I’m just letting this book get to me.” Joe slammed the cover closed and found a spot in his drawer to hide the unwanted book for the time being. He laughed at himself for a moment and then beginning doing his homework.

When Hoss left Joe’s room he immediately made his way out to the barn to report to Adam.

“Boy, you should have seen him, Adam. He asked me if I had ever seen ya with your shirt off,” Hoss cackled as the words spewed from his lips.

Adam had put his pants and shoes back on and was sitting on a stool picking off long strands of hair on his arms.

He was laughing, too. “Now help me get this stuff off, will ya?”

Hoss walked over to his brother and started working on the other arm. “Boy, you were right about using the horse’s tail hair, Adam. It mixes perfectly with your own.”

“Ouch! Careful, Hoss. Don’t take the real stuff along with it.”

Hoss chuckled. “Sorry, Adam. I’ll be more careful.”

The two brothers continued their task, sharing a good laugh.

The next morning, Hoss and Adam put part two of their plan in motion. While Joe was getting ready for school, there was a sudden rap at his door.

“Hey, Joe. It’s Hoss. Can I come in?”

“Sure.”

Hoss entered and went right to work. Adam asked me to get ya. He wants to ask you something.

“Ask what?” Joe said.

“Now if I knew that, I wouldn’t have been told by Adam to come and get ya. He says it’s important.”

Joe followed his brother out into the hallway and over to Adam’s room. As Joe opened the door, Adam was standing at the mirror shaving.

“Morning, brother,” he greeted as he continued to shave. “I wanted to ask you if you’d do me a favor this evening.”

“Sure,” Joe responded as he watched his brother shaving intently.

Adam wiped the excess of shaving cream from his face and admired his work.

“Well, I’m going out this evening again and I was wondering if you would brush down my horse when you get home this afternoon. I want Sport to look sharp for my… uh new girl.”

Suddenly Adam spread some shaving cream on his left palm and used his razor to scrape it off. Then he did the same on the other palm.

Joe’s eyes bulged! “What are you doing?” he couldn’t help but question.

Adam wiped the excess off his hands with a towel before turning towards his younger brother.

“Consider yourself lucky, Joe to still be a child. You don’t have to deal with all this hair.” Adam tipped the wash bowl up to show his brother and amongst shaving cream residue and water were tons of strands of hair.

Adam laughed. “Pa told me my body would change as I got older and he wasn’t kidding.” Then he abruptly changed the subject. “So, you’ll do that for me? I’ll pay ya dime for your troubles.”

Joe couldn’t find any words so he just nodded and backed out of the room. He immediately went to his trusty book, flipping the pages rapidly until his eyes found what he was looking for: “They will shave their faces and palms of their hands to appear humanlike.”

Joe slammed down the book. “No! I won’t believe it. This is make-believe. It has to be.”

Once again Joe dismissed his concern and continued on with his day.

That afternoon Joe went to the barn to brush down Adam’s horse. He was surprised to find Adam there sitting on a bale of hay. He was sound asleep with his mouth wide open. Soft breathing exuded from his lips.

“Werewolves sleep with their jaws open and relaxed so that they are ready to attack at any moment,” Joe thought. Joe scanned his brother from head to toe. He looked like Adam. He looked like a sleeping Adam, but Adam never slept in the middle of the day. Then again, he had been going out the past two nights. “Werewolves like to roam at night,” Joe again thought.

Suddenly, Joe’s eyes stopped at Adam’s hands. Something was different about them. The tips of each finger seemed to be a pale yellow. The fingernails themselves had dirt prevalent under them. Each hand was resting on a knee. All fingers relaxed. That’s when Joe noticed it. The middle and index fingers were the same length.

“Oh no!” Joe stated aloud. “It can’t be. It just can’t be.” He nervously approached his brother to take a closer look. As he leaned his head down to inspect, Adam abruptly woke up. His hands shot up off his knees right in front of Joe’s face and Joe jumped back letting out a scream.

“Oh, hi Joe,” Adam said calmly. “I didn’t meant to scare you.” Then he stood up and stretched tall. “I must have fallen asleep. What time is it anyway?”

Joe just stood staring at Adam and did not answer. Adam just gave his brother a long steady stare. Joe’s eyes were locked on his brothers as he felt them “distinctively drawing him in.”

“Is there something wrong, Joe?” Adam asked simply.

His words snapped Joe out of his trance. “Uh… uh… No. I got to go, Adam. You’ll have to brush your own horse.”

Joe immediately spun around and flew out of the barn towards the house.

A moment later, a loud cackle came from the loft. It was Hoss. He continued to laugh as he made his way down the ladder and towards his older brother.

“We got him good, Adam. Did you see his face?”

Adam smiled a satisfied smile. “Yes, I’d say we taught our brother a well deserved lesson.”

Adam reached down and pulled at his left index finger. An extended tip made out of clay popped off. He laughed at the thought. Then he felt a slight pang of guilt.

“I didn’t mean to startle him, but I was afraid he was going to touch our ‘handy’ work.”

Hoss laughed. “So, when are we going to tell him that it was all a joke?”

Adam walked over towards the barn door and leaned against the frame.

“I suppose we’ll have to tell him sooner or later, but personally brother I’d rather wait until later if you don’t mind. I have one more little trick up my sleeve.”

Hoss sort of frowned. “I… I don’t know, Adam. Don’t you think we’ve gone far enough? I mean… he’s gonna be mad at us as it is and if pa found out he’d have all our hides.”

Adam looked down for a moment pondering his brother’s words. He knew Hoss was right, but it wasn’t often an opportunity like this came along.

“Hoss, I have one more idea… just one more, okay. No harm will come of it. I promise.”

Hoss couldn’t help but laugh. “Did you see his face?”

Adam took his brother’s response as his means of agreeing.

“Well, here’s what we’ll do next…”

The next day, Joe needed help. He was convinced his brother was turning into a werewolf. He pulled Mitch over into the corner of the school yard and explained everything to him. Mitch at first laughed and laughed. He figured Joe was just fooling him. Then he realized his friend was being serious.

“I’m telling ya, Mitch. It’s true. All that I told you it true and I don’t know what to do about.” Joe felt his eyes brimming with tears. “He’s my brother, Mitch. I have to do something.”

Mitch eyed his friend for a long moment before putting his arm around his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Joe. I’ll help ya. We just need to follow what it tells us to do in the book.”

“The book?” Joe looked up shocked. “What do you mean?”

“Haven’t you read the last chapter? It’s all about what to do to turn someone back into their normal selves. All we have to do is follow what it tells us to do for werewolves.”

Joe smiled. “You’re a great friend, Mitch. Tomorrow is Saturday. Why don’t you come over to my house and we’ll tell everyone we’re going fishing. Then we’ll have time to look at the book and get our plan in place.”

“I’ll be there first thing in the morning, Joe.”

With that, the two boys went about their day.

That evening after dinner, Adam sat out on the porch playing his guitar. Joe was up in his room doing his homework. He could hear his brother humming softly as he played a few warm up tunes. Soon Adam was singing the lyrics to his favorite songs as his baritone voice cascaded in through Joe’s open window. Usually this was annoying to Joe, but tonight it seemed soothing. Perhaps he had jumped to conclusions about his brother.

Suddenly, Adam’s voice held onto a long note, “…How could you use a poor maiden soooooooooooo!” His voice changed on that last note into what sounded like a howl. Joe stopped what he was doing and moved over to the window. There in the sky was the moon; A full moon!

Adam’s voice reached his ears again. “Thus sang the pretty maiden in the valley belooooooow!”

Joe instantly slammed his window shut. “We’ve got to get that stuff mixed up first thing tomorrow. I hope we can find all that we need… poor Adam.”

Joe awoke early and told his pa that Mitch was coming over to go fishing. After going through the usually inquiries, “Did you finish your chores? Do you have any work not done for school?” Ben consented and Joe waited for his friend out in the yard.

When Mitch arrived Joe snagged him by the arm and started pulling him towards the barn.

“Listen, it’s getting worse. He was howling at the moon last night!”

“He was?” Mitch was shocked. “We’ll need at least four buckets then.”

“I know… I know. I read the chapter last night. We just have to find all that we need to make that anti-werewolf venom… and fast.”

The boy’s each grabbed two buckets and headed down to the lake. They spent the whole day gathering and mixing and stirring up the concoction. Towards evening they carried the buckets carefully back and positioned them accordingly over the entranceway of the barn.

“Do you think it will work?” Mitch asked, looking upward at their makeshift invention.

“It just has to work,” Joe answered, “My brother’s normal life is at stake here.”

The boys exited the barn through the hayloft window and shimmed down the rope.

“You just better make sure it’s Adam that goes in there first, Joe.”

“I’m not worried about it. Pa went into town and said he’d be home late. Hoss is hanging out with Adam but I can handle him. Thanks for all the help, Mitch. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Hey, what are friends for anyway,” Mitch stated before heading off towards home. “I’ll be anxious to hear how it worked.”

No sooner had Mitch left that Adam and Hoss returned home. They tied their horses to the hitching post and walked over to greet Joe standing in the yard.

“Hey, Joe. Hoss and I need to talk to you,” Adam said, tugging slightly at his left ear out of nervousness.

“Don’t you want to put your horse in the barn, first?” Joe eagerly encouraged.

“That can wait, Joe. We have something to tell you that is very important.”

Just then Ben came around on his horse and dismounted outside by the barn.

Hoss sent out a greeting. “Hey, Pa. What are you doing home?”

Joe spun around in shock. His father was leading his horse to the door of the barn.

“The meeting let out early and I decided to just come home,” Ben answered as he swung open the door and walked inside.

“Pa, NO!” Joe shouted, but it was too late. There was a loud series of crashes as Ben’s horse skirted backwards from the noise and took off like lightening. Joe covered his entire face with his hands. “I’m dead… I’m so dead,” he uttered over and over again.

Adam and Hoss started to make their way towards the noise when their father appeared in the doorway. He was covered in what looked like brownish green goop from head to toe.

“Pa, are you okay?” Adam announced as they reached him. You couldn’t even see his face through all the muck… and the stench was horrible!

“Hoss, go grab a couple of towels from the house. Hurry!”  Adam ordered.

Hoss sped off like lightening. Ben removed his hat and slammed it to the ground. He wiped the goop from around his eyes and mouth before a loud, “What is the meaning of this!” exuded forth from his lips. By then Hoss had returned.

“Here… here are some towels, pa. Let me help…” Ben ripped the towels from his son’s hand and began wiping the muck away so that he could see clearly. His piercing eyes scanned his two older boys and fatherly instinct told him that they hadn’t a clue as to what had happened.

“Joseph!”

Joe walked sheepishly up towards his father and brothers. “I’m… I’m… sorry pa. It wasn’t supposed to be you. I was trying to save Adam.”

“Save him! It’s you that needs saving right now! You get up to your room this instant and wait for me. I can guarantee we will be having a very lengthy discussion just as soon as I clean up! Now march!”

Ben raised his right arm and pointed towards the entry of the house.

Joe bowed his head and slowly followed the guided path.

“Pa,” Adam started.

“That boy, he’s not going to be able to sit down for a week when I’m through with him.”

“Pa, we need to talk first,” Adam tried again.

“Look at me! I’m covered in horse crap and God knows what else.”

“Pa!” Adam snapped to get his father’s attention. “I’m to blame not Joe.”

Ben looked up at his oldest son rather shocked. “You mean to tell me you put those buckets of muck above the door?”

“No, Pa, but I know why Joe did and I’m to blame.”

“Me too, Pa. I’m just as guilty as Adam.”

Ben eyed his two boys and sucked in a deep breath.

“I have a feeling that there is a story to tell behind all this that’s going to take a long time; A very long time. Therefore, I am going into the barn to take a bath. Adam, you will bring me a clean pair of clothes then you and Hoss will take my dirty clothes and WASH THEM!”

Both boys flinched slightly at the power of their father’s voice.

“You will also find my horse and take care of his needs while I am calming down to a point where we can even DISCUSS THIS INCIDENT!”

Again Adam and Hoss flinched.

“Pa, please don’t deal with Joe until you hear what we have to say. He’s not innocent, but, well…”

“RIGHT NOW I COULDN’T DEAL WITH ANY OF YOU IN THE RIGHT MIND!”

Ben spun around and started sloshing back towards the barn, muttering under his breath. Hoss and Adam watched him until he disappeared into the barn.

“I’ve never seen pa so angry, Adam. We’re really in for it ain’t we?”

Adam rubbed his forehead as he felt an instant headache starting.

“No, Hoss. I’ve never seen him that angry either. But in all fairness, he has a right to be. Come on, we best start heating water for that bath.”

Adam wrapped his arm around his brother as they turned towards the house. They took a few steps before Adam raised his head and let out a blood curdling howl.

Hoss jumped and stopped in his tracks. He didn’t say anything, but looked over at his brother in puzzlement.

“Well, I figure our little brother ain’t going to be the only one howling at the moon before the night is through.”

Adam finished his statement with another loud howl. Hoss knew what Adam meant. They were two old for a licking, but their father had other unpleasant means of getting his point across.

Hoss smiled at his brother and lifted his head to the sky with a howl. The two continued howling all the way into the house. There wasn’t anything that could be done. What was to come would come.