Summary:\u00a0 \u00a0All the Cartwright boys know you should concentrate on the Sermon in church, but sometimes you can’t help your thoughts wondering.
\nRating G\u00a0 (2,800 words)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
THE SERMON<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The little church was hot and stuffy on a warm August day.\u00a0 It was certainly not conducive to listening to a long sermon on the Ten Commandments.\u00a0 Reverend Wilkins had taken this as his subject for the summer and had reached number five; \u2018Honor thy mother and thy father.\u2019<\/p>\n Three rows back from the front the Cartwright family sat listening to the preacher.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam leaned back in the uncomfortable wooden pew and allowed his thoughts to drift.\u00a0 He had got out of the habit of attending church while in Boston.\u00a0 There were so many other things to do.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Sometimes he had gone to the North End Church with his grandfather and had enjoyed the services up to a point.\u00a0 Maybe that was because the church had such an illustrious past.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 \u2018One if by land and two if by sea.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n His thoughts came back to the present.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 She was wearing a very fetching pink hat with a cream feather that curled around her ear.\u00a0 Pretty ears too, he recalled.\u00a0 Her dark hair was loose around her shoulders and when she had seen him earlier there had been a dimpled smile on her face.\u00a0 He could recall every detail of her.\u00a0 Her dress was pink and cream too, with ribbons laced down the bodice to her tiny waist.\u00a0 The skirt of the dress was straight with a bunch of pleats from knee to ankle; such lovely ankles.\u00a0 He sighed then caught himself; he hoped he hadn\u2019t been heard. A glance sideways told him Pa was concentrating on the sermon.\u00a0 He had escaped.\u00a0 Pa was a stickler for behaving in church as they had all found to their cost at one time or another.<\/p>\n A quick glance at his brothers told him that they too were listening to the preacher.\u00a0 Maybe he had better listen in case Pa asked questions as he usually did.\u00a0 He\u2019d 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.\u00a0\u00a0 If he could just find a way to slip off with Emily and be alone.\u00a0 Maybe they could eat their picnic with her family and then tell her father that they were joining the Cartwrights for the afternoon. \u00a0Surely it would be possible to find a quiet spot where no one would bother them.\u00a0 He had had much more freedom in Boston; here everyone knew him and his slightest transgression would be reported to his father.\u00a0 Not that he planned to do anything he shouldn\u2019t but that didn\u2019t stop his thoughts from straying.\u00a0 Such thoughts had no place in church that was for sure.\u00a0 He looked across the aisle again and caught Emily glancing back at him.\u00a0 They both smiled and she blushed.\u00a0 Maybe her thoughts weren\u2019t so different from his?<\/p>\n In another half an hour, he would be escorting Emily to a summer picnic.\u00a0 In half an hour he would be free.\u00a0 He settled back in his seat to dream of Emily.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Beside his older brother, Hoss fidgeted.\u00a0 He hated wearing a tie and Pa insisted that all of them do so for church.\u00a0 A glance from his father made him sit still but didn\u2019t stop his mind wandering.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 He was gonna catch a mess of big rainbow trout this afternoon, he was sure of it.\u00a0 He and his friends planned to cook them on a campfire tonight.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t told Pa yet that he wouldn\u2019t be at the picnic.\u00a0 Pa set such store by being a family at such events that it hadn\u2019t seemed a good idea.\u00a0 He\u2019d just drop it into the conversation after church and hope Pa didn\u2019t say nuthin\u2019 to stop him.\u00a0 Adam was going off with his girl, he\u2019d bet on that, so Pa couldn\u2019t\u2019 \u2026 oh yes he could, but he wouldn\u2019t\u2019 would he?\u00a0 Even worse would Pa insist that Little Joe go with them?\u00a0 He loved his little brother, dearly, but he wanted to be with his grown up friends.\u00a0 He was almost nineteen and Pa still treated him like a little kid.\u00a0 He grinned.\u00a0 He was bigger than all of the men here in church, bigger than Pa too.<\/p>\n He looked to his right; Pa was frowning at him.\u00a0 He must have seen the grin and wonder what his middle son was up to.\u00a0 Hoss put on a sober expression and tried to listen to the preacher.\u00a0 He tried, he really did every week, but he didn\u2019t understand all of it and the preacher had that sort of voice that made you fall asleep.\u00a0 He\u2019d done that a time or two lately.\u00a0 Saturday nights in town, late nights, and more beer than he should have had, made Sundays a day for sleep.\u00a0 Twice Pa had caught him, once because he had snored loud enough for the whole congregation to hear.\u00a0 Boy had Pa been mad at him that time.\u00a0 No, he mustn\u2019t fall asleep.<\/p>\n He thought back to last night.\u00a0 He had accompanied Adam to the Silver Dollar.\u00a0 Was it a sin to think about a saloon in church?\u00a0 He guessed it probably was but he couldn\u2019t help himself.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 He\u2019d lost most of his wages and he hated to think what Pa would say if he knew.\u00a0 Adam seemed to have won so maybe he could borrow some from him if he needed to.\u00a0 Thinking about gambling was a sin; he was certain sure.\u00a0 Seemed like today he couldn\u2019t help sinning.\u00a0 All his thoughts were bad ones.<\/p>\n Maybe if he just thought about the trout he planned to catch, slathered in butter and served up with potatoes fried in the fat.\u00a0 Was thinking of food a sin.\u00a0 He was sure it wasn\u2019t a commandment but he remembered Adam telling him something about seven deadly sins and what was that word \u2026. gluttony, yeah that was it.\u00a0 Seemed everything he enjoyed was a sin.\u00a0 He heard Widow Morris sneeze, now there was someone who believed that anything fun was a sin; silly old biddy.\u00a0 He and Joe had fallen foul of her many times.<\/p>\n He listened to the preacher again he was talking about honouring thy father.\u00a0 Well he was on safe ground there.\u00a0 He admired his Pa and considered him an authority on everything; surely that was what the preacher meant.\u00a0 Maybe he meant obeying too; Hoss was pretty good at that, excepting when Joe came up with some hare-brained scheme.\u00a0 If Pa said he couldn\u2019t go fishing he wasn\u2019t so sure he\u2019d honor him them.<\/p>\n He could feel his father\u2019s eyes on him again and it made him squirm in his seat and get a nudge from Adam.\u00a0 Only half an hour to go and he\u2019d be outside in the warm summer air.\u00a0 He\u2019d rather worship God in the mountains He created or by the lake than in a stuffy church anyhow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe saw the look Pa was giving Hoss and sat up a bit straighter in his seat.\u00a0 Adam and Hoss might only get a look; he\u2019d get Bible verses to learn if Pa thought he wasn\u2019t paying attention.\u00a0 A few more boring sermons and he\u2019d know the whole Bible, he thought.\u00a0 Pa\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n He glanced at his oldest brother at the end of the row, dreaming of Emily no doubt.\u00a0 Joe had to admit he looked handsome, his boots highly polished and his dark suit with a white shirt and black string tie.\u00a0 He, himself, was just beginning to appreciate how important good looks were with young ladies and he knew he was a handsome kid.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t however too old to enjoy a good laugh at his brother\u2019s expense.\u00a0 Now if he could just think of a way to play a prank on Adam and Emily this afternoon.\u00a0 He\u2019d have to give it some thought.<\/p>\n The preacher was droning on about respect for your parents.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t need to hear this, he respected his Pa, sure he did.\u00a0 He respected his Pa\u2019s right hand a whole lot too.\u00a0 Pa had made him learn the commandments a while back.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t quite remember what he\u2019d done wrong that time but he could remember the words.\u00a0 This was number five so that meant five more sermons like this on five more Sundays.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Seven, now that was going to be a good one, how was\u00a0 Reverend Wilkins going to talk about that without making some of the ladies faint.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Stealing, well he knew that was wrong, it was just that his brother had such interesting things in his room and he wasn\u2019t really stealing, only borrowing.\u00a0 Perhaps using Adam\u2019s bay rum last week had been stealing, sorta, because he couldn\u2019t put it back, but Annie had said it smelled nice and it made him feel grown up.\u00a0 Anyhow, Adam hadn\u2019t noticed.\u00a0 Then came what the Bible called \u2018false witness\u2019.\u00a0 Pa said it meant lying; well he sure tried not to do that, maybe bend the truth a little but not outright lie.\u00a0 Pa came down pretty heavy on a son who lied to him.\u00a0 The last one was coveting. Pa had explained that too.\u00a0 In Joe\u2019s opinion if God didn\u2019t want folks coveting then he shouldn\u2019t have given more to some than others.\u00a0 He had to admit he did kinda covet Adam\u2019s new pistol and then there was that bridle with the silver conchos that Mitch had been given for his birthday, he\u2019d sure like one of those.<\/p>\n Thinking of his best friend Mitch, made him consider what they could do to embarrass Adam this afternoon.\u00a0 He ran through a few options in his head but none of them were quite right.\u00a0 He leaned forward a little and looked across the aisle to where Mitch was seated.\u00a0 He caught his friend\u2019s eye and gave him a grin and a signal to meet him outside after church.\u00a0 At that point a hand descended on his knee and squeezed hard.\u00a0 Joe swallowed and looked up into the dark brown eyes of his father.\u00a0 Pa was not amused.\u00a0 Joe immediately straightened up and stared ahead at the preacher.\u00a0 Better not give Pa any reason to be mad at him; he wanted to be free this afternoon to play a trick on Adam.<\/p>\n Ben slowly relaxed his grip on his youngest son\u2019s knee but kept his eyes on him until he was sure he had got the message to behave.\u00a0 He glanced along the row to his other sons; yes, both were staring straight ahead, no doubt concentrating on the Reverend\u2019s sermon.\u00a0 Ben had heard this sermon many times before he wished preachers would change their subject more often.\u00a0 He suspected that there was a trade in sermons among young preachers.\u00a0 He was sure this was almost word for word the same one he had heard as a boy back in Boston.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t really surprising that young Joe\u2019s interest was minimal.\u00a0 Ben could recall tying fishing flies, counting the candles in the church and other such past times to get him through a boring sermon.<\/p>\n He saw Emily Jordan look back and give Adam a smile.\u00a0 He\u2019d have to have a word with his eldest son.\u00a0 Adam had been seeing far too much of the girl and often unchaperoned.\u00a0 Unbidden, thoughts if his clandestine meetings with Liz came back to him.\u00a0 They had met when he was just seventeen and he knew how Adam was feeling.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 He also knew how Jeff Jordan must feel about protecting his daughter.\u00a0 There were times when Ben was very glad he had only sons and this was one of them.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n Hoss had responded very quickly to the frown he had been given.\u00a0 What was that young man planning?\u00a0 At nineteen he was considerably bigger and stronger than his friends, his older brother and if truth be told, Ben too.\u00a0\u00a0 It was lucky that Hoss was the most amenable of his sons, for Ben didn\u2019t think he would be able to control him if he weren\u2019t.\u00a0 Like his mother, Inger, he was easy going, but Ben knew it wasn\u2019t a weakness.\u00a0 If something mattered enough to his middle son, then nothing and no one would deflect him from his purpose.\u00a0 Inger had been the same, a strong woman with firm opinions and a very caring person.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n Joe fidgeted in the seat beside him and brought him out of his reverie.\u00a0 He tapped his hand impatiently on the youngster\u2019s knee and shook his head in admonishment.\u00a0 The curly haired boy looking up at him reminded him so much of Marie that he almost allowed the frown to become a smile.\u00a0 Marie had never been able to sit still for five minutes.\u00a0 She, like her son, had taken life by the throat and squeezed every ounce of adventure and pleasure from each moment.\u00a0 Her son was so much like her, impulsive and full of life.\u00a0 Marie would have enjoyed this afternoon\u2019s summer picnic.\u00a0 He could almost hear her laughter and see her smile.<\/p>\n He looked up startled as Joe nudged him.\u00a0 The preacher had stopped speaking and the congregation was standing for the final hymn.\u00a0 He saw Adam\u2019s eyes on him.\u00a0 His eldest son was smiling and there was a mischievous twinkle to those brown eyes.\u00a0 He had been caught out by his own son.\u00a0 He grunted softly and picked up his hymnal, sought out the correct page then held it lower so that Joseph could share with him.<\/p>\n The hymn concluded and the final pray said; they filed outside into the sunshine.\u00a0 He waited in line with the boys to shake hands with Reverend Wilkins.<\/p>\n \u201cMighty fine sermon, Reverend, as always.\u201d\u00a0 He said clasping the man\u2019s hand firmly.<\/p>\n As they moved out of earshot of the preacher and the rest of the congregation, Adam moved up beside his father.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re mighty quiet, Pa.\u00a0 Aren\u2019t you going to ask us about the sermon?\u201d\u00a0 Adam\u2019s usually serious voice had a hint of laughter in it.<\/p>\n Ben grunted again, he couldn\u2019t recall enough of the sermon to ask questions or know if he was getting the right answers.\u00a0 He sought, quickly, for a suitable response. \u201cI thought as it was a holiday today, I\u2019d let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n Was it his imagination or did all three boys smile then sigh with relief.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The End<\/p>\n <\/p>\n