Summary: \u00a0New Year’s Day in 1865 rings in both unspeakable sorrow and unbridled hope for Joe.\u00a0 Reference is made\u00a0to Between Heaven and Earth.<\/p>\n
Rated:\u00a0 T — \u00a02200 words<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.<\/p>\n
Calendar Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Little Jenny Devlin had always been good with numbers.\u00a0 Joe Cartwright had figured that out the first day of school the year he was seven.\u00a0 Although he was ahead of his grade in reading\u2014his older brother Adam had seen to that\u2014he had had trouble with arithmetic.<\/p>\n Jenny always knew the answers when teacher called on her.\u00a0 Before Adam had headed off to college, he advised Joe to watch and learn from the best, so Joe finagled a seat by Jenny and huddled shoulder-to-shoulder with her over their shared slate.\u00a0 They were soon inseparable not just in the school room, but before and after school as well, much to the amusement and occasional consternation of their parents.<\/p>\n Little Joe and Little Jenny.\u00a0 The \u201cLittles\u201d they were called by Ben Cartwright and Max and Jennifer Devlin.\u00a0 Where are the Littles?\u00a0 What have the Littles gotten into now?<\/em> the families wondered.\u00a0 That was how Joe and Mitch became best friends.<\/p>\n Cut from the same cloth, Little Joe and Little Jenny could not sit still for a moment and both could let their imaginations run wild.\u00a0 In desperation, the parents called on older brothers Hoss and Mitch to keep an eye on the youngsters before, during, and after school.\u00a0 That worked until\u00a0Hoss left school at the end of the following year leaving Mitch alone to wrangle the kids.<\/p>\n If there was one thing Little Joe understood it was older brothers, so right away he started involving Mitch in his and Jenny\u2019s adventures.\u00a0 Always a serious child, Mitch pretended at first to be too old for the antics of \u201ckids,\u201d but the more he hung around the Littles, the more fun he started having and before long the three of them became the Three Musketeers\u2014one for all, all for one\u2014doing everything together, including getting the measles.<\/p>\n Joe and Mitch recovered quickly, but Jenny\u2019s fever was so high for so long she was never right again.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t notice at first, but as Joe and Mitch grew older and matured, Jenny stayed the same.<\/p>\n \u201cFever,\u201d the doctors said.\u00a0 \u201cSometimes a fever like that does something to the brain.\u201d \u00a0Jenny would always be a child.\u00a0 Her body would grow, but her mind wouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 That\u2019s when the word \u201clittle\u201d turned ugly.<\/p>\n As much as the youngest Cartwright disliked being referred to as \u201cLittle Joe,\u201d he winced more every time he heard someone whisper \u201cJenny Devlin\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0poor little thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe joined Mitch in becoming Jenny\u2019s protector and for several years they succeeded.\u00a0 But eventually it became too uncomfortable\u2014not for Jenny who loved school\u2014but for others who felt awkward around a\u00a0young woman\u00a0who would never leave first grade.<\/p>\n So the fall Joe turned 13, Jenny quit school and that was the year the calendars started.<\/p>\n Jenny didn\u2019t understand why Mitch and Joe couldn\u2019t play with her every day.\u00a0 To her, every day was the same. \u00a0Doctors advised the Devlins to keep Jenny to a routine so she would feel safe and secure and it never varied except on Sundays when they went to church.\u00a0 There, Joe and Mitch and Jenny would again be inseparable.<\/p>\n For Christmas that year Joe bought her a fancy illustrated calendar featuring the works of the Grand Masters.\u00a0 Jenny had been a good artist and he thought she would like the paintings but it turned out to be the calendar itself that held her attention.\u00a0 She began writing things down as she listened to Joe and Mitch talk about their lives.\u00a0 She wrote down important dates like holidays and birthdays, anniversaries, and deaths.\u00a0\u00a0Jenny watched the clock and she would count days.\u00a0 She knew the hours in a day, days in a week, weeks in a month, and months in a year.\u00a0 Joe had helped her calculate how many minutes there were in a year and she seemed to tick them off one by one. \u00a0Amused, Joe started calling her \u201ccalendar girl.\u201d<\/p>\n For Christmas the next year she gave Joe and Mitch each a calendar\u2014not for the new year about to begin\u2014but for the year just past.\u00a0 It was a calendar filled with holidays and happenings that they had told her about. \u00a0Each month was on a separate piece of paper and she had pasted\u00a0the twelve pages together to form a long banner. \u00a0She had carefully illustrated and hand lettered each event and then rolled the banner like a scroll and tied it with silk ribbon.<\/p>\n Neither Joe nor Mitch knew quite what to make of a calendar that looked backwards instead of forwards, but they were pleased to see how happy Jenny was when she gave it to them, so they were enthusiastic recipients.\u00a0 It was Mitch\u2019s idea to give her some paints so she could add color to her pencil drawings and the following year they again received a calendar for the year just past.<\/p>\n Soon the boys\u00a0were out of school and working on their family\u2019s ranches.\u00a0 There was little time to spend with Jenny and when they did she peppered them with questions.\u00a0 She wanted to know about their firsts\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0first girlfriends, first kiss, their first beer, first black eye\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0questions that drove Mitch nuts.\u00a0 Joe was more indulgent, but then he didn\u2019t have to live with Jenny.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s your favorite month, Little Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDecember,\u201d he said without thinking.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNo reason.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause it\u2019s Christmas?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPartially\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHoss\u2019s birthday?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPartially\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo school?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not in school anymore, remember Jenny.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s your favorite month, Little Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDecember,\u201d he\u2019d say again.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause it snows?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHop Sing\u2019s goose?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo roundups or branding?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOk.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs December still your favorite month, Joe?<\/p>\n \u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo reason.\u201d<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n Each year Joe received his scroll, thanked Jenny with a kiss on the forehead and carefully tucked it away in his trunk without further thought.<\/p>\n Until this year that is.<\/p>\n This year Joe wondered whether she\u00a0would even make him a calendar and if so, if she would add the demise of his friendship with Mitch to it in big black letters.<\/p>\n During the\u00a0summer, without warning he had been emasculated by a fear of heights that was overwhelming.\u00a0 Not only had he turned away from everyone who was trying to help him, but he deliberately set out to hurt Mitch in order to feel better about himself.\u00a0 Ironically, all he succeeded in doing was to make himself feel worse. Although he had apologized a dozen times over, the friendship was lost.\u00a0\u00a0Mitch was civil when they ran into each other in the Bucket of Blood or at church, but then either he or Joe would leave\u2014neither comfortable in the presence of the other.<\/p>\n This holiday Joe and Hoss were stuck in Placerville by heavy snow and unable to get home for Christmas.\u00a0 Pa said not to worry, that the goose would keep until New Year\u2019s and they should stay put until the roads were safe to travel.<\/p>\n If only the Devlins had done the same.<\/p>\n In an effort to make it back to their ranch\u00a0before the onslaught of the winter storm, Max Devlin foolishly risked driving down Geiger Grade.\u00a0 At the height of the snow storm, their carriage careened off the steeply twisted road and into a ravine. \u00a0Only the deepness of the snow accounted for survivors.\u00a0 Mitch was thrown clear and able to dig out his father and mother, but the overturned rig had crushed Jenny. \u00a0His mother had suffered a broken leg and Max remained with her and their daughter while Mitch went for help. \u00a0It was hours before rescuers were able to deliver Jenny\u2019s broken body to a doctor.<\/p>\n It was too late to do anything to save her.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n When Joe and Hoss arrived home the day after New Year\u2019s, they were greeted by an empty house.\u00a0 No Pa.\u00a0 No Hop Sing.\u00a0 Instead, on the credenza there was an obituary along with\u00a0a note informing them of the funeral service.\u00a0 They had just enough time.<\/p>\n Exchanging their tired horses for fresh mounts, Joe and Hoss rode as fast as they dared into Virginia City arriving at the church just as the service was ending. Hoss went to look for their Pa and Joe stood at the back of the church near a long line of people waiting to offer their condolences to the Devlins.<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s heart pounded as he overheard snatches of conversations.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know how she hung as long as she did.\u00a0 So much pain.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe gave her permission to let go, but she kept on.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBarely conscious, but always wanting to know what day it was.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>The last night, she kept asking what time it was.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhen the clock struck midnight, she became alert, smiled, said \u2018January,\u2019 and took her last breath.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI wonder what she meant by that?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cMaybe she wanted to see the New Year in.\u00a0 You know she kept track of important days on her calendar.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Joe\u00a0caught sight of Mitch as the crowd thinned and they locked eyes for a moment, but Mitch turned away before Joe could speak. \u00a0Suddenly, he felt Hoss at his side and his father\u2019s hand on his neck.\u00a0 Joe turned into his father\u2019s embrace and wept.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n The church had emptied by the time Joe straightened up and his father released his grip.<\/p>\n “Just give me a minute,” he said, wiping his face with his arm.<\/p>\n \u201cTake your time, son.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be right here.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe walked slowly up the aisle to the front of the church. Evergreen boughs intertwined with pinecones and sprigs of holly adorned the top of the closed casket. \u00a0Joe placed a hand on the polished wood and whispered, \u201cOne for all.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll for one,\u201d Mitch said as he entered from the vestry.\u00a0 The two men stood side-by-side for several minutes, then Mitch held out a scroll tied with red ribbon and a piece of mistletoe. \u00a0\u201cThere was a big grin on her face when she put it under the tree.\u00a0 When I asked her why, she said she had figured out why December was your favorite month.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe looked up; Mitch\u2019s eyes were as red and swollen as his no doubt were.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t tell for sure, but maybe\u2014just maybe\u2014there was a softening there as well.\u00a0 It would never be the same now that there was just the two of them, but perhaps the friendship was still worth having in the new year, if for no other reason than their shared love of Jenny.<\/p>\n Joe nodded and took the scroll. \u00a0After brushing his hand across the wood one last time, he backed away from the casket and rejoined his father and brother.<\/p>\n No one spoke during the ride home in the softly sifting snow.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n The silence continued during the days that followed.\u00a0 Joe answered when spoken to but otherwise did not initiate any conversations.\u00a0 He did his chores, poked at his food, and went to bed early.\u00a0 But he didn\u2019t sleep.<\/p>\n What had she figured out?\u00a0\u00a0 Even I don\u2019t know why I said December was my favorite month.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Three weeks later, he untied the scroll Mitch had given him and unrolled it on his desk, placing a book at either end to keep it from curling. \u00a0He scrutinized\u00a0the carefully lettered entries and colorful drawings, searching for meaning.<\/p>\n Then he had\u00a0an idea and went to the tool shed. \u00a0Returning to his room with a small hammer and a box of tacks, he opened the trunk at the foot of his bed and tossed the contents until he found the other scrolls, which he nailed to the wall one below the other.<\/p>\n For the last twelve years she had given him a scroll, twelve squares to a scroll.\u00a0 12 x 12. Together, the banners formed a colorful\u00a0quilt of sorts on the wall.\u00a0 Each square filled with his special dates. \u00a0Family birthdays.\u00a0 The date his mother died.\u00a0 The date he got Cochise.\u00a0 His first kiss.<\/p>\n Joe sat\u00a0on his bed and stared at the wall.\u00a0 It was a history of his life\u2014all the joy, all the heartache, all the laughter.\u00a0 Births in pink or blue, deaths in black, anniversaries in red, \u201cfirsts\u201d in green, and all the escapades of the Three Musketeers\u00a0were in purple.\u00a0\u00a0 My life certainly has been colorful,<\/em> he mused.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s when he saw it. \u00a0What Jenny had figured out and why she had clung so desperately to life until the new year. \u00a0In each row, an entry in black appeared in every square except the twelfth.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n The next day, Joe went alone to the cemetery to pay his respects.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe traced the last line with his fingers. \u00a0\u201cCalendar Girl.\u00a0 I\u2019ll never forget what you did.\u00a0 I\u2019ll never forget you.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n -The End-<\/p>\n December 2010<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Summary: \u00a0New Year’s Day in 1865 rings in both unspeakable sorrow and unbridled hope for Joe.\u00a0 Reference is made\u00a0to Between Heaven and Earth.<\/p>\n Rated:\u00a0 T — \u00a02200 words<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[23,1007,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-joe-cartwright","category-challenges","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-1007-id","wpcat-40-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Quality-of-Mercy-14.jpg?fit=649%2C542&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Little Jenny Devlin<\/h2>\n
May 5, 1842 –January 1, 1865<\/h4>\n
Beloved Daughter of
\nMax and Jennifer<\/h4>\nSister of Mitch<\/h4>\n
For Auld Lang Syne<\/em><\/h3>\n