Summary: \u00a0Ben learns from Adam that there is more than one way to reach a goal.<\/p>\n
Rated:\u00a0 K — \u00a01700 words<\/p>\n
Story Notes: \u00a0The challenge was to begin a story with the line “And where do you think you are going?”<\/p>\n
The challenge is a monthly feature\u00a0in\u00a0The Cartwriter\u00a0(a digital Beta magazine). \u00a0Many thanks to the subscribers for their comments and suggestions.<\/p>\n
All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are property of their respective owners.\u00a0 The original characters and plot are property of the author.\u00a0\u00a0 The author is not in any way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise.\u00a0\u00a0No copyright infringement is intended.<\/p>\n
Staying the Course<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAnd where do you think you are going?\u201d<\/p>\n The boy kept walking, resolutely placing one foot in front of the other, threading his way around puddles, deeply-grooved ruts, and chuck holes.\u00a0 Every once in a while he stumbled, but managed to keep himself upright despite the weight of the knapsack on his back.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam?\u201d<\/p>\n When there was no reply, Ben Cartwright called \u201cwhoa,\u201d set the brake and climbed down from the seat.\u00a0 Once on the ground, he secured the reins and moved alongside his five-year-old son, leaving the wagon where it was.<\/p>\n They continued silently in synchronous step for another quarter mile before he asked again.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam?\u00a0 Where are we headed?\u201d<\/p>\n When the boy hesitated for a fraction of a second at the word \u201cwe,\u201d the corner of Ben\u2019s mouth twitched.\u00a0 From his demeanor it was clear the last thing Adam wanted was father\u2019s company on his journey.<\/p>\n Ben raised his eyes toward the overcast heavens.\u00a0 There was not even a hint of sun but he knew the direction they were going.\u00a0 East.<\/p>\n For Adam, it was always an easterly course that drew him. What he didn\u2019t know was why that was so.\u00a0 Like his son, he was also born in New England and yet he had willingly left home at a young age to sail the open seas.\u00a0 For Ben, the epitome of happiness was seeing trade winds fill the sails and hearing the captain call for a bearing of due west.\u00a0 After his wife died in childbirth and his father-in-law returned to the sea he so loved, Ben took his infant son and headed west to fulfill his dream.<\/p>\n West.\u00a0 West was where his and his son\u2019s future lay, that he was sure of and he was doing his best to get them there.\u00a0 But the five-year journey from Massachusetts to Illinois had been fraught with setbacks, poor judgment, and even worse luck.\u00a0 If he were to count his blessings at this moment they would include less than two dollars in his pocket, a wagon in need of repair, a horse that was just this side of lame, and an angry son who wouldn\u2019t speak to him, much less obediently follow.<\/p>\n Adam had been terrified during the violent storm and begged his father to turn back, but Ben\u2014relying on his seafaring knowledge of meteorology\u2014kept moving in a direction he was sure would take them further and further away from the storm.\u00a0 He was wrong.\u00a0 An example of yet another bad call<\/em>.<\/p>\n It was divine intervention not wisdom that provided a safe harbor from the cyclonic winds.\u00a0 They\u2019d taken refuge in a hollow near a limestone outcrop.\u00a0 Exhausted, he\u2019d fallen asleep where he sat, the reins still in his hands.\u00a0 When he awoke, the poor horse was still in its traces and Adam was long gone.<\/p>\n Initial panic gave way to relief when Ben realized the boy had left a trail in the mud a blind man could read, but it broke his heart to see the footprints were soon joined by hand and knee prints, evidence the boy had fallen more than once.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n Ben looked around at the debris-strewn landscape and marveled at the distance his son had traveled before he caught up with him. The tornado had left uprooted trees, shingles, damaged siding, and odd remnants of clothing and household goods in its path.\u00a0 Here and there one could see items perfectly intact and unscratched\u2014such were the vagaries of tornadoes\u2014but there wasn\u2019t a building left standing in the small hamlet they had passed through not 24 hours before and no sign of life.\u00a0 Either the inhabitants had fled or were still holed up in their storm cellars, or\u2014<\/p>\n Adam tripped once again and would have gone down hard had his father not grabbed him by the back of his collar.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam!\u201d Ben\u2019s heart quickened.\u00a0 \u201cAre you all right?\u201d<\/p>\n The boy struggled against his father\u2019s grip, but Ben held on.\u00a0 Heedless of the mud, he knelt taking his son\u2019s shoulders in both hands and turned the boy to face him.<\/p>\n \u201cSon, look at me,\u201d he said, but Adam\u2019s eyes remained fixed on the ground.\u00a0 \u201cEnough walking.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go back to the wagon.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam crossed his arms over his chest and shifted his weight to one foot in perfect imitation of his father.\u00a0 \u201cNo!\u201d he said emphatically.<\/p>\n \u201cNow just a minute, young man; you will not speak to me in that tone, do you hear?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going back!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd just where do you think you are<\/em> going?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam jerked his chin.\u00a0 \u201cThat way.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben looked over his shoulder at the remains of the devastated community.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s nothing here, son.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot here.\u00a0 There,\u201d he pointed in the direction of a sign post at the side of the road.\u00a0 Miraculously, the post stood tall and straight pointing east, its letters still readable:<\/p>\n Galesburg \u00a0<\/strong>\u2192\u00a010 mi.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s east of here.\u00a0 We\u2019re headed west, remember?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam stared at his father, his dark hazel eyes so nearly the color of gunpowder Ben was taken aback by their intensity.<\/p>\n When there was no response from his son, Ben continued, \u201cThere is nothing for us east of here.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket and\u2014unfolding it reverently\u2014handed it to his father.\u00a0 \u201cThere is for me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ben was mystified.\u00a0 The page had been carefully torn from a newspaper and contained advertisements and bits of news and announcements. He turned it over; the back was no different.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t understand son.\u00a0 What does this have to do with anything?\u201d<\/p>\n Sighing as one might when dealing with an infant, Adam pointed at the paper.\u00a0 When there was still no recognition on his father\u2019s face, Adam pointed again, this time tapping the specific spot.<\/p>\n Classes will resume following Easter recess.<\/strong><\/p>\n Classes.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n Ben closed his eyes. Adam wanted to go to school and was willing to do anything to get there; willing to walk miles over treacherous terrain; willing to disobey his father; willing to put himself in harm\u2019s way . . . all for the love of learning.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou promised, Pa.\u00a0 You said I could go to school when I turned six.\u00a0 I\u2019m almost six.\u00a0 I want to go to school.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam, when we get to California, then you can go to school.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u201d And he turned and resumed his course towards Galesburg as fast as his legs would carry him over the rutted road.\u00a0 Once more he fell into the mud, but this time he did not get up.<\/p>\n Ben sprinted to his side, lifted him carefully into his arms and began the long walk back to the wagon.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n While dinner cooked over an open fire, Ben washed his son\u2019s muddy clothes in the nearby stream. \u00a0They were drying on a rock by the fire when Adam finally opened his eyes. Confused at first by the unfamiliar surroundings, he saw the setting sun ahead of them and realized at last where they were . . . on the road again going west . . . and he turned away so his father wouldn\u2019t see his tears.<\/p>\n \u201cReady for dinner, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s your favorite . . . rabbit stew,\u201d Ben said, trying to entice the youngster into sitting up and having a few bites.<\/p>\n \u201cNot hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCome on, son.\u00a0 You haven\u2019t had anything to eat since yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want any.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, suit yourself.\u00a0 Mmmm.\u00a0 Sure is good if I say so myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam rolled back toward the fire and watched his father eat.<\/p>\n \u201cI just thought you might want to eat a hearty dinner and have a good night\u2019s sleep before starting school tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam sat up swiftly.\u00a0 \u201cBefore what?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut if you\u2019re not hungry, well, all I can say is more for me,\u201d and Ben ladled more stew onto his plate.<\/p>\n \u201cPa!\u201d<\/p>\n Ben laughed openly and handed the plate to his son.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no bread or milk.\u00a0 I\u2019ll get some tomorrow when we get to Galesburg.\u201d<\/p>\n After licking his plate clean, Adam put his arms around Ben\u2019s neck and whispered, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben returned the hug and sat Adam on his lap.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry, too, son.\u00a0 I did promise.\u00a0 And I know what it\u2019s like to want something so badly you\u2019ll do anything to obtain it; pursue any course.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll study real hard, Pa, and make you proud.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam, I\u2019m already proud of you.\u00a0 You just do your best, that\u2019s all I ask.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so will I.\u00a0 I\u2019ll find us a place to stay and then look for work while you\u2019re in school.\u00a0 They\u2019ll be time enough to head west when school\u2019s out for the summer.\u00a0 Deal?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDeal!\u201d said Adam, solemnly shaking his father\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n After Adam was tucked in and the dishes done and packed away, Ben filled his pipe with the last of his tobacco and settled back against the rock to watch the sun slip over the horizon and the constellations bloom one by one in the inky sky.<\/p>\n Staying the course was part of a sailor\u2019s life, but so was tacking into the wind.\u00a0 Maybe that\u2019s what has been wrong these past few years<\/em>.\u00a0 He\u2019d been so doggedly determined to reach California that he had sailed directly into the wind and wound up in irons. \u00a0So, they would head east for a bit . . . tack to starboard and then tack to port . . . eventually they would reach their destination.<\/p>\n With a practiced eye, he found the North Star and began to chart a new course.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Epilogue<\/em><\/p>\n Adam awoke feeling under the weather, but insisted he was \u201cfine.\u201d His enthusiasm, however, diminished with each passing mile.\u00a0 By the time they arrived in Galesburg, his father was acutely aware of his son\u2019s physical discomfort.\u00a0 Thus it was that Ben’s first stop was not to find the school or a place to live or even employment, but to purchase milk, bread and medicine from a kind, tall, blue-eyed Swede . . . named Inger.<\/p>\n April 2012<\/p>\n