Good Knight Erik

By Marion

Rating: G

The Ponderosa and the Cartwrights are not mine (except for Annie, of course) Thank you to Mr. Dortort for allowing me to play on the Ponderosa for a little while. This story is purely for entertainment and is not intended to infringe on the rights of anyone else involved with Bonanza and Ponderosa.

I leaned my head on my hand, my elbow resting on the table. Golly, but I was tired! I tried to not yawn real loud, but I just couldn’t stop myself. I had fallen asleep the night before while I was reading at the table, and I could only kinda remember Pa helping me into bed. I felt a sharp pain in my leg – Adam was kicking me. That was our signal that Pa was lookin' at us or talkin' to us and that we'd best pay attention. I peeked over at Pa and he was frownin'. Pa's real fussy about being polite at the table, especially if Ma is with us. I yanked my elbow off the table and scrambled to sit straight. I nodded toward Ma. "Sorry, Ma." She only smiled and reached over to brush the hair out of my eyes.

"Mon fils, you are tired this morning."

I felt better when I heard Pa chuckle. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that don't pay to anger Pa before he finishes his coffee. If he was chucklin', that meant he wasn't angry. In fact, he was smiling!

"That's because he fell asleep reading last night. That must be a good book you're reading, son."

"Yes, sir, it sure is! It's fulla knights and kings and fighting and rescuing dams..damse…girls in distress." I was real quiet when I said that last bit – I sure wouldn't want anyone to think I liked girls. I don't. But Adam still guffawed at me. Then I heard Pa clear his throat. Old as he is, Adam still didn't know enough to not rile Pa during breakfast. I almost laughed when I saw Adam get all red. Adam sure hated for Pa to correct him, even if Pa did only make a noise and not say nothin'. Pa didn't have to say nothin'. Just clearin' his throat was enough to make us sit straight.

I almost groaned when I saw Adam looking at me with that 'Pa's not always gonna be around look.' But Adam wouldn't do nothing; Pa'd already warned us about fighting last week, and he made sure we understood about the consequences. Plus, Adam was already in trouble with Pa. Nope, Adam wasn't gonna pick a fight with me.

Pa grinned at me. "Any big plans for the day, Erik?"

"No, sir. I finished my morning chores already, so I'd like to go to Jean's, if I may?" I made sure I was respectful sounding when I asked permission.

Pa nodded. "Be home for lunch." Pa turned to my little brother. "And you, Joseph? Do you have big plans?"

Joe kinda laughed. He was only seven, and I don't know what kind of big plans Pa thought he might make. "I'm gonna play with Erik."

Pa glanced in my direction and I nodded. "I said it was all right, Pa. Joe likes to play with Jean's little brother."

Pa nodded. "As long as your chores are done, Joseph." I knew they were done on accounta I helped my little brother finish them. Not that he had a lot of chores. Mostly it was his job to make sure Ma had kindlin' and wood in the kitchen. I gotta put the wood by the parlor fireplace, 'cuz when Joe did it, he managed to knock a vase off the table when he wasn't payin' attention to the sticks he was carrying.

Pa turned to Adam next and I had to keep from snickering. Adam was lookin' like he just ate a lemon. He got into a peck of trouble with Pa earlier this week, and he was stuck either with extra chores or with working for Pa for two weeks, depending on what Pa needed.

"Adam, I'll need your help at the store today." Adam rolled his eyes as he shrugged and Pa frowned again. "You've only yourself to blame, young man."

Adam sighed as he got all red again. "Yes, sir."

"Marie, thank you for a delicious breakfast." Ma smiles real pretty when Pa says that every morning. Pa stood and put his napkin next to his plate. "Adam, you may clean the dishes for your mother and then join me at the store." Pa waited til Adam answered him before he looked at Joe and me. "If you two are done, you may go play. Be home in time for lunch."

Pa didn't have to tell us twice. Joe scrambled from the table and almost ran from the house. I gulped the last of my milk and quickly followed my younger brother. I didn't want to wait around 'til Pa thought of something else for us to do.

I used to play with Adam and his friends, but they decided they were too old to have me taggin' along. I reckon it's just as well, though, 'cuz Adam seems to get into a lot of trouble when he's with his friends. I don't mind Joe comin' along mosta the time, 'cept when he thinks up things that'll get me in trouble. Sometimes I gotta wonder about brothers.

Jean was my best friend. He lived a few blocks away from us, and he was one of the few French boys that were fun to be with. A lot of them were snooty 'cuz we were Americans, which I don't get 'cuz we're all livin' in America, and some of them say rude things about Ma. Jean was all right, though, and his little brother, Andre, was the same age as Joe.

That morning I was all excited to tell Jean about the book I was reading. It was about King Arthur and his knights, and they had lotsa fights and they even got ta ride horses. When I got done explainin' the stories, Jean grinned.

"Perhaps we can ride my father's horses and fight with the spears. What did you say they called that?"

"Joustin'." I looked at my friend. He was a lot shorter'n me, but so were most fellas my age. I reckoned any spear that I held would poke him in the eye, and any spear he held would get me in the stomach. I could see Joe's eyes light up. He loved anything to do with horses, even if Pa didn't let him ride alone yet. Thinkin' of Pa made me wonder what he would do if he heard I was joustin' with spears on real horses.

"Nah. I think my Pa'd skin me alive if I did that." Jean nodded. His Pa wasn't as strict as mine, but he sure got riled if we went near his horses. Jean's Pa had the best lookin' horses in New Orleans.

We decided to play sword fightin' all morning. We didn't use real swords or nothin', even if Jean's father had them fancy duelin' swords. We used some good sticks from Jean's kindlin' pile. We had a grand time. Me and Joe were an army and Jean and Andre were an army. Then Jean was King Arthur and the rest of us was the knights. We played until lunchtime and then Joe and me had ta go home. We made plans to come back after lunch, and play some more.

Joe and me hadn't gotten more'n halfway home when I heard someone cryin'. I looked inta the alleyway and saw a couple a boys and a girl who looked like she was my age. It looked like they were pesterin' her about somethin'.

"Joe, you wait here." I didn't look back to see if my brother was listenin' to me. I knew he probably wasn't. I walked real fast to the girl.

"You fellas leave her alone." The two boys turned to me, and I saw they were some older boys from school. They were in Adam's class, but they weren't his friends.

"Pourquoi?" The older boy, I didn't know his name, was one of them French boys that thought he was better'n the rest of us. I knew Adam had gotten inta fights with him because of the rude things he said about Ma.

I balled my hands into fists, gettin' ready. "I said so, that's pourquoi." I saw the girl creep toward the alley openin', and I saw Joe next to her.

The other boy spoke then. "This girl, she is nothing. She is the daughter of a" and he used a word that I'd get a tannin' for saying. "She must be one as well. She is of no concern to you."

I knew what he was hintin' at. "She's something to me."

The older boy laughed, but it was a mean laugh. "That is to be expected, considering what your father married."

Dang, but I was hoping Joe didn't know what the boy meant. I sure did, but I wasn't gonna get into a fight. Pa'd get real angry if I did.

I don't rightly know what happened next. I remember telling the boys to leave her alone again, and next thing I knew, the two of them were poundin' me. I didn't have a choice, I hadta fight back.

When the two boys finally ran off, I was feelin' pretty bruised. Joe and the girl were kinda cowerin' by the alley entrance. Joe looked pretty scared, so I pretended like I wasn’t hurt none. We walked the girl home, and after she thanked us and went inside, we headed for home. I was gettin' worried because I was afraid Pa might know I was fighting. Joe promised he wouldn't say nothing, but he looked nervous, too.

When we reached the gate to our courtyard, I sent Joe on ahead to make sure Pa wasn't hangin' around outside. If Pa was inside, Joe was supposed ta go talk to him for a while so I could get cleaned up. I snuck into the courtyard and hurried over to the bucket that Ma kept outside for us to wash in.

"Good glory, Erik! What happened to you?" Adam stepped onto the stoop, quickly closing the back door behind him.

"Ssshhh. I don't want Pa to hear me." I finished splashing water on my face and hastily drew the rag in an attempt to get clean.

Adam rolled his eyes. "He's not gonna have to hear you. He's not blind, you know."

I reached up to touch my sore cheek. Dang. I was hoping it wasn't going to bruise.

Adam stepped in front me, and looked me up and down. "Yup, Pa's gonna have your hide. He told you to stop fighting." He crossed his arms and grinned. "You're not going to be sitting at the table tonight, that's for sure!"

I had enough of Adam's gloating. "Yeah? Says you. But I guess you'd know. You end up standin' more times'n sittin' anyway." I moved toward my older brother, surprised to see that I could look Adam in the eye. I decided then and there that I wasn't going to stand for Adam's guff anymore. I just about got to him when I tripped on something.

I lay there in the dirt, when I heard the voice of doom. "Adam! Erik!" I felt someone grab the back of my collar and then I was dragged to my feet. Pa took one look at my face and then at my brother. He grabbed Adam by the arm and shook him a little. "What the blazes is going on here?" Pa didn’t wait for me or Adam to say anything, he just rounded on Adam again. "Young man, you have been walking a very fine line, and you just crossed over it. I warned you last week what the consequences would be if I caught you fighting with your brother."

Adam looked as white as a ghost. He started to say something, but Pa shushed him. I knew I had to speak up or Adam'd get in trouble for something he didn't do. Much as my older brother annoyed me lately, I sure didn't want that to happen.

"Pa?" Pa glared at me, and I felt my backside prickle, like it always does when I'm in trouble. It didn't matter that I wasn't fightin' with Adam, I was still fightin' and it was gonna be hard to 'fess up when Pa was practically holdin' me in the air. "Pa? Adam didn't do nothing. I got into a fight on my way home."

Pa let go of us both. He pointed to the bench on the far side of the courtyard. "Erik, you will wait for me there."

"Yes, sir." I turned and hurried over to sit on the bench. At least he didn't tell me to wait in the shed for him. I watched Pa talk to Adam real quiet. Adam nodded a few times and then he said something to Pa. Pa smiled and slapped Adam on the back and then nodded toward the house. Adam jumped up the steps and then I was alone with Pa.

Pa stood by the stoop for a few minutes, not lookin' at me. I was tryin' to figure out what to tell him. I had just about got the story straight when he headed toward me and I scrambled to stand. He sure wasn't going to let me sit during our conversation. I only hoped I'd be able to sit after the conversation!

"Erik." Pa has a quiet way of saying my name when he's real angry. If he's only a little angry, he speaks louder, and he takes longer to say Erik. When he spoke to me then, I knew that he was angry and, worse, that he was real disappointed. I wiped my hand over my eyes to wipe away the tears that started.

"Erik, please look at me." I don't know why, but that's the hardest thing to do when I'm in trouble.

I took a deep breath and looked right at my father. The best thing to do was to tell him the story without wasting time. "Pa. I can explain."

Pa's eyebrows shot up, and he sat on the bench and crossed his arms. "You can explain?"

I chewed on my lip a little. "Yes, sir."

He waved his hand toward me. "Please do."

"Ya see, Pa, there was a girl, and these fellas were botherin' her. They were callin' her bad names, and they weren't treatin' her like you say we oughta treat girls. There weren't no one else to help her, Pa. I had to. I told them to leave her alone. They wouldn't, so I told 'em again, and then they started poundin' on me. I didn't want ta fight, but she was scared. I walked her home after, too, just to make sure they didn't bother her anymore." I didn't say nothin' to Pa about what the boys said about Ma.

Pa leaned forward, his elbows restin' on his legs. He was listenin', and he didn't say nothing.

"So ya see, Pa, I couldn't just let them bother her, could I?" I shifted from foot to foot. Pa wasn't sayin' nothin' and I was startin' to worry. Finally he sat straight and shook his head.

"No, Erik, you couldn't let those boys bother the girl." Pa patted the bench next to him, and then he put his arm over my shoulders when I sat. "Erik, you know I don't like fighting." I nodded. "But sometimes a man needs to fight for something he believes in." I sat a little straighter when he said that a man needs to fight. "You didn't intend to fight, did you?"

"No, sir. I just wanted them to leave her alone."

Pa smiled. "You were fighting injustice, is that it?" I musta looked confused, cuz he added. "That means you didn't like to see the strong pick on the weak."

"Yes, sir. I was thinkin' of them knights in the story last night, and how they always helped out the ladies, and how they always helped folks not as strong as them."

Pa ruffled my hair as he stood up. "You are your mother's son, Erik. She would have been very proud of you." He helped me to my feet, and then put his arm over my shoulder again. "C'mon, let's go get you cleaned up."