Honored Teacher

By Marion

Rated: PG (for minor violence and nasty talk.)

(This story follows Bennie & Eddie.)

The roads to town were blocked for two days, but Annie and Joe didn't mind. The first day they spent listening to Uncle Ben's stories of his childhood. The second day they had to spend some time studying but they got to play outside while Ben, Hoss and Adam had to take more hay to the upper pastures. Sometimes, as Joe said to Annie, it's good to be younger than everyone else!Annie was happy to miss school because she knew that she still had to face Mr. Taylor about the math test. She didn't cheat, but she was bothered by the idea that her teacher thought she might.

Finally the roads were clear enough for the pair to go to school. Ben accompanied them to talk to Mr. Taylor about the math test, as he said he would. Annie slowed more and more as they got closer to school until Ben finally lost his patience.

"Anna Marie, hurry up! Dawdling isn't going to make it any easier, and if you hurry we might be able to resolve it before other students arrive."

Annie hurried after that. She hated the idea of anyone else knowing about what happened. They arrived at the schoolyard, and Joe took care of the horses while Ben and Annie went into the schoolroom. Mr. Taylor stood when he heard them arrive.

"Ah, Mr. Cartwright, I'm glad to see you were able to come in. I take it the snow kept the children home? It's been a small school the past few days." He shook Ben's hand.

"Mr. Taylor, I've come to see if there is any resolution of the little problem Annie had a few days ago."

"Eliza continues to maintain her innocence." Annie started to protest, but Ben silenced her with a look. "However, I thought a great deal about this, and I am convinced that Annie did not cheat. As you said, she has been doing well; in fact, she's the best math student in the school. I decided to give each girl a second chance. Annie, you will take a second test during recess this morning."

Annie felt like the world was lifted off her shoulders. "Thank you, sir. I won't disappoint you."

Ben held out his hand. "Thank you, Mr. Taylor. I had every confidence in Annie's innocence and I'm glad you did, too." He shook Mr. Taylor's hand, and looked at Annie. "I'd best be getting home now. Your cousins are waiting for me."

"Annie, you have a few minutes, why don't you go play before school starts. I have a few things to finish here." Ben and Annie left the room and looked for Joe.

"I'm guessing by the look on your face that everything's all right!" Joe looked as happy as Annie. He knew it meant a lot to her to be cleared.

"I have to take a second test, but I know I'll do well." Ben clapped her on the shoulder. "That's my girl. Looks like it's time for you two to head into school. Remember, the boys and I will be working in the high pastures today. We might be late getting home, so start evening chores without us. Hop Sing will be home. I'll see you both tonight." He mounted and headed towards home.

Eliza followed Annie up the stairs. Joe took one look at her hateful glare and thought if looks could kill, he'd be minus one cousin. Annie saw the look, but was determined not to let Eliza ruin another day.

The day went well. Annie took the test and got all the questions right. Mr. Taylor had moved Eliza and consequently she only got half the questions right. At the end of the day, Mr. Taylor kept Eliza for a few minutes. She emerged from the classroom just as Annie was saddling her horse. Joe was off talking to Mitch Devlin.

"Annie, Mr. Taylor suggested I ask you if you could tutor me in math after school. He thought it would help me improve my grades." Annie doubted that Mr. Taylor suggested any such thing, but she was determined not to let Eliza rile her any more.

"Sorry, I'm expected home to do chores. I can't stay after today."

"I heard your uncle. He isn't going to be home, he'll never know you were late."

"He will if I don't get my chores done. Besides, Hop Sing will be there."

"You mean that yeller will tell on you? You put up with that?"

Annie could feel her temper rising but heard Uncle Ben's voice telling her to keep it under control. "I'm not sure what you mean, Eliza. My uncle expects me to listen to and respect Hop Sing."

Eliza hooted. "Now I've heard everything. I guess you really are the charity case, if you gotta listen to one of them yeller men." Fortunately for Annie, Joe called her to head home before she could respond. Eliza watched Annie's back and grinned.

The next morning at recess Eliza approached Annie. "Hey, yeller-lover. That yeller man tell your uncle you were late? If he told on me, I'd just cut off that little braid while he slept." Annie tried counting to ten. She tried biting her lip. She even tried thinking of what her uncle would do if she got into a fight. Eliza could see how angry Annie was getting. "Hey, yeller-lover, is it true that yellers sleep with sheep to keep warm?" Annie saw red and jumped on Eliza, knocking her to the ground. She started hitting anywhere she could. Eliza was screaming and suddenly strong hands lifted Annie off Eliza. Another girl helped Eliza up and she pointed at Annie, crying. "She just jumped me and started hitting me." Annie looked at Eliza. She was a mess. Her dress was ripped and her lip was bleeding. Annie looked up at Mr. Taylor, who had not let go of her arm. He was furious.

"Anna Cartwright, did you hit Eliza?" She just looked at him and he shook her. She nodded. He let go of her arm. "Why?" Annie just shrugged. She couldn't explain to anyone. What if Mr. Taylor agreed with Eliza? Mr. Taylor shook his head, then pointed to Annie. "You are dismissed. You will return home, tell your uncle what happened and let him know that you may not return to school until he discusses your behavior with me. Tell him I will expect him Monday morning. Students, please return to class." Annie felt all her anger drain from her, to be replaced by a feeling of dread. Joe came up to her and shook his head sadly. "He's gonna be real mad, Annie, real mad. You know how he feels about fightin'." Annie nodded; she knew Joe was right. And she didn't even have a note to explain what happened. She was going to have to tell her uncle that she broke his rules and school rules. Joe just shook his head again and headed into the school.

Annie saddled up and headed for home. She debated about hiding for a few hours, or not telling Uncle Ben but she knew she'd get caught and be in that much more trouble. She rode into the yard just as Adam came out of the barn.

"Annie, what's wrong? Where's Joe? Are you sick?" She just looked at Adam miserably as she dismounted. "I got sent home for fighting," she whispered. Adam just looked at her, stunned. She looked up when she heard the front door open. Her uncle stood in the doorway for a moment, then headed into the yard.

"Annie, are you sick?" Concerned, he reached out to feel her forehead. Annie took a step back and looked at the ground. She took a deep breath and the words tumbled out.

"No, sir. I was sent home for starting a fight with Eliza. I can't go back to school until you go talk to Mr. Taylor. He's expecting you Monday." Breathless, she kept her eyes riveted to the ground, waiting.

She didn't have to wait for long. "Fighting." Uncle Ben spoke in a low, flat voice. Adam took the reins from Annie and beat a hasty retreat to the barn. "Look at me." Annie looked up, and quickly looked away. Uncle Ben looked really angry. "I said look at me." Annie dragged her eyes to him. He was angry, but worse, he was disappointed. "Go to your room." He pointed to the house and she hurried to obey. He was right behind her as she took off her coat, and he closed the door after they both entered her room.

"Why?"

"I lost my temper." She looked at her feet.

"I guessed that. Look at me when I'm talking to you. Why did you lose your temper?" Uncle Ben's voice was getting quieter every time he spoke. Annie knew that meant he was very angry.

"I don't want to talk about it," she whispered, staring at the ground. That only seemed to make him angrier.

"I do. Why did you lose your temper?" Annie just shook her head and tried to blink back tears. "On Monday you will apologize to Eliza and to Mr. Taylor."

Annie looked at him in shock. "I won't!"

"What?" Ben was livid now.

"I won't apologize to Eliza. I'll apologize to Mr. Taylor for breaking school rules, but I won't apologize to Eliza." Annie looked defiant now.

"Well, then, you don't leave me much of a choice, do you? We've had to talk about your temper too many times. You are being defiant, disobedient and disrespectful to me. You were disrespectful to Mr. Taylor. You broke school rules. I won't have my children fighting in school, or anywhere else for that matter." She glanced up then looked away quickly as her uncle unbuckled his belt.

Ben Cartwright left Mr. Taylor's house as confused as when he got there. He had visited the teacher on a Saturday to see if Mr. Taylor could shed any light on why Annie had behaved the way she did. She had a short temper, he knew that, but except for a few scuffles with Joe she had never punched anyone. Unfortunately, Mr. Taylor had not seen the beginning of the fight and Eliza wouldn't tell him what it was about, only that Annie just started to hit her. Ben refused to believe that Annie would behave that way without provocation, but how exactly Eliza provoked her, no one knew.

He pulled the supply list from his pocket. Hop Sing's meticulous handwriting filled the page. He stepped into the store and waited for Eli to finish with a customer, a short man Ben didn't know.

"Good morning, Ben. How are you and the family today."

Ben sighed. "Bit of a stormy few days, but we're fine. How about you and Ruth?"

"We are fine also." Ben held out the list. "Hop Sing wants these things, Eli. Do you have them?"

As soon as Ben mentioned Hop Sing's name, the stranger turned to Ben. "You Cartwright?" Ben looked at him curiously. The man was unkempt and unshaven, and he smelled vaguely of alcohol.

"Yes, I'm Ben Cartwright, Mr..?" Ben held out his hand. The man looked at it scornfully.

"Name's Jenkins. My girl's the one your charity case beat up yesterday. Shoulda knowd your brat'd be a yeller lover. Looks like yer doin' yer yeller's work for him. Ain't it supposed to be him doin' work for you?"

Enlightenment dawned on Ben. Annie had gotten into the fight in defense of Hop Sing. That foolish girl, why wouldn't she tell him? Ben looked at the man.

"If you mean, why am I doing Hop Sing's work for him, I'm not. I'm buying supplies for my family."

The man snorted. "Heard you were a decent man, guess I heard wrong. No decent man considers a yeller his family."

Ben took a step forward, fist clenched, and Eli quickly stepped between them.

"Mr. Jenkins, I believe you are done with your shopping." Jenkins looked Eli up and down. "Reckon you'd stick together." He spun on his heel and left. Ben relaxed before he even realized how tensed up he was.

"Ben, what was that about?" Ben explained what happened to Annie yesterday. "Then it is a good thing I stepped between you. How could you have faced her after doing the very thing for which you punished her? Now, I have everything on your list. I will pack it for you."

"Thank you, Eli."

Eli smiled and clapped Ben on the shoulder.

Ben drove home thinking of Annie. Why didn't that foolish child tell him why she got into that fight? He kept thinking back to the day before, to when she came home, how worried he was about her, then how angry he was when he found she had been fighting. Then, when she was angry and defiant with him, he was furious. How dare she talk to him like that? If she had just explained.

Ben pulled up the team and buried his face in his hands. Realization had struck him like a lightening bolt. The poor child had come home, confused, fearful and angry and he responded not with the patience and understanding of a loving father, but rather in anger. He had been trying to teach her to control her temper when he couldn't control his own. He prided himself on never punishing his children in anger, yet that was exactly what he had done yesterday. Oh God, he thought. Help me explain this to Annie.

Annie sat in her room, watching her cousins trudge in from morning chores. Except for a few trips to the outhouse Annie had not left her room since her uncle had sent her to it when she got home yesterday. Hop Sing and Adam had brought her dinner and breakfast to her. She hadn't spoken to Uncle Ben since he left after punishing her. He had been so angry when she came home that she just couldn't think of what to say to him. She didn't think it would make much difference anyway. He had told her uncounted times that she needed to control her temper and not act so impulsively. If she had thought about what Eliza said, she would have just walked away or somehow turned Eliza's words against her. But no, she just lashed out without thought.

That's what made her uncle so angry.

Sounds of the wagon coming into the yard startled Annie out of her thoughts. She looked out as Uncle Ben stepped down from the wagon and spoke to his sons. They nodded and started to unload the wagon as he came into the house. Annie was sure he was going to come see her, and she didn't know what to do or how to act when he came in. She smoothed her dress nervously and jumped when the door opened. Uncle Ben walked in and closed the door behind him. He kept his back to her for a minute and when he turned around, Annie couldn't tell what he was thinking. He looked sheepish and sad and upset. Annie twisted her hands and waited for him to speak. He looked at her for a few moments, almost like he was waiting for her to speak. Finally he took a step towards her. When she stepped back, away from him, he looked pained.

"We need to talk, you and I, Annie." Ben crossed the room and sat on the bed. He patted the spot next to him, but she hesitated. She wasn't sure she wanted to sit at all, she wasn't sure she could sit at all. Ben looked sad, as if he thought she was afraid to sit near him. Suddenly Annie needed to be close to him. She crossed the room and knelt at his feet, resting her arms on his knees, laying her head on her hands. He stroked her hair softly.

"Why didn't you tell me the fight was about Eliza's cruel words about Hop Sing?" Annie's head shot up. How did he do that? Somehow he always knew what he wasn't told. She wondered briefly if she would be able to do that when she was a mother. "Annie, are you afraid of me?" Ben's voice was hesitant, as if he were afraid of the answer, which in truth he was. Annie didn't answer. Truthfully, she didn't know how to tell him that yesterday she was indeed very much afraid of him. His anger was awful.

"Anger is a terrible thing, Annie. My father always told me that if I didn't learn to control it, it would control me. Yesterday I let my anger control me, and I did something I swore I would never do. I punished one of my children in anger, instead of waiting until I was calm. Anger's a strange thing, Annie. It makes a person lose his mind; it almost makes him like one of the animals, acting without thinking." Annie was looking up at her uncle now. His brown eyes looked incredibly sad, and Annie wanted to tell him it was all right, but she just watched him.

"I met Eliza Jenkin's father today, Annie, and do you know I almost punched him? He made me so angry that I just wanted to knock him to the ground. Eli actually had to stop me. Mr. Jenkins said some pretty awful things about Chinese people and about Hop Sing in particular." He looked at her, but she still didn't say anything. Finally she spoke.

"You still woulda punished me." Ben nodded. He had thought about that on the ride home.

"Yes, I would have. You did start a fight at school, and you would have deserved to be punished. I may have even spanked you. But I would never have punished you so harshly. I think yesterday was in part my fault. I was so angry that you were afraid to talk to me, and I was wrong. Annie, honey, I am sorry and I hope you'll forgive me."

Annie stood up and looked her uncle in the eye. "I'm sorry too, Uncle Ben. If I listened to you about my temper, I would never have hit Eliza. I've been thinking about that. Hitting her didn't make her change her mind about Hop Sing. Maybe she even hates him more and that would be my fault. I promise, next time she acts like that I'll just walk away."

"That would be a good choice, sweetheart. I promise, the next time I am angry about something you did, I'll just walk away until I'm not so angry. Deal?" He spit in his hand and held it out. Annie looked startled, then giggled. She spit in her hand and put it in his to seal

Annie spent the rest of the day working with Hop Sing while her uncle and cousins did outside chores. Annie liked working with Hop Sing, and lately he had been teaching her to cook more than stew over the fire. Hop Sing shared her hope that someday soon Uncle Ben would get a stove, but until then he had perfected fireplace cooking. Annie had told him the story of Hoss and her biscuits that were like rocks, and he had been working patiently with her. His patience needed to be infinite, though, because batch after batch had been tossed outside over the past few weeks. There was just something about the baking that she did not understand. Yet every time Annie was ready to give up Hop Sing would tell her to be patient. "Patience" he would say "is power; with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes silk."

Today Annie was silent as she worked with Hop Sing. He could tell something was bothering her, but he didn't know what. He knew, of course, that her uncle had been very angry the day before because Annie had been in a fight, but he had no idea what the fight had been about. Mr. Cartwright believed discipline should be private, and Hop Sing respected that belief. It was one his father had also held, and Hop Sing remembered being grateful many times that his father had not chastised him in front of others. Funny, he thought, that was not the first time he had compared his father to his employer.

Annie was busy kneading the dough when she looked at Hop Sing. "Hop Sing, did you know that some people don't like Chinese people?"

Hop Sing almost smiled at her innocence. He had experienced first hand the prejudices against his people in America, but he had no desire to shatter her innocence by telling her what he had gone through. His life with the Cartwrights was the happiest he had been since leaving China. Ben Cartwright treated him with respect and dignity, and he insisted that his sons and now his niece do the same. Hop Sing remembered when he first came to live with the Cartwrights. Little Joe had spoken disrespectfully to him. Nothing too bad, Joe was just being a little boy. His father had been behind him, and when he heard how Joe had spoken, he had washed the boy's mouth out with soap and he insisted that Joe apologize. Never before had a white man made his son apologize to Hop Sing.

He looked down at her and nodded. "Yes, I have seen how some Chinese people are treated in America."

"You've been treated bad sometimes, haven't you?"

"Yes. But, you do not need to know more than that."

"I'm sorry, Hop Sing, I didn't mean to ask you about something private. It's just that I don't understand it. I mean, I don't think Anglos are any different than Chinese, we just look different."

"Anglos?"

"That's what the Mexicans called white people in California. I remember when my father and I first came to California, people told him that Mexicans were lazy, smelly, ate bad food, just about every bad thing you can think of. But Papa and I found that the Mexicans we met were just like everyone else. Some were good, some weren't. The Mexicans who worked on our ranch worked very hard and Papa said we wouldn't have survived without them."

"Your father sounds as special as his brother."

"You mean Uncle Ben? I think he's special, but I didn't know you did."

"Mr. Cartwright is a good, honest man who treats all with respect. He has raised his sons to be the same way. " Hop Sing looked at Annie curiously. "Annie, why did you fight yesterday?"

Annie suddenly found the ground very interesting. "A girl said bad things about Chinese people and she called me a name because.." She stopped.

Hop Sing nodded. "And this girl made you angry?"

"I hated her Hop Sing. I hated all the bad things she said and I hated all the bad things she thought. I just wanted to make her stop."

"Buddha once said 'Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.'"

"I remember you telling me about that Buddha once. What's that mean, what you just said?"

"Let me ask you, did hitting the girl suddenly make her like Chinese people?" Annie shook her head. "That is because hating her does not make her stop hating someone else. You must show her through your actions why her hatred is wrong. Now then, your dough is ready to be cut into biscuits. This is what you must do."

Annie did all that Hop Sing told her to do. All she could do was to wait and see if the biscuits were edible. She hoped they were, because there was no time for Hop Sing to make more. She kept her eye on the biscuits as she set the table and pulled them from the fireplace just as her uncle and cousins came tromping in for dinner.

Dinner was a pleasant meal. Annie sat quietly, still thinking about what Hop Sing had said. She watched her cousins playfully tease each other and she laughed at Joe's story about Hoss shoving a huge snowball down Adam's back. She blushed when Hoss proclaimed her batch of biscuits the best he had ever eaten. Finally she had gotten it right! She noticed her uncle watching her a few times and she smiled at him to let him know she was all right. She quickly cleaned up the dishes while Uncle Ben and Adam drank their coffee and talked about the work needed for the next week. Finally she stood in front of her uncle.

"Uncle Ben, I'm tired, I'd like to go to bed. May I speak with you in private, though?"

"All right, Annie. Why don't you get ready for bed and I'll come see you in a few minutes."

Annie leaned over to kiss Adam. "Good night, Adam." She walked to Hoss to kiss him, too. "Good night, Hoss." Joe was playing checkers with Hoss and Annie reached out and punched him on the shoulder. "Good night, Joe." She looked at Hop Sing, sitting by the fire doing some mending. She walked over to him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Good night, Hop Sing. Thank you." He looked surprised, then smiled. "Good night, Annie."

Annie had just gotten changed and hopped into bed when her uncle knocked. "Come in" she answered. He sat on the bed and looked at her.

"Uncle Ben, I've decided to apologize to Eliza." Ben looked at her, surprised.

"You were pretty adamant about not apologizing. What changed your mind?"

"Hop Sing taught me something that Buddha said. Do you know who Buddha was?"

Ben nodded. "Anyway, Hop Sing said that Buddha said that hating someone doesn't make them stop hating someone else. Instead, you should show people how to behave by being an example to them. I realized that just because I hit Eliza it wouldn't make her like Chinese people. In fact, I thought it might make her hate them more. What I did was wrong and I should apologize."

He nodded. "I'm very proud of you, Annie. That's a very adult thing to do, to admit you're wrong and to apologize."

"Yes, sir, I know. You taught me that."

The End.