Difference

On a Saturday morning the thirteen year old Mitch Cartwright went on the bike to the ice hockey stadium at the edge of Virginia City. He had just left the yard of a 4-year old boy came after him.

“Mitch, wait for me”, the little lad called.

Mitch stopped and looked behind him. He recognized the little boy who rode towards him. It was his little brother Benji.

“Benji, what are you doing here?”, Mitch asked amazed is little brother.

“I go with you to the ice hockey”, was the answer.

“Do daddy and mom know about that?”, asked Mitch.

“No, must that then be. Mom only does girly stuff with me but daddy never does boyish stuff with ne. he doesn’t even have time for me”, his little brother complained.

Mitch sighed deep and said, “Alright, I take you with me but then you must listen to me.”

“I promise that”, said Benji.

They rode on.

“Did daddy have time for you where you were my age?”, Benji asked suddenly.

“Yes. But I didn’t have a mother or a little sister like you have now”, answered Mitch.

“No mother?”, his little brother asked amazed.

“I hardly have known my real mother because she died when I was 11 months old. Since ten I was alone with daddy until he met mom. But grandpa, uncle Hoss and uncle Joe were there for me. And they are there for you too. Just like our parents”, Mitch explained.

“I notice very little of that though”, said Benji.

Mitch understood that his little brother felt a bit left out.

“Benji, I will try to talk to daddy but I don’t know if he wants to listen. If he has sense he does that. But I don’t promise anything”, the eldest Cartwright said.

Benji agreed. They rode on where by Mitch kept a close eye on his little brother as they came closer to the stadium.

Meanwhile at the ranch. The Chinese cook Hop Sing had set the table for lunch.

“Cartwrights at table”, he called.

The mentioned came except Mitch and Benji.

“Where are the boys?”, asked Ben Cartwright, the owner of the ranch and grandpa of the 2 absent.

“Mitch is to the ice hockey stadium and Benji played outside on the yard”, his eldest son Adam said.

Then Candy Canaday (the foreman of the Ponderosa ranch) came inside.

“Adam and Sally, if you are looking for Benji, I saw him riding after Mitch to Virginia City”, said Candy.

“Great. Now I must drive to town again to pick up that little lad. Does Mitch have his cell phone with him?”, asked Adam.

“I saw that he put it into his jacket”, said Ben.

“I call him right away”, said Adam.

He grabbed his cell phone and called his eldest son. Quite soon he had him on the line.

“Mitch, your father. Where are you and who is there with you?”, Adam asked coming straight to the point.

“Daddy, I’m at the ice hockey stadium and Benji is indeed with me. I keep him with me during the training because there is training for the little ones. Come in 3 hours time to the stadium”, answered Mitch.

“For this time then”, Adam said with reluctance which Mitch noticed very well.

Adam switched off his cell phone and went back to the table.

“Benji is with Mitch. This afternoon I will pick him up at the ice hockey stadium. It appears that there is there also a training for the little children”, he said.

Then his 4-year old daughter Lisa asked, “Daddy, may I also play ice hockey and baseball?”

This question made the grownup Cartwrights look up amazed.

“Baseball and ice hockey is more for boys”, her mother Sally said but it didn’t help.

“You may try it”, Adam said finally.

At the ice hockey stadium Mitch saw his friends Matthew Walker and Max Willis. They had arranged to eat there at the clubhouse and then to train after that.

“Has…Has he come with you?”, asked Max.

“No, he came after me”, answered Mitch.

They looked at the youngest Cartwright.

“Shall we have lunch?”, asked Matthew.

Benji got his lunch from all 3 boys.

After lunch Mitch asked, “Can you look after him for a moment so that I can change?”

Matthew and Max promised that.

During the training Benji also tried to play ice hockey which went well by him. John Cooper, the coach of the little ones, saw that Benji had talent and fetched Mitch to the side.

“Who is that little lad over there?”, asked John.

“My 4-year old little brother Benji. He came along with me. Do you think that he can play in a team?”, Mitch asked on his turn.

“I don’t think that but I know it for sure. Where do you live?”, the coach wanted to know.

“At the Ponderosa ranch. We are the sons of Adam Cartwright. He comes to get Benji this afternoon”, answered Mitch.

The boy went on the ice again.

As promised Adam came to pick up his youngest son at the ice hockey stadium. He waited for him at the clubhouse. After a while the brothers Cartwright, Matthew and Max came in.

“Do you watch Benji for a second, then I can try to talk to my father”, Mitch said whispering.

They promised that. Mitch went to Adam and sat down at the table with him.

“Mitch, what is the matter with your little brother?”, asked Adam.

“He feels left out by you. Mom does do girly stuff with Lisa but you never do boyish stuff with him as he latterly said to me. He claims that you don’t even have time for him”, answered Mitch.

Adam didn’t know what he heard. He hadn’t expected this. He realized though that Mitch was right.

“Just send him to me. Must I take you home as well?”, asked Adam.

“No, because we are going to watch a DVD at Max’s house. Can you take my ice hockey stuff with you?”, Mitch asked on his turn.

“Alright, I take them with me. You are at home at 11 tonight”, answered Adam.

He drew 23.00 hours on a piece of paper so that Mitch understood it. Mitch took the paper with him and went to his friends and little brother.

“Benji, your father wants to see you”, Mitch said to Benji.

The little Cartwright went reluctantly to his father. He went to sit by Adam hesitating.

“Benjamin, your brother has told me that you feel left out by momma and me”, began Adam.

The boy nodded and lowered his eyes.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t really have time for you. From now on I make on purpose time free to do something with you. From now on the Sunday afternoon is meant for you”, said Adam.

“Are we going fishing then together or something like that?”, asked Benji.

“Yes, whatever you want to do”, answered his father.

“Alright daddy. May I go and play ice hockey too? Just like Mitch”, said the boy.

“You may form me but your mother must allow it too”, said Adam.

He noticed that Benji had it difficult.

“At home everyone likes Lisa much more and Mitch is allowed more than I”, complained Benji

“That Mitch is allowed more is because he is older and what Lisa is concerned: that only seems so. We were as pleased with you and with Lisa”, answered his father.

But Benji didn’t believe that either. Adam knew now that he had to try it at another way.

“If momma and I ever get a baby again you are the big brother of him or her. Just like Mitch is that of you”, Adam explained.

Benji liked that explanation though.

Then the boy asked, “Daddy, the coach said that I am good at playing ice hockey. May I go on with it?”

At that moment coach John Cooper came nearer and he introduced himself to Adam.

“Is Benji really so good?”, Adam asked for the security.

“He is very talented. His brother is just as good. But Mitch said that their little sister is also very good”, answered John.

He looked in his agenda for a second and said then, “The training for children up to 6 years old is on Wednesday afternoon. Usually the parents come to watch then.”

“Then my wife and I come to see how our twins are doing it”, Adam said looking at Benji.

John gave them a hand and went away.

“Benji, I am afraid that we have to be here each day if you are really that good at ice hockey”, said Adam.

The boy nodded.

Once at home Benji apologized for the sudden disappearing. Adam told what all had been said and Sally agreed with it.

“Pa, I’m very afraid that your 3 eldest grandchildren won’t spend their whole lives at the ranch. The boys and Lisa are all 3 talented in baseball and ice hockey”, said Adam.

The rancher sighed deep and said, “Then Hoss and Joseph must do it better with the raising of their children. But as long as my grandchildren are happy with their choices I am that too.”

Now that he got more attention and time from Adam Benji didn’t feel any different from his brother and sister.