It was a normal morning at the ponderosa. All except the hole in the barn roof. All the ranch hands and Ben's sons Joe and Jamie had decided to pitch in to repair it. As Ben stepped out of the house, he found most of the hands and Jamie already hard at work. There was just one problem: there was no sign of Joe. Ben grunted and walked towards the barn. Jamie had just finished putting in a nail when he saw Ben.

"Morning, Pa." Jamie greeted.

"Good morning. Hard at work, huh?" Ben said.

"Sure am. We got most of the boards set already."

Ben folded his arms. "Where's your brother?"

Jamie shrugged. "Not sure. I went to wake him, but he said that he wasn't feeling good."

Ben tried not to show his concern. He didn't want to worry Jamie. He walked as quickly as he could back into the house. Joe was the type to work, no matter how bad he felt. As many times as the boy had been hurt or ill, he always managed to bounce back.

Ben paused on the stair's landing. Another thought occurred to him; a year ago Joe had buried his wife. Having lost three of his own wives, Ben knew from experience that the first year was always the toughest. There were days when he didn't want to get out of bed, or when he wanted to shout at the top of his lungs. Perhaps this was just a bad day.

Ben walked up the rest of the stairs and went to Joe's bedroom door. He knocked, but there was no answer.

"Joe? Joe, are you awake?" Ben shouted.

"Yeah, Pa." Joe groaned.

"Jamie said you weren't feeling well. Is it all right to come in?"

Joe only groaned again. Ben opened the door and found Joe lying in bed, dressed from the waist down only, curled up in a ball. Ben raced over to him and touched his shoulder, finding it soaked with sweat. In fact, his entire body was covered with a sheen layer of sweat. Ben felt Joe's forehead and wasn't surprised to find that he was burning up.

"Joe, I need you to talk to me. Do you hurt anywhere?"

Joe nodded quickly. "My stomach."

Ben started to feel Joe's stomach; perhaps he had injured himself somehow and didn't know. When he pressed down on Joe's right side, Joe bit back a yell.

"I'm sorry, Joe. I'm sorry. Joe, when did this pain start?"

"Sometime last night. It wasn't bad at first. I thought maybe it was because I didn't each much at dinner. I went down to the kitchen last night to get something; I got sick to my stomach after that." Joe managed to explain.

Ben wasn't sure what was happening to Joe. He just knew that it was serious, and that was enough for him.

Ben smoothed back Joe's hair. "Joe, I'm going into town to get the doctor."

As Ben stood up, Joe grabbed his hand to stop him. The person looking back at Ben was not a man but a frightened little boy.

"Pa, don't leave me. Please don't leave." Joe begged.

Ben shushed Joe. "I won't be gone long. I promise. Lie still. I'll send Hop Sing up here to look after you while I'm gone."

Joe frowned, but nodded his head. Ben gave him, what he hoped, was a reassuring smile and left the room. He rushed downstairs, from the house, and straight to the barn to saddle up Buck. Whatever was going on with Joe had to be fixed immediately. Because Ben knew that his son was dying.