Summary:  This is my contribution, with the words I received, including the Petticoats. Enjoy. It’s short, this is what I managed to do. I have plenty of ideas and possible scenarios, and I had major troubles putting it together.

Rating:  K  (805 words)

Don’t Give Up

at the Ponderosa

« If practice makes perfect, and I am doing it wrong, then I am doing it perfectly wrong. »
The 12-years-old boy glanced at his notebook, he had definitely crossed too many things out, it seemed to be impossible. Every day Mrs Jones hand out homework to kids expecting them to do it once they get home and drop everything they had planned to do their homework. And at that moment, Little Joe Cartwright was the most nervous that he had ever been in his life. His teacher had given them a writing project to do in two weeks! Never he would be able to write the essay the teacher had required for tomorrow. If only he had started before. But no, he had waited and waited and waited; and now he was cornered; he had no way out. If only he could have paid someone to write for him, a … what was the name Mrs Jones had used…. he had forgotten. He put his pencil on the table and rushed out of his bedroom.
*********
Downstaires, Hoss and Adam were playing checkers. As Hoss saw his baby brother, he asked :
« Hey, Joe, you know what’s a cookies ?
« yeah, it’s something that most of the kids love to carry… « cookies », you’ve already told me, it’s a very old joke, as old as my grandmother’s petticoat. » Adam frowned and lectured :
« take care of not repeating that in front of Pa, you just might find you locked and grounded in your room.
« Ok, I’m sorry, hem, by the fact, Adam, how you call somebody paid to write for someone », he asked his elder brother. When talking, Joe might jump from subject to subject , and you had to be well-trained to follow his mind.
« a ghost writer », Adam replied before mooving his knight.
« Oh yeah, now I remember, thank Adam. That was the word I was looking for » And the boy quickly marched towards the stairs to go back to his room… Suddenly he had got an idea, this « ghost writer » started to inspire him.
************and the day after, at school.
« Your turn, Joseph ».
Little Joe took a deep breath and walked towards the school stage. There wa no place for improvisation at this critical time
« Writting challenge» , made by Joe Cartwright ;
« It was 1 pm, it was dark, I could picture the white form dancing around the old forbidden library, sometimes abandoned, sometimes occupied by the spirits of old characters and dead poets. The old house even contained a tiny, hidden room behind the bookshelf , my vivid imagination was running fast : surely it was connected to caves, the mystery was complete. I had never been in caves, I had always been under the impression that they were often home to terrifying creatures such as monsters, or mean spirits. I had that threatening feeling, fear enhanced by the unknown. Was that a person rushing out the window or only the wind blowing a curtain? Was that creaking sound coming from someone’s step on the squeaky floor, or only the normal sounds of the night ? I wanted to discover the hidden mystery. What was that secret black box ? The hero had received a mysterious letter from someone named “L.C ». The man had fallen to his bed in exhaustion but as he had looked over his bedside table and he had noticed a new book there : an old black leather book, and the pages were yellow and rough. He had flipped through it, and had been shocked as he had realised, it was a complete empty book with a letter inside. »
« and that’s the end of my story. », Joe added, blushing a little bit, waiting for his teacher approbation.
« And ? For sure, you created a great story, full with suspense. But we’re expecting for more, explanation ? Mystery resolved ?
– No, there won’t be more explanation. Because I couldn’t. », he replied, shaking his head.
– oh, and can you explain, why there won’t be any ending ?
– well, it’s because, I couldn’t. I broke the ink bottle and walked on my pencil while I was cleaning the whole mess into my room.
The whole classroom couldn’t help bursting into laughter, imagining Little Joe’s trouble.
“are you serious ?
-yes m”am”. I was so deep in my story that I started frightening myself, there was that sudden crack in my father’s bedroom and I jumped, causing the bottle to fall”.
Epilog;
At the end of the day, there was one happy little boy with inked fingers at the Ponderosa. He had got an A+, his teacher had wanted to reward his vivid imagination.

Tags:   Joe / Little Joe Cartwright