{"id":14347,"date":"2003-09-12T18:05:41","date_gmt":"2003-09-12T22:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=14347"},"modified":"2026-09-08T14:17:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T18:17:43","slug":"beckys-bonanza-world-challenges-anthology-by-beckys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=14347","title":{"rendered":"Becky’s Bonanza World Anthology (by BeckyS)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:<\/strong> \u00a0The vignettes\u00a0contained within were written and posted in the long-gone Bonanza World website. \u00a0Individually, they are too short to post in the Brand Library as stand alone stories, so we have created this anthology to help preserve these stories.<\/p>\n

Rating: \u00a0G<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Dear Readers — \u00a0These vignettes were written over ten years ago for my own pleasure, and I’m happy to share for others to enjoy. \u00a0I know some readers may wish\u00a0there was more, but this\u00a0is how I saw fit to write these scenes. \u00a0Since I no longer write Bonanza fan fiction, I ask that you honor my request to not post comments asking\u00a0for the story to continue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

A HORSE NO MAN CAN RIDE<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a9 2003, 2017 as allowable<\/em><\/p>\n

—\u00a0A dialogue challenge, let your imagination paint the rest of the picture.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI’m tellin’ ya, Adam, ya cain’t ride him!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can ride anything on four legs!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, ya cain’t ride this one!\u00a0 He’s for Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe’s too young.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNope.\u00a0 Not this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you telling me that our little brother can ride better than me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain’t sayin’ that, an’ you know it, but this time, Joe’s gonna be the first to try.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy own brother . . . turning on me . . . and after all I’ve done for you . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHold on, there.\u00a0 You ain’t even seen him yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell . . . \u00a0I guess that’s fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHere he is!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA Shetland?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYep.\u00a0 Just right for a six-year-old.\u201d<\/p>\n

The End<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Probability<\/span>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a9 July 2003, 2017 as allowable<\/em><\/p>\n

— the complications of mathematics.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOkay,\u201d mumbled Adam to himself, \u201cif \u2018a\u2019 is the first set of assumptions and \u2018b\u2019 is the second set, then the probability of having it come from either \u2018a\u2019 or \u2018b\u2019 is . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s he doing?\u201d Joe asked, waving the apple he\u2019d just picked up from the bowl on the table at his brother.\u00a0 Adam was hunched over their father\u2019s desk writing on one of several pieces of paper that were strewn all over the top.\u00a0 Books were open to pages of what looked like chicken scratches to Joe, held in place by various items from an inkwell to another apple, and two pens were saved from rolling onto the floor only by the framed portrait of Elizabeth Cartwright.<\/p>\n

Appropriate, thought Joe, as only Adam\u2019s mother could possibly have understood what her son was up to.<\/p>\n

Hoss shook his head and went back to the bridle he was repairing.\u00a0 \u201cI dunno.\u00a0 He\u2019s been sittin\u2019 there for nigh on to three hours, workin\u2019 his way through that new book he got.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c. . . so the probability of picking one ball out of a hundred numbered balls that\u2019s either odd or between eighty and one hundred . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun?\u201d Hoss hazarded a guess.<\/p>\n

Joe raised his eyebrows and glanced sideways towards the desk again.\u00a0 \u201cFun for him, maybe.\u00a0 Seems like a lot of work to me.\u201d\u00a0 He wandered over, munching on his apple.<\/p>\n

\u201c. . . so P, the probability, of A intersecting with B is P of A (one half) plus P of B (one fifth), minus P of A (point five) times P of B (point two), which is point seven minus point one, equals\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThree in five,\u201d inserted Joe.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuh?\u201d asked Adam, his head coming up with a glazed expression on his face like he\u2019d just been woken from a dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree in five chance,\u201d Joe repeated.<\/p>\n

He could see the calculations running through his brother\u2019s mind.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re right.\u201d\u00a0 He looked down at his numbers, up at Joe, and his eyebrows drew together in confusion.\u00a0 \u201cHow did you do that?\u00a0 You hate mathematics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy.\u00a0 Half the numbered balls are odd, and another ten are between eighty and a hundred.\u00a0 That\u2019s sixty balls out of a hundred, six in ten, three in five.\u00a0 Why d\u2019you make it so hard?\u201d\u00a0 He tossed his apple core in the ash can and sauntered outside.<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s gaze followed Joe, then swung a bewildered look back to Hoss.\u00a0 \u201cBecause it\u2019s fun?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The End<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Honor of Cochise<\/strong>
\n(Why Adam got shot instead of Joe)
\n<\/em>A flight of fancy by BeckyS<\/em><\/p>\n

Oct 2003<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’d heard that the script was originally written with Joe shot, and Adam as the rescuer. This makes a certain amount of sense, as a writer would probably be more likely to think of Adam carrying Joe than Joe carrying Adam (actually, it was Pernell\u2019s stand-in, Betty Endicott).<\/em><\/p>\n

Although I think the story works better with Adam (he wouldn\u2019t have half the internal conflict Hoss and Joe had), I still just have to wonder when and how the script change came about . . .<\/p>\n

~ * ~ * ~ * ~<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MIKE [flipping through the script]: Here we go again, I’m gonna get shot and I’m gonna have to spend the whole week lyin’ on the ground groaning and moaning. No lines, nothing to say, nothing to do.<\/p>\n

DAN: Yeah, I remember when I got shot in the back that one time and just laid around in bed all week. [thoughtful pause] You know, Pernell hasn’t gotten shot lately . . . Hey, Pernell! Wake up!<\/p>\n

PERNELL: Huh? What?<\/p>\n

MIKE: Asleep again. That’s the third time today. This is supposed to be a script meeting, Pernell.<\/p>\n

PERNELL: Well I’m tired. I still haven’t caught up from that location shoot last week in the desert. Dragging Lee around, carrying buckets of rocks, hammering, hammering, hammering . . . [starts to whistle “John Henry”]<\/p>\n

LORNE: That was a tough one, all right, and this one isn’t going to be much easier. You have to carry Mike around this time.<\/p>\n

PERNELL [breaks off whistling to groan]: Why can’t I ever be the one to lie around? Why can’t someone carry me once in a while?<\/p>\n

DAN [smirking]: ‘Cause Mike, here, couldn’t do it.<\/p>\n

MIKE: Hey, I could, too! See? [flexes arm muscles]<\/p>\n

LORNE: Now, Mike, no one’s casting aspersions\u2014<\/p>\n

PERNELL [interrupting LORNE, with smirk]: Now that I’d like to see.<\/p>\n

MIKE: All right, I’ll show you then. How much you want to bet I can carry you from your chair to the door? [about ten feet]<\/p>\n

PERNELL [thoughtful]: If you can carry me that far, I’ll trade parts with you. I could sure use the break.<\/p>\n

[MIKE & PERNELL shake on it while LORNE looks on with concern and DAN with glee.]<\/p>\n

DAN [searches through the script for the right page]: Pernell, you have to get down on the floor \u2014 Mike’s gonna have to pick you up all the way from the ground, just like in the script.<\/p>\n

LORNE [shaking head, speaks to himself]: I’m sure glad David isn’t here today . . .<\/p>\n

MIKE: Uhnnn. Ahhh-hnnnn. *&%^, what’ve you been eating lately???<\/p>\n

PERNELL [from other side of the room now]: Watch out . . . watch out . . . UMMPH!<\/p>\n

LORNE [looking down at PERNELL and MIKE, tangled on the floor]: You two all right?<\/p>\n

PERNELL: I think we ought to use Betty . . .<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

~ * ~ * ~ * ~<\/p>\n

And so history was made. Sort of.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The End<\/em><\/p>\n

From the Brandsters \/ Librarians — Any comments that do not respect the author’s wishes as posted above shall be removed.<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Tags: Family, multiple stories<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: \u00a0The vignettes\u00a0contained within were written and posted in the long-gone Bonanza World website. \u00a0Individually, they are too short to post in the Brand Library as stand alone stories, so we have created this anthology to help preserve these stories.<\/p>\n

Rating: \u00a0G<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8546,"featured_media":376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[8,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-short-stories","category-challenges","wpcat-8-id","wpcat-40-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/coming-soon-4.jpg?fit=320%2C240&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8546"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}