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Warning: reference to tanning

The Worstest Day Ever

Ten year old Joe is having a terrible day when he is left in Adam's care. And all because he can't find his lucky marble.

oooooooooooo

Little Joe was staring out the window at the moonlight as it cast its eerie shadows across the yard. He thought he saw some movement by the barn and was frightened for a moment, until he recognized his older brother Adam come out of the barn and close and lock it for the night. It was getting late and Joe should have been asleep long ago, but he was having a hard time falling asleep this evening after all the events of the day.

He had moved his pillow off of the bed and was sitting on it so he could be more comfortable as he gazed out his window. He was slowly stroking something in his right hand, when a loud croaking sound expressed its displeasure at being held too tightly! Little Joe jumped as he looked down at his hand.

"Shhh…Frog Face. Do you want to wake the rest of the house? I am suppose to be asleep, and I sure don't want Adam to come in and remind me!"

Joe grimaced as he rubbed his backside and let out a long sigh. "What a day this has been, Frog Face. I shoulda known when I couldn't find my lucky marble that it was gonna be one of them days. But I sure never thought it would be the worstest day of my life, or I woulda stayed in bed and kept them covers over my head! It is hard to think that one ten year old boy could have so much bad luck in one day…but I sure did!"

Joe looked down at the large frog in his hand and started to stroke it more gently. A sly grin slowly appeared on his young face.

"I bet I broke a record today for having the mostest bad luck in one day of any boy ever, not to mention the worstest day ever!"

Frog Face let out a soft croak as if he was agreeing with his young owner. Joe giggled softly as he looked down at his pet frog.

"You agree with me then…none of it was my fault, you know. It was what Adam calls those unferseen circustances that made me get into so much trouble. I'm still not sure why they call it circustances, cause it has nothin' to do with a circus. Anyway, I couldn't find my lucky marble, so them things was gonna happen…cause I was jinxed!"

While Joe watched out his window at a small animal that scurried across the yard, he started stroking his pet frog again and began to tell Frog Face all the things that had gone wrong for him today.

oooooooooooooo

"Joseph! Joseph Cartwright, you better get down here this instant or I am coming up there for you!"

Adam was losing his patience quickly with his younger brother as this was the third time he had called him to breakfast. He had been left in charge of him since his father and Hoss had gone out early to check on some stray steers up in the high country. It was Saturday so Little Joe didn't have school today, which meant that he would be around the whole day getting into some kind of mischief. Adam rubbed his temples as he felt a headache coming on. He really didn't want to be in charge of Joe today. He had a lot of work around the main house that needed tending to, and trying to keep a mischievous ten year old out of trouble—was a job in its self.

Oh Joe is a good kid, but trouble just seems to find him no matter what he does Adam thought, as he grinned and took a drink of hot coffee. Noticing that there was no sign of any movement coming from upstairs, Adam set down his cup and decided to give Joe a little incentive.

"Joseph, you won't like the consequences if I have to come up there!"

"Coming, Adam. Keep your shirt on, will ya?"

The last part of his answer he whispered just in case Adam could hear him. He knew Adam was already angry with him, so why make matters worse he thought, as he looked under the bed for his lucky marble. After he moved around some of the dust and a pair of trousers that he thought he had lost, he came out from under the bed and sat back trying to remember where he might have put his marble.

Now this wasn't just any marble, this was his lucky marble. He had won it off of Billy Hansen, and his luck had changed considerably since he had. He had passed his spelling test—even though he really didn't study that much. He had found a penny on the ground when he was walking past the corrals last week. Why he had even gotten out of a tanning from Pa for being late one day. All he did was rub his lucky marble that he had hidden safely in his pocket, and Pa had changed his mind about the tanning and had only given him more chores. This was one lucky marble as far as he was concerned. If it could keep him from a tanning—then it was worth its weight in gold!

He even had Mitch try and buy it from him after Joe had told him all the luck it had brought him. Mitch had offered him a whole quarter, but he told Mitch he wouldn't sell it for a hundred dollars!

Joe threw back his bedclothes and looked all through the sheets and quilts, but no marble appeared. He finally gave up and decided to go down stairs. After all, he didn't have his lucky marble to save him from one of Adam's tannings. And Adam always took his job serious when it came to handing out punishments, so Joe didn't want to risk getting into trouble. Quickly pulling on his boots, Joe hurried out the door.

"What took you so long, Joseph? I called you several times. I want to tell you what chores you need to do today before I go and start on mine."

Adam had finished his breakfast and was having his last cup of coffee when Joe finally decided to make an appearance. Joe grinned his usual impish grin as he sat down in his chair.

"Sorry, Adam, but I couldn't find my lucky marble, and I just can't start the day without it."

"Joe, don't you know that is just a superstition. You make your own luck with hard work and perseverance. Now then, I need you to clean out the chicken coup and muck out all the stalls today. I will be working around the yard also, so please don't dawdle because I will be keeping an eye on you."

Joe rolled his eyes and answered as a frown slowly crept to his lips. "Yes, Adam."

"Oh, it's not that bad, and you should be done in plenty of time to have some time for yourself."

Adam stood up and smiled as he ruffled his brother's curly hair as he walked by.

"Yeah, but without my lucky marble…anything can happen, Adam. It's just not safe for me to leave this house," Joe moaned, as he looked over at his brother with his doe eyes.

Looking slightly annoyed, Adam raised his eyebrow and said firmly, "No, it won't be safe for you to stay in this house if you don't do what I told you to do. Because if I come back and none of your chores are done…you and I are going to have a conversation in the barn. And then no lucky marble will be able to save your backside!"

As Adam slowly pulled on his leather gloves, he gave Joe a final look that clearly meant he was serious about the little trip to the barn. Then he opened the front door and quickly left. Poor Joe just sat there pondering what to do.

"Great, not only do I have to worry about what might happen to me while I do my chores without my lucky marble, but now I have to worry about my backside if I don't do my chores. The life of a kid can be so hard sometimes."

Little Joe sighed deeply and started in on his breakfast while he racked his brain about where he could have put his lucky marble. Thirty minutes later—without his lucky marble in tow—he was standing in front of Sport's stall deciding what to do first.

"I don't know why this stinkin' job always comes to me," Joe muttered begrudgingly, as he leaned on the pitchfork feeling a little sorry for himself.

But the longer he leaned on the pitchfork, the more the handle slowly started to crack. It was an old pitchfork and had seen better days. If Joe would have had his heart in his work instead of feeling sorry for himself, he wouldn't have picked this old pitchfork but the new one that was leaning right beside it. But Little Joe was daydreaming instead of getting right to his work and didn't hear the crack until it was too late. One minute he was standing daydreaming about racing his horse across the Ponderosa, and the next he was belly down in a pile of horse droppings!

Once he realized what had happened to him, he jumped up and started yelling and running around the barn trying to get the disgusting mess off of his shirt and hands. Now all this yelling had startled Sport, and he proceeded to start kicking his stall so hard that it loosened a board just enough to make the front door of his stall open. And being a little cantankerous, Sport didn't wait long before he took advantage of the slightly open stall door and quickly headed out the barn for the wide-open spaces!

Adam was working down by the corral when he saw his horse come galloping by.

"What the devil are you doing out, Sport?"

Adam dropped the hammer that he was using to fix the corral fence, and quickly headed up to the barn to get a new horse so he could go after Sport. The picture that greeted him was not exactly what he had expected to see. There in the middle of the barn stood Joe covered in horse droppings, trying to wipe some of the smelly mess off of his hands with an old rag.

"Joseph Cartwright, What in blue blazes did you do to scare, Sport? And how on earth did you end up with that on your shirt and hands?"

Adam stood there frowning with his hands on his hips waiting for an explanation from his little brother. Joe looked over at his displeased brother as he tried to explain what had happened.

"I told you, Adam. I told you it wasn't safe for me to leave the house. Now look at me. That stupid pitchfork broke and I fell into the horse droppings!"

Scrubbing at his shirt Joe angrily declared, "I told you I needed my lucky marble!"

Then when he saw the angry look on his brother's face, he spoke a little softer.

"I guess I made too much noise when I was running around yelling, and it must have scared Sport. He started kicking his stall and before I knew what happened… he ran out the barn door!"

Joe stood there waiting for his brother to start yelling. But all Adam did was roll his eyes as he came over and picked Joe up and headed out the barn with him in his arms. But he definitely made sure to keep Joe at arms length so none of the disgusting mess would end up on his shirt.

"The only way to clean you now… is this," Adam said, as he headed for the water trough.

Adam walked over and dropped Joe into the water trough and then dunked his head under to get what remained of the mess off his face. Joe came up sputtering and gasping for air.

"Why did you go and do that, Adam?" protested a very angry Joe, as he sat in the water trough fuming at his older brother as water dripped off his chin.

"Because that it the only way to get you clean for now until you can take a bath tonight. Now go in and change into some dry clothes. You can also add another chore to your list—cleaning out the water trough and putting in fresh water. Thanks to your foolishness little brother, now I have to go and chase down Sport."

Adam angrily headed for the barn, but turned around and pointed his finger at Joe.

"You are real close to that little conversation in the barn, young man. So if I were you, I would not get into anymore trouble!"

"It wasn't my fault, Adam. I told you I didn't have my lucky marble and things were going to go badly," Joe insisted, as he crawled out of the water trough.

"Don't start on that marble thing again, Joe, or so help me it will take more than a marble to save your backside!"

Adam stormed off into the barn as Little Joe slowly walked to the house.

"I tried to tell him, I did…but would the great Adam Cartwright listen? No! He thinks he knows everything, but he just don't realize the power that ol' marble has," Joe muttered, as he opened the front door.

ooooooooo

Later that morning Joe stood back admiring his work in the barn.

"Well, it looks pretty good if I do say so myself," Joe commented approvingly, as he went over and hung the new pitchfork on the wall.

"It only took me two hours to clean the water trough and muck out this barn. I only have the chicken coup left, so maybe I will still have some time left in this horrible day to do something I want to do."

Joe walked over to the chicken coup and eyed it slowly. He started scratching his head as he muttered to himself.

"I didn't have anymore bad luck cleaning the barn without my lucky marble, so maybe the chicken coup won't be a problem. After all, what bad things can happen when you clean out a chicken coup?"

Poor Joe, if he had known about the saying "famous last words" he never would have even opened the gate to the enclosure where the chicken coup was kept. But alas, he didn't and he opened the gate and headed on over to the chicken coup. Once again his head wasn't really in his work, and he forgot to close the gate behind him.

This was just the perfect opportunity that the old rooster standing over in the corner needed as he made quick work of hurrying out the opening. Of course with his newfound freedom, he just had to let out a crow or two to announce it to the world. That was all it took to shake Joe out of his daze and realize what had happened. He dropped his shovel and turned and started running after the clever escapee!

"Come back here, you stupid rooster!" Joe yelled, as he ran around the yard trying to grab him, or at least head him back to the open gate.

But the new escapee was having none of it as he squawked and flapped his wings running around in circles trying to keep out of the way of Joe's grabbing hands!

Joe continued chasing after the runaway without really paying much attention to where he was headed—until it was too late! The rooster had quit running around in circles and decided to head for Hop Sing's garden hoping to find something to eat.

Now Hop Sing had been doing the laundry all morning and was just coming out of the washroom with a big load of clean laundry in his basket. It was piled very high and Hop Sing being as short as he was couldn't see what was in front of him as he headed for the clothesline. Unfortunately for him, what was in front of him was an escaping rooster and one very angry boy chasing after him.

It was inevitable that the two unsuspecting parties were going to collide—and collide they did! Feathers and clean laundry went flying through the air as Hop Sing and Joe landed on their backsides after running into one another!

Both Joe and Hop Sing sat on the ground trying to figure out what had just happened, while the escaping rooster had definitely had enough of his little adventure and headed back into the chicken enclosure where it was safe.

"Oh my head," complained Joe, as he sat there rubbing his forehead.

"Little Joe, you in big trouble now," declared Hop Sing, as he stood up and brushed off his pants.

"I show you what happens to bad boys who make Hop Sing do laundry all over again!"

Hop sing started looking around on the ground until he found just the right size stick. Then he picked it up and headed in Joe's direction with pure determination on his angry face.

Once Joe got his senses back and realized what had happened, he jumped to his feet after he saw a very angry housekeeper heading his way. Hop Sing was furious as he started swinging the stick in front of him yelling, "You get it now, youngest son!"

Well, Little Joe wasn't about to wait around and see just what he was going to get. He had a pretty good idea from seeing all the laundry strewn all over the ground, and the angry look on Hop Sing's face as he swung his stick around in the air like a sword. So Joe turned and headed for the barn with all the speed he could muster, until he almost collided with Adam's horse.

Adam was riding in after spending the last two hours chasing down Sport, and wasn't in the best of moods as he rode into the main yard with Sport behind him. The last thing he expected to see running in front of him was Joe with Hop Sing fast on his tail, swinging a stick and yelling in Chinese. But then neither was Adam's horse expecting all the commotion either, and he became startled and reared up on his back legs. This quick movement was just enough to throw Adam off balance, and he suddenly ended up on the ground by Joe's feet.

As Adam looked up from his sitting position with fury clearly etched on his face, Little Joe looked down at his older brother as he squeaked, "Oh, no!"

oooooooooooo

"So now you can see, Frog Face, why this was the worstest day I have ever had. Once Adam got up and heard what had happened from Hop Sing and saw all the mess, he proceeded to march me into the house to stand in the corner while he cooled down and cleaned up the mess. When he came back in he told me to go to my room and wait for him. Well a few minutes later he came into my room…"

Joe winced here and rubbed his backside gently. "Ah, you know what happened next, Frog Face…he walloped me good. I know Adam loves me as he always tells me so after a spanking. Then he gives me a hug and tells me all is forgiven, but he sure has a hard hand!"

A sly smile slowly came across Joe's face as he added, "Boy, was he mad! I won't be able to sit comfortable for a week, Frog Face. But there was one good thing that came out of that tanning… I found my lucky marble!"

Joe giggled softly as he continued talking to his pet frog.

"Yup, while I was over Adam's knee wishing it would get over quick… I spotted my lucky marble on the floor over in the corner. I don't know how it got there, but I sure am glad I found it. Course I would have rather found it while I was looking for it rather than over Adam's knee."

Joe shrugged slightly and let out a sigh as he got up and put his pet in the box on the table by his bed.

"Time for bed, Frog Face. I sure hope tomorrow is gonna be a better day than today."

Joe rubbed his tender backside and grabbed his lucky marble out of the pouch he had placed it in after he found it earlier that day.

"But then it has to be, right? Cause I've got my lucky marble here to bring me luck."

Joe yawned and climbed into bed with his lucky marble clutched tightly in his hand. He lay on his side as he pulled up the covers, because sleeping on his back was definitely not going to happen for quite some time.

The End

Hope you enjoyed this little story about Joe as a youngster. If you did and it made you smile, please let me know and leave a review. Always love to read them, and I appreciate all the readers that take the time to review.