1. usage, experts, course, flannel, fixing
Joey sat on a stump and tugged the collar of his flannel shirt higher around his neck. He listened politely; his da had always said it hurt nothing to be polite, whatever you thought of the other fellow.
These fellows, experts in something he'd never heard of, were going on long enough that he was starting to think that in this case, being polite might be hurting his work. The lines needed fixing, and so did a few other things. He might not be able to get to them by dark, and dark was when he needed them the most. Of course these fellows didn't realize that.
He nodded blankly when one of them started talking about checking the usage of some word he couldn't make heads nor tails of but it must have been a fancy science name for something out in the wild.
2. Write about an item of clothing being used in a manner other than being worn.
He nodded again and hopped down from his stump.
"You'll do it then?" The fellow who had been doing most of the talking looked pleased.
"There's some things need fixing before dark. Tomorrow I can guide you out to your whatsit at Old Man Mountain, and back the next day."
"I was hoping to get a start today."
Joey shook his head. "There's some things need fixing before dark," he repeated. "And them mules don't like to travel the wild at night."
He dug into a pouch made of a shirt sleeve, tied off at the cuff end, and offered a sugar lump to the mule.
3. Use a phrase in which a subject of your choice "hears the footsteps"
"Be here at dawn, ready to move. It's a full day to reach Old Man Mountain." Joey turned his back on the expert fellows and went to get his tools.
He didn't like to rush his work, but he got it done before sunset. As the sky turned to black, he led the mules into the barn. They were skittish as always, and hurried in the doors with ears twitching.
"I thought mules were stubborn."
Joey looked over his shoulder. One of the expert fellows was leaning against the fence, watching him. The rest were over by their truck.
"They do what they want. Right now, they want into the barn."
One of the mules stopped suddenly and looked intently out at the trees. The expert fellow turned to see what it was looking at.
"He hears the footsteps of the ghost cat," Joey said. "They all do. The wild is no place for a skittery little mule like him, and he knows it."
Joey flicked a switch, and a string of tiny red lights flowed out along the fence. A hum, just on the edge of hearing, told him the line was working, and nothing, ghost or not, would get through the shields.
