It was Halloween 1867. The excitement began during breakfast in the Cartwright household.
“Daddy, may I stay up a bit longer because it is Halloween?”, Mitch asked between two bits of oatmeal.
“Only for this once and tomorrow you go a bit earlier then”, his father replied.
“Good”, the young Cartwright said.
Adam looked at his brothers Hoss and Little Joe and they nodded smiling.
Ben looked at his sons and asked, “What are you up to?”
“Pa, why should we be up to something?”, Little Joe asked amazed.
“I know you”, the rancher reacted.
“If it is a plan of Uncle Joe and/or Uncle Hoss, then it will end in disaster”, Mitch said.
The two Cartwright mentioned looked at their nephew at once.
“Mitchell Jonathan Cartwright, why do you have such less faith in our plans?”, Little Joe asked indignant.
“Because I am the son of Adam Cartwright”, the boy answered determined..
Adam looked proud and smiling at his son.
The family sat together in the cozy and warm living room. Mitch sat by the open fire place on the ground with Cody near him. Adam began to tell a scary story.
“Mitch, each year at Halloween there comes a frightening gnome eat little kids. The color of his skin is green and his hair is red. It appears that he might stop by tonight for you”, Adam said very seriously.
“Let him come round. I am not afraid of that creep because I will knock him out right away with my bat”, his son replied.
“He especially loves little left handed baseball players of ten years old like you”, Adam said.
His brothers looked at them smiling. Ben and Candy noticed that Mitch wasn’t very impressed about Adam’s story.
Mitch asked, “How do you know that?”
“He told me himself”, Adam said.
“Are you now forty-three? Who still believes in gnomes then? They don’t even exist”, was the sober reply of his son.
“Boys, I don’t think we can make Mitch believe in anything anymore. He just won’t believe us”, Adam said with a very deep sigh.
“He is just too smart”, Hoss said.
Little Joe agreed deeply with them.
After dinner the evening got spent by telling scary tales.
Around nine o’clock Hoss said, “Now I will tell a story about a couple of pumpkins. That were no ordinarily pumpkins, but pumpkins in which people has cut their faces into. Hereby they got human traits too. One evening they came to a ranch where they decided to stay. Suddenly they saw the rancher’s wife coming who was terrified of them. The pumpkins had a strange light in them so that they were totally frightening. The rancher’s wife was so shaken by them that she fled from the ranch. Since then they say that the ranch is jinxed by the pumpkins.”
Mitch reacted bone-dry, “If you might think now that you have frightened me, you are wrong. I don’t believe a word of your stories about pumpkins with human faces and malicious gnomes!”
Candy winked at Mitch where after they went outside with Cody.
“What are they up to?”, Little Joe asked concerned.
“I don’t know”, Adam said careless.
He knew that Candy would keep an eye at his son anyway.
Outside the foreman said whispering, “I stay here waiting outside with Cody with a sheet upon him. You go and warn your Father and Uncles and tell them that Cody has changed into a ghost. As soon as they come outside I let the dog go free on them.”
“I stay with grandpa”, Mitch said because he wasn’t allowed to be left alone and certainly not in the evenings.
Candy nodded. Mitch ran to the house and knocked hard and heavily at the front door. He was still a bit too small to reach at the doorknob. Adam answered the door and saw his boy standing outside at the porch.
“Cody has changed into a ghost. Outside at the yard”, Mitch said a bit upset.
“Hoss, Joe, come along as Cody is in danger”, he said directly.
The brothers ran outside where after Candy let the dog go with the sheet upon him. The three boys, normally not so easily scared, didn’t know how quickly they had to get away. In the meantime Mitch had informed Ben about the plan of him and Candy and they and the foreman looked at them laughing.
“Mr Cartwright, I thought that your sons were afraid of no one and nothing”, the foreman said laughing.
“I thought that too Candy. But this proves that we were wrong”, Ben reacted.
“Candy, they won’t forgive us this easily”, Mitch said.
“That’s wise that you both go to bed quickly. Cody will find them soon enough”, Ben said.
“Goodnight grandpa, Candy”, the boy said.
“Same here lad. I come to tuck you in a moment”, the rancher promised.
Mitch and Candy went upstairs.
When Ben came to tuck his grandson in this one had fallen asleep already. Downstairs again he let Cody in but of his sons was no single track visible.
“They will find a place to sleep safely”, Ben said to himself where after he put out all the lights and went to bed himself.