Day 2 Writing Homework
Prompt :
Imagine you’re a young cowboy or cowgirl in the Wild West, but unlike everyone else, your faithful steed isn’t a horse – it’s a completely different animal, like a llama or a giant emu! Write a story about an adventure where you and your noble ‘steed’ need to deliver an urgent message across the dangerous desert. Make sure you include an orientation, a complication, a climax and a resolution! (~400 words).
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- Due Date : July 10, 2025
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22 thoughts on “Day 2 Writing Homework”
Title: The Ride of Dusty Joe and the Thunder Llama
The sun beat down like a blacksmith’s hammer on the cracked bones of the Whispering Dunes—an unforgiving stretch of desert where even vultures thought twice. Most travelers avoided it. But I ain’t most travelers. I’m Dusty Joe, the youngest courier west of the Rio Grande, and my partner? Well, he’s a creature of myth and misery.
Thunder was no ordinary steed. He was a towering, shaggy, foul-mouthed llama with a temper hotter than a branding iron and a spit so accurate it could shoot a fly off a cactus at twenty paces. Meaner than a rattler and braver than a grizzly, Thunder was the only soul I’d trust to cross hell with me—and often did.
We lived in Cactus Ridge, a sunbaked outpost where messages traveled faster than bullets and carried more weight. One blistering afternoon, the saloon doors slammed open with the urgency of a gunshot. Sheriff Beatrix charged in, her face whiter than a sheet hung at high noon.
“Dusty Joe,” she panted, hat clutched to her chest, “bandits are headin’ for Fort Sandclaw. If we don’t get word there before sunset, that place’ll be a smoking ruin.”
Without hesitating, I grabbed my hat and my gear, bribed Thunder with his daily ransom—a single carrot—and clambered onto his woolly back. He sneezed, grunted, and launched into motion like a freight train waking up angry.
Thunder didn’t move like a horse—he pitched, jolted, and swayed like a ship in a storm. But he was tireless, and when he chose to run, he could outrun a dust storm and twice the thunder.
We crossed the jagged teeth of Rattlesnake Ridge and plunged into the Wailing Winds Canyons—bandit land, carved by time and trouble. The wind howled like ghosts mourning their own bones, and the sun scorched every inch of flesh it touched.
As we reached the mouth of Coyote Pass, there they were—three bandits lounging in the shade, blocking the only way through. Their leader, a wiry man with a mustache that curled like a villain’s promise, stood and smirked.
“Well now,” he said, voice slick as oil, “what’s a boy and his overgrown sheep doin’ way out here? That llama carryin’ gold?”
I met his gaze. “Nope. Just the kind of news that ruins your day.”
They didn’t like that. Steel flashed. Grins widened. They moved in like wolves closing on a wounded deer.
And Thunder?
He locked eyes with the leader, snorted, and let out a war-cry that sounded like a banshee with bronchitis. Then he charged.
It was chaos. Thunder crashed into the lead bandit like a runaway boulder, sending him flying into a thornbush with a scream. He spun and fired a glistening gob of spit directly into another’s eyes. The last one turned tail, screaming something about demons and never looked back.
We didn’t stop to celebrate. Thunder bolted forward with a fire in his belly, kicking up clouds of dust as we surged through the pass like a storm on legs.
We reached Fort Sandclaw just as the last light dipped below the red edge of the horizon. Soldiers were sitting down to supper, unaware of the ambush that almost was.
My warning turned dinner into a defense line. When the bandits arrived, they found not an easy target—but a wall of rifles and wrath. They didn’t stand a chance.
After the skirmish, the fort’s commander strode over, his face still streaked with gunpowder and awe.
“Dusty Joe,” he said, clapping a hand on my shoulder, “you and that… formidable creature just saved this garrison.”
Thunder, ever modest, let out a disdainful snort and spit at a rock like he was unimpressed. But I knew the truth.
From that day on, legends rode the wind—of a wild-eyed courier and his thunder-hooved companion, who outran ambushes, spat in the face of danger, and left even the desert wind whispering their names.
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2- 10-D2 -Inaaya Ullah
I was there in the Wild West, When the sun cracked open the sky like a egg frying on a pan.
Today was going to be a lovely day, or would it be?
Then the chief came storming down the main street with his face all twisted up with horror faces all going at once.
The prisoners slipped their chains and melted into the shadows, leaving only cold bars and hotter rumors and they stole all the horse so they could run into the fields.
The chief’s voice cut though the tension like a blade and he didn’t bark orders. He just looked at each of our eyes and said’i need someone with grit in their bones.’
A band of battle warriors stepped forward, steel in their eyes and vengeance in their hearts, ready to hunt down the villains.
I was part of the group. People called us cowboys and cowgirls to the rescue.
I predicted that something fishy would happen.
We set off to to the market with coins in our hands and purpose in our boots, and returned armed to teeth with kangaroos fit for war.
When we arrived at the fields the saw a group of happy people dressed in striped suits at orange suits storming off with mighty horses.
‘This is definitely the prisoners that we were looking for! shouted the chief.
When we thought we won the prisoners ran off thanks from the chief.
We decided to throw a pot of gold in front of then to distract them. The prisoners beamed with excitement.
The prisoners fell for the trap and we saved the horses and the village.
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2- 10-D2 -Camilla Huang
I rubbed my eyes and wiped the spit of my face. Once my vision was restored i realised a hungry tiger drooling over me. My screams were as loud as as a women giving birth. I grabbed a nearby branch and streak the tiger and got my chance to escape. I didnt waste anytime and ran as fast as a racing car.
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“Not again! Ow. Drive straight for once in your life and stop tripping Carl!” Carl was not built for carrying people on his back, he was built for eating and resting like any other emu’s life. “How am I meant to go on adventures with you when you nearly threw me off your back?” I told Carl to go to the tree to pick some apples so he could eat and instead, he drives himself to a field of muddy grass. “Why do you want dirty grass when there are fresh, new apples behind you?” I went over to gather some apples and put one on a stick. I put the stick in front of his face and he chased it but couldn’t get it since if he moved, the apple would move as well. I pointed it in the direction of adventure time and it Carl ran like the wind.
We were of on a adventure. “Go to the cave Carl! Go explore it!” I fell of Carl with a thud and saw the emu looking at me from a bird’s eye view. “Come this way. Wait, is that gold! Wow, I didn’t think this plan would go this well. Let’s get this gold in the sack shall we Carl?” The moment I turned around, the emu had disappeared from sight. I looked outside of the cave seeing a slight blur with a green figure running not nearly as fast as Carl ran. I took the gold and ran like the wind to the green silhouette in the distance.
Panting like a dog, I said hello to the farmer. He greeted me with a friendly smile and asked me, “Are you looking for an emu?” I said, “Yes.” Then he pointed in the direction of where Carl went. I followed his instructions and ran in that direction until finally seeing Carl in the distance running. He was running away though and he was running faster than ever. I took a apple from my pocket aimed it at the emu, threw it at Carl and he stopped almost immediately. looked around for the apple and ate it. I jumped on his back and told him to set his course to home.
We traveled home peacefully and that marked my biggest memory forever. A memory that I will never forget by putting the gold on the highest shelf of my closet.
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2- 10-D2 -Katrina
I wake up ready to explore the desert with a camel..
But as I went outside I was astonished to see a giant emu instead of a camel. I thought this was an accident but as I called them I was shocked to hear that they were out of stock with camels so they gave this instead.I was so surprised that I almost dropped my phone. I started to worry about how I was going to handle such a wild animal..
But as I sat on it I was astonished by the speed of the giant emu it was as slow as a camel I had a good time riding the giant emu and I even named it Chuck but that turned when I started to feel thirsty But when I looked in my bag I found out that I forgot my water bottle at the reserve but the bigger problem was that I was far away from the reserve and in this pace I would not be able reach the reserve alive I thought for a second A then I had an Idea I could rein force the seat with a bit of gear in my bag and then I could use the Chuck’s natural speed to reach there faster and my Idea worked like a charm but there were still some problems and one of them was how to get Chuck go to his natural speed.
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2- 10-D2 -Vihaan Rajesh
“Ah! Ah! Ah! Choo!” In the mirror I saw a greenish carrot looking monster! In reality it was me! Going down stairs, my mum looked absolutely horrified!
“What happened to you!” She screamed in horror
“I don’t know.” I replied.
“What happened!” she screamed even louder.
“I don’t know!” I whined. “Now don’t ask me again!”
“Why don’t you have cereal?” she asked, changing the topic. “You’ve got school today.”
“I know! I’m not dumb!” I screamed rudely. “Bye, I’m going” I just walked out the front door and started walking to school. On the way to school, anyone that just took a quick peek at me would literally sprint like their life depended on it!
At school, when I got to my friends, they couldn’t even recognise me! “Who on Earth are you!” He said disgustedly.
“Bleh! Why do you look like a booger? Ha!” The other one laughed.
“Shut up!” I blurted uncontrollably.
“Why should I?” He replied without thinking
“Just shut-”
“It’s you?” He interrupted.
“Yeah it is.”
“Wanna play handball with us?”
“I would love to!” I replied. Just then, “Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Choo!” My friends started screaming and sprinting all over the place! Then I realised that earlier this morning I sneezed, then turned into a monster! It all started to make sense, but I still had to somehow stop sneezing.
After hours and hours of thinking and not using my brain, I realised that I could control my sneezing, just like I could control my farting! Obviously it sounded awkward, but at least I solved the problem. Then I realised that it was 7:00 pm! I was trying to hide in the bush so no-one could see me. “Oh, great! I solved one problem then another problem has to be solved!” I screamed in frustration. I was stuck in the school! The first thing that came to my mind was obviously to climb over the fence. I tried climbing over the fence. Dumb idea, right? Yeah, obviously. Guess what happened next? I got injured. Well, by that I mean I pulled my arm. So instead I decided to climb up a tree and jump over the fence. Then I had to somehow get home. Again I forgot how to use my brain and it took me 10 minutes to realise that I can just use google maps from my phone.
When I got home I rang the doorbell. When I got in, my mother asked me why I was late. I just made the excuse that I was following a bird.
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2- 10-D2 -Prabhdeep Singh
on a bright sunny morning I started to sing happy birthday to me cos it was my birthday but after changing to my usual outfit and heading out to the paddock huh”! ,I shouted. An emu in the paddock insane! how am I suppose to ride on this? “I guess I should’ve said sad birthday” , I said to my self.thank god they were asleep so I could inform others.(from 6am to 8 am). when the others woke up with a sense of excitement it was time to make them speechless and furious but then I realised that I shouldn’t tell em and I should pretend I just got ready so they don’ t think it was me. hope I just don’t over act. when they reached the paddock they were hectic and furious after seeing emus in the horse paddock so I acted like I just came out of the tent
so they don’t even accidently blame me . when the emus woke up we all started to make a plan to see how we can ride on them.I thought we all need weight loss in order to ride on them cos by looks the could only handle 30 kilos and we are 70 kilos per each person. so we had to find a way to do weight loss.but then an emu picked up a 80 kilo boulder so we could finally ride an emu. . at least we found good news.please tell me they’re fast. I don’t know how to describe this birthday morning!( 8 am to 12 pm).
A Wild Load of Mayhem
“Dusty,” I muttered, giving my mule’s long, fuzzy ear a scratch. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a predicament.” The sun, a fiery brand in the bleached sky, beat down on the endless, shimmering expanse of the Mojave. Most folks in Rattlesnake Gulch rode horses, fast and sleek, but I, Jess, had Dusty, a stubborn, sure-footed mule with an uncanny knack for sniffing out trouble – and water. Our urgent message, tucked into my saddlebag, was for Sheriff Brody in Redemption, a plea for aid against a band of rustlers heading our way. It had to get there by sundown.
This was looking increasingly difficult due to the lack of clean drinking water, and like my old man used to say, “Ain’t no way you’ll live without getting drinkin’ water, else you’ll get the Runs!” Though Dusty, my trusty old mule, was skilled at digging up water, there’s no nose that can make it clean. My throat was already starting to feel like sandpaper, and the thought of another mouthful of gritty, disgusting water made my stomach churn. We’d passed the last known watering hole hours ago, and what little we’d found since then had been barely drinkable. I knew Dusty could keep going on longer than a horse, but even he was starting to lag, his usually spry steps becoming heavy and deliberate. Obviously coming back from the army he was weaker having taken four bullets as only a baby but still me and him had gone through everything together. The heat was relentless, a physical weight pressing down on us, and every mirage shimmering on the horizon seemed to mock our desperate thirst. With the problems rapidly rising, I realised this might be fate telling me its the end.
Suddenly, the distant thunder I’d dismissed earlier solidified into the drumming of hooves – the rustlers! How? They appeared on the horizon, dark smudges growing rapidly into menacing figures. “Dusty, faster!” I urged, digging my heels into his sides. My trusty mule, even with four old bullet scars, poured on a burst of speed, his hooves kicking up a desperate cloud of dust. He knew that speed was vital now. The gap narrowed, the shouts of the rustlers growing louder, their horses gaining on us. This was it, the end of the line, I thought, every nerve screaming.
Just as I felt the hot breath of a pursuing horse on Dusty’s flank, the sky, which had been a relentless fiery brand, suddenly bruised to a deep, ominous purple. A colossal, dark cloud began to swell on the horizon. The first fat drops splattered on the parched earth, raising tiny puffs of steam, momentarily disorienting our pursuers. Within moments, the heavens opened, a torrential downpour that transformed the baked desert into a swirling river of mud.
I threw my head back, letting the blessed, cool water course over my face, washing away the grit and the fear. Dusty, usually so stoic, whinnied with relief, nudging his nose into a rapidly forming puddle. The rain was a miracle, a lifeline. We drank deeply, the water sweet and clean, washing away the last of the “Runs” threat. The downpour obscured our tracks, turning the familiar landscape into a blurry, watery dream. The rustlers, caught unawares, their horses rearing and sliding in the sudden deluge, were left behind, their shouts drowned out by the drumming of the rain. This wasn’t the end; this was a second chance, a watery path to Redemption.
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2- 10-D2 -Ayaan
part 2
“everyone assemble”I shouted. but then the emus were separating in up in 8 different directions. damn who took our horses and gave us these terrible emus to ride on.2hrs later……… now we are all out of each others sight . now I thought to find the culprit to get all our horses back . but then……..
oh no not bumpler road. this rod stretch for 2 km so hope I survive this bumpy road and hope I don’t drop the message out of my pocket. but then I saw my boss near the road and he was waiting for all of us he said message and I gave it to him and I asked why was he here and he said why didn’t you check the notification and after all this emu is good
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2- 10-D2 -Sukrit Ahuja
In the old times, uh hum I mean the Wild west, you may think that every cowboy and cowgirl rode horses but not this fella. His name was Jeffrey Bezos, He was a 15-year-old kiddo who wanted to prove the town that he was a cowboy, and so to do that he wanted to go out on an adventure to deliver a message across the dangerous desert. As his journey starts today.
“Howdy, Miss Miller, you have some animals I can borrow,” exclaimed Jeffrey.
“Yes, I do, but all the horses are taken, there is only one llama left so… here you go lad,” replied Miss miller who had a weed in her mouth. Jeffrey had his new partner ‘Tina’ he was worried how he is going to get passed the diabolical desert. Well, he set sail on the brown sand with prickly green cactuses everywhere. The other town was 15 kilometres away. He thought it was going to be quick, but he forgot, he was riding on a llama. A quarter in and no sign humanity, he was in the middle of nowhere. Another 3.75 Kilometres go by meaning that he is halfway.
“Huh? I should be seeing the tower by this time,” said Jeffrey questionably. He looked at his map to see what direction he was going to. “HUH?!, HOW I WENT THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION WHYY!!,” Jeffrey shouted. As he stared at the map for the smallest route, the dark sky opened with lots of stars. Has he set up a sleeping area with his llama he started playing music on his harmonica which made him and his llama sleep.
When they woke up, Jeffrey could not find the map. He searched everywhere, like everywhere. Then he found that Tina was chewing something, he saw paper and he snapped. “WHYYY TINA WHYY.” He cried in despair, fell to the floor, was about to quit and never would be a great, amazing and famous cowboy. Well, what he didn’t know that the llama did not eat the map but instead he ate the envelope of the message and found the map which was under its jagged hoof. Jeffrey looked in his bag for the message, but the envelope was not there. He looked at the llama and spotted another piece of paper on its jagged hoof. “No Way,” exclaimed Jeffrey excitedly. He took the map and were back on track again. “I really love you Tina,” said Jeffrey kindly.
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2- 10-D2 -Abhijeet Pol
In the old times, uh hum I mean the Wild west, you may think that every cowboy and cowgirl rode horses but not this fella. His name was Jeffrey Bezos, He was a 15-year-old kiddo who wanted to prove the town that he was a cowboy, and so to do that he wanted to go out on an adventure to deliver a message across the dangerous desert. As his journey starts today.
“Howdy, Miss Miller, you have some animals I can borrow,” exclaimed Jeffrey.
“Yes, I do, but all the horses are taken, there is only one llama left so… here you go lad,” replied Miss miller who had a weed in her mouth. Jeffrey had his new partner ‘Tina’ he was worried how he is going to get passed the diabolical desert. Well, he set sail on the brown sand with prickly green cactuses everywhere. The other town was 15 kilometres away. He thought it was going to be quick, but he forgot, he was riding on a llama. A quarter in and no sign humanity, he was in the middle of nowhere. Another 3.75 Kilometres go by meaning that he is halfway.
“Huh? I should be seeing the tower by this time,” said Jeffrey questionably. He looked at his map to see what direction he was going to. “HUH?!, HOW I WENT THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION WHYY!!,” Jeffrey shouted. As he stared at the map for the smallest route, the dark sky opened with lots of stars. Has he set up a sleeping area with his llama he started playing music on his harmonica which made him and his llama sleep.
When they woke up, Jeffrey could not find the map. He searched everywhere, like everywhere. Then he found that Tina was chewing something, he saw paper and he snapped. “WHYYY TINA WHYY.” He cried in despair, fell to the floor, was about to quit and never would be a great, amazing and famous cowboy. Well, what he didn’t know that the llama did not eat the map but instead he ate the envelope of the message and found the map which was under its jagged hoof. Jeffrey looked in his bag for the message, but the envelope was not there. He looked at the llama and spotted another piece of paper on its jagged hoof. “No Way,” exclaimed Jeffrey excitedly. He took the map and were back on track again. “I really love you Tina,” said Jeffrey kindly.
The sultry hot sun awakened like a rippling celestial fire ball in the sky, as I sprinted across the miniature minuscules of sand. I dragged my restlessly thirsty llama, across the horizon as this was a punishment while I kicked time. Hours ticked passed, as my forehead pumped with pain. I walked across the endless unfathomable Sahara desert, every minute seemed to make it harder for me to define the word itself hotness. Dappled rays of pureness spilled across my face, casted half of it in an ultimate glow while the other half of my face danced with tantalizing shadows reminiscent of Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro technique of light and shadow. The scene looked like as if it was painted by Raphael, that echoed the life like portraits, each sweat of water that rolled down my cheeks written in the picture. The intricate loose thread of my sweater shirt now weighed heavily on my back.
The yellow faded pale line shined in the distance a couple of meters away, while I crumbled to the floor, clenching on to the message from the king that was now drenched in the wet sweat. Each step I took into heaven, seemed as if the distance left to cover was not only some meters but a costly ride for me as I had lost track of where I was. NO house could be seemed in view as my eyes came to an end for the bioluminescent sun broke in and out of my eyes. The llama I carried was now nearly dead. I fell down unconscious of the world around me…
I had a heart disability that gave me scary heart attacks, The doctor reckoned that I wouldn’t survive much longer as my heart would come to an end and eventually fail in which I would die. I used to always get these nightmares form until I was seven to now being thirteen. Mos of them would be the same and eventually I would die. However, as I slept in the feet of the sand to bow to all the dead explorers who once travelled on that very sand, I dreamed something different. I dreamed life as a llama who still dies but a bit differently. I tried ti wake up however, my sleep seemed to be a bit more permanent this time.
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2- 10-D2 -goelonline