Literary Remix

I re-wrote a page of "Joe's Luck: Always Wide Awake" by Horatio Alger for Galley Cat's Literary Remix project. I wrote about the project earlier, but the idea is to take an old novel, farm it out to different people a page at a time and ask them to re-write the page in whatever manner they would like. It's an awesome idea and some of the entries have been pretty cool.

Below is my page, followed by the original page.



I wrote the page as if Jim Thompson was in charge of Joe and his world.  Which of course changes Joe from a well-meaning innocent to someone who's secretly a psychopath.

And speaking of Jim Thompson the new film version of his classic novel "The Killer Inside Me" is coming out this summer. The film stars Casey Affleck and Jessica Alba and is directed by Michael Winterbottom; when the film premiered at Sundance some people walked out and there were widespread complaints about the violence. Either way, it's a new adaptation of a great Thompson book and I'll have more to say on it soon. 

My version of page 129:

"Twenty-five dollars to-day," Bickford looked at me with his dopey grin. We'd been here a week, and his cloying sweetness was tugging on my mask. "That pays better than hoeing pertaters, Joe."

I screwed my mask on tight and kept up the act. "Yes, Mr. Bickford," I grinned big and sweet. "I am afraid you will lose on our partnership."

"I'll risk it, Joe." He was risking more than he knew.


Then there was Hogan. "Can't you take me into partnership?" he whined like a half-blind schoolteacher in the dark.

"We can, but we won't," said Bickford. This was my chance to keep Hogan. He'd be worth something yet, even if he didn't know it, even if he ended up in the electric chair, he'd still be worth something.
 
"Save your money. Buy some tools, instead of gamblin'." Bickford was preaching, and the last person a degenerate wants to hear from is a preacher.

"A man must have amusement," grumbled Hogan.  "Besides, I may have luck and win."

"Mr. Hogan, if you want to start a claim I'll give you the tools," I said it with that smile that works so well on Bickford. Just ole Joe, loose a few screws maybe, but harmless and sweet as a button.

"But of course you will have to find your own vittles," Bickford was going to ride Hogan, and I'd come in and give him a way to get back at Bickford.

We had set up this little firm, just for tax reasons, it didn't amount to nothing. Bickford and Mason. When I told Bickford to put his name first you should have seen his eyes mist up with emotion. I had to look away I was so sick. We cut Hogan loose of the firm. Hogan was born a failure and he didn't even know he was about to die a failure. My mask of normalcy that Bickford loved so much was beginning to itch, and I knew I'd be taking it off soon. Hogan would see it come off.

Hogan scraped together enough to eat on and spent the rest of the time grumbling over his bad luck. Bickford kept poking at Hogan, agitating him, getting him stirred up like a dumb kid with a hornet's nest.
"If you'd work like we do," said Bickford, "you wouldn't need to complain. Your claim is just as good as ours, as far as we can tell."

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Alger's version of page 129:
"Twenty-five dollars to-day, that pays better than hoeing pertaters, Joe."

"You are right, Mr. Bickford.  You are ten dollars ahead of me.  I am afraid you will lose on our partnership."

"I'll risk it, Joe."

Hogan was the only member of the party who was not satisfied.

"Can't you take me into partnership?" he asked.

"We can, but I don't think we will, Hogan," said Mr. Bickford.

"It wouldn't pay.  If you don't like workin' for us, you can take a
claim of your own."

"I have no tools."

"Why don't you save your money and buy some, instead of gamblin' it
away as you are doin'?"

"A man must have amusement," grumbled Hogan.  "Besides, I may have
luck and win."

"Better keep clear of gamblin', Hogan."

"Mr. Hogan, if you want to start a claim of your own, I'll give you
what tools you need," said Joe.

Upon reflection Hogan decided to accept this offer.

"But of course you will have to find your own vittles now," said
Joshua.

"I'll do it," said Hogan.

The same day he ceased to work for the firm of Bickford & Mason, for Joe insisted on giving Mr. Bickford the precedence as the senior party, and started on his own account.

The result was that he worked considerably less than before. Being his own master, he decided not to overwork himself, and in fact worked only enough to make his board.  He was continually grumbling over his bad luck, although Joshua told him plainly that it wasn't luck, but industry, he lacked.


"If you'd work like we do," said Bickford, "you wouldn't need to complain. Your claim is just as good as ours, as far as we can tell."

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Here's the full text of the original Alger novel. 

Here are some other entries in the remix.