As the three leading riders made it over the last rise before reaching the straight away to the finish line, one rider was determined that if he didn’t win, his rival wouldn’t either. He could tell that he was slipping into second place; a place that he just wouldn’t abide by. When they were mere feet from the line, the rider in blue jerked his bike sharply taking his rival in black down as he skidded sideways toward the finish line.

As the Dukes on the sideline watched the riders nearing the finish line, Jebb was in the lead with a rider in blue and Kira matching each other for a very close second. Just before it seemed sure that Jebb had won the race, the rider in blue cut his bike right into Jebb’s rear tire just before the two skidded across the line. The Dukes all rushed to check on Jebb as Kira jumped off her own bike. Winning due to a moron causing a wreck was no win at all.

“What the hell was that!” Kira shouted at Kinnison as he picked himself off of the ground. While Luke had been heading to check on Jebb, he stopped. His cousin looked ready to hit the rider in blue for his foolish stunt. Looking over at Jebb, he seemed fine. “If you can’t handle a real race, you don’t belong out there on a bike!”

“Kira,” Jebb saw what Luke saw. She was ready to fight. Mostly because she hated winning unfairly. “I’ll handle it.”

Kira looked at Jebb before storming into the bar. She knew that Jebb had a running rivalry with Kinnison. Right frankly, she shouldn’t be surprised at the stunt that he’d pulled when he realized that he wouldn’t win. Behind her, she could hear that Jebb and Kinnison were getting into it and heard Bo and Luke out there with him. If she didn’t put some distance between her and everyone, she knew that she’d do something that she’d regret. And she’d never admit it, but she wasn’t really sure she’d be up to it.

Here lately, she hadn’t really felt like herself. She always seemed to be tired lately. Like no matter how much sleep she had gotten, it was never enough. Yesterday, she’d even ended up falling asleep at her desk in the middle of the day. She can’t remember having ever done that. No, that ain’t true. She can remember another time in life where the fatigue had seemed as bad. She felt a chill at the thought. Then she started to think on the other signs from the last couple of weeks. She’d been moody, tired, having headaches, lost some weight, the loss of appetite, the weak stomach, the loss of concentration, even her back had been giving her problems lately. Kira sat at one of the tables as she absently twirled some of her long hair between her fingers. Maybe she was just being paranoid. Everything had been going so well, her mind is just looking for a shoe to drop to shatter the picture perfect life that she’d never really thought that she’d ever have.

When Daisy came in, she asked Kira if she was ready to go to help the kids now. Kira glanced up at her. Torn away from her unpleasant thoughts Kira headed out the door with her cousin. While heading to the orphanage, she was trying to tell herself that she was just letting her imagination run wild. There was really nothing going on. She just needed to reign it back in.




Much to Kira’s relief, everyone stayed outside during the craft. Kira hadn’t been looking forward to walking into one more orphanage during her life. She’d thought that she would never set foot into another one ever again. Yet here she was standing outside the Hazzard orphanage. OUTSIDE, she was not going in if she could help it. Now Kira was surrounded by a group of kids that seemed to know all of her cousins and her uncle very well. Each enthusiastically greeted the Dukes before they settled into starting the craft that the Ladies’ group had arranged.

Kira felt out of her element but figured that she could handle helping the kids for one afternoon. She squatted next to a small little girl, maybe of about six. She was showing Kira her picture that she was drawing when the little boy sitting next to her showed her the collage he was making. She made the appropriate sounds of approval and turned her head back to the little girl that had began to tug on her sleeve the moment that Kira and diverted her attention away her. It was only a few minutes later that Kira felt the long curtain of her hair that was currently dragging the ground in her squatted position suddenly become much lighter.

“Uh-oh!” Kira heard the little boy next to her say. Not something that you ever want to hear from someone with scissors in their hands. Kira turned back to the little boy and saw a large clump of her hair in front of the little boy’s feet. Kira’s hand flew to the back of her head as if searching for just where the hair had been cut. “I’m sorry.”

Kira heard the small voice say. She thinks she told him it was alright but to be honest, she couldn’t be sure. She does remember heading back over to her bike though before giving the clump of hair on the ground one last look.

“Where’s Kira going?” Luke watched as his cousin hopped on her bike and sped off. He looked at Bo to see if he had any answers, who only just shrugged.

“She probably had enough. I know that coming here couldn’t have been easy for her. You want me to ask?” Luke looked around the yard and saw the kids that she had been helping.

“No, I think I know the WHY at least. Look.” Luke gestured toward the clump of long red hair on the ground. “It looks like one of the kids decided to play beauty parlor.”




Kira didn’t even realize that she’d headed to town until she was outside the house of the woman who owned the beauty shop in town. Running her fingers through her hair, she knew that she couldn’t just leave the gap in her hair. When she had knocked on Silvia’s door, she explained what had happened and was inside in no time. She had heard how some women cry when they have their hair cut off.

Kira would have never in a million years put herself in that same category. But to her, it was more than just hair. She hadn’t had it cut since it grew back after the last time she went into remission. It was her own reminder that she’d beat the cancer. That it had been one battle that she’d won. Now, it was being cut away. On the floor, it fell into long, large chunks as the rest of her hair met the same fate that the clump back at the orphanage had. If there were a few tears that fell along the way, Silvia never said a word.




The guys had told Jebb that Kira left and he assumed that she’d gone home. He excused himself after a while and headed there himself. He was a little sore from the spill that he’d taken at the end of the race. When he got home he saw Kira’s bike in the barn where they’d been keeping both of them at. He hadn’t seen the clipping but it couldn’t be as bad a Bo had said it was. Of course the way Daisy acted, it seemed that it would constitute as an emergency. He could imagine how Daisy would have reacted to having her hair cut off but Kira was a lot more sensible than that. It’s just hair.

True, he can’t remember Kira ever having her hair cut. In fact, it was just above shoulder length as opposed to being well below her waist, nearly to the top of her thighs now, when he first met her. Putting his own bike away, he headed inside. Stepping in through the kitchen door, he looked over into the opened door to Kira’s office and stopped. It was like a look back in time. Kira’s hair was now only flowing a little past her shoulders. Not quite as long as Daisy’s now.

“Hey. The guys told me that one of the kids got a little scissor happy. You okay?” Kira looked up from the file that she’d been staring at since she got home. Not really getting any work done but at least she was trying while she was waiting for the roast that she’d put in the oven to cook. Feeling the shift of the slight weight of her shortened hair felt foreign to her. Kira shrugged her shoulders, it’s not like anyone would ever really understand. You simply can’t unless you’ve lived it.

“It’ll grow back.” She hoped. That is unless that feeling of paranoia isn’t just paranoia. Jebb cocked an eyebrow at her but she’d already gone back to her work. He knew that the others were just blowing it all out of proportion. Kira didn’t seem to care much about it one way or another. He knew that Kira was much too practical for that.




A couple of days later, that feeling of paranoia grew to apprehension when she spent most of the day fighting her breakfast back. Fortunately, Jebb had left the house right after he’d finished his since he had plans with the guys. She’d had a weak stomach for weeks but not quite like this. Finally, she threw down her file that she was reading in frustration. She was just going to have to break down and call the doctor. And she figured that a country doctor, lovable as he may be, just wouldn’t fit the bill. She picked up the phone and dialed a number that she wished that she would have never of needed to commit to memory and made an appointment. He could see her on Wednesday at ten. Now she just had to go to Atlanta without arising suspicion. No need to get anyone worried about her just because she’s become so paranoid that she’d made herself sick. Picking up the file that she’d been going over for a week, it looked like her excuse was already in her hands. She wouldn’t be able to get anywhere with this case without going to the legal library first. It had been a while since she’d dealt with this sort of contract law. She really needed to read up on it to refresh her memory.

Looking over at the clock as an alarm went off, Kira realized that she’d better start on supper. Tonight was to be a rare occasion. The others were coming here for dinner. Leaving her work behind, she headed on into the kitchen. It was probably a good thing that her office was attached to her kitchen. Otherwise, she’d probably never be home on time. Her secret was that she had an alarm clock in the office that would tell her when she needed to stop (at least pause long enough to start dinner) then she could continue working if she needed while she waited for the food to cook, roast or simmer. Of course Jebb found the clock and she thinks that he knows why she has it down here. He just smirked at it and let it go. But hey, it works for her. Otherwise, she’d have to go back to keeping frozen dinners in the freezer. She was sure he wouldn’t want that.

When everyone had gotten to Jebb’s and Kira’s, she had short ribs, roasted corn, sautéed green beans, loaded mashed potatoes and rolls ready for dinner. When she and Jebb had first gotten married, Bo was convinced that she couldn’t cook since she didn’t during the time that he’d been up in Atlanta before Thanksgiving. He still approached her cooking a bit warily. As if he wasn’t sure that eating it was the healthiest thing to do. When he ate here was probably the only time that he didn’t try to swipe food before dinner was served and grace was said. But that was his loss. No one else seemed to mind. When she brought the peach cobbler over to the table for dessert, Jesse asked her how her work was going. He’d seen the stacks of files on her desk. When Kira first came to Hazzard, he had thought that he’d need to coerce people into taking their business to his niece. As it turned out though, they had gone to her all on their own.

“Mostly, the contract that Mr. Shrover from Capital City wants me to look over is a bit complicated. I think I need to go to the legal library to refresh my memory on some of the contract laws.”

“Why don’t you?” Kira looked over at Jebb as he spoke up.

“Because that would mean that I’d have to go to Atlanta.” She was starting to have second thoughts about this. But she really did need to keep that appointment.

“Hey, why don’t you come with me and Lulu? Boss is letting her go to Atlanta for a shopping trip and she’s planning to spend a couple of days up there. We can make it a trip for the girls.” Not what Kira had planned.

“I don’t know Daisy. When I get to working, I kind of zone out and I’m really not much of a shopper.”

“So we’ll shop while you work. Then we’ll still be able to hang around, do the touristy stuff together. We’re supposed to leave tomorrow. I’ll just tell Lulu that we can just plan for one more.”

“Daisy I…”

“Hey, that’s a good idea. If you take the truck, maybe you can bring that part that Uncle Jesse needs for the tractor back with you. I was planning on goin’ to get it but if you girls are goin’ there anyway...” Jebb shrugged his shoulders instead of finishing the sentence.

“See, it’ll be perfect!” Daisy exclaimed.

Kira smiled, “Yeh, perfect.”

Kira and Daisy rode to Atlanta to meet Lulu. She had left out ahead of them since Kira waited to pack at the last minute. She had tried to get Daisy to ride along with Lulu but she insisted that she’d wait for Kira to get ready. So when Jebb tied her suitcases down to secure them into the back of the truck, Daisy’s joined them. Now the two cousins were arriving at Lulu’s favorite hotel in Atlanta. Lulu had arranged for them all to stay in a suite together in a hotel that was a fairly pricey one.

Daisy and Lulu quickly began to relax after unpacking their cases. Kira had a little harder time relaxing. The other two women assumed that she was just thinking about her work, or maybe it was the fact that she was spending her nights away from Jebb seeing as how they’d only been apart once (for the girls’ birthday) since they’d been married. If they only knew the real reason behind her tenseness.

When Kira finished unpacking her own cases, one large case and one small one, she forced herself to try to enjoy the trip with her cousin and the lovable wife of a not so lovable commissioner. Looking at the phone, she called up her favorite restaurant to make reservations for dinner. She might as well treat the other two women there. Maybe a good meal will distract her from her real reason for the trip.




The next morning, Kira got dressed in a semi-causal pant suit with long sleeves. Something that raised the eyebrows from both of her suite mates considering that it was the end of June and extremely hot and humid outside. Daisy had seen that Kira tended to wear long sleeves a lot in Hazzard, though usually only when she planned to be outside a lot since she burned so easily. But knowing that she planned to spend the day trapped inside a library instead of outside in the sun, Daisy just hadn’t figured that Kira would still stay so covered up on such a hot day. Maybe there was a dress code to go to the legal library.

The real reason of course for the long sleeves was to hide the bruises that she knew that she would be sporting when she left the doctor’s office. Right after breakfast, Kira grabbed her brief case and headed on to the library. Hopefully she’ll be able to find what she needed without too much trouble. Then at a little before ten, Kira went on to keep her appointment.




“You get everything that you needed to get done?”

“Mostly, I still have some points that I’m not sure of yet. I may see if Michelle can help me out a little.” Kira was feeling a little homesick, something that was a bit odd for her. She’d called Jebb to help quell that feeling. “I promised to spend tomorrow with Daisy and Lulu though.”

“I have the feelin’ that by the time you get back, you’ll not want to see a store for a good long time.”

“I believe you’re right.”

“Hey, you’ll never guess. My folks are coming out to the farm tomorrow.”

“I guess someone told your mother that I wasn’t gonna be in Hazzard this week,” Kira teased. Jebb had wanted to show off all of the hard work that he’d done on their farm. His mother had flat out refused to come out up until now. Well at least her trip to Atlanta had one positive result. “I hope that the girl’s like the room that you set up. I’m sure that they’ll just flip when they see it.”

Jebb had already finished out two of the spare rooms in the hopes of his family coming for a visit. In one room Kira had gotten twin beds for the girls, though she’d had Daisy pick out the decor for it (which explained the pastels and pinks). Jebb had claimed that it looked a lot like their room back in Placid. The other room was made up as a regular guest room.

“I’m sure they will. They’re not used to not having to double up with cousins or anyone when they visit anyone.”

“Well, it’s only right that they can have their own place when they go see their big brother. Have fun showing off the place. I’ll call you tomorrow. Love ya.”

“Back at ya.” Jebb hung up the phone and went to make a check of everything to be sure he was ready for his parents. He wanted to be able to prove that he was capable of handling starting a new farm all on his own. And since there would be extra people in the house, he’d better run and get some groceries. With just him and Kira here, they usually don’t go through that much. But he’d better make sure that the fridge was full for two reasons. One, to make sure he had enough to feed everyone. Two, so his mother wouldn’t worry about him. Of course a full fridge wouldn’t stop that from happening. But at least she’d have one less thing to worry about.

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