How Jumper Came to Be
Chapter 1
It was a wonderful spring day and the Dukes were all on their way to town. Cooter had asked them to come keep his second cousin, Hilery Ann, busy while he worked on Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane’s patrolcar. It was the least the Dukes could do, seein’ how it was them who ran the poor sheriff into the ditch.
Hilery was a wild one for her age. She was as knowledgeable as her cousin when it came to cars, as beautiful as Daisy, and drove like the Duke Boys. She also had the same knack for finding trouble.
You see, Cooter wanted Daisy to talk to Hilery about gettin’ a job up at the General Store helpin’ Mr. Rhuebottom, because working in a garage with cars was no place for a young lady in his eyes. He believed his cousin wouldn’t be able to handle working on a vehicle. Little did he know, she was always picking up racing magazines, books on how to fix automobiles, car manuals, and whatnot behind his back. She made sure he didn’t know about it ‘cause he didn’t approve of most of those topics for her; mostly because she was a young lady, even if she acted more like a tomboy, which he was not proud of. She had been that way since he’d taken her in after her parents died when she was just 13. No matter what Cooter did or tried, she didn’t change her attitude.
The Duke Boys roared into town, the mighty Dixie horn of the General Lee blowing as they pulled up to the garage. They were followed by Daisy’s Road Runner, and finally Uncle Jesse’s dirty white pickup truck. Cooter came out and greeted them all, clearly stressed. Hilery wasn’t far behind her cousin.
“OK Hil, why are you all angry this time?” Daisy asked her friend (Hil is short for Hilery by the way). She was worried. The young Duke woman could tell there had been another fight between her and Cooter. Arguments were very frequent between them and always broke the peace in the Davenport house. When a quarrel started, Hilery normally ran to the Duke farm. Granted the girl had run away a few times when she was younger, but after a while the Dukes told her she could stay with them whenever she had words with Cooter. He really liked the sound of it. It was a nice little arrangement.
“Daisy, you know why we was having words. It’s ‘cause I wanna work at the Hazzard Garage and Cooter won’t let me,” Hilery said, her irritation just as apparent in her voice as it was on her face.
“Well Hilery, it ain’t ladylike, ‘sides you don’t know squat about cars,” was Cooter’s defense.
*Or so you think, you big jerk* Hilery thought while giving him a dirty look.
“Hil, why don’t you go with Daisy while we help Cooter, OK?” Jesse said, clearly not wanting to hear the cousins squabble any more. He’d tried to stop the fighting in the past without luck, but he did give Cooter some advice on how to avoid some of the fights. Each time an argument broke out between him and his cousin, a part of him seemed to be lost.
“Yeah, that would be a good idea. Daisy could also take you over to the Boar’s Nest for a root beer, how’s that sound? Luke and I’ll pay for it.” Bo chirped after a few minutes of listening.
“Hey, Bo, speak for yourself. I’m broke.”
“Oh, well then I guess it’s on me,” Bo said, laughing under his breath. He handed Daisy a five dollar bill before she grabbed Hilery and stuffed her into the Road Runner. All the while the poor teenager was screaming that she wanted to stay and help her cousin. When the yellow car was finally out of sight, the men folk started to talk.
“So, Cooter, what d’ya think you’re gonna buy her for her birthday?” Luke asked. Hilery’s 18th birthday was only two weeks away.
“I don’t know yet y’all. I’m thinking about convincing Mr. Rhuebottom into giving her a job up at the General Store; you know he’s always needing some extra help, but she don’t seem to want to work there.”
“Cooter, I don’t know what to tell you; she’s a tomboy at heart and wouldn’t want to work in a place like that. She’s just too wild,” Jesse said finally; his wisdom was something not to fool with.
“Yeah, why don’t you go out and buy her some nail polish or a nice little skein of yarn or something. She may be a tomboy, but she still wears the gal stuff and likes crocheting or sewing.” Bo said. He and Hilery were so close that Bo claimed he looked at her as a little sister, only he was unaware that she had a crush on him. The truth was, he loved her much more than that. She’d had a crush on him since she had first come to Hazzard.
“Hey, Cooter, Bo’s right. She might like something like that,” Luke told his good friend.
Meanwhile, Daisy wasn’t having any luck at tryin’ to convince Hilery to get a job at the General Store.
“Come on sugar, why don’t you wanna work there? I mean, Mr. Rhuebottom would love to have you helping him. What’s wrong with that,” she asked, almost out of ideas.
“Daisy, you really think I would like to work as a cashier? You must be crazy to think that. ‘Sides, that brat from school who’s always takin’ my stuff or makin’ it look like I’m doin’ something wrong works there,” Hilery snapped back. She was not at all happy. “’Sides, I would rather work with cars or something,” she added under her breath.
“I give up, you are just too dang stubborn.”
“And proud of it,” Hilery yelled at Daisy’s comment, then laughed. Daisy was not at all amused, but what could she say back? The girl was still a kid, an adolescent at that. She herself remembered testin’ everyone too.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Hazzard High brat,” a young man said, walking up and grabbin’ Hilery by the hair. “You still actin’ like a little she-devil? Not wanting to work at a place that’s suitable for a girl? Not even wanting to act like a normal girl?” The boy laughed in her face.
“Joel, are you still actin’ like a punk, pickin’ on all us girls and the others who you don’t think can defend themselves?” Hilery spat back in his face.
“Aww, the poor baby gonna cry or run off and tell a grown-up?” Joel said, mimicking a wimp.
“Joel, you’d better think again, we ain’t in school you jerk,” Hilery said as a warning, but Joel wouldn’t let up.
“Aww, the little baby tryin’ to act tough.” Wham, Hilery cracked him upside the head with her root beer mug, breaking it on contact. Joel fell backwards against the wall in shock. Before he could move away, he was getting the snot beaten out of him. Hilery kicked him a few times in the shins, but mostly she was punching him in the face and gut. She smacked him a few times and blocked his blocks by shoving his hands out of the way. She dodged his swings as well. He barely landed anything on her.
“I give up! I give up! You win.” the boy yelled. Now he was just trying to defend himself against the enraged Davenport. Daisy meanwhile had been tryin’ to pull Hilery off the poor guy. Finally Rosco was sent in by Boss Hogg to stop the fight.
“Awww right, what is goin’ on in here?” Rosco asked after firing his gun into the air. Sadly for Joel, it didn’t stop Hilery. “Jit, jit! Hilery, you calm down and stop before I arrest ya girl!” Finally he moved to help Daisy pull her off. The town sheriff took out his cuffs and arrested her on the spot. “I’m gonna take you back to Cooter, but I’m gonna make sure he does something with you young lady. You are dang lucky you ain’t 18 yet,” Rosco said, hauling her off to his patrol car.
Daisy went over to the CB to call Cooter. “Breaker, breaker, this is Bo Peep calling the Crazy C. You got your ears on sugar?”
“Craaaaazy Cooter coming back at you Bo Peep, what’s the news, come on.”
“Better be expecting Rosco to be bringing Country Girl back in his spare patrol car, come back.”
“OK Bo Peep, appreciate it, this is Crazy Cooter over and out.” Daisy hung up the CB mike, went back out to her car, and took off back to the garage.
When she finally got there she discovered Cooter in the midst of a lecture.
“Hilery, you have to learn. Now give me your driver’s license. You ain’t driving for the next week, and you’ll stay in your bedroom for the next week too. If I’m not home you will stay at my side at all times, you got that girl?” Hilery just nodded, tears in her eyes. He had never been so harsh on her before. “Now, get up into that hay loft and get out of my face, I am so disgusted with you right now, I don’t’ even want to look at you.”
Hilery quickly climbed up the ladder but, toward the top, one of the rungs gave ‘way, sending her to the ground.
“I SAID GET UP THERE!” Cooter yelled at her. She scampered up the ladder once more, trying to avoid falling again.
“Hey, now Cooter, she couldn’t help it if that rung broke,” Jesse told him. He was fuming.
“Jesse, she knew that rung was gonna break because she knew it was loose,” he replied, trying to keep his cool.
“Come on kids, Cooter needs to spend some time with his cousin and sort all this out.” Jesse told Bo, Luke, and Daisy, who obediently followed.
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