How Jumper Came to Be
Chapter 2
The following day Cooter had drug Hilery to the junkyard with him. He was still so angry with her that he wouldn’t even let her out of his sight. They were there for parts. Cooter wandered off toward an old Dodge Charger to look for parts for the General, temporarily forgetting about keeping an eye on her. Hilery, sensing a brief moment of freedom, slipped off in search of a car she would like for her birthday. She didn’t care if the vehicle was a fixer-upper ‘cause she loved workin’ on them... even if it was done behind her second cousin’s back.
Then she saw it; the car she wanted. It was in bad shape; the doors were both dented, the hood was all twisted and would need to be replaced, and it looked as if it would need some other bodywork too but, shockingly, the engine block was perfectly intact. The engine bay was also in good condition. Upon further evaluation Hilery figured out the car was a 1967 Ford Shelby Mustang. The interior needed to be replaced, and it needed a new paint job, but Hilery didn’t care.
She suddenly darted off toward her cousin, happily bounding over the packed dirt. She knew what she wanted for her birthday, but stopped in her tracks when she got ‘that look’ that meant she was in trouble. She figured she could kiss her chances of gettin’ the car goodbye.
“Uh, Cooter? You ain’t mad at me, are you,” Hilery finally asked as he eyed her. It was clear he was angry. She knew not to run off, but she couldn’t help but to go exploring.
“No, I am not mad at you Hilery, I AM FURIOUS,” Cooter yelled.
“Well, I am sorry Cuz, but, well, I found what I’d like for my birthday,” she said with one of those curious, unsure looks on her face.
“Oh, and what would that be,” he asked sarcastically.
“Come on! I’ll show you,” she told him, bounding off in the direction of the car she wanted. After draggin’ a displeased Cooter over to the wreck, she smiled. “This is the car I want.”
He just looked at her. The car would be some work, but she sure did have good taste. “Dang girl, that is a good car, I tell you what, I’ll get it for you and work on it, restore it, and paint it. That does not excuse you at all from your punishment. Got it??”
“OK, tell you what, if you let me help you on this little thing, I will work at the sheep farm just down the road from where we live, sound fair?”
“Well... OK, you got a deal, I guess. It is a job I approve of, you feeding baby lambs,” he told her, a small grin now streaking across his face. Happily she gently punched him in the arm.
Later that day, The Davenport cousins came back to the junkyard to get the car. Hil had a few plans. She began to tell them to Cooter while they hooked the car up to the tow truck.
“Cooter, do you think we could keep my car a secret? I mean, I would like to play a few jokes on Bo and Luke. See how they react.”
“Sounds like fun. Never have really played any jokes on them.” Cooter replied with a wry grin. It was the type of smile that you didn’t see on his face very often. It was the look of mischief he hadn’t had since he used Luke’s car to run Rosco off the road, and then stolen his patrol car. The two cousins finished hooking the wreck up to the truck, and were off. Hilery was now tryin to think of where to put her new pride and joy; somewhere the Dukes wouldn’t find it.
Finally it hit her. “Cooter, why don’t we put this lil’ lady in the barn, just not let Bo and Luke in there,” she blurted out.
“Sounds good to me, cousin. They would most definitely find it at the garage,” he said, staring ahead at the road, thinking.
While Hilery and Cooter were taking the car back to their farm, the Dukes were sitting down to lunch.
“Hey Luke, why don’t you pass me those biscuits,” Bo asked. Luke gave them to him without a word. They were all worried about the way Hazzard had been consumed by an odd silence, well except the feuding between the Davenports, but the Dukes didn’t know that they weren’t fighting anymore. It would stay that way for a while.
A bit after getting back home, Hilery walked down to the local sheep farm to see if she could get a job tending the sheep. They were beautiful creatures, but needed a gentle hand, and the owner of the farm had been looking for a young lady to work for him. A few days earlier a horse had kicked him, just barely missing his chest, and he needed help while his wrist healed.
“Howdy Hilery, what can I do ya fer?” the elderly farmer asked the young lady as she approached him. He still looked quite young, even if he was a senior citizen, and was kind and gentle. His hair was a graying black, and his skin was a nice gold color, like the color of maple wood.
“Hi Mr. Cranston, how you been?”
“Fine child, fine. I just need a little help around this old place. I just can’t hold the bottles right for my poor baby lambs.”
“Well that’s actually why I’m here. I know you need help and everything so I came down to ask for a job,” she announced.
“I’d love you to help, Hilery, I know you can be a wild child at times, but you are still very gentle with the creatures of God.” Hilery smiled at the man’s nice words. It was true, she loved animals.
“So, when can I start?”
“How ‘bout right... now,” Mr. Cranston said as one of his baby sheep started to whine for its bottle.
“Sounds good to me, I ain’t got nuttin’ better to do right now.”
“OK, follow me then.” The two of them walked into the barn. Hilery immediately noticed the refrigerator and the hotplate in the corner.
Mr. Cranston walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle with some milk in it. He turned on the hotplate with a pot of water a top of it, and placed the bottle in the pot. When it was warmed he gave it to her and showed her how to hold it for the sheep. When all that was done he went inside his farmhouse.
Hilery put the bottle down and walked over to the little pen just a small distance away. The little lamb stood there whining for its meal. Hilery picked up the fuzzy little animal and carried it to the stool. She picked up the bottle and put it to the tiny mouth. When she was done feeding the first one she put it back in its pen, only for another hungry lamb to take its place; so she fed that one too, and had to repeat that same task over and over again. Mr. Cranston had told her that the person he’d hired to fix the nurser would be there the following day, so feeding them wouldn’t be so much of a problem after that.
At the end of the long day Hilery walked home to find Cooter yanking the interior out of the Shelby. He hadn’t liked the deal he made with his cousin, but it was the only way that she would get a ladylike job. After a few minutes of watching she went inside and got changed into some old jeans and a t-shirt. It wasn’t until she got back that her presence was acknowledged.
“OK, if you want to work I guess you’d better get over here. Now what I want you to do is open the hood, then wait,” Cooter told her.
“Hey, I know more about cars than you think!”
Cooter shook his head, laughing. “Oh? And how would that be?”
“Easy, I think I’ve read nearly every car manual and book you got, not to mention that I’ve been kinda sneakily working on my friends’ cars and stuff,” Hilery said, laughing her tail off at the face Cooter made. He was not pleased.
“Well, at least now I know where all those manuals have been going,” he said, the look never wavering from his face.
She walked over to the front end of the car and lifted the twisted hood. Then she pulled the engine pulley over and hooked it up to the motor. Cooter just stood there watching in shock at how fast and efficiently she did it. Then she walked over and pulled on the chain and tied it. After that she pushed it to the side.
“Dang girl, you weren’t kidding, I haven’t ever seen anyone do it that fast and that well at the same time!” She just smiled with a ‘told ya so’ look on her face.
As they worked on into the night, Cooter became more and more aware of Hilery’s abilities. They worked for so long, they didn’t get to bed till 2:30 am.
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