Chapter 18: I Can’t Drive 55
Warning: This chapter contains fluff. You have been warned.
Daisy and Enos hadn’t seen much of each other in the days after he returned, not from lack of wanting to, but Rosco had decided that if Enos wanted his old job back so much, he could work Friday to the next Wednesday from sunup to sundown. Enos had moved out of the guest room at the Duke farm and back into town to be closer to the Police Station. All the apartments at the boarding house where he’d lived before were taken, so he’d rented the room above Jake’s Garage – even though having tires beside his bed drove him batty – until he could find something else.
During the day he had patrol duty, which amounted to sitting in the middle of nowhere in his car, waiting for some unsuspecting speeder to come through. Problem was, everyone in Hazzard knew all the speed traps so on Saturday, Rosco had stuck him all the way out on Eagle Rock Road. He hadn’t seen but one vehicle the entire day, save ol’ Ben Hanson on his tractor who lived two miles up the road.
Even his nights were spent working. On Friday evening he discovered that no one had apparently been filing anything since he’d left to go to L.A. years before. It took him working till the wee hours of the morning both Friday and Saturday nights to catch up on it. On Sunday evening, Charlie Adam’s cat got stuck in a drainpipe and it took Enos five hours and three cans of sardines to coax her out.
Monday morning, he backed his patrol car into the speed trap at Eagle Rock at 7:00am and settled in for another long and uneventful morning and afternoon. He’d been woolgathering for nearly two hours when an idea – a horribly brilliant and devious idea entered his mind. He spent the next two hours trying to convince himself to forget it, but bolstered by mind-boggling boredom and having not seen a car in four hours, he eventually gave up on that account and spent the last hour before lunch working up the courage to do it.
“What are you grinnin’ about?” teased Daisy as she watched him eat his lunch at the Boar’s Nest.
He laughed nervously. “Nothin’. Just thinkin’…”
She leaned over the bar, resting her chin on her elbows. “What’cha thinkin’ ’bout?”
He blushed, finding it difficult to keep his eyes on her face. “Thinkin’ about how gosh awful boring it is out on Eagle Rock Road.”
“Is that where Rosco’s got you set up? There’s nothin’ but cows on that road!”
“I saw a tractor yesterday,” he amended. “Say, you get off at three don’tcha?”
She looked at him sadly. “Yeah. Ya’ know, it’s not fair Rosco makin’ you work six days straight day an’ night, Enos. You look like ya’ could sleep for a week.”
“Ah, it’s alright, Daisy. He ain’t had a break in a while anyway just bein’ him an’ Cletus. I reckon it’s th’ least I can do for him givin’ me my job back on no notice.”
She smiled and shook her head. “You’re too sweet, you know that? …I miss you, though,” she said, softly.
He smiled at her, not his typical smile, but one that gave her the distinct impression that Enos Strate was up to something, however unlikely that usually was.
“I’ve gotta get back t’ work.” He slid the tip he normally left her across the bar to her fingers, his eyes catching hers. “Don’t speed down Eagle Rock Road on your way home,” he said, quietly, “or I’ll have t’ pull y’over.” She looked at him, confused, since Eagle Rock wasn’t on her way home. “See ya’ later, Daisy.” He picked up his hat and left the Boar’s Nest.
Daisy wasn’t sure what to make of what he’d said until she looked at the tip he’d given her. On pay day’s he’d always tipped her five dollars, which was more than his meal came to and other days he left two. He’d passed her a twenty dollar bill. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized what he wanted her to do – twenty dollars was the price of a Hazzard speeding ticket.
The hours rolled slowly by as Enos waited at his speed trap. Part of him was having trouble coming to grips with the fact that he’d asked Daisy to break the law in order to see her today. Not only that, but he was on duty, and if Rosco found out, he was libel to be working down with the spiders in the records room for the next six months. The other parts of himself were too wrapped up in feeling giddy and nervous to think about much at all.
Of course, he supposed, she might just think he was kidding or not take the hint. It certainly wasn’t something anyone would imagine him doing – of course no one knew what he’d thought about while waiting at Hazzard speed traps for all those years, either. He honestly couldn’t remember a time when he’d pulled Daisy over unless Rosco or Boss had told him to…it was just a little too close to his daydreams to be comfortable with. He checked his watch – 2:55pm.
Like clockwork, Bo and Luke stepped into the Boar’s Nest right before 3:00 pm.
“Hey boys,” said Daisy, bringing them each a beer. “I’m outta here. I’ll see ya’ at home later.”
She threw her jacket on, even though it was warm enough again today not to need it and hopped into Dixie. Her heart raced as she started the Jeep’s engine and drove out onto Mill Road in the direction on home. She followed it all the way past Stillson Canyon but instead of continuing straight towards the farm, she turned off to the right down Eagle Rock Road. There was no telling where Enos would be parked since this wasn’t a normal speed trap out here, so she floored it.
Enos gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white as he watched the empty road in front of him. Nothing. His nerves made him feel slightly nauseous, and he began to think just maybe this really had been a dim-witted idea when Dixie suddenly tore past him doing well over the speed limit. His heart seemed to stop as he pulled Hazzard #2 out behind it and turned his lights on.
Daisy didn’t pull over, but kept going past the turn off for Canyon Springs, down to where Eagle Rock turned into Jimson Lane. She took a side road off that split off to the left and Enos knew she was headed to the small pond at the end of it. Two miles later, the Jeep skidded to a halt at the edge of the water, and he pulled the patrol car pulled up behind her, blocking her in, and flipped the lights off.
For a long moment he couldn’t move, temporarily stunned at what he had done.
He forced himself to take a deep breath and open the door. There would be no one around for miles, he knew. There weren’t any fish in Jimson Hollow or nearby Quarry Lake to lure anyone out this far and the scenery wasn’t great either. Daisy had put the top and doors back on Dixie for the winter, but he caught her reflection in the Jeep’s side view mirror and schooled his features to look as serious as he possibly could.
Daisy watched him in the mirror as Enos nonchalantly got out his car and made his way around to the Jeep, looking for all the world like he’d never planned it all out. She leaned on the door as he came up to her side and tried her best not to giggle. “Hi there, officer,” she said. “Is there a problem?”
“Ma’am, do ya’ know how fast you were goin’?” he asked, straight-faced.
“No, I wasn’t payin’ a bit of attention, How fast was I goin’?”
He frowned. “Shucks, I forgot t’ look. I’m gonna have t’ ask ya’ t’ step outta th’ vehicle.”
“Oh sure, no problem.” Daisy climbed out out of the Jeep, and followed Enos as he walked back to his patrol car and grabbed the ticket he’d already written out off the dash.
“Here ya’ go,” he said, handing it to her. “I’ll be at th’ station tomorrow mornin’ an’ you can come by an’ pay me…uh, pay th’ ticket.”
“Is there anything else I can do for you?”
She saw him fight back a grin as he put his hands on her waist and hoisted her up to sit on the hood of the patrol car. “You also tried’ t’ evade an officer of th’ law. Got somethin’ t’ say for yourself?
“Oh, I’m definitely not guilty of that.” Daisy took his hat from his head and set it gently beside her.
“An’ theft of property,” he added, stepping up close to her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’ll have t’ do community serv…” was as far as she got before he kissed her.
In everything else, his demeanor had always been patient and reserved, but in Daisy’s arms it was as though all the years of waiting and wanting washed over him, and he could think of nothing else but loving her. Some people had vices, addictions that ruled their every thought and action – Daisy was Enos’s, and he craved her lips on his, and her hands in his hair, and her arms around him – and he found having a little only made him want more. Neither of them heard Rosco calling him on the CB for several minutes.
“Enos!” Enos’s eyes flew open. “Enos, you knuckle-headed dipstick, where th’ heck are you?” yelled the Sheriff.
Enos tried to pull himself away from Daisy, and would have fallen over if she hadn’t still had her arms around him. For a split second, he thought he’d been caught and that Rosco was actually behind him.
“Enos,” said Daisy, “it’s your CB.”
“If you’re asleep on th’ job, boy, I’m gonna stick ya’ in th’ records room ’till you’re old an’ gray!”
Enos grabbed the CB from his car, cleared his throat, and took a deep breath. “Hey there, Sheriff. This is Enos. Were you callin’ me? Over.”
“You numb-skull! I’ve been callin’ ya’ for five minutes.”
“Sorry, sir. I was uh…outta th’ car for a bit.”
“Doin’ what?”
“Well sir, there are things ya’ just don’t do in a patrol car,” said Enos, enigmatically. Daisy nearly fell off the car, doubled over in silent laughter. “Did ya’ need somethin’?” He asked the Sheriff, grinning back at her.
“Tilly Smith says she’s hearin’ funny sounds in her chimney. She thinks it’s th’ ghost of her husband, an’ I ain’t got time for that crazy ol’ bat right now. I need ya’ t’ go an’ check it out.”
“Uh, sure thing, Sheriff. I’ll be right there. Over an’ out.” Enos tossed the CB haphazardly back through the open window of the car and returned to where Daisy still sat, waiting for him. “Sorry, Daisy,” he sighed. “Guess I’ve gotta get. Thanks for vis’tin’ my speed trap, though.”
She grinned at him. “I feel like I’m a teenager, sneakin’ around like this. I keep waitin’ for Uncle Jesse t’ show up an’ drag me home.” She picked up his hat and set it back on his head.
“You’re welcome t’ tell ever’body whenever ya’ want.” he said. He wasn’t sure how it had happened that way in the first place – the not telling anyone bit, though it was kind of fun sneaking around.
“I’m sure they’ll figure it out on their own, Sugar.” She brushed his cheek with the back of her fingers. “We used t’ sneak around all th’ time when we were kids.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Hmm…somehow I remember less kissin’ an’ more fishin’.”
“Really?” she smirked. “I know for a fact you went parkin’ once with Amy McCollum.”
Amy had always been head over heels for him, but other than being friends, he could have cared less about her. “Now Daisy, you know good an’ well that ain’t true. She just happened t’ have car trouble down at ‘Cory Canyon an’ I was th’ only one she knew t’ call.”
That night had been nearly fifteen years ago, but she talked like it had been the day before. He’d never told her or anyone else what had really happened, only that Amy had a loose battery cable that he’d fixed and left, but in truth, that was the night he’d made his choice. He’d politely declined her offer and walked away, knowing that Amy wasn’t the one he wanted.
“You sure that’s all that happen’d?”
Something in the way Daisy asked him struck Enos as strange. When it had happened, she’d teased him about it, and he remembered getting the impression that she hadn’t cared one way or the other. She wasn’t teasing anymore, though. Her cheeks were stained by a faint blush, her eyes cast down away from his, and he realized that this was how the conversation should have gone all those years ago. He was finally seeing her honest reaction, and he wondered – surely she hadn’t been jealous or thought that he…
“No, Daisy, that’s not all that happened,” he answered, quietly. She looked back up at him, and he knew he was right about what she’d thought. “I made a choice that night…an’ I chose you.” He smiled sadly at her. “And if you’d asked me about it when it happened instead of actin’ like ya’ didn’t care, I just might of told you that.” She put her arms around him and he hugged her, wondering how many other things she’d kept inside all these years.
“I’m sorry, Enos. I…just, I was afraid to know the truth. Didn’t know how t’ ask ya’ anyway.”
He shook his head and sighed. “Aren’t we a pair? I could always tell ya’ how I felt, but I was too scared t’ show ya’, an’ you were always flirtin’ with me and never told me how ya’ felt.”
She leaned back and took his face in her hands as he looked down at her. “I love you, Enos Strate.”
“I love you, too, Daisy Duke,” he answered, giving her a quick kiss. “…but if I don’t get back, Rosco’s libel t’ kill me.”
“Okay,” she laughed.
“Thursday evenin’, there’s somewhere I want t’ take ya’.”
“Where?”
“You’ll see.”
Wednesdsay afternoon, Luke walked into Jake’s garage, mainly waisting time and looking to see if Cooter was still around. He found both of them hunched over the engine of Enos’s Javelin, arguing about air flow and carburetors.
“Hey y’all. What’s wrong with Enos’s car?”
Both men turned to look at him. “Oh, hey Luke. Ain’t nothin’ wrong, far as I can tell,” said Cooter. “In fact, me an’ Jake were just admirin’ it.”
Luke glanced at the mismatched primer panels and dented, rusty chrome. “I’m gonna take it y’aint talkin’ about th’ outside.”
Cooter waved that aside. “Ain’t you never heard beauty’s on th’ inside? Naw, shucks, whoever rebuilt th’ engine didn’t spare no expense, that’s fer sure. How much you say Enos gave for this?”
“I think he said $400.”
Jake looked like he might piss his pants. “Gosh dang, Cooter,” he said, “th’ engine alone’s worth a couple grand!”
“Man, Enos’s one lucky SOB.”
An idea struck Luke. “Say, Jake, Cooter…how long do ya’ think it’d take to fix th’ rest of it up?”
Cooter shrugged. “Well, pretty much ever’thing but the engine’s had th’ tar beat outta it. Needs a new suspension, exhaust, re-chromed, all that good stuff. A couple weeks. Why?”
Luke smiled. “If we all pitched in, think we could get it done by Friday?”
Cooter looked at him like he’d gone completely off his rocker. “Friday! …No, huh-uh. I ain’t spending another 48 hours like we did on th’ General puttin’ him together.”
“Now, just hear me out, Cooter. I know it was hard work, but me, Bo, Daisy, an’ Uncle Jesse have been tryin’ t’ come up with some way we can thank Enos for all he did savin’ Daisy. This’d be th’ perfect thing. Poor Enos ain’t had a decent car all his life.”
“Well, yeah, I know…but…”
“Come on, Cooter. You’re leavin’ Friday. It’s th’ least we can do.”
“Oh, alright,” he sighed, knowing himself for the pushover he was. “I guess one last Hurrah before I go back to th’ stiffs in Washington might do me good.”
Luke patted him on the back. “Thanks Cooter, I’ll let everyone know.”
“Well, now, just hold on a minute. How’re we gonna go bangin’ around on Enos’s car here when he’s stayin’ upstairs?”
“Well, Rosco’s got him workin’ late again tonight so he won’t be here until after dark. We’ll just do the parts he won’t notice first.”
Luke called Daisy, Bo, and Uncle Jesse to meet him over at the garage and filled them in on the plan.
“Oh Luke!” cried Daisy “That’s a great idea! Enos ‘ll be thrilled.”
“Well now,” said Uncle Jesse, “I can help ya’ tonight, but I promised t’ pay Holly Comfurt an’ her family a visit on Thursday an’ I won’t be back ’till Friday afternoon.”
“What’re we standin’ around for?” asked Bo. “Cooter, hand me a screwdriver an’ I’ll start takin’ off th’ trim.”
They had about five hours worth of work time before Daisy, down the road in Jake’s car, radioed them shortly after 11:00pm to let them know Enos was on his way. Everyone stopped what they were doing and found somewhere to hide while Jake flipped off the lights. Enos used the outer stairs to enter the loft and was asleep the minute his head hit the pillow, and the work downstairs resumed…quietly. By noon on Thursday, they had finished everything except the paint and trim.
“Jake” said Bo, looking through paint cans, “Please tell us you have somethin’ besides orange around here t’ paint a car with.”
“Oh, yeah,” he replied, “some new company sent me a couple sample cans. I think I put ’em over here.” He rummaged around in the corner under some metal signs. “Hey, here we go. There should be plenty.”
“There’s only one problem, y’all,” said Cooter.
“What’s that?” asked Luke.
“There ain’t no way Enos can sleep here while we’re paintin’ his car. It’s loud an’ it smells horrible.”
“Well, we’ll come up with somethin’. Say Daisy…”
“Yeah Luke?”
“Why don’t you pick up Enos when he gets off of work? I’ll give him a call and let him know he’ll need t’ stay out at th’ farm.”
“Sure thing. He’s gonna want his car when he gets off work, though.”
Bo tossed her his keys. “Here, tell him he can drive th’ General, just keep him away from Jake’s.”
Daisy pocketed the keys and grinned. “Don’t worry y’all, I’ll keep him outta here. You boys want me t’ leave th’ porch light on for ya’ if you’re gettin’ back late?”
“Ah, naw, don’t worry about it,” said Bo. “You’re gonna have th’ General anyways. Me an’ Luke ‘ll just crash over at Jakes an’ you can come by an’ get us in th’ mornin’.”
Daisy stared at Bo. “Um…oh…okay. I’ll get you in th’ mornin then,” she said. “I’m gonna go wait on Enos.”
Luke picked up the phone and dialed the Sheriff’s Department.
Enos walked out of the Courthouse at 5:00 that afternoon and breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a long, long week, ending with a strange phone call from Luke letting him know that he and Bo were going be helping Jake out with some project tonight and that he’d be better off staying out at the farm than sleeping above all the racket. Not only that, but apparently his car was trapped behind all the mess so Daisy was picking him up in the General Lee. It all sounded a bit squirrelly to him.
He walked down the steps to where the orange Charger was waiting on him, and climbed through the passenger’s side window into the car.
“Hey Enos.”
“Hey yourself, Daisy,” he said, setting his hat on the back seat. “What’s goin’ on? Luke called an’ said I needed t’ stay out at th’ farm.”
“Yeah, they’ve got something they’re workin’ on with Jake an’ Cooter. Trust me, you wouldn’t get a wink of sleep with all their racket.”
He smiled knowingly at her. “An’ your job is t’ keep me away from there?”
Gone were the days when they could pull anything over on Enos. The man had learned somewhere along the way to read between the lines. “Are you gonna quit worrying an’ askin’ questions or would ya’ rather Bo keep you company instead?”
“Shucks Daisy, I didn’t mean nothin’ by it. I need t’ get somethin’ there first, though.”
“I’ll drop you by, but use th’ outside stairs.” She drove around to the other side of the square and Enos got out and went up to the loft. He wasn’t gone for more than a minute when he came back down to the car and leaned down to the driver’s side window.
“I’d be much obliged if you’d let me drive.”
Daisy laughed and climbed out the window, but held the keys behind her back.
He held out his hand. “Keys.”
She grinned up at him. “For a kiss.”
“Ya’ know, Cooter’s lookin’ out th’ window.”
“So?”
So he took her face in his hands and kissed her lingeringly.
Cooter, who just happened to be looking out the window, squinted and rubbed his eyes.
“Say y’all,” he called to the guys behind him. “Is there something goin’ on between Daisy an’ Enos I don’t know about?’
“What d’ ya mean?” asked Luke.
“Cause, either I’m goin’ blind, or they’re out there kissin’ each other.”
Bo and Luke scrambled over to the window just in time to see what Cooter was talking about.
“Well, I’ll be…,” whispered Bo.
Luke shook his head. “You know, there’s some things ya’ just take on faith…an’ then there’s other’s you gotta see t’ believe.”
“So, you never said, where’re we goin’?,” said Daisy.
Instead of heading in the direction of Mill Road, Enos turned right onto Highway 20, heading north, and a few miles later he turned again onto Ridge Road. Daisy didn’t know what there was up here other than old shacks and stills and no idea what Enos would want her to see, but then again he knew the area better than she did.
“It’s not much of a place, just th’ end of th’ road. It ain’t far, couple more miles.”
As they drove, the elevation got higher and higher until she could catch glimpses of other hills to the left. On the right was a steep ravine that was too close to the side of the road for her comfort. She was looking down at the right side when Enos pulled the car off on a small section of gravel. She’d never been up this far, not all the way to where the road ended – she hadn’t even been aware it did. Most of the country roads out here just wound around forever until they met up with something larger or you came to a spot that was impassible from wash-outs or fallen trees.
“This is it,” he told her and climbed out the window.
She climbed out as well and looked around her for the first time. The beauty of it made her breath catch. In front of them, the land fell away into an immense gorge, but to the left, she could see the taller foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains, rising up from the already dark land below them until their peaks caught the sunset and lit up like gold.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, awestruck.
He pointed to the northwest. “See th’ cleared place on th’ side of that hill?” She nodded. “That’s right above Choctaw.” He turned her around and pointed southwest. “An’ that’s Hazzard, with Highway 20 beside it.” A shadow passed quickly across his face and drew his eyes back over the land around them.
“What’s wrong, Enos?”
He shook his head, as though trying to dismiss whatever he’d been thinking of. “The last time I was up here was th’ night before th’ storm hit,” he said. “I looked out over these hills, an’ I knew somewhere you were out there, but I didn’t know how I was ever gonna find you. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so helpless in all my born days.”
Daisy put her arms around him and hugged him. “Oh, Enos…” She’d never really had much chance to think about what he must have been going through. With him knowing that no one else knew the area as well as himself, not to mention that it had been her who was missing, he’d taken all the responsibility onto his own shoulders. She knew better than anyone that he’d held her life in his hands and it was because of him and his choices that she was standing there instead of six feet under.
He stroked her cheek gently. “I thought I’d lost you, Daisy,” he said. “An’ I swore t’ God if He let me find ya’, I’d leave ya’ alone if that’s what you wanted – just t’ know you were safe.” He stepped out of their embrace and took her hands in his. “Whatever happens, Daisy, I don’t ever wanna lose you again. You’re the only girl I’ve ever loved an’ wanted, an’ I swear I’ll do my best t’ make it worth your time.” He knelt down in front of her, and she blushed as she realized what he was going to ask. “Daisy, someday, would ya’ please marry me?”