by: Brian
The ruthless heat of the Georgian summer clenched Hazzard County in a withering grip, stilling the air and suffocating the crops. Birds chirped listlessly in the dry branches of the trees, while insects swarmed thick over the remaining swampland.
Despite being accustomed to the Southern climate, Daisy felt the drained by the fatiguing temperature. She sighed and brushed a damp strand of hair from her forehead. She had only been waiting a few minutes…or had it been a half an hour by now? The heavy, heat-laden air seemed to be stopping time itself.
“Where are they, General?” she spoke softly. Restless with concern, she took a short walk around the parked Dodge Charger, her eyes searching the wooded hills for any sign of her cousins.
Bo and Luke were nowhere to be seen. Daisy was alone.
“I wish they’d hurry,” she whispered. There was so much that could go wrong…so much that could have already gone wrong…
The thought sickened her. Bo and Luke might have been caught. They might now, at this very moment, be in the hands of the law…or worse.
“I can’t wait much longer,” Daisy decided. “If they’re not out in five minutes, I’m gonna go in and get ‘em.”
The General was silent except for the small pings and ticks coming from the hot engine. Daisy rested against the nose of the orange stock car, feeling the waves of heat breathing from the radiator. It had already been a long, trying day for the General Lee, and his mission was not yet complete.
Within her mind, Daisy replayed the events that got her cousins involved in a dangerous gambit. Bo and Luke were too observant for their own good; and Duke curiosity often led them right into the numerous traps set by Boss Hogg and Rosco. So it was only natural that when Bo and Luke noted the activity of a suspicious-looking moving truck, that they set out to uncover its purpose on their own.
The sight of a moving truck backed up to a house in town had only received passing interest. Later, when the same moving truck was parked at another property, the Duke instinct for trouble was stirred. And the appearance of the large truck at a neighbor’s farm convinced Luke that burglaries were likely in progress.
There were few people in Hazzard, save for the Sheriff himself, that cruised the county as often as the Duke boys. This was the main reason the moving truck escaped attention by everyone else. It was making stops according to a pre-arranged plan and schedule, docking up to houses and quickly cleaning them out. The team of movers, as Luke described them, were three huge men with work coveralls and baseball caps. Their truck was a pale yellow with a makeshift logo painted on the side, the name “Town & Country Movers” emblazoned on the panels.
Thinking that there was no sense going to Rosco when he was probably involved, Bo and Luke set out to follow the moving truck. They took Uncle Jesse’s pickup in the hopes of avoiding notice, leaving Daisy stay in reserve with the General. The last CB call by Luke said the moving truck was heading for the old coalmines near the edge of the county. He instructed Daisy to bring the General to a nearby moonshine site, which had also been long abandoned. The plan was simple. Bo and Luke would follow the moving truck, find its destination, and then do some snooping around. If they were discovered by Boss and Rosco or the henchmen du jour, they would make a break for it and rendezvous at the old still site to escape in the General.
A short burst of static erupted from the General’s CB, making Daisy jump. Rosco’s voice boomed over the airwaves a second later. “Enos! Enos, you gotcher ears on?! Come back!”
“Yessir, Sheriff!”
“Enos, listen up! We got us a burglary over at the Clayton place, and the truck matches the description of the one seen at Otis’s farm. Gitcher gumballs goin’ and meet me over here pronto!”
“Right away, Sheriff! I’m gone!” Enos’s breathless reply was no sooner made, then the voice of Boss Hogg cut in.
“This is County Commissioner J.D. Hogg! Sheriff Coltrane, you’d better answer me!”
At this, Daisy felt her heart miss a beat. Instantly, she knew that Boss and Rosco were not behind this one. Boss rarely used Rosco’s title; the use of it alone was a signal that real trouble was in Hazzard.
“I’m here, Boss!” Rosco answered.
“Here better be right in front of my house! I ain’t takin’ no chances on bein’ robbed!”
“Khee! You ain’t got nothin’ to worry about, Boss. I got Cletus out there standin’ watch.”
“Hrmph. He’ll watch, alright. He’ll hold the door open for ‘em, the dumb lug nut…”
“Hey!” Cletus’s voice broke in.
“Hush!” Rosco shot back. “Cletus, maintain radio silence! I need this channel to stay clear!”
“How can it stay clear when you’re always talkin’ on it?” Cletus questioned.
That one made Rosco pause. Boss interrupted again. “Cletus, pipe down! You just keep your eyes peeled, and if you see that there movin’ van, you shoot first and ask questions later!”
“Yes sir, cousin Boss….uh….what kind of questions?”
“Bah! Nevermind that! Just guard the place!”
“Roger Wilco!”
Daisy leaned into the General’s driver’s side and reached for the CB mike. She was convinced of Boss and Rosco’s innocence in this particular scheme; and with Bo and Luke still missing, she was more than ready to ask for help. Any help. “This is Daisy Duke callin’ Sheriff Rosco, come in Rosco!”
“Daisy?” Rosco radioed back, surprised.
“Rosco, we seen that movin’ truck too, and Bo and Luke were followin’ it towards the old coal mines!”
“Ooo! They shouldn’t be messin’ around with those maverick movers! Those men are considered armed n’ dangerous, I got the A.P.B. on ‘em from Atlanta!”
“Oh no!” Daisy gasped. “Rosco, I got a bad feelin’, please come out here….”
“Uh…well, I got this report to finish here at the Clayton’s, ya see…”
“Rosco!” Daisy pleaded. “They’re in danger!”
“Sheriff, I’ll go!” Enos radioed in. “Stay put, Daisy!”
“Enos, yer supposta meet me here!” Rosco ordered. “You can’t go on some wild Duke chase when there’s work to be done!”
Enos’s CB reply was a long burst of static, indicating a sudden bit of convenient radio trouble. Rosco gave a mumbled oath that would have offended the FCC.
Daisy let out a breath and hung up the mike. Help was coming…
The CB radio squawked again, unexpected and sharp. “Mayday! Luke Duke callin’ anyone on the Hazzard net! We’re at the coal mine on Pine Knot Road –“
“Luke!” Came Bo’s urgent voice in the background. “Look out!”
There was grunt of pain and the CB fell silent.
Tears threatened Daisy’s eyes and she choked back the emotion. Enos was going to be too late. It was up to her. Even then, she might be too late…
Daisy climbed behind the General’s wheel and turned the key. The mighty engine gave a ripping growl, responding eagerly. The thrumming power under the hood fed courage to Daisy’s heart, and she threw the car into gear and pressed the gas determinedly. The time for waiting and stealth was over.
She launched the General from the still site and felt the velocity of steel and horsepower throw her back against the seat. The motor roared in her ears. They could probably hear it in Canada. It didn’t matter; her cousins were in trouble, and the General Lee might be all that stood between them and certain doom.
The hot sun flashed brilliantly across the orange hood, forcing Daisy to squint her eyes against the glare. Pine Knot Road was a ribbon of dirt leading into the hills, and the General’s wake was a swirling cloud of dust. The old rutted path that lead from Pine Knot Road to the abandoned mines was just wide enough to squeeze the General through the trees. Speed meant everything, and Daisy held the wheel with both hands as the General bounced and leaped towards the face of the closest hill.
The rutted trail abruptly dove down at a sharp angle, and the General began a roller-coaster descent, nearly flying free from the trail altogether. A loud blare from a truck horn sounded at the same instant that the moving van rounded a curve at the base of the trail. It was beginning the climb up the one-lane trail at the same time the General was rolling down it, and the impending collision seemed impossible to avoid.
Trusting to reflexes and instinct, Daisy veered the General sharply to the right, aiming for a short ledge that ended with a complete drop-off. It might get her killed or it might save her. “Come on, General!” she shouted, laying one hand over the Dixie horn, blaring the General’s battle cry as the Charger’s wheels shot off the ledge. The sensation of flight and guided free-fall made Daisy hold her breath. The beauty of the moment, the perfection in the arc of the General’s dive, was only marred by the fact that the truck was too close…
There was a heavy bam! as the General’s wheels made contact with the top of the moving van; but the forward motion of the van, coupled with the General’s downward leap, prevented the car from landing square-on and falling through. Instead, the Charger skipped over the top like a stone across the water, taking another leap and landing solidly on the sloped trail, speed unabated. At the jarring landing, Daisy gave a heartbeat’s pause before putting her foot on the brake and slowing the car down. She had control, and the General was intact.
Unfortunately, the truck was continuing its climb up the trail towards the road, and there wasn’t anything to be done about it. Her first priority was finding Bo and Luke. She doubted that they were in the back of the moving van; something told her the criminals wouldn’t take the chance on having evidence such as live hostages – or worse – found in the truck with them.
Then again, they were also unlikely to leave evidence behind them. Alive or otherwise.
A flashing, sparking line caught her eye. It confused her for a second; the small crackling light took a moment to register. She quickly realized that a long fuse line had been run from the mouth of the old mine. Apparently it had been timed to length, allowing the thieves ample escape room. Lit upon their departure, the sparking fuse was making a deliberate journey to the mine, where it would undoubtedly destroy all evidence. Including her cousins.
“No!” Daisy prayed. “Lord, no!” She shifted the General and felt the tires dig in deep, spitting rocks and debris as the Charger barreled into the mine’s wide entrance. The lit fuse burned resolutely just behind her. She flipped the headlights on, and saw Bo and Luke’s huddled forms bound to the earthen floor some twenty feet ahead. They were yelling at her to turn back and save herself, their faces holding terror. Piled dynamite was stacked behind them, rigged to bring the support rafters down and collapse the tunnel.
“DAISY! PUT IT IN REVERSE! GO!” Luke ordered.
Ignoring him, Daisy put the General into park and climbed out of it, running to him and to Bo as fast her high heels could take her. The hiss of the burning fuse was steadily growing closer, its erratic light flickering hauntingly in the darkness. Coal dust swirled and misted in the General’s headlights, sifting around like finely-ground ash. Daisy coughed as she struggled with the snap to Luke’s knife pouch, freeing the blade and sawing nervously at the rope that bound Luke’s wrists. The knife was sharp, and the rope broke apart quickly. Luke snatched the knife and cut the rope from around his boots with one deft slice.
“Get back to the General!” Luke shouted to Daisy. He spun around to free Bo.
“Go on, Luke! Leave me!” Bo yelled. The burning fuse was too close. “Take Daisy and get outta here!”
“Not on your life, cousin…” Luke said, gritting his teeth as he worked the blade through the rope. It broke free, and another slash shed the rope from Bo’s boots. Luke helped Bo up and shoved him towards the General. “DRIVE!”
Bo needed no urging; he dove into the driver’s side while Luke scrambled over the hood and hauled himself into the passenger side. Daisy hung on in the backseat as Bo threw the car into reverse, gunning it straight backwards while Luke was still getting situated.
Daisy saw that there were scant inches left of the burning fuse. They would not get clear in time…
Bo figured the same thing. “STAY DOWN!” The tail of the General found daylight as it cleared the mouth of the coalmine. The Charger’s nose was barely out when Bo cranked the wheel hard to the right and then threw the car into forward gear, executing a vicious Y-turn to send the General running for the uphill trail.
Luke sensed it coming and gave warning. He sank lower into the passenger seat and clutched the door panel. “Bo, don’t stop this car no matter what!”
Bo gripped the wheel tight. Daisy cringed in the backseat, face down.
The explosion was like the detonation of a bomb. A ball of fire boiled from the mine as the dynamite erupted with the trapped gasses and coal that had been collecting for decades. The ground shook and the glass blew out from the General’s back window. Though her eyes were shut, Daisy felt the flash of fire and the surge of sudden, intense heat. It enveloped them and overtook them. Trees creaked and fell beside them, crashing down with a crack of thunder. The world was coming apart and the pieces were scattering everywhere, raining onto the General like chucks of blazing hail.
There was another sound within the riot of noise; the ripping, growling roar of the General Lee. They were still moving. Daisy felt the fire’s heat fade back. The nose of the General was suddenly skyward. Bo had done the impossible; he had found leverage to jump the General uphill, gaining a short but precious distance between them and the volcano of the exploding mine. The Charger landed heavily and threatened to backslide, but Bo threw the gear into low and pushed the car up the trail. Triumph rippled through him, and he sounded the Dixie horn and gave a whoop. “YEEEHAAAAA!”
Luke didn’t argue with that. He sat up straight in the seat and glanced into the rearview mirror. “Daisy, you alright?”
“Yeah,” she said with a dazed voice. She moved to sit upright, glancing once at the hellacious scene behind them. She vowed to never look at it again. Turning forward, she found Luke’s blue eyes looking at her seriously. He didn’t have words for what he wanted to say.
He didn’t need them. Daisy leaned forward and placed one hand on Bo’s shoulder, and rested the other on Luke’s. Together, they found the safety of Pine Knot Road.
***** ***** *****
The arrest of the moving truck thieves was a happy surprise to the Dukes. Enos and Rosco boxed in the fleeing vehicle with a roadblock. Thanks to Daisy’s earlier CB call, finding the truck had not been difficult.
Experienced criminals that they were, the thieves considered putting up a fight and shooting it out with the law. But the look of fury on the Deputy’s face, combined with the bloodhound expression that the Sheriff was wearing, made it clear that if gunplay started, it would be answered with due force. The explosion and black smoke coming from the mines had given Rosco and Enos grim thoughts about the Duke’s whereabouts, and each Hazzard lawman controlled himself with effort.
When the General Lee rolled up alongside the county patrol cars, the Dukes were just in time to see the handcuffs being snapped on. Bo and Luke were happy to cooperate with the law for this occasion, and gave eyewitness accounts to add to Rosco and Enos’s reports. The Hazzard law was going to look good for a change, and Rosco was already imagining the newspaper articles.
Daisy, meanwhile, showed her appreciation to Enos in a way that left him stammering and blushing. Rosco had no choice but to give him the rest of the day off to recover.
With the apprehended thieves secured, the two Hazzard county cruisers swung back towards Hazzard. Luke drove the moving truck behind them, saving the law from having to pick it up later.
Bo slid back into the General and waited for Daisy. She walked by the front of the Charger, then paused for a moment. She rested her hand on the brow of the hood, speaking to the car once more.
“Thank you, General.”
The End