by: Marty Chrisman

Luke tugged at the tie he was wearing nervously. He hated getting dressed up. He felt uncomfortable and out of place in a suit. But Mindy was being buried today and the Dukes were attending the funeral to pay their respects. Luke was anxious about going, He knew the rumors were already flying around town that he had broken up with Mindy the night she killed herself.

“Luke? You ready?” he heard Jesse call from downstairs “It’s time to go.”

Luke sighed and opened the bedroom door, going downstairs to join the rest of the family. Bo looked just as uncomfortable as Luke felt. The family went outside and climbed into Daisy’s jeep, a white jeep CJ7 with a large golden eagle painted on the hood and the name Dixie written in elaborate script on either side of the eagle. The jeep was easier to get in and out of then the General, even though the boys would have preferred taking the General if they could have.

The church was already crowded with people when they arrived. As the Dukes entered chapel, Mindy’s father, Cyrus, saw them and came storming over to them.

“I want you Dukes out of here!” he yelled “You ain’t welcome here!”

Jesse looked at the other man in surprise. “Cyrus, we just came to pay our respects.” He said calmly

“I don’t care! I want you out of here!” He glared at Luke “Especially him! He’s the reason my little girl is dead!”

“Now, Cyrus…” Jesse said trying to calm down the other man, who was obviously grief stricken and distraught “There ain’t no call to make a scene. You know Luke didn’t have nothing to do with what happened.”

“Yes, he did!” Cyrus yelled, causing several people to turn around and stare “He broke up with her and she killed herself because of it! He killed my little girl and I want him out of here! The rest of you too! I don’t need none of you Dukes paying your respects! You ain’t got no right to be here!”

“Come on, kids.” Jesse said, trying to keep his own temper in check. “Let’s go home.”  Jesse turned and gently put his hand on Luke’s shoulder as they left the church. He could see that Luke was visibly shaken by the unexpected verbal assault by Mindy’s father. “He’s just eat up with grief….” Jesse said as they stepped back outside “He don’t know what he’s saying.”

“Uncle Jesse, he didn’t have no right to say something like that to Luke.” Daisy said angrily “Even if he is grieving.”

“That’s right.” Bo agreed, a hard edge of anger in his own voice. “He had no call to talk to any of us that way!”

“Let’s just git home.” Jesse said. He was upset himself by Cyrus’ behavior but he knew the man was hurting. Mindy had been his youngest and his only daughter. Jesse knew he’d probably feel the same way if the same thing had happened to Daisy.

Luke jerked off his time and stuffed it in his pocket. He was upset too but Luke was an expert at keeping his feelings hidden and his emotions under control. He seldom opened up to anyone when something was bothering him unless it was to Bo. He tended to tell Bo everything and Bo did the same. But there was still a part of Luke that he kept hidden away from everyone, even Bo. The truth was Luke did feel a certain amount of guilt about what had happened because he had broken up with Mindy that night and he knew that she had taken the news badly. But he had never imagined that she would do something as stupid as killing herself over it. He knew that she was possessive and clingy but he never realized that she might have been emotional unstable too. If he had even thought that she might do something as drastic as killing herself, he would have found some way to soften the blow of telling her that he wanted to break up with her.

When they got back to the farm Bo and Luke immediately went to their room and changed out of their suits and back into their blue jeans, cotton shirts and boots. As he sat down on his bed to pull on his boots, Bo looked at his older cousin and asked in a concerned voice “You okay, cuz?”

“Yeah……fine.” Luke said offhandedly

“Mr. Carson had no call to say those things at the church.” Bo said, still angry at the way the grief stricken father had talked to his family. The Dukes didn’t have much in the way of material things all they really had was the family. And Uncle Jesse had taught them that the family was the most important thing. They each shared a deep bond and love that bound them together and gave them their strength.

And Bo and Luke shared an even deeper bond, closer than even brothers. Sometimes it seemed as if they were opposite sides of the same coin. It unnerved people who weren’t used to it when they seemed to know what the other one was thinking without them speaking or when they finished each others sentences. And all the Dukes seemed to have an almost psychic connection that let them know when one of the others was hurt or in trouble.

“Maybe he’s right.” Luke said putting his thoughts into words for the first time “Maybe I am partly to blame for what happened.”

“You ain’t to blame for nothing.” Bo said defensively “You didn’t make her jump off Widow’s Peak.”

“No, but I should have made her let me take her home instead of leaving her out there by herself.”

“Will you stop beating yourself up for that? She’s the one who chose to take off like that instead of letting you take her home.”

“Maybe…” Luke mumbled still not convinced. Let’s drop it, okay? I don’t wanna talk about it anymore.”

“You wanna go fishing?” Bo suggested

“We have to finish mending that fence first.” Luke reminded him

“Oh, yeah….why’d ya have to remind me?”  Bo groaned not looking forward to three hours of mending fence in the hot sun.

Luke laughed and threw his pillow at his younger cousin, who caught it and threw it back at him. “Let’s git to it.” Luke said, shoving himself to his feet “The sooner we get done, the sooner we can go fishing.”