by: Marty Chrisman

“I didn’t find out until almost a year later that he killed my mother that night and then killed himself.” Kelly told Luke in conclusion. Tears had welled up in her eyes and she sat there trembling, her hands cold as ice. Luke could feel her pain as he listened to her account of what had happened.

“Why didn’t you call or write after you found out that he was dead?’ He asked her, the hurt showing plainly in his voice “You were safe, he couldn’t hurt you anymore. We all thought you were dead too. We just figured your dad had killed you first and hid your body somewhere.”

“Maybe it would have been better if he had.” Kelly told him in a sad, forlorn voice devoid of much emotion. She hadn’t told Luke the whole story, not yet and when she did, she knew that he might never forgive her.

“What are you talking about?” Luke asked in a puzzled voice, wondering why she would make such a statement. .

Kelly looked at him with eyes so full of pain and dispair that Luke wanted to take her into his arms and comfort her just like he used to do when they were kids. In a barely audible voice, she said “He didn’t just kill himself and my mother that night, Luke.” She took a deep shuddering breath “He killed a part of me” she hesitated then continued in a trembling voice “And he killed a part of you too. He killed our baby.”

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by: Marty Chrisman

            Luke pulled up in front of the Hazzard Café just after eleven A.M. the next day. He knew that he was early but he wanted a little while alone before Kelly arrived. He had spent a restless night, filled with anxiety about this meeting. He could hardly believe that Kelly was back and that she was alive. After the bodies of her parents had been found in the old shack where they had lived, he had been so scared that Kelly was dead too. Her father had threatened to kill her before, maybe this time he had carried through on those threats and buried her body somewhere in the woods that surrounded the old shack. As the days, then the weeks, then the months passed with no word from Kelly he had convinced himself that she was dead and he would never see her again. Her arrival at the farm the night before had been like seeing a ghost.

Luke walked into the café, relieved to see that there were only a couple of other customers in the restaurant. He walked to the back of the room and slid into an empty booth, letting this thoughts drift back to the past. He was the one who had known just how violent and cruel her father really was and how badly he had beaten Kelly and her mother.

He was the one she had shared her darkest secrets with, including the secret that her father had been molesting her for years, even before they came to Hazzard. He had never gone all the way with her, but Kelly was scared that he would try eventually. Luke was also the one she had made love to for the first time when she was fifteen and he was seventeen. He had loved her, with all the passion and the commitment of a young man’s first real love.

They had hidden their relationship from everyone, sneaking away whenever they could to spend time alone. It wasn’t because they were worried about Jessie’s reaction to their relationship (Luke kind of suspected that Jessie had it figured out anyway) It was Kelly’s father that they were hiding their relationship from. He was violent and dangerous and as far as he was concerned, Kelly was his property. They had planned to get married as soon as she turned 18. Luke’s eyes darkened with pain as he remembered the last night he had seen her. The night she had disappeared.

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by: Marty Chrisman

Bo and Luke Duke were bent down under the hood of their stock car, the infamous General Lee, giving the engine some minor adjustments. The General Lee was a 1969 Dodge Charger. With its bright orange paint job, black O1 painted on the doors, the rebel flag painted on the roof, and the name “The General Lee” painted above the doors it was as well known in Hazzard County as the boys were. It was the fastest car in three counties and the boys were considered the two best drivers around. The boys had built the General from the ground up and they each owned half of the car. It might be just a car but the Dukes still considered it to be part of the family.

“Wonder who Uncle Jessie invited to supper and why he’s being so secretive about it?” Bo said, as he wiped his hands on a rag lying on the General’s fender. Bo was in his early twenties with a lean, muscular build and boyishly handsome good looks. He had baby blue eyes and light blonde hair that he wore moderately long.

Luke straightened up and slammed shut the hood on the General. Slightly shorter then his cousin, he was just handsome with the same lean, muscular build. Where Bo was blonde, Luke had thick curly brown hair and sapphire blue eyes. “Don’t know” he said “But I reckon we’ll find out soon enough. He’s sure got Daisy busy cooking up a regular feast so it must be somebody pretty special.”

“Hey, ya don’t think ole Jessie has himself a lady friend, do ya?” Bo asked with a grin.

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by: Marty Chrisman

Jessie Duke scattered the grain on the ground, as the anxious hens clucked loudly, anxious to be fed. Jessie was the patriarch of the Duke Family. Jessie was in his early sixties with shaggy white hair and full white beard. In spite of his age and the wrinkles on his face, Jessie was still as spry and active as ever. He was dressed in his usual attire, a pair of faded bib overalls and a red hunting cap.

The Duke family had lived on this land and in Hazzard County for five generations. Jessie lived on the farm with his niece, Daisy, and his two nephews, Bo and Luke. The three cousins had lived with Jessie since they were little things. Luke was the first one to come to live with Jessie and his wife, Martha. He had only been two years old when his parents were killed in a fire. Bo had come next, two years later, after his parents were killed in a car accident. He had only been 4 months old. Daisy had been the last one to come to live on the farm. She had come 4 years after Bo and was six years old at the time. Her father had been killed in a mining accident when she was a baby and her mother had recently died from cancer. Jessie and Martha, who had never been blessed with children of their own, had taken them in and loved as if they were their own. When  Martha died, after over 35 years of marriage, Jessie would have gone crazy if it hadn’t been for them kids.

For years Jessie had supported his family by supplementing the meager income from the farm by making and selling the best moonshine in three counties. Making moonshine was a Duke family tradition, a trade he had taught the boys at a young age. As they grew older, the boys had helped more and more with the “family business”, finally helping deliver the shine to their loyal customers. When the boys were busted making a run and were looking at some serious time in prison, Jessie made a deal with the U.S. of A government. He would never make or transport moonshine again if his boys could come home instead of going to prison. The government agreed and Jessie had kept his word. He had never made another drop of shine since then. (Although he still kept a few jugs around for use in an emergency. Ya see, shine is not only good for drinking but also very good at numbing pain and sterilizing deep wounds.)

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by: Marty Chrisman

A thin little smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as Kelly Dalton passed the sign that read “Welcome To Hazzard County”.  A picture of a fat man in white suit with a big cigar in his hand and a grin on his face decorated the sign. Boss Hogg, County Commissioner of Hazzard county.  It sure didn’t look like much had changed since she had been gone. At least she hoped it hadn’t but then she hadn’t been back to Hazzard in over ten years.

Nobody knew that she was coming back and that was the way that she wanted it. It felt strange being back in the only place she had ever felt at home. She hoped that she was doing the right thing. Maybe she should have just stayed in Nashville and accepted the recording contract she had been offered with RCA. She had always wanted to be a country singer but the secrets from her past would have to be dealt with before she could even think about that.

She turned off the main highway onto Cripple Creek Road. Another smile tugged at her lips as she remembered learning how to drive on these old back roads behind the wheel of Jessie Duke’s old pickup truck. A look of sadness filled her eyes, she didn’t want to think about the Duke Family, not just yet. She didn’t care what anybody else thought about her being back in Hazzard but she was worried about how the Duke Family would react to her coming back after all these years.

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