by: Marty Chrisman
Over the next few weeks, Luke and Kelly spent as much time together as possible. With each passing day, their love grew deeper and stronger. It wasn’t long before everyone in Hazzard knew that one of the Duke Boys had been spoken for. More than one girl in Hazzard Country felt the sharp sting of disappointment and envied Kelly, wishing that they were in her place. One girl in particular.
* * * *
Christy Lane kept stealing glances at Luke and Kelly. It was a disgrace the way he was hanging on every word that little piece of trash said. And the way he kept looking at her. You could just tell they were sleeping together. Christy felt a pang of jealousy so strong she could taste it. She knew just how good Luke was in bed and she missed his loving. She’d do just about anything to keep him from mooning over that little blonde
* * * *
“I gotta go on in about fifteen minutes.” Kelly told Luke. “I’m gonna sing that new song I wrote.”
“Good, I like that song.” Luke said with a grin. But then he liked everything Kelly wrote. She was one of the best song writers he’d ever known (And Luke knew a couple of guys from Hazzard that had gone to Nashville and became pretty good writers)
Kelly had been singing at the Boar’s Nest on the weekends ever since that first weekend when the band had made Luke get up on stage with her. Boss Hogg was in Hogg heaven. She brought in the crowds better than the band ever had before. The crowd always insisted that Luke sing a couple of songs with her, no matter how hard he tried to beg off. The truth was he enjoyed it. He had always loved singing with Kelly and he had missed singing with a live band.
As Kelly left to get ready for the show, Luke saw Christy Lane standing at the bar. She threw a dirty look in his direction then started talking to Billy Ray Collins, one of the local “bad boys”. Luke had been with Christy a few times, but then so had most of the guys in Hazzard County, including Bo and Cooter Davenport. To Luke, Christy had been just a pleasant distraction and nothing more. She wasn’t exactly the kind of girl that most guys wanted to take home to meet the family. Luke forgot about Christy as the band began to play.
After her set, Kelly rejoined Luke and they left the Boar’s Nest together. They were talking quietly between themselves as they walked across the parking lot towards Kelly’s car which was parked next to the General Lee. “Dang it,” Kelly said, noticing that the front tire on her car was flat. “I got a flat.”
“No problem.” Luke said “It’ll only take me a couple of minutes to change it for you.” He paused as he walked between the two cars and glanced back at Kelly with a frown, “Your back tire is flat too.” He knelt down and ran his hand around the outside of the tire. With a sigh, he straightened up and looked back at Kelly “Somebody cut your tires.” He told her.
“Who’d wanna do something like that?” Kelly demanded in a frustrated voice “Dang it, I just put new tires on too.”
“Don’t worry about. I’ll give Cooter a shout on the CB so he can take it back to the garage and fix it for you.” Luke slid into the General “Come on, I’ll take you home.”
Kelly climbed into the General. She was still mad about her tires being cut but quickly forgot about it when Luke gave her a kiss before starting the engine. Far more experienced then she had been at fifteen, Kelly had even shown Luke a trick or two when it came making love. Fifteen minutes later, Luke pulled up in front of Kelly’s house. They got out and went inside.
* * * *
Neither of them had noticed the headlights of the car following behind them when they left the Boar’s Nest. Christy Lane pulled up to the side of the road at the end of the drive and sat there in her car, watching as Kelly and Luke went into her house. She saw a light come on inside the house, upstairs probably in Kelly’s bedroom. A few minutes later, the light went off. Christy scowled. It looked like Luke was there for the night. Stomping down on the accelerator, she pulled away, her tires screaming in protest.
* * * *
Kelly had to get up early the next morning. She had to go to Nashville for a couple of days to take care of some business with her publishing company. She had asked Luke to go with her but he couldn’t. It was harvest time at the farm and he had to be there to help. Bo and Jessie couldn’t do all the work by themselves. Kelly promised to call him as soon as she got back. Since her car was at Cooters, Luke drove her into Hazzard to pick it up before he headed back to the farm.
For the next three days, Luke kept busy working on the farm. Harvest time was a hard, back breaking time that started at Dawn and lasted till after dark. Almost too tired to eat, both Bo and Luke would fall into bed after a quick supper, falling into a deep worn out slumber. The boys were in the back fields working when Luke saw Daisy driving towards them in Dixie.
“Luke,” she said as she pulled up beside the boys “Kelly just called” Luke smiled happily but the smile faded from his face as Daisy continued “She said somebody broke into her house while she was gone. I guess they did a lot of damage. Roscoe’s on his way there.”
“Let’s go, Bo.” Luke said quickly. Since the General was still parked back at the house, Luke motioned for Daisy to scoot over so he could drive Dixie. Bo climbed into the back seat as Luke made a 180 degree turn and headed for the road. Roscoe was just pulling out of Kelly’s driveway as Luke turned into it.
Ignoring the sheriff’s car, Luke pulled up in front of the house and jumped out of the jeep, leaving Daisy and Bo to follow. He found Kelly in the kitchen, a grim angry look on her face. The downstairs was trashed. Someone had cut long slits in the upholstery on the couch and matching loveseat. There were deep gouges in the paneled walls and eggs had been thrown against the fireplace. CDs and pictures had been thrown on the floor and stepped on, breaking several of them. In the kitchen, dishes had been thrown out of the cabinets and smashed. And the contents of the refrigerator was thrown all over the floor.
“Are you okay?” Luke asked Kelly, pulling her into his arms.
“I’m fine.” She said “Just mad.”
“Oh, my god!” Daisy said as she surveyed the damage “Who on earth would do such a thing?”
“Roscoe blew it off,” Kelly said grimly “He thinks it was just liquored up kids.”
“That sounds like Roscoe.” Bo said dryly
“The upstairs is just as bad.” Kelly said “They broke most of the windows too.”
“One things for sure,” Luke said in a tone that Kelly knew meant that his mind was made up and there was no use arguing. “You’re not staying here till we find out who’s responsible for this.”
“Luke’s right, sugar.” Daisy said “You’re coming back to the farm with us.”
“That’s right.” Bo said with a firm shake of his head. “You’ll be safe there.”
Kelly nodded, knowing she was fighting a losing battle when all three cousins made their minds up to something. Luke followed her upstairs so she could find some clothes to take with her.
Her bedroom was as trashed as the downstairs rooms. The carpet was soaked underneath their feet because someone had cut huge slashes in the waterbed mattress. Similar gashes were in the leather headboard. The words Bitch and Slut had been written on the walls with spray paint. Kelly’s clothes had been pulled out of the large walk in closet and thrown on the floor. Most of them had been cut or torn but Kelly managed to find some clothes that weren’t destroyed. With the clothes she found, plus what she had taken with her for her trip to Nashville, she should have enough to get her by until she got a change to go shopping. Even if she didn’t, she was the same size as Daisy and they had always borrowed each other’s clothes anyway.
* * * *
Christy smiled to herself as she walked into the post office. She had overheard Roscoe talking Enos in front of the courthouse and she knew that Kelly was back in town. Maybe the little bitch would get the hint that she wasn’t welcome back in Hazzard after all. If she didn’t, then that was just too bad. Christy always got what she wanted and she wanted Luke Duke.