by: Kristy Duke

It was a dark and dreary winter day when the Duke elderly patriarch took a last look at the empty kitchen before stepping out onto the old porch. Despite the deep sadness that tears deeply within him, a small smile crosses his withered face as his thoughts slowly flash back to the many memories he had built upon this porch. Memories of rocking the kids on warm summer nights, playing matchbox cars with the boys on it, or sitting up on the porch swing as he wait for one of the kids to return home from one of their dates. Now as he steps off the thin and well worn steps down onto the dusty dirt drive way, he is forced to leave the house he had been raised on, the house he had raised his nephews and niece at, and to walk away with only memories. Over and over again he had told the boys and Daisy that it was only a house, only a farm, that there is much more to life than a louse building built with wood or the land and animals; it could be worse. Though now as he steps to his dirty truck, he is stuck asking and wondering what all he was talking about when he had attempted to comfort them. Truth is, the farm means the world to him. It was always family and the farm that meant the most to him and now he is left with only his family and memories.

Taking a deep breath, Jesse slowly turns around to eye the old farm house, taking it in for another long moment as his thoughts grudgingly fall upon the reason of their departure. Boss Hogg.  The man that Jesse Duke had grown up with, was friends with for a long while before things happened that made Boss and Jesse not just no longer friends, but enemies.  For years Boss has tried every trick he could imagine to get his hands upon the boys’ famous race car or the farm; now he has succeeded upon getting the farm. Anger swells rapidly within Jesse as his thoughts flash back to yesterday of when they had walked into Hogg’s office five minutes late in order to pay the mortgage. Hogg’s dark eyes gleamed in excitement as he ripped Jesse’s payment in half, declaring late is late, and that the farm now belonged to him. Forget the fact that it was Hogg’s own construction truck that had plowed The General off the road in order to make them late, they were late and the farm technically was owed to Hogg.

“Damn it,” Jesse cusses as he turns his attention to his truck bed that is full of the last goods that had been left behind from Cooter’s truck. Sighing heavily, he throws open the passenger door of his truck just as Rosco’s patrol car sharply turns into the driveway to force Jesse’s attention towards the town’s sheriff.

“Jesse!” Sheriff Coltrane grunts as he steps out of his patrol car a minute after pulling it into park. He falls silent a moment as he walks up to the elderly Duke before making a play to look down at his silver watch before pointing at the face of the clock to look up at Jesse. “My clock here says it is twelve oh five in the afternoon. Boss Hogg has ordered you off his property by noon today.” He shakes his head in shame. “Which means you are five minutes late…again. You make it a policy to be five minutes late to everything?”

“What are you getting at Rosco?!” Jesse snaps impatiently despite knowing full well what the local sheriff is going to with his statement.

“What I’m getting at, Jesse, is that you are now standing on Boss Hogg’s land and I’ve got orders to arrest any trespassers I find on this here land. Meaning you or anyone else in your annoying family,” Rosco harshly states, raising his index finger into Jesse’s face while stepping closer to Jesse who refuses to back away. “Lucky for you, Jesse, I don’t feel like arresting you today. So I am willing to give you another chance at your freedom, so if I were you, I’d get in that truck of yours and back out of here and not come back. I’m real sorry about your loss, Jesse, but the rules are the rules.”

Jesse eyes the sheriff skeptically for a long moment, waiting for the other shoe to fall, knowing that the sheriff is Hogg’s loyal side kick. “I guess I should tell you thank-you, Sheriff,” Jesse nods at Rosco before he climbs into the cab of his truck, “I’ll be getting going.”

“I’d appreciate that, Jesse,” the sheriff gives Jesse a sad look before Jesse looks away to take a last look at the old farm house before backing out of the driveway and back onto the dirt road. The same drive he’s made day in and day out for years, though this time, deep down, he knows he won’t be going back.

“Lost Sheep calling Shepherd,” Daisy’s familiar voice comes through the CB to break the thick silence that built within the cab, “Shepherd.”

“This is Shepherd,” Jesse sighs heavily after picking up the mike, “I just left the old farm.”

He hears her let out a loud sigh over the CB. “OK,” she finally states after going silent a moment to enforce Jesse to grow worried over how his kids will take this move, “Well, we’re at our new house,” she goes silent, talking about the old farm house that they were able to rent from Mr. Calbrawn last night, “the boys and Cooter are unloading the trucks and moving our things into the house. I just thought I’d give a call out to see if you were alright.”

“Thanks Daisy,” Jesse slowly responds as he feels the tears begin to swell in his eyes, “I’m fine. I’m on my way.”

Silence quickly resumes within the cab as the CB goes quiet to leave Jesse back with his thoughts, thoughts of the old farm to thoughts of the new house they had toured last night. The house they have rented is of reasonable size with the same amount of bedrooms and bathrooms the old farm house has and it holds the same purpose. A place to live in, a place to sleep in, a place to be a family at. Yet it isn’t the same nor will it ever be the same to any of the Dukes. It may just be a farm as Jesse tried to comfort the boys, Daisy, and himself, but the farm was a big part of them that has just been taken away.

 

*                              *                              *                              *

 

Bo sighs heavily as he slowly sets down the heavy box of belongings that belong to him and Luke upon the old ratty bed that is shoved forcefully against the wooden wall, the ratty bed that conveniently came with the old farm house. A deep sadness continues to rip violently within him as he silently looks around the small room that they all picked out to be Luke’s and his room to share. A deep sadness at the thought of leaving the only house he has ever lived in, sadness at the thought of living somewhere else due to Hogg’s greedy ways, and a deep sadness at the thought that the old ratty bed that had been left behind will now be dedicated to him. While Daisy, Luke, and Jesse’s old beds were transported from the farm, they all had opted to leave Bo’s queen sized bed behind since there was already a bed at their ‘new’ house. His bed was chosen to be left behind since it was bigger and heavier than Luke’s single sized bed, leaving him a different bed to sleep in as well.

Struggling with the anger and sadness that sinks heavily within him, Bo slowly moves to the back window to stare out at the thick woods that surrounds the back of the old house while an empty pasture lies right of the house and a large field lies on the left. ‘At least the pasture and field are Mr. Calbrawn’s land to work and worry about.’ The thought repeatedly crosses the youngest Duke’s mind as he forces himself to think of the positive aspects of the move and only come across the fact that Jesse won’t have to worry about taking care of all the land and property they had on the farm. “Damn it!” he cusses heavily as he pulls himself away from the window to walk out into the crowded living room; crowded with boxes and furniture that they have moved in from the trucks that the hauled all their stuff over in. “Where’s Jesse?” Bo worries out loud despite not seeing anyone around.

“He’s on his way, sugar,” Daisy says as she stands up to be seen in the kitchen, worry is spread thickly across her face despite the small smile that she forces on her pretty face. “I just talked to him on the CB.”

Bo half nods as he looks around the room, feeling lost amongst all the boxes and things that surround him. “Things won’t get packed on their own,” Luke gruffly states as he walks through the open door with another box load of things, “you need to pick them up and move them yourself.”

Bo rolls his eyes at his older cousin. “Real cute, Lukas. Thanks for the reminder,” he finally states as he walks past Luke, forcefully bumping into his shoulder on his way out to Cooter’s truck where Cooter is stacking the boxes left over onto the sidewalk.

“Hey buddy roe,” Cooter forces a smile at his friend who is obviously upset over the move, “cheer up. As Jesse said, it’s just a house. Plus, knowing y’all, we’ll find a way to get the farm back. We just need to get our heads together and think of a way.”

“How Cooter? We were late,” Bo asks sarcastically as he glances over Cooter’s shoulder to watch Jesse’s truck come into view, “I highly doubt Hogg is going to change his mind and give it back to us.”

Cooter shrugs his grease stained shoulders at him as Jesse pulls in behind them to come to a halt a couple of feet from Bo. “You never know…especially with how Luke thinks. He’ll think of a way,” Cooter quickly states before Jesse climbs out of the truck. Turning his attention to Jesse, Cooter states, “If there is anything I can do for you Jesse, just -”

“You’re doing enough,” Jesse quickly states at the family friend before he eyes Bo who quickly looks away to send more sadness and grief within Jesse to see how upset Bo looks over the move.  “We better get these all in the house before it begins to rain as the weather man is predicting.”

“Yes sir,” Bo slowly nods as he picks up a large rectangle box of Daisy’s belongs to stiffly being to walk towards the house with it.

“Well, this is it,” Jesse forcefully states as he follows Cooter and Bo in with the last heavy box, “home sweet home.”

“Oh Jesse,” Daisy states as she walks over to hug tightly onto him and Jesse returns the hug.

“It’ll be OK, Dais. Just wait and see,” Jesse forces a smile at her.

 

 

*                              *                              *                              *

 

Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane took a long and heavy deep breath as he silently watched the elderly Duke’s dirty white truck slowly disappearing around the small curve in the road several feet away.  Normally, Rosco would be ecstatic at the sight of the Dukes being evicted from their inherited Duke farm in one of Hogg’s schemes, normally he would have arrested Jesse with glee as he had been ordered to do if any of them were still on the farm after noon. Jesse was standing there, on Hogg’s new land, five minutes late, which would have given Rosco plenty of reasons to arrest Jesse on trespassing as Hogg had ordered Rosco to do.  Though to Rosco this day, this time, this scheme of Hogg’s, seems anything but normal and deep down within Rosco grows a deep sense to rebel against Hogg. Against what he is attempting to do. Everything within the aging sheriff screams back at him, that it is all wrong. Everything. Not that he ever been the one to excel in doing everything right or worrying whether things are right or wrong in the past. In fact, his whole life he had spent working hard for the acceptance of one person or another, whether that meant doing something that is right or if it was something that he knew was wrong; he’d do it for acceptance. And more so than most, working with Hogg, that meant doing things on the dishonest and wrong side in order to gain Hogg more money, more land, more fame; and in order for Rosco to receive acceptance from his fat little white buddy.

But now on this cold, windy, winter day, something within the aging sheriff that it all has to change whether Hogg likes it or not. Years ago he had applied and became an officer of the law to stand up and protect the innocent people of Hazzard and he worked hard to provide honest law work for the people of his town. He was well liked and honest. That was how he got elected sheriff. Though after several more years as Hazzard’s sheriff and serving the people of his town, his pension was taken and his pay was decreased despite his hard work. That had left a stale taste in his mouth and anger boiling deep within him and before he knew it Hogg had taken advantage of him, of when  he was the most vulnerable. He went from the honest patrol officer everyone trusted to being dirty and dishonest, following the fat commissioner around in order to seek his acceptance and support. He got it alright, but it came with ripping off the honest people of his beloved town and going along with Hogg’s plan to give himself more money and power and only giving a slim percentage of all ill-earned money to Rosco. And for the longest time, it seemed right and fair to Rosco to go along with Hogg and cheat the people of Hazzard of their hard earned money; after all, it was them that had taken his pension away.

“It all has got to change,” he hears himself say to no one around as he eyes the empty Duke land that lies in front of him as his mind revisits yesterday of the entire family rushing in with their envelope only for Hogg to rip it in half. Of the anger that had crossed all their faces and the threatening steps the youngest blond haired Duke took before his calmer and cooler older cousin grabbed his arm to stop him from going any farther. Of the intense sadness that locked in, in the elderly Duke’s crystal blue eye who had solemnly shook his head, wise enough to know that Hogg had finally got them. Got them good, too. Which, in Rosco’s mind, made it worse. In the past, Hogg had gotten his hands upon the farm or their race car illegally, but they always had room to fight him on, to earn their stuff back with full payment from Hogg. But now? Now all they have is their story that they were ran off by Hogg’s construction truck, that no one else was able to see or witness. Convenient for Hogg.

“We done it Rosco! It’s finally ours!” Hogg’s boisterous voice penetrates the silence and Rosco jumps in surprise, lost too deeply in his thoughts that he didn’t even hear Hogg’s Cadillac pull up behind his patrol car. Rosco turns around as Hogg’s driver silently opens the door for him and Hogg quickly and giddily walks over to where Rosco stands. “What’s your deal?” he asks Rosco as Rosco eyes him silently and then the old farm house. He shakes it off as he lights an unlit cigar and places a thick hand upon Rosco’s tens shoulder. “Never mind that. We just past Jesse,” he pauses to look at his pocket watch, “and it is twelve twenty. Which puts him here past twelve. So why isn’t he in the back of your patrol car, Rosco?”

Rosco shakes his head at Boss as he pulls his eyes away from the familiar house that is generally alive and colorful and is now quiet and dark. Taking Hogg in, he silently begins to wonder how he could be so cold as to feel that way about the man who had once been his best friend. “I think he’s been through enough, Boss, as it is,” Rosco coldly states, “You took his land and farm away from him, ain’t that enough for you?”

Jefferson Davis “Boss” Hogg grunts in surprise at Rosco’s statement and begins to wonder what has gotten into his sheriff that is generally quick to please him.  Now Rosco seems tight and upset about having to enforce the law as if he had allowed the elderly Duke to go away in rebellion against him. “What is your problem, Rosco? If you have a problem with how I run my town, then maybe you should take some time off and I’ll find myself another sheriff who is capable to do their job properly!” he spits out at him finally, deciding he is not worthy of time spent worrying over. “I don’t know why you all of a sudden have a change of heart and feel like pitying the Dukes, but they lost their farm fair and square! We had an agreement on their mortgage and it is stated plain and clear what would happen if they are a second late on their payment. Well they were over a second late, they were five minutes late! That makes all their land and property now mine! You know that as well as I!”

“You just don’t get it, do you Hogg?” Rosco stares at Boss for a moment before taking a step closer to the abandoned house to receive a blank look from Hogg, “They didn’t just show up late to pay their payment…they didn’t oversleep, they didn’t leave their farm late. They were five minutes late because you had Rundi plow into them with that there truck of his! You have this here land because you had them run off the road!” Rosco snaps back at Hogg, no longer patient with him, “So no, they didn’t lose their farm fair and square! You cheated it out from them!”

Boss stutters a moment, shocked that Rosco has enough nerve to talk back to him like that. Finally he says, “You’ve never had a problem in the past nor did you have a problem when I told you of my plans! What changed now?”

Rosco shakes his head at Hogg for a moment. “I don’t know, Boss. I don’t. All I know is that I am tired of cheating people out of their hard earned money, their land. It’s not right,” he finally states, awaiting to receive Hogg’s angry wrath.

“Not right?” Hogg questions, “Well you better decide on what you want with your life, Rosco. Because if you are not with me, you are against me. If you’re against me you can give me your gun and badge right now and I’ll find another sheriff that my money will buy! Which is it?!”

Rosco eyes the abandoned house and then the small fat commissioner who eyes him with fire of anger spitting towards him in his dark brown eyes. Finally he lets out a deep breath he had been holding and says, “I’m not against you, Boss. You know me better than that.”

“I thought I did, but now you stand there questioning my ways,” Hogg hisses back at him, “if you’re not against me on this or anything with me, then -”

“I’m with you,” Rosco slowly states with dread filling heavily within him. Dread knowing that if he were to go against Hogg, he’d be without a job. And the job, whether he does it right or not, is his only reason of getting up in the morning. Without the badge and the gun, life to Rosco would be dull and empty, and hardly worth living. “I’m with you Boss.”

“Good,” Hogg quickly states as he walks past Rosco to throw his cigar in the mud for his driver to step out. Turning back to Rosco he asks, “then why did you arrest Jesse Duke for being on my land? You had orders, Rosco?”

Rosco shrugs. “As I said,” he finally states, tensing up in preparation for Hogg’s angry response, “I feel like Jesse and all the Dukes are taking enough from you with you taking the farm. They don’t anything else to make it worse, like arresting Jesse.”

Hogg looks hardly at Rosco as he takes a deep breath in order to control his rising anger before he turns his back to Rosco to walk up the thin wooden steps and onto the porch. “You were always dullest tool in the shed, Rosco. You just proved just how dull you are!” he finally snaps as he walks to the front door before turning to face Rosco, “You comin’?”

Rosco nods before walking up the steps to follow Hogg into the farm’s kitchen that now lies empty of any dish, table, or chair and sadness swells within Rosco. Sadness to see the farm so empty and void of any life now that Hogg has taken it from the Dukes, to see Hogg’s plans slowly playing out. Normally Rosco would feel the same giddy and excited feeling that wraps around Hogg now that he has gotten what he wanted. But instead he feels sadness and dread at the reality of the situation and guilt that he has played a big part of taking the farm away from the Dukes. “It’s empty,” he hears himself say to break the silence within the house as Hogg moves away from him to walk into the living room and Rosco slowly follows him to find it just as empty as the kitchen. “Now what?”

“My niece and her husband will be here later this evening,” Hogg states as his frown quickly disappears into an excited smile, “when they get here, they will begin cleaning this place up and getting it ready for the change. When that is done, they will move in the furniture and food, and then put the sign up and we will begin advertising.”

Rosco nods. “What if no one wants to rent or if no one comes?” he finally asks as he begins to walk down a hallway to find himself in the boys’ old room to find they had left an old bed behind. “Well they left a bed behind.”

“Great,” Hogg laughs over his shoulder, “and as for your question…they’ll come. If not, who cares? We’ll turn the farm into something else. But for now it is will be a boarding house. Plus who couldn’t resist me niece’s cooking and her husband’s handy work around the farm? They’ll have horseback rides they can go on or do whatever else they can do on the farm. But we already went over this…remember?”

“I remember,” the sheriff nods as he moves past Hogg, his thoughts fall the Dukes and onto Hogg’s well rehearsed plans that they have went over several times in the past week. “I was just trying to remind myself of why I am doing it for. Thanks for the reminder.”

Silence falls between them again as Rosco walks out of the hallway and back into the living room as he is left feeling torn between his old self of yearning to gain acceptance of Hogg by doing what Hogg wants and the troubling feeling that things need to change. That he needs to change. But how?