by: Kristy Duke
The old alarm’s loud piercing sound startles Luke awake and he groggily hit’s the black box until silence shoves the loud noise away while Luke lies upon his old bed awaiting for the vivid nightmares to slowly fade away into reality. Nightmares of war, of seeing his friends killed right in front of him, nightmares that seems to plague every other night or so of sleep; nightmares he has learned to ignore. He allows a long moment for his thoughts to falter away from the vivid and too familiar scenes while his eyes struggle to adjust to the pure darkness that lies heavily in the room. For a moment, thick confusion rushes through him as he listens to his cousin’s heavy breathing, the differences of the room coming to a surprise to him before reality finally sinks in. Reality that they lost their farm to Hogg due to being five minutes late paying their mortgage and despite the construction truck that had ran them off the road, Hogg has finally found a way to win over their farm. Leaving the Dukes with little to no room to fight with him on.
“Damn it,” Luke whispers under his breath as he sits up to look over his cousin’s sleeping still body that lies on the bed across the small room; still asleep despite the loud alarm that rang out a couple of minutes ago. Luke shakes his head in disbelief at his cousin being able to oversleep the alarm, wondering silently how he’d ever make it if he were to live on his own and without anyone to wake him up physically or without anyone to cook his meals for him. A small smile crosses his face at the thought as he eyes the digital clock and for a long moment begins to wonder why he had set the alarm so early; especially when they no longer had the normal chores that came with the farm.
“A plan,” he reminds himself as he stiffly stands up to blindly make his way to the door. Despite losing the farm to Hogg with little area to fight him with to get it back, Luke stubbornly refuses to let go of hope of ever getting it back. If he wants to get the family farm back, it would be up to him to come up with a plan to get it back and he always done his best thinking alone and when it was quiet. Reaching the closed door, he slowly turns around as Bo yelps out in his sleep before going back to his loud snoring and a deep sadness crosses him. Sadness at the thought of losing the farm for himself, but more so for the rest of his family members. Jesse Duke has spent his entire fifty-eight years upon the farm, from growing up to inheriting the farm, and raising him and his cousins. Both Daisy and Bo has spent their entire lives at the farm as well. After his nine year stint with the Marines, Luke knew how it was to live away from the farm to gain at least some experience and strength from it. Watching his cousin sleep, he silently wonders if Bo will ever warm up to the idea of living at a different house or if he’d continue to take it as hard as he had taken it the past couple of days.
Taking another deep breath, Luke opens the door to slowly step out into the living room to notice that the kitchen light is on several feet away. Closing the door and beginning to walk to the kitchen he silently begins to bet who else may be up, Jesse or Daisy. “Jesse,” Luke states walking into the kitchen to find Jesse sitting at the table, “you’re up early.”
“As are you,” he states looking up and chills spread across Luke’s numb body to see the wetness in their wise uncle’s eyes. “I tossed and turned all night last night and I couldn’t stand to stay in bed another minute. A different house, a different room,” the elder Duke pauses to shrug before he lowers his head, almost ashamed to say what is on his mind, “I just keep on thinking about the other day. I don’t want to blame Bo for this,” he goes silent once again as he runs a hand through his beard while fighting back his emotions, “but if Bo had been paying more attention to the road and sped up when we told him to that damn truck wouldn’t have ran us off the road as he had!”
Luke eyes his uncle with surprise to hear him accuse his youngest cousin for their situation and for a moment he struggles with what to say in response. Jesse wasn’t all wrong in thinking that way and the truth is, Luke found himself thinking the same thing over and over again. Not only had he thought it, he even accused Bo to his face while they had been packing up their room, told him it was his sloppy driving that got them evicted. Bo had immediately lost his temper and it had started a fight between them until Cooter came and separated them by ordering Luke to help Daisy pack her room up.
Deep down, Luke also understands that it is much easier to blame someone else for something than to find fault in yourself or to admit openly of your faults. The two boys got into their car after helping Jesse and Daisy within the backseat, fighting and arguing over who was going to drive in the upcoming race that held a large sum of cash for the winner. It had started over breakfast all fun in games until Luke had reminded him of the race Bo had lost two months ago. Everyone knew Rosco had the driver run Bo off the road which was the only reason why Bo lost the race, but Luke had confidently declared Bo had lost the race due to his lack in talent of driving. That if Jesse was going to get the money in order to fix the roof of the barn in the spring, that it better be him who drives The General in the race, the better driver of the two. He had been picking on Bo, Bo knew it too, but took it too personal and had gotten upset and their fight escalated from there.
Truth is, if he hadn’t gotten Bo upset and hadn’t carried the argument into the car and had allowed the fight to drop as he normally would have, Bo wouldn’t have been as sidetracked as he had been ; Bo would have seen the truck and would have stopped before the truck got to them. Instead he wasn’t paying attention to the adjoining road the truck had been speeding on and when he saw it at the last second, they got sideswiped and Bo lost control of the car to land in the ditch. Rick Rundi had climbed out of the truck apologetic and demanded to take fault in it and after a few moments of looking over The General, agreed to take the Dukes into town to see Hogg.
“Look Jesse,” Luke finally states as he pulls a chair out to sit down across the table from Jesse, “it wasn’t all of Bo’s fault. If I hadn’t started that stupid argument and didn’t take it as far as I had, he wouldn’t have been upset and he would have seen Rundi there. Or if Rundi wasn’t speeding and actually stopped at the stop sign,” Luke shrugs as he silently takes his uncle in for a silent moment, “he wouldn’t have hit us either. As hard as it is to accept, it was just an accident.”
“Yeah I know. It’s everyone’s and no one’s fault,” Jesse finally states, “not that it matters. What matters is that it happened and now we’re here. Bad thing is,” he pauses for a short moment looking around their new kitchen, “that unless there is something we are missing, we lost the farm on our own accord and not to Hogg’s schemes. Not that he complained about it and he was more than happy to follow the consequences to our tardiness, but it doesn’t look like he had his greedy hand in any of this. Meaning no way of getting the farm back.”
Luke shrugs silently, at a loss of what to say that may help his uncle feel better. Finally says, “Don’t give up, Jesse. Plus,” he pauses to give his uncle a sarcastic smile, “wasn’t it you that told us yesterday morning that it was only a farm? Only a house? That we could start a new life here with new memories…that there is more things to life than the farm?”
Jesse offers his older nephew a patient smile. “That was I, all right,” he finally states, “trying to comfort y’all as well as myself. Hope it helped y’all better than it had me.”
Luke gives his uncle a small smile before he looks around the small kitchen, his thoughts comparing it to the kitchen at the farm, comparing the two houses. It was definitely not their farm, but it was a house with a roof for them to sleep under, something they weren’t sure they’d be able to find under such tight circumstances, yet with help from friends they found the house to rent. And a landlord that was willing to lease his beloved farm to them knowing in advance that they were tight on money. “Know it’s hard to accept, but you were right. It was only a farm, only a house. We have a lot of memories growing up there, living there, but memories don’t live in a house. They live in here,” Luke points to his head, “we just need to move forward. We are just lucky to find a house to rent under our circumstances.”
Jesse nods. “Yeah I know. You’re right,” Jesse nods as he looks up from his aged hands that lie upon the table they had unpacked and placed in the kitchen yesterday to look at Luke. Questions slowly begin to surge within him as he finds Luke looking across the table at nothing with a far away look in his bright blue eyes. “I know that look of your’s. What ya thinking about?”
Luke shakes his head momentarily as he redirects his attention at his uncle. “As of now, not much of anything,” he pauses dramatically as he swallows down the rough emotions that continues to rip inside of him. Emotions of deep sadness at the loss of the farm, anger towards Hogg for his greedy ways, yet also anger towards himself for pushing Bo too far to help fuel his guilt. Taking a deep breath, he finally continues, “I think me and Bo will take a trip out by our old farm. See what Hogg has planned for the old place.”
Jesse shakes his head. “Sounds like a good way to get you two into trouble,” Jesse gives Luke a stern look, “the farm is no longer ours, Luke, it’s his to do whatever he has in mind for it. You two going out there will only provoke them into arresting you and honestly, I don’t have the money to bail both or any of you outta jail.”
“Don’t worry, we’re just going to drive by it. No harm in that,” Luke forces a confident smile at his uncle to hide his small white lie as he continues to think out the plan that is forming in his mind.
* * * * * *
Upon hearing the door slam shut behind him and feeling his heart come to a heavy stop within him, Bo dreadfully turns around to face the ugly wooden door as his kin’s faces vividly comes to mind. Of the hatred and anger that had been deeply implanted in their eyes towards him. Anger and hatred at him for messing up once again and this time, costing them all the farm. Luke’s angry words yell back at him as he had only moments ago yelled at him at how worthless he was or Jesse’s out blank accusation that it was he that lost them their farm. Bo sighs heavily as guilt rushes through him in full knowledge of the truth, that they are right, it was him that lost the farm to Hogg. If he had been paying attention to the road, he would have saw the truck coming. Instead he was too concerned of what Luke had just said to pay attention to the road until it was too late. And now they’ve lost the farm and Jesse, Daisy, and Luke had just kicked him out of the house they had moved into yesterday; making it loud and clear to him that he is not wanted there any more.
Perhaps Luke is right. That everything would have been better if Jesse hadn’t taken him in when his parents had abandoned him on Jesse’s front porch, that Luke wouldn’t have gotten in all the trouble he has thus far in life only to be the one to find the way out. If Jesse had turned his back on him when he was a baby they’d still have the farm, Jesse would still be able to run shine since it was him that was dumb enough to get caught, and Luke wouldn’t have spent his time growing up having to look out for him all the time. He could have actually lived a life instead of being a full time babysitter that he still seems to be despite the fact that Bo is clearly an adult now; at least age wise.
Taking a deep breath once more he finally admits to himself, Luke is right. Without him there at the farm, things would have been different and for the better. For them anyways. Now that he has been thrown out, they’ll be able to move forward with a better life. A better life without him and without the farm he managed to lose for everyone.
After a long moment, he forces himself to grasp onto the facts that has just been dished to him, that he has outworn his welcome in their presence, and slowly turns around to walk down the two stairs and onto the muddy drive way. Leaving him facing The General. Luke made it clear that it was his car and if Bo were to take it, he’d press charges; after all it was the lack of Bo’s driving ability that made them to be late on their payment. He just couldn’t see trusting The General to the one that ran him off the road. Yet half the car belonged to him and Bo finds himself clenching onto the keys in his pocket with thoughts of rebellion ripping within him. How dare they talk to him that way! He didn’t mean to get driven off the road and he didn’t like this any more than they did!
Yet they were right and he was wrong. Again.
Looking longly at the car he co-owns with Luke, he slowly walks past and out to the road where he takes another long look at the house they are now renting to enforce his raw emotions to quickly accelerates within him. “Good-bye,” he hears himself say in almost a whisper, saying the good-bye he had been too hurt and angry to say when they had shown him the door, the good-bye they refused to give him. A long moment passes before he turns away and as he takes a step down the dirt road a loud beeping sound pierces through the eerie silence and fear abruptly captivates Bo. Breathing heavily he finds himself looking around in attempt to find whatever is beeping yet only to come up empty. Everything looks as it ad a moment ago. A short moment elapses before the beeping slowly fades away and Bo heavily closes his eyes before reopening hem to glance at the house once more to make sure it looks fine. Seeing it the same, he slowly begins his dreadful journey down the dirt road.
Bo gasps as he is abruptly thrown awake to be surrounded by thick heavy darkness that surrounds their new room and for a moment fear grabs a tight hold of him as confusion settles in. As his eyes slowly adjusts to the darkness, he silently watches as Luke slowly and silently climbs out of bed and as Bo slowly glances at the alarm clock his nightmare abruptly reappears within him. The beeping that had so suddenly startled him in the dream had been the alarm clock ringing besides his head. Images from the dream vividly replay in his minds as the harsh words that had been said to him echo loudly to send questions racing within him. Watching Luke silently open the door to walk out of the room before closing it behind him to reengage the darkness in the room, he wonders if what they had said and felt about him in the dream were true. Deep down he knows they would never say or feel that way about him, but yet he can’t help but feel their anger and resentment towards him. After all, it was him who had lost the farm. How could they not be upset or blame him? Bo sure couldn’t.
“Damn it,” Bo hears himself mutter aloud as he shoves himself up in bed as his guilt violently eats away within him. Staring through the thick darkness that continues to linger over the small room, Bo is abruptly hit with a startling thought that sends a shiver of fear tickling down his spine. ‘It was him who got them into this mess, that lost their farm that has been in the Duke name for five generations, it should be up to him to get them out of this mess.’ Dread, fear, and questions ripple vividly through him as the thought rotates within him, over and over again to build a strong conviction within him that he has to do something to get the farm back. But what? Luke was the one who always came up with the brilliant ideas that had gotten them out of the trouble he got them into. Not him.
Sighing heavily, Bo slowly and stiffly climbs out of bed to make it over to where he had thrown his clothes at last night to begin to change into them while his mind wanders aimlessly as to what he should do. He strongly wishes he could go back to bed and await for someone to yell at him to awaken in order to help put things away as they talked about doing, but he knows he has to go out and do something to get the farm back. If not for him, then for his family. And in order to prove himself, he has to do it by himself.
Hearing voices in the living room, he stares at the closed door, awaiting for Luke to walk in before the voice fades away and Bo lets out the breath he had been holding before he moves to the window. Taking a last look in the dark room, Bo shoves open the window to send a chilly wind into the room to send worry rapidly washing over him that he may be heard. “Let’s do it,” he whispers to himself, attempting to encourage him onward before he slowly climbs through the window and out into the chilly early morning before closing the window behind him.
Intense fear and confusion steadily hits Bo as he turns around to eye the dark and unfamiliar surroundings as he hears a small animal scampering around nearby. Dark shadows loom everywhere and for a long moment Bo begins to wonder if he should turn back around and return to the old farm house only for his guilt to shove him forward. Swallowing hardly, he steps farther away from the wooden wall of the old farm house and he steals another look back at the house to make sure no one was watching him. Seeing the windows dark and with no movement, Bo nods at himself before he quickly walks a few feet forward to step into the thick woods that surrounds the farm house. Feeling hidden and protected from his family and helpless and vulnerable to the wild that may be lurking within the woods, Bo inhales deeply and forces himself to continue walking in between the bare trees and shrubbery.
Chills rapidly cross his tense body as the wind blows steadily fast and Bo comes to a halt momentarily as a few drops of icy cold sprinkles land upon his head. “Great,” he mumbles sarcastically under his breath before he continues to walk in the woods. Staring through the thick darkness that surrounds him, his fear grows rapidly within him at the thought of what he has done to his family and what he is doing now. He has lived in Hazzard all of his life and yet as he walks in the woods behind the house, the fear of getting lost in the woods escalates the fear that was already entrapped within him. Bo quickly tries to shake the fear away as he tries to assure himself that it would start getting light soon.
Fighting with his raw emotions that violently claws within him, Bo begins to kick an pinecone as Bo continues to find his way through the thick woods while the rain slowly picks up. “Damn,” he states only to hear himself talk, to break the silence that follows him. After a long few minutes of walking aimlessly through the unfamiliar woods, Bo comes to a halt as the startling question powerfully hits him. What is he going to do to get the farm back? How could he get the farm back? Bo had given the farm to Hogg by allowing that truck to run into him as he had and there was no chance that Hogg would just give it back to them no matter how nice they asked or how sad of a story they could give him. Hogg won the farm fairly this time. So what could he do to get it back? “Nothing,” he hears himself say only to create a sense of hopelessness and a sense of inadequately within him. “Then what?” he asks aloud as he forces himself to continue walking and he is quick to get the obvious answer; go to the old farm and see for himself what Hogg has planned for their old farm.
*********************************************************************************
Taking a drink of coffee, Luke watches his uncle for a long moment, thinking of what all they had said momentarily before they had both fallen into silence. Minutes of silence that Luke had spent thinking and planning what Bo and him could do today once they got to the farm in order to find something to help them get their farm back. Only to come to the conclusion that they had to go to the farm and see what was going on before he could even begin thinking of a plan. If they didn’t see anything wrong or find anything against Hogg, they’d just be wasting their time. “It always takes Bo a while to wake up and get dressed and ready for the day. I think I’m going to go wake him up so that we can head out to the farm once it gets light out,” Luke interrupts the silence and Jesse looks up at him and nods before his eyes fall back upon the scarred kitchen table. Luke sighs heavily as he puts his ceramic coffee cup down and slowly walks out of the kitchen to almost walk right into Daisy. “Morning Daisy. How you sleep?”
Daisy eyes him hardly momentarily before looking away. “What sleep?” Daisy lets out a breath before looking up sympathetically at her older cousin, “I’m sorry Luke. It was just different sleeping in a different room, different house. My mind just wouldn’t shut off once I laid down.” She hugs him. “How was your night?” she shakes her head. “Well at least I had my own bed to sleep on. I kept thinking of Bo who was given that old ratty bed. While we all at least had the comfort of our old bed, he didn’t even get that.”
Luke nods at her rambling. “I slept, but was disturbed with war nightmares,” he answers awkwardly, “don’t know about Bo. He was asleep when I woke up and left the room.”
She nods as she eyes Jesse through the open doorway. “Well maybe I’ll see if we have the makings for a good breakfast. Perhaps that’ll help lighten things up a bit,” she forces a smile up at Luke before she slips by and over to Jesse where she gives him a tight hug.
Luke watches her for a moment before he hesitantly turns around to walk back through the crowded living room, making his way through the maze of furniture and boxes to the closed room that he shares with Bo. “Hey Bo,” Luke states loudly as he opens the door and slowly steps in and for a moment is frustrated when he gets nothing in reply. Breathing in deeply in order to control his emotions, he leans over to turn on the lights that quickly chases the thick darkness away into light. “Bo!” Luke hears himself yell aloud in shock and fear as he sees Bo’s unmade bed empty. Luke is quick to notice that Bo’s clothes from yesterday to be gone and off the floor where Bo had tiredly thrown them last night when they had changed. Luke’s thoughts race rapidly within him of where Bo may have been only for him to recall his harsh words towards him, of his accusations he had strongly given Bo. Of the emotional pain that was apparent in Bo’s eyes when he had said them, almost looking as if Luke had physically hit him. Swallowing hardly, Luke turns on the light of the living room and makes his way to the bathroom and a large hollow feeling erupts within him to find it empty.
“Luke,” Jesse states calmly as Luke walks back to the living room, Jesse now standing alert and worried in the kitchen doorway, obviously had heard Luke yell out Bo’s name in surprise and now picking up on Luke’s panic. “what’s wrong?”
“Bo,” Luke states coming to a halt a couple of feet away from Jesse as Daisy joins Jesse in the door way, “is gone.”
“Gone?” Jesse asks numbly, staring at his oldest nephew as if he doesn’t understand what he is saying, “What you mean, gone? Where is he?”
“I – I don’t know,” Luke hears himself stutter, “he’s not in the bed room and he’s not in the bathroom. My guess -” Luke begins to state his thoughts aloud before thinking better of it, “never mind. I’m going to walk around the house and see if I can see anything. Footprints or anything. Damn, I need a flashlight.” Luke quickly walks over to the boxes to frantically look around before he sees the flashlight that Cooter had thrown onto the couch yesterday after it had fallen out of a box. “Here’s one.”
“I’m coming with you,” Daisy quickly states, joining Luke at the door.
“Me too. Where would he have gone to? Why?” Jesse snaps off questions as they walk out of the house and Luke turns the flash light on towards the ground.
Luke shakes his head. “My guess is he feels responsible for everything and maybe feels like he has to do something about it. I don’t know. All I know, is, is that I said some pretty harsh words to him yesterday,” Luke leads them around the corner, “my guess is, is if he did go out on his own, he had to have snuck out through the window after I left the room. Which means he can’t be too far.”
“Maybe not, Luke,” Daisy states as they make their way to the back of the house and the thick woods comes into view, “but if he went in there, we would never find him. He could be a few inches away and in the dark and all, we’d never see him!”
“Daisy’s right,” Jesse agrees as they reach the boys’ bedroom window and Luke comes to a halt and they are quick to stop as well.
“Yep. Look at here,” Luke slowly states as he shines the light on thick heavy footprints in the mud that start at their window and go into the woods. “Damn,” Luke cusses and shakes his head as the wind and rain slowly picks up to send chills up and down his tense body. After a moment he shines the light into the woods and says, “If we had more flashlights, we could split up.”
“It’s useless,” Jesse grunts as he looks into the woods, “we’d be lucky if we did find him with all them trees and bushes and with – “ Jesse goes quiet in fear with thought, “Damn why he be so stupid for? He don’t’ know them woods, especially in the dark like this!”
“What you thinking, Jesse?” Luke questions, picking up on Jesse’s sudden change.
“Them woods has a big hill several feet away. If I remember right from my shine days, there’s o warning about it even in the day light. It’s just a big drop off,” Jesse mutters as he steps closer to the woods, “he definitely won’t see it in the dark and I highly doubt he knows about it off hand like this.” He goes silent as he eyes Luke and Daisy with bewilderment in his eyes. “Last thing we all need is him going and getting himself hurt or worse with whatever he has in mind.”
Luke eyes Jesse wildly as he digests all that Jesse had said only to send his thought back to yesterday and all that he had said to Bo while they were packing, of his strong accusations. “Damn it,” he cusses as he eyes the woods, trying to think of Bo within the unfamiliar woods in the dark and the drizzling rain. “Bo! If you here me Bo, turn back and come home! Bo!” Luke starts to yell.
Jesse nods in agreement before he begins yelling, “Bo Duke. You better get your rear in gear and get it home! Bo!” They go silent in desperate hope of hearing Bo’s footsteps making their way back home only to be greeted in silence in return.