by: Essy Jane

It had been close to three months since Jesse had been shot and there was
just no change. He didn’t move once. Bo was so worried that he never left
the hospital that night. Bo would just sit by Jesse night after night.
Sometimes Jo Anna would sit there and bother her dad until he smiled at
least once. That was always her greatest challenge. Bo wasn’t too happy
about what was going on. Who would be?

Jose was still in jail and to make things worse, those two men robbed Boss
Rosco’s bank for the second time. Jose was sleeping that afternoon in the
jail cell when he heard foot steps coming down the stairs. Jose looked up to
see it was Enos.

Jose wished that Enos was carrying good news or at least some news. He just
wanted out. Maybe Jose could prove his innocence. Would it work though? Boss
Rosco was crazy and weird all at the same time. Goofy yet smart; hard to
beat that’s for sure. Dukes were always smarter though when it came to
stuff like that. Now the only way to innocence was freedom. Jose had to
manage that somehow. “Hey sheriff,” Jose mumbled as he stretched. Enos had
Uncle Jesse’s checker board in hand.

“You know this was your great Uncles?” Enos asked. Jose nodded as he
recalled the stories that Bo spoke of. The ones that were spoken must’ve of
been way too hard for Luke to speak of but easiest for Bo. “Well he used to
beat me every time. I wasn’t too happy about it because well, it happened
too often. But I tried everyday to get better. It just plain old never
happened. So would you like to challenge me to a game?”

“Can we make a bet on it?”

“Sure, why not.”

“Okay if I win you let me escape from the prison. It will be your little
reward to a new person in town.”

“Jose, now you know I can’t do that.”

“Sure you can. You just simply open the door and say ‘oh you are free’.
After that sudden glorious moment you do a little dance and turn your back.”

“I can’t let you loose.”

“Well when in Rome you have to wear a toga.” As they were talking, Jose
snagged the keys and opened the door slowly. He grabbed Enos and locked him
in.

“Now Jose, don’t do this to me now! Come on buddy don’t leave me.” Jose
waved as he ran outside the door. Thank goodness Cletus was too busy writing
fake tickets to make Boss Rosco rich.

Now Miss Tizdale was gone but her niece took over the mail service for her,
her name was Essy-Jane Tizdale Duke. Now Essy was a big part of everyone’s
life. She was their connection and a good friend. It was a good thing she
was. “Hey Essy, can I have a ride from you?” Jose asked.

Essy looked at her motorcycle and then looked at her car called ‘Uncle Sam’.
Every car had a name whether it was dusty or oil spill. Some even had names
like ‘stupid piece of junk’. But all cars in Hazzard were called something.
Essy’s was special.

“Well sure sweetie, but there’s one thing you must do. Choose our weapon,”
Essy replied. She pointed to both of the vehicles.

“You don’t fly in Sam do you?”

“Of course I fly! This car is almost exactly like your General Lee. Now what
you have to do is get in Uncle Sam. We can loose anyone in that feller. This
is my baby. I painted the flames on the sides myself. I put in my own engine
too.”

“Okay we’ll take the car.” Jose figured that the doors were bolted on and
climbed right through the window. Cletus turned just as he saw Jose’s dark
hair. He got into his police car and drove on after them. The sirens wailed
behind them. “Not Cletus!” Jose smacked his forehead.

“Well I guess we’re both fugitives now. I’ll have to use some of my Hazzard
skills for this one.” Essy pulled a big u-turn and headed back towards
Cletus. He backed up and kept going until he flew backwards into a ditch.
Now Uncle Sam was safe to make his get-a-away.

“Have you been hanging out with my cousin?” Jose asked.

Essy smiled. She kept the car right on going. Over the hills and deep into
the country. She was going quite the odd route but Jose didn’t care. He
would rather ride in a flying car any day than be stuck in some old dirty
prison cell.

Essy took many jumps in Uncle Sam. Sam always did ride well on ground. Jose
held on for dear life. He was learning how to deal with the other people’s
jumping style. Jose did small jumps. This was only because he wasn’t willing
for the whole nine yards so to speak.

When Essy finally came to a stop they were in the middle of nowhere. There
were lots of trees and many distinctive caves all around them. These weren’t
just any caves. Essy had taken Jose the Indian caves. “What are we doing
here?” Jose asked. Essy rolled her eyes and wondered why in the world Jose
didn’t know about these caves.

“This is where your father took me on our first date. This is where Bo took
me on his first date too. They said if ever they were in trouble, here’s the
place to find them. But I thought for sure I was going to marry one of those
fellas. I married Judd Duke Instead,” Essy joked.

“Your daughter is related to me?” Jose questioned.

You could barely tell at all that Essy was close to 39. Bo was about six
years older than her and Luke about ten. It was a love at first sight deal.
Both Bo and Luke when they dated her figured she was much older considering
her figure. Essy was quite crafty too. But that comes with living in Hazzard
for any length of time.

Essy’s skin tone was light. She didn’t always go out of the house. Her
mother and father died in a car crash and Essy lived with her Auntie in
Oklahoma for a long time. She loved it up there. The farmland was beautiful
and she worked harder than any other person on that farm. Essy came to
Hazzard when she was 16 years old and that was the first time the boys ever
layer eyes on the girl. She had a lot of fun playing with their minds; there
was no doubt about that one. Bo and Luke had a lot of fun with Essy too. She
loved people.

“Why didn’t you marry Bo?” Jose inquired. Essy smiled. She looked at him
with soft eyes.

“I couldn’t marry him. He had his heart set on Nancy-Lou. I guess when I met
Esmeralda; I had to adopt her on sight. That was when I was in 1997. Boy do
years pass by,” Essy replied. She looked at the fascinated Jose just sitting
there. “Oh listen to me babble, come on and I’ll show you where you will be
sleeping tonight. Make the moves on me and I will kill you.”

“What about Esmeralda?”

“She’s over at a friend’s tonight. Besides that Alda, that’s her nickname,
knows that if I am gone for more than two days to call Cletus and Enos.”

“Why two?”

“Well in Hazzard County, things are beyond crazy. So she knows what to do.”
Jose leaned on the rocky walls of the cave. It was noticeably relaxing
considering it was a cave. Jose thought about how worried Bo would be about
him. He wondered if Jesse was okay. The problem that comes with being in
jail is Jose hadn’t gotten the chance to sit with Jesse.

He wanted just to hold his hand. Jose longed to tell Jesse just how brave he
really was. Suddenly, Jose heard footsteps. He popped his head out of the
cave door and ended up getting kicked in the face. Jose tried to attack this
masked person. But unfortunately he was foiled.

The masked person punched Jose in the nose. He didn’t like that too much.
Jose hated to be challenged. There was just something in him that always
seemed to stop any sort of emotion in this boy. When someone hit Jose, the
anger filled within him and ate at his heart.

Jose was lifted up over this person’s shoulder, facing upwards and his back
was held over the shoulder of the enemy. The masked person holds Jose in
place and spins around a few times, this person ends up tossing poor Jose
into the air dropping and drops him on the ground. Jose lied there
motionless. He was breathing hard. Jose managed to sweep the masked person’s
leg just well enough to get the person down on the ground.

He wondered who in the world would do such a thing. But then the thought
crossed his mind and he knew there was only one that would ever pull any
moves like that. “Jo! I am going to kill you!” Jose stated. Jo Anna took off
her ski mask. Her hair swayed as the wind lifted it in the air.

“Well I thought there was some bum staying Duke Territory and I was right,”
Jo stated. She gave Jose a hand up. Jose was still mad at her. He fixed his
eyes on her making sure she didn’t pull another move on him. Jose was smart
but he didn’t always put it to good use. “So what are you doing here? I
thought you was in the slammer.”

“I were in the slammer…I mean I was in jail. I couldn’t stay in there for
something I didn’t do. I mean why would I shoot Jesse?” Jose replied.

“I don’t know why would you shoot him? Humour me; I would like to know your
socialistic views on murdering people. Why do you like to use machine guns?”

“Why do you think I did it?! I didn’t do it at all. I like Jesse. I mean at
first he seemed like a big idiot but he grows on you. Jesse’s pretty smart
too. But man is he ditzy. I like him and I wouldn’t shoot someone I liked.”

“Why is that? I mean in all honesty you have shot one of your own friends. I
heard you talking to Luke about it when y’all got here.”

“I shot him in the knee. He was trying to kill me.”

“That’s some friend you got there. Man alive I wouldn’t be sticking around
people that I knew were going to kill me.”

“And I am glad that he helped me out on that. If it wasn’t for Dad I would
be dead right now! I promised I would never use a gun again. I may be a big
man on the streets of New York but I always keep my word. I didn’t shoot
Jesse.”

“I don’t think you did it. But you can you prove it? There was a pair of
gloves on the floor smothered in blood. But I know they were yours because
you are too cool for those. In fact, you think that you are too cool for
anything Jose.”

Jose sat back down on the ground. Her words touched him in a way that
nothing has before. Jose knew that he used to be cold hearted. He didn’t
want to think about things like he should’ve. September 11th 2001 was the
hardest thing he ever had to deal with. The thought of his own flesh and
blood being trapped under the rubble; it scared him. Dreams came after that
almost killed him inside.

Jose didn’t want to think of how many people came out of that alive. He
didn’t want to think about the many that didn’t come out at all. Jose didn’t
want to look at the cloud of smoke that surrounded the city when he was let
out of school early. He wanted the shakes to go away many days after when
they wouldn’t. To him the United States had let him down. He could never
feel safe again.

“I was but now I am different. I have changed beyond the ways of being a
crook,” Jose commented.

“I don’t know, you still think like a crook don’t you?” Jo Anna asked.

“Sometimes I guess Jo. But why do you ask?”

“Have you ever read those corny novels where Don kills Drake and many others
are expected of killing the same person?”

“Well I read something along those lines. But I don’t see how that has to do
with anything.”

“Put two and two together and you get four. Jesse was shot and Boss Rosco
saw that you were getting on the floor.”

“Yes he did. But he won’t admit to it.”

“Exactly, he’s trying to keep you occupied. You see the Dukes of Hazzard
County are generally meddlesome and testy people. They can solve a case like
detectives. Dukes are also addicted to trouble.”

“Yeah well I learned that the hard way. You’re saying that Boss is planning
something?” Jo nodded her head. She looked at Jose who had a horrified look
on his face. “Does that mean that he planned on having Jesse get shot like
that?” Jo Anna gagged.

“Not a chance! Boss Rosco is tricky and money seeking. He most certainly is
not a murderer. He wouldn’t kill anyone, not even a Duke and boy does he
hate us Dukes. Not really hate but doesn’t like. I mean we don’t like him
much either but if Boss ever were drowning, we’s stick together to save his
life. You New York boys ain’t that smart.”

“Don’t make fun of the city that never sleeps. I used to live there.”

“Sorry, we country folks are just happy being us.” Jose never thought of it
that way. He always wanted to be more than what he was known as. Jose was
not a big fighter until his friends laughed at him for having a cop Dad.
They told him that he would be bide by the law for life. Jose didn’t want to
be known as someone who has to do everything his parents say. That’s when he
started to get into fights with the boys that teased him. But as time went
on, Jose got better. But when the news went off about the two buildings
being hit by planes, the younger Jose would never be the same again. That
was the trouble with this tragic world. Everything that happened to people
would have an impact on people. Especially with those very events that
surrounded the attacks.

“I had a reason to be cold hearted. Your Dad had never had his life
threatened I was sure he was dead. Have you ever experienced that?”

“Yes I have. We went to California and there was a bank robber. Dad stepped
in and took the bullet for a total stranger.”

“He’s a good man.”

“Dad’s more than a good man. Dad is tops, number one. He helps everyone in
need. As does Jesse; but that kid is reckless. He is always stepping in
front of things so that others won’t get hurt. I hate it and it does scare
me. Jesse’s too reckless for me.” Jose elbowed Jo Anna in the ribs. He knew
that this young woman was more reckless than both Jesse and Jose put
together.

Jo Anna knew it too. She loved being wild because it made her feel natural.
It wasn’t a girl thing it was a Duke thing. It was because Bo taught his
children to show their emotions. He told them if they didn’t like something,
stand up for their rights. This is exactly what Bo’s children did. It was
something Luke’s children didn’t have as much say over. Living in Hazzard
County compared with the big city of New York is a big difference.

“You are way crazier than Jesse could ever be.”

“I didn’t jump in front of Rosco did I?”

“Well you better get back, I have company, and I’ll be fine. Just tell
Nancy-Lou and Bo where I am. I don’t want them to worry about me. I mean
they’re so nice to me and all.”

“Well okay, but you asked for it. They’ll get you. No one in this house has
gone to jail out of us kids. You did and you make a break for it.”

“I didn’t shoot my cousin!”

“I know that but the justice system works and sooner or later you would have
gotten out.”

“Not a chance.”

“Well you would have. Jesse will testify that you didn’t do anything wrong.”
Jo walked away. She didn’t want to leave Jose and she wished to say more. Jo
wasn’t pure evil. She loved to help people more than anyone else. But then
again so did a lot of other people. Jose didn’t feel alone at all though. He
was aiming to see Jesse in three weeks. There was nothing that could keep
him from his cousin.

5 hours later at the hospital…

Jesse was awake and sitting up. He was talking away about everything. Jesse
loved to talk though. That kid talked more than a girl on a telephone. Now
that’s a lot of love for one conversation.

Jesse wondered most about Jose. His cousin didn’t get to see him and of
course that would scare him. Jesse wanted Jose to be here and see that
nothing can keep a good boy down. He wished that he could see his cousin.
But with the law on his tail it was bad. Bo sat beside Jesse and just
listened to him as he talked about everything. It was a miracle that he even
woke up.

Just then Rosco walked into the room. He knew now that Jesse was awake, he
could testify about Jose not shooting anyone. But Rosco had another trick up
his sleeve. “Hello Bo, Jesse. How are you feeling? Do you know where your
cousin Josie is? Thank you for saving my life. I was wondering if you could
answer a few questions,” Rosco began.

“Slow down Boss. I am feeling just dandy. His name is Jose and no I don’t
know where he is. You are very welcome and if you want me to answer
questions that would be fine with me as long as my Dad is with me,” Jesse
replied. It was lucky that Jesse knew his rights or Boss Rosco could really
play with his mind.

“Did your cousin shoot you?” Boss Rosco knew the answer to this one but
wanted to ask anyway.

“No he did not shoot me. I know the people that did.” Though that seemed
like a point for the Dukes don’t be surprised when it isn’t. This is what
Boss Rosco hoped for. You see he did learn a few trick from Boss Hogg that
seemed to rub off on him. Others he learned in the courses he took in
school.

“Were they his friends? You have to tell the truth now.”

“Yeah they were his old friends. He hadn’t associated with him in…”

“He knew about this shooting and failed to report it?”

“Jose would have been killed if he did.”

“Well just the same I could’ve been killed because of his overlook. I am
charging him with being an accomplice because he knew and didn’t report of
it. Since you saved my life I am dropping those charges well kind of. You
will now be placed on probation just like your cousin. As they say in Rome,
an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and that’s how it is with Josie.”

“It’s Jose and you can do that to him!”

“I already did. Enjoy the relaxation of the hospital. You’ll be here for at
least three more weeks for observation.” Rosco stared at the Duke family to
see their reactions. If he would’ve paid attention, Boss Rosco would have
noticed the door wasn’t opened. He hit the door hard. “Jit-jit OoooOoooOooh
boy does that smart.” He opened the door and walked out.

Bo hit his head hard. He wondered how such a dope like him could be so
smart. Boss Rosco really had the Dukes where he wanted them. Bo knew that
this would take a master mind to get him out of this. He broke down and was
ready to call Luke. That was a big step even for him. Bo told Jess to take
it easy and he walked out of the room. As Bo approached the phone,
everything got shaky. He dialled 1-800-collect and soon after dialled Luke’s
number. “Hello?” Luke answered.

“Hey Luke, how is everything in the big apple?” Bo asked, trying to make
conversation. He didn’t want to jump right into his problems. I mean Luke
had a lot to deal with as it is. Bo just wanted to crawl in a hole and die.
He promised Luke that everything would be better here. Bo promised that Jose
would stay out of trouble. Then again this is Hazzard. The day people stay
out of trouble is they day you never need to eat again.

“Oh it’s great. Now that we know that Jose is in a good place everything is
so much easier. Maria sleeps nights and Antonio isn’t so tense.”

“I can’t believe your son and one of Jose’s friends have the same name.
Jesse was telling me about that.”

“I never liked that kid though. Antonio was one of the people that could
always make Jose do stupid things together. I just hope he ain’t causing
you as much trouble I hope.”

Well there’s a problem with that actually. Jose got into some trouble over
here. Not purposely but it still happened.”

“Was he arrested?”

“Yeah, he didn’t try to get in prison. Some kids showed up from New York
and…”

“So he hooked up with his buddies again? I can’t believe this! I thought he
gave up on this stuff. I am so sick of this happening to my family. He’s
going to be in jail faster than you can say where the shrimp’s pizza pies
are.”

“No, he did not hook up with his buddies. But he was convicted of being an
accomplice because of not telling the police force about his buddies’ little
bank robbery and murder strategy. Jesse was shot.”

“When did this all happen?”

“It happened about three months ago.”

“Why did you call me about this before? It might not have been so bad.”

“I am sorry Luke; I wanted to but something along the lines of pride stopped
me.”

“Well cousin you haven’t changed a bit.”

“Neither have you, that’s why I called you. How do we solve this Hazzard
style?”

“Rosco has to be up to something to even consider looking up something like
that. I think that he wants both boys out of the way.”

“Yeah well Jesse is on probation now for also knowing about it. But since
your son knows about it, he could go to jail for it because he’s already on
probation.” Luke was silent for a moment. He thought about what his son
must’ve been going through. Luke remembered how it was like when he was on
probation. But it is a lot different than it was all those years ago.

“Okay so wait for me, I will be coming in three weeks anyway. Where’s Jose?”
Bo thought of what to say to him. He laughed at first and scratched his
head. “What’s so funny Beauregard Duke?”

“I am not Beauregard my name is and forever will be Bo.”

“Sorry Beauregard, where’s my son.” Bo sneered over the phone. He wasn’t too
happy that Luke called him that on those rare occasions. It was a cursed
name to him. Bo wished that his father had the sense to just name him Bo.

“He did a jail break. I don’t know exactly where he is. Essy Duke is missing
too. I think she brought him somewhere.” Luke stopped and remembered the red
headed bomb shell. He thought of how wonderful she was at getting rid of
Rosco when the boys were in trouble.

“Oh Essy knows exactly where to take him. That girl is great and knows where
to hide. She is a smart cookie you know.”

“Yeah I know she is. We both dated her before. She took us both for saps. I
mean how we were supposed to know she was only 16 years old?”

“We weren’t I guess. When she was working at Miz Tizdale’s Post office I
thought for sure that girl was at least 22 years old. She knew the mail
better than anything.”

“That she did Luke. But then again she was a Tizdale. You know how those
women work. They’re so smart about their mail. But back to what we were
discussing before. It regards to Jose. So what are we going to do with your
son?”

“You have to find some kind of black mail I guess. I don’t exactly know how
but do it. You know like we used to. He has to be up to something. I know
that this wouldn’t be Hazzard without the few illegal money seeking
actions.”

“Oh of course; I will probably wait for you though.”

“Okay I will talk to you later then?”

“Yeah okay bye now.” Bo leaned against the wall and took a deep breath just
to let it out again. He just didn’t know what to do right now. With Jesse in
the hospital and Jose on the run it seemed like old times. Bo remembered
back when Luke was in the hospital when trying to catch the ones that framed
both boys. It was quite the scandal. Luke didn’t wake up until the case was
solved which was good for him. Daisy and Bo had to go and play detective.

Just then Nancy-Lou walked in. She had a big smile on her face until she saw
her husband’s dim expression. It was low and dismal. It wasn’t cheery like
it had been in the past. Nancy knew something was wrong. But what was wrong
she could quite figure out. Nancy-Lou knew that she had to lighten his
trail. She grabbed Bo and tightly embraced him. Nancy-Lou drove her lips
into his, a kiss that wouldn’t soon be forgotten. She rubbed his back
softly.

“Everything will turn out okay. You know it Bo. It always does in this
family. I mean take Jesse and our Jo Anna. They were born pre-mature and the
doctors said they wouldn’t live past two weeks. But Jo Anna was strong. She
got healthier by the minute. They then told us that Jesse wouldn’t live past
the age of 13. Here he is standing before us,” Nancy-Lou

“I just don’t know what to do anymore. I feel so helpless. I mean here’s our
son and he is in a hospital bed. Now we take Jose and he’s out fending for
himself. That’s just not right.”

“Sometimes the most horrible things happen for the worst reasons. Boss Rosco
knew that Jose could’ve died if he told the law. They could’ve prepared for
it.”

“Yeah but it still seems like no matter where Jose goes he has to be shunned
by someone.” Bo thought back to when he was in school. He thought about all
the things other boys loved to tease about. It wasn’t that Bo wasn’t a good
person or that he didn’t have anything that was worth speaking about either.
Bo just had a lot of problems with being shorter than everyone else.

But Nancy-Lou was right. They always did find a way out of their despair.
The Dukes seemed to be lucky in that aspect. It wasn’t like they had all the
problems in the world but somehow it seemed to get worse when the kids were
around. Why? They just wanted things to be different. The kids didn’t think
it was right for anything illegal to take place in their home. In all truth
they were right.

Bo and Luke loved to fight the system. They did it so often that people
would give the boys those nicknames. Sometimes they would just become the
double duel. Fighting for the rights of the people and hoping they didn’t
get jailed for it. Now Bo and Luke were grown men with families. But times
never change. There will always be another person in the light. There will
always be another Duke to take over the pride of Hazzard.

“Nancy? You want to talk to Jesse? He’s kind of angry right now but I am
sure a talk from the world’s greatest mother would do him some good,” Bo
mumbled.

“Yeah I would love to talk to our super son. You take it easy Bo and don’t
think too hard,” Nancy-Lou replied.

“I won’t take it too hard. I just wish I could change something that I
can’t.”

“Not possible and you know it.” Nancy-Lou pulled her husband down to her
level and kissed him on the forehead. She walked into his room. Bo watched
his lovely wife sit there and talk. He loved the expression on Nancy-Lou’s
face as she continued to talk to her son. It was almost like magic. It
seemed that all his hopes and dreams were in her. They loved each other that
much. In truth their wedding vows were always kept. Bo knew that this was
what he always wanted.

Nancy-Lou then looked over at Bo. She saved at him and smiled. Bo laughed.
That was one thing Nancy knew how to do was make people laugh. She was
amazing in all aspects. The way she used to give Jesse and Jo Anna a bath
when they were younger to the way she snored ever so softly. Nancy-Lou was
amazing with kids as well. She knew what to do with crazy insane teenagers.
It wasn’t her place to control them. But Nancy would just love them.

Nancy saw many things in Bo that she just adored. He had a fighting spirit.
No one could put him in a cage because he was a free bird. Not many people
were like Bo was. If someone said something that wasn’t true he would stay
and prove them otherwise. But if he was wrong, Bo would recognize it and
change. It was never that he couldn’t do it. Bo would do anything if dared.
That was one thing that Nancy-Lou didn’t like about her husband. He scared
her a few times with that one.

But all the same both of them together made the perfect parents. Sometimes
they made mistakes, what family is complete without their flaws? Overall
they were fun. Bo seemed to understand a lot of stuff and what he didn’t
Nancy-Lou did get. So no matter what happened it was wonderful.