by: Essy Jane

Two hours later, Cooter was on his way to the Dukes for dinner. Cooter loved two things more than anything in the world Uncle Jesse’s cooking and fixing cars. Whenever he got asked over, Cooter took the opportunity. He just pulled up at the Duke farm. Cooter could smell the stew from here. He walked in the door. “Hey Uncle Jesse,” Cooter said.

“Boy, how many times do I have to tell you, I’m not your Uncle Jesse,” Jesse scolded.

“Yes Uncle…”

“Cooter, you’re testing me.”

“Yes Uncle…I mean, Jesse, I mean, Mr. Duke.” Luke walked into the house and sat down. Daisy was already setting the table. “Don’t y’all need an extra chair? I mean ain’t Bo eating?”

“Forget about Bo, I know he ain’t comin’ tonight,” Luke grumbled.

“Okay, sorry I asked.”

“I apologize Cooter, I didn’t mean to be so harsh.”

“Apology accepted.”

“So why ain’t y’all gonna set a spot for him?”

“He ran off,” Daisy commented.

“Yeah, and we don’t know when he’s gonna be back. You know how Bo is,” Luke added.

“Set a spot for him anyway, Daisy in case he does come home,” Uncle Jesse said.

“Yes sir,” Daisy answered. She took out the plate, glass and silverware. She set them down in Bo’s usual spot. Everyone sat down. Uncle Jesse straightened up.

“Lord, please bless this bountiful feast and bless Bo Lord, that he may find his way home tonight.”

“Amen.”

“Amen,” Everyone else commented at the same time. Uncle Jesse grabbed the plates and began serving everyone’s food for them.

“So what happened to ol’ Bo anyway?” Cooter asked.

“Ah, don’t worry about it, he said something to Daisy and he felt kinda bad about it,” Luke commented.

“Yeah, he’ll be back soon with an apology and a big hug,” Daisy added. They continued eating.

“He’ll be so sorry that he’ll be upset.”

“Look, in your cousin’s defence, I would like to say that you have been makin’ him upset the last couple of days. First with those comments about him being dumb. Bo ain’t a stupid person yet you make him out to be that way,” Uncle Jesse commented.

“Do you ever ask him what he thinks?”

“No.”

“Do you ask him if he has a plan.”

“Well…”

“I didn’t think so. Yet you can sit here and tell him how sorry he’s gonna have to be.”

“I didn’t think…”

“Yep, I know you didn’t think about it Luke. Daisy’s comments were just the lettering on the cake. You were the main course.”

“I feel like a monster.”

“I’m glad because you’re gonna go apologize to him first.”

“Yes sir, when he comes home I will.”

“That’s better, now, let’s eat instead of spreading gossip.”

“Yes sir,” Cooter commented.

“Yes Uncle Jesse,” Daisy said.

“Sorry Uncle Jesse,” Luke added.

Meanwhile, over by Cooter’s garage, the two bad guys were waiting for their prey to come home. Deke kept moving in the car. He couldn’t seem to stay still. Tate rolled his eyes at his brother. He glared into the moonlight. The two seemed to share the same frustration. Cooter Davenport hadn’t been seen since they left Bo out in the woods.

“Should we go back and untie him?” Tate asked Deke. Deke rolled his eyes and clipped his brother in the head.

“Are you a moron or something? If we let that guy go, he’ll go straight to Cooter. If he goes to Cooter, he won’t be around anymore. The only way out of this is to kill…” Deke began.

“No! Can’t we put him in some old warehouse until the job is done? He’ll be out of the way.”

“No, he’ll pin us with the murder. No tracks remember?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Tate shook his head as he thought about the poor young man freezing out there. He wanted to go over and help him but he knew his older brother was right. Cooter could put them back in jail. The young man in the woods could rat them out. There was a deep silence again in the car. The only sound was Deke moving. “Hey Deke?”

“Yes, little brother?”

“Why did we leave his clothes by Hazzard pond?”

“Well, I didn’t want anyone to look in the woods for him. If they thought he went skinny dipping and died…”

“Man, you think of everything don’t you?”

“Obviously not little brother, Cooter’s still not here.” Deke started up the car. He put it in reverse.

“Where are we going?”

“Cooter’s place.”

“Didn’t someone tell us that he works here a lot?”

“Do you see him here you bone head?”

“No.”

“Well, he has to go to bed some time right?”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“When he does we’ll be waiting for him right?”

“Uh huh.”

“So why would we sit here if we didn’t know that he was coming back here for sure.”

“Okay, I get your point.”

Back in the woods, Bo was struggling away. He looked down at his boots remembering the knife he had stuck in it in the morning. Bo tried to climb up the tree. This has got to work, He thought to himself, Maybe if I can open the knife with my… Bo rolled his eyes. I can’t do that, my hands are tapped together. What am I gonna do? Bo took a deep breath and let it out slow. He tried to pull his hands apart. Bo seemed to be getting nowhere. He wished that he had never gone into the woods. Bo couldn’t change it now. He couldn’t go back and fix things. All he could do was hope Luke would come looking for him.