by: Keith

(We see the shocked looks on Uncle Jesse and Daisy’s faces and switch views to see Bo and Luke standing up on crutches. Uncle Jesse’s expression quickly changes from surprise to a big smile)

UNCLE JESSE: Ha! Would ya look at that?! Doc, by the way you came out to the waitin’ room, I thought these boys was gonna be paralized for life!

DOC APPLEBEE: (smiling) Well, they asked me to be calm. They wanted you to be surprised when you saw them.

DAISY: I’ll say! Doc, does this mean Bo and Luke don’t need them wheel chairs anymore?

DOC APPLEBEE: That’s right! To tell you the truth, I knew when you wheeled these boys outta here a few weeks ago, that it wasn’t gonna be long before they were back on their feet.

LUKE: How’d ya know that, Doc?

DOC APPLEBEE: Well, Luke, it’s no mystery that the mind and the body work hand in hand. And I figured, if I knew you two, you had no intention of being stuck in those wheel chairs any longer than you had to be. So, without you even knowin’ it, your mind was subconsciously tellin’ your body to heel.

BO: Well ALRIGHT!! Luke, now that we’re back on our feet, we can help Cooter with the rest of the work on the General! Then, before ya know it, we’ll be flyin’ clear over Boss and his Hogg Hellcat in that Ddrag N’ Fly race!

DOC APPLEBEE: Now, hold on, Bo. If you and Luke were completely heeled and back on your feet, I wouldn’t have put you on those crutches. Granted, your bones are mended. But you haven’t used your leg muscles in weeks. They’re so stiff right now, they couldn’t even support you standing, let alone walking or running.

BO: I don’t get it, Doc. I would figure the only way we’re gonna get our legs strong again is to use ’em and excercise ’em.

DOC APPLEBEE: No, no, no. Now, boys, I wnat you both to listen very carefully. Have you even waken up in the morning and realized that your arm or your leg has fallen asleep?

LUKE: Sure. I reckon it happens to everybody now and then.

DOC APPLEBEE: Absolutely. Now, what would happen if your leg had fallen asleep and you tried to stand on it?

LUKE: You’d fall like your leg wasn’t even there.

DOC APPLEBEE: Exactly. And that’s the shape you boys are in right now. And you’re on those crutches so you can give your legs the time they need to “wake up”.

UNCLE JESSE: Speakin’ of time, Doc, how long do you figure the boys will be on them crutches?

DAISY: (smiling) And, remember, we know your secret this time.

DOC APPLEBEE: Honestly, with the will power they have to heel….a week, two tops.

BO: YEEEHOOOO!!!!

DOC APPLEBEE: However, you still need to be very careful, boys. Remember, your muscles can’t protect your bones right now. So if you were to take a fall, you could wind up right back at square one. So you mind me, keep those crutches near you at all times, and…. (points a stern finger at both boys) don’t do anything foolish.

LUKE: You got it, Doc. Thanks a lot.

DOC APPLEBEE: Alright. Now, you folks are all set to go and I have other patients to see. Take care, now.

(Doc Applebee exits room)

UNCLE JESSE: Thanks, Doc.

DAISY: Well, I gotta run back to Cooter’s with a package he asked me to pick up for him. I’ll see y’all later.

UNCLE JESSE: I’m just gonna go tell the nurse the boys and me are leavin’. We’ll meet ya over there.

(scene switches to Cooter’s garage)

BALLADEER: Bo and Luke wasn’t the only ones on the road to recovery. Back at the garage, Cooter was just about finished weldin’ the General’s doors back on. And, under the hood, Coy and Vance was replacin’ the old brake line with top of the line, high performance material. They figured that was about the best get well present they could give him.

(Daisy pulls up in her Jeep and gets out, carrying a large box with her)

DAISY: Hey, Y’all!

(Cooter takes off his welding helmet and puts the blow torch out. He climbs out the passenger’s window)

COOTER: Hey, Daisy! That what I think it is?

DAISY: Sure is. Straight from the best auto shop in Capital City.

VANCE: What’s in the box, Cooter?

COOTER: Just a little insurance to make sure Bo and Luke never end up in this kind of situation again. (he pulls a shock out of the box) The very best shocks available…..Nascar approved.

COY: Shoot, Cooter, how’d you get your hands on these? (takes the shock from Cooter) These things must’ve cost a fortune!

COOTER: Now, I can’t take total credit. It was me and Daisy’s idea to get ’em. But I passed the hat around town and, seein’ as there ain’t a sould in Hazzard that Bo and Luke ain’t helped out at one time or another, folks couldn’t reach into their pockets fast enough to chip in.

(scene switches across the street to Boss Hogg’s office, where he watches Cooter’s garage from his window. Rosco enters)

ROSCO: Boss, listen, Enos and me have been gettin’ a lot of calls over the past couple of days from folks wonderin’ when you’re gonna set a new date for the Drag N’ Fly. What should we tell ’em?

BOSS HOGG: Tell ’em that it’s cancelled!

ROSCO: What?? Are you kiddin’ me?! We can’t do that. There’ll be a riot at our front door!

BOSS HOGG: Well, what else do you expect me to do?? Look out the window and take a gander over at Cooter’s.

(Rosco peers out the window and smiles)

ROSCO: Oooo….look at that! The General Lee is almost fixed! Ain’t that nice.

BOSS HOGG: No it ain’t nice! If Bo and Luke Duke and that orange clunker car are in that race, nobody else has got a prayer of winnin’! And that includes ME!!

ROSCO: Boss, I hope you ain’t thinkin’ of havin’ me do somethin’ to the General Lee again. Cause I ain’t gonna do it! Not after what happened last time!

BOSS HOGG: Oh, for heaven’s sake, are you gonna dwell on that for the rest of your life?? The Duke boys are gonna be fine! Besides, you were too much of a numbskull to do the job right the first time, what makes ya think I’d send you over there to mess up twice?

ROSCO: Ooo! I got an idea! Why don’t you just have it before the Dukes are back on their feet?

BOSS HOGG: Don’t ya think I thought of that already? If they couldn’t drive themselves, they’d just have Coy and Vance do it for ’em. Besides, the whole town knows the reason I postponed it in the first place was so the Duke boys could be in it when they got better.

ROSCO: Well, then, little fat buddy, it looks like you’re gonna have to run the race honest just like everybody else.

(Boss Hogg frowns)

BOSS HOGG: Rosco, after all these years, you should know I never run a race……I can’t fix!

(Rosco looks out the window and sees Uncle Jesse’s pick-up pull up)

ROSCO: Oh, look. There’s Jesse. And Bo and Luke are with him. But you know what? I don’t see their wheelchairs anyplace. I wonder what happened.

(Rosco sees Luke walk away from the truck with his crutches and head toward the General Lee)

ROSCO: Oh, good news! Good news!! You see that, Boss? Bo and Luke are on the mend!

BOSS HOGG: Of course I see it! I got eyes, ain’t I?!

ROSCO: Oh, I wonder what they’ll say when they see those nice new shocks that Cooter and Daisy got ’em.

BOSS HOGG: Wait a minute, how do you know what kind of shocks they got?

ROSCO: Oh, didn’t I tell ya? See, Cooter went around a collected money from everyone in Hazzard and went to Capital City and got the best shocks he could find. I’ll tell ya, I’ve never seen anybody raise so much money so fast. People must’ve given him everything they had!

BOSS HOGG: Why didn’t you tell me that before?

ROSCO: Well, I guess it slipped my mind, considerin’….

(Boss Hogg laughs malisciously)

BOSS HOGG: Rosco, Don’t ya see?? Cancellin’ the Drag N’ Fly is gonna be easy! If everybody in Hazzard gave Cooter all their money to buy new shocks for the General Lee, then they ain’t got no money for their entry fees!!

ROSCO: Uh, Boss, I think you’re forgettin’ that everybody paid their entry fees when they signed up.

BOSS HOGG: Well, then I’ll RAISE the entry fee!!

ROSCO: Raise the entry fee?? Boss, how’re you gonna do that? Folks ain’t just gonna give you more money just like that (snaps his fingers).

BOSS HOGG: Oh yes, they will. (gets noe-to-nose with Rosco) Rosco…Cooter ain’t the only one in this town that knows how to pull on people’s heart strings.

(Boss Hogg shoves a cigar in his mouth and grins mailisciously.)

(Scene switches back to Cooter’s. Bo and Luke stand, supported by their crutches, beside the General Lee as Coy and Vance make the final adjustments on the brake line.)

BALLADEER: Now that Uncle Jesse and the boys had arrived at the garage, it was just about time for the big moment. As soon as Coy and Vance were through, Cooter would start the General for the first time since the accident.

VANCE: Well, that aughtta about do it. Cooter, why don’t you do the honors?

COOTER: (looking very serious) Much as I’d love to, I can’t. (looks at Bo and Luke) After everything y’all have been through, it aughtta be one of you startin’ the ol’ General for the first time, not me.

LUKE: Cooter, there ain’t nuthin’ in the world that’d make me and Bo happier right now than to start that car up and take him out for a spin. But since we ain’t hardly in any shape to do that, there ain’t nobody we’d rather see step in for us than you.

BO: Luke’s right, Cooter. Shoot, you’re the one that’s been mendin’ the General the way Doc Applebee’s been mendin’ us. And since we can’t exactly jump in the windows right now, it’s only fittin’ that you do it for us.

COOTER: (grinning) Well, I do have one other little surprise for y’all.

(while he talks, Cooter slowly walks to the driver’s side of the General Lee)

COOTER: Y’see, I was kinda hopin’ that you two would be outta them wheelchairs when ya got back here. So when I realized that we was gonna be done with all the engine work before ya got here….

(Cooter grabs the handle of the driver’s side door and pulls the door open)

COOTER: ….I only welded one door.

BO: (grinning fro ear to ear) Well, Alright, Cooter!!!!

(Luke hobbles over to the driver’s side as Bo sits down in the driver’s seat)

LUKE: Start him up, Bo.

(Bo slides the key into the ignition and turns the crank. The roar of the General’s motor can be heard all the way down the block.)

BO: YEEEEEEEEEEEEHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BALLADEER: Friends and neighbors, that just goes to show ya. No matter if it’s man or machine, ya just can’t keep a Duke down for long.

LUKE: So, we know the General starts, Cooter. But where do we stand now, overall?

COOTER: Well, I’ll tell ya, as soon as I weld this driver’s side door shut and do a little more minor body work….and, of course, as soon as y’all are back on your feet, Boss Hogg can bring on that Drag N’ Fly any time he wants and the ol’ General

(lightly pounds his hand on the roof) will beat the competition with his eyes closed.)

(We move forward to two weeks later. Bo and Luke stand by Cooter as he waxes the General Lee)

BALLADEER: Well, time went on and the idea of Bo and Luke bein’ able to drive the General soon was becomin’ more and more real every day. With Unlce Jesse and Daisy’s help, the boys had managed to follow Doc Appebee’s orders just fine. They kept their crutches near them all the time, and more importantly, they didn’t do anything risky. And if ya think that’s easy, well then you ain’t never seen a typical day for a Duke in Hazzard.

LUKE: Cooter, we can’t thank you enough for all the work you done on the General while we’ve been down.

BO: Yeah, we just wish there was somethin’ we could do to repay ya.

COOTER: I’ll tell y’all somethin’…the best payback y’all can give me will be when I see ya wavin’ down at Boss Hogg in his Hellcat during that Drag N’ Fly.

BO: I think we aughtta be able to manage that! (starts laughing)

LUKE: (also laughing) You got that right!

(Cooter drops the rag he had been waxing with.)

BO: You dropped somethin’, Cooter.

(Bo bends over to retrieve the rag from the floor. Luke drops his crutches and reaches to stop Bo.)

LUKE: Bo, Wait! Don’t!!

(Scene freezes with Bo and Luke both bending and reaching)

BALLADEER: Uhhh, what was I just sayin’ about the boys not doin’ anything risky?

(end act 7)