by: Sarah Stodola

“Good morning,” Roseanne greeted her young niece as she came into the living room. “Nice to see you already up, we can have breakfast together.”

Daisy looked up from her book and shrugged. Roseanne was pleased to see that she was in a dress. Of course, she had been there for almost a week now, it was Saturday and she’d arrived on Monday. Of course the child was becoming more ladylike. “I’m used to getting up early. On the farm, we had to get up to milk and collect the eggs, then have breakfast too before we went to school.”

She sighed. “Please, Daisy, must you speak of that farm in nearly every sentence?”

“Why not?” The dark blue eyes flashed in defiance. “It’s my home.”

“No, it is not.” Roseanne sat down beside the girl on the couch. “Actually, it would be best if you just forget all about it.”

“What?!”

“Well, I plan on keeping you here for the rest of your childhood. You see, I’d like to adopt you.” She smiled. Surely the child would understand that she was trying to do what was best for her. “Then, when you’re older, you can go off to a wonderful school, where you will truly belong!”

“But…” She was surprised to see tears shimmer in the girl’s eyes, “I… I already have somewhere that I belong.”

“Yes. You belong here.”

“No!” Daisy suddenly jumped up, stepping back. She tossed her head. “I belong at the farm!”

“No, you don’t,” Roseanne told her icily. “Daisy Mae, I don’t know what has gotten into you! This has been your home all your life, you have always been a sweet, obedient little girl. Then you go away for two months and come back a little troublemaker!”

“I ain’t a troublemaker!” Her aunt’s eyes narrowed at the deliberate jab of bad grammar. “I just wanna go back to live with my uncle and cousins. I wanna go back to Hazzard!”

“You will do as I say, young lady.” Roseanne stood, angry now. “Go to your room. And for your continued sass and mouthing off, your reward will be not only no lunch, but you are to have no further contact with your cousins. Do you understand me? No phone calls, no visits, no anything. Now go!”

Daisy stood still for a moment, then spun and ran out the door and up the stairs. Roseanne sighed, massaging her temples. Why couldn’t the child understand? And what could have changed her so much in so little time? Did Jesse Duke keep no rules or respect? No order among his children?

Those farm people! She had disapproved greatly when her sister had married one of them, a Henry Duke. They had almost changed her entirely! Then Henry had died, and Marian had come back to live at the family manor with her little girl Daisy Mae. The girl had always been the most ladylike of children, hardly getting into trouble of any kind, never in the way, striving to do her best at everything she tried. What could have made that beautiful young lady into such a… a tomboy?

There was really only one cure, and that was for Daisy to stay here, become involved in the manor parties, associate with the other people of her rank. Yes, that was it! Roseanne brightened. Steep her in propriety, and she would imitate those around her, just as she apparently had done in Hazzard County. So tomorrow, Daisy would start school, just as if she’d never left. Roseanne went to the phone, to contact the child’s old tutor.

Daisy tiptoed down the hall, and peered inside her aunt’s bedroom. Her eyes fell on the telephone, and she licked dry lips nervously, glancing around. If she got caught, she’d be in even more trouble with her Aunt Roseanne.

But then again, she hadn’t talked to her cousins in almost a week! And if she was adopted, then she’d never get back to Hazzard! So… the risk was worth it.

Daisy slipped through the half-open door silently, and shut it behind her, leaving a small crack so that the door wouldn’t click. She crossed the room to the bed stand where the old-fashioned telephone rested. She looked around again, feeling guilty, then swallowed and picked up the receiver. Crossing her fingers, she dialed a number from memory.

Bo and Luke were washing the breakfast dishes when the telephone rang. The boys put down what they were doing and leaped for the phone, fighting as to who would get their hand there first. Luke snatched it up, and Bo scowled, crossing his arms and leaning back against the counter.

“Duke farm,” Luke spoke into the receiver, then his eyes widened. “Daisy!”

Bo jumped up and leaned close to his cousin, trying to hear through the receiver. Luke held the phone away from his ear, and the boys put their heads close together so they could both hear.

“Guys?” came their cousin’s voice through the receiver. She sounded nervous, almost whispering into the line. Bo had to strain to understand what she was saying. “Guys, I need help.”

“What?” Luke asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Aunt Roseanne wants to adopt me! Luke, Bo, I’ll never see you again!” Her voice was still quiet, but rising in urgency. “She doesn’t want me to have anything to do with you. I’m not even supposed to be on this phone!”

“Okay, okay, hold on a sec,” Luke told her, his worried eyes meeting Bo’s. “Daisy, listen. Uncle Jesse’s down in town again, trying to see what he can do to get you back.”

“No time!” Her voice was panicky now. “She’s gonna get the papers signed tomorrow! She has too much power, Luke! Uncle Jesse will never win a lawsuit! You’d lose the farm!”

Bo bit his lip. A crazy plan was forming in his mind. Luke was usually the one to come up with ideas, but this time… and it just might work. “I got an idea.”

“What?” Luke frowned when Bo gestured to the phone. “Wait a sec, Daisy, Bo wants to talk to you.”

“Well, hurry up! I don’t know how much time I have before Aunt Roseanne comes upstairs to check on me! I’m supposed to be in my room!”

“Daisy,” Bo cut her off, snatching the phone, “do you know how to get to the manor from Hazzard?”

“Sure. It’s right outside Atlanta. But what has that have to do with anything?”

“It has to do with everything.” He met his cousin’s eyes. “We’re gonna break you outta there.”

Luke’s jaw dropped, but then he nodded, slowly. “Yeah,” he whispered, then spun and ran up the stairs.

“What?!” Daisy exclaimed. “How’re you going to get here, even if I give you directions? And what if you get caught? Bo…”

“Daisy, listen,” he said stubbornly, one fist clenching. “We’re your cousins, okay? We’re gonna get you out of there before your aunt can take you away forever. I don’t wanna lose you.”

There was silence for a second.

“Daisy?”

“What… what if you get caught..?” she sounded like she was trying not to break down. “Bo, I just want to come home. That’s all I want.”

“That’s what we want too.”

“Then, how are you going to get me out of the manor? I’m on the third floor, and believe me, Bo, it’s high. I’m not going to jump out the window into the swimming pool.”

“I’m not tellin’ you to.” He thought for a second, then reached for a piece of notebook paper that was lying on the counter. “Look, just give me the address, and trust me.”

“I… I guess I’ll have to.” Her voice was worried. “But will Uncle Jesse let you come?”

“No. But we don’t have time to ask him anyway, we’re gonna have to get going if we’re going to be there by nightfall.”

“You mean you’re..! You’ll get in trouble!”

“It’s okay.” Bo shifted the phone to his other ear so he could write with his right hand. “Just tell me how to get there.”

“Welll…” she said slowly, drawing the sound out, “I guess so.” She rattled off a list of turns and road signs, and Bo copied them all, then had her repeat them so he could double-check.

“Okay.” He put the pencil down. “Daisy, just hang in there, ‘kay? We’re comin’ for you.”

“How are you going to get here? You can’t drive, and it’s way too far to walk!”

“We’ll find a way. Hey,” he tried flippantly, “we’re Dukes! We always got to find ways out of trouble.”

“…Yeah. Just be careful, you two. And hurry.” Suddenly there was silence, then her panicked voice exclaiming, “Aunt Roseanne!” The phone slammed down.

Bo held the dead receiver a few more moments before stretching to hang it back up. He bit his lip and studied the paper he’d written the directions on, then ran upstairs.

He just hoped they’d be there in time.

“You were on the phone to your cousins, weren’t you? Weren’t you?!”

Daisy flinched back under the verbal barrage.

“I thought I told you that you were not to have any contact with them!” Aunt Roseanne tightened her grip on her niece’s arm. Her eyes flashed hot anger at being disobeyed.

“I… I just wanted to talk to them,” Daisy stuttered, scared of what her aunt might do. She knew that no rule in this house was to be broken; that had always been the case.

“I said no! And you went and did it anyway!” Roseanne released her abruptly, and she stumbled back against the bed, eyes wide. “Get to your room on the double, young lady! You’re lucky I don’t whip some sense into you! Go!!”

Daisy scrambled across the wide bed and ran for the door, grabbing the doorjamb and swinging around it as she made tracks for her room.

Her aunt shouted from behind her, “And don’t come out until tomorrow morning! No dinner either, since you were so blatantly disobedient! You hear me?”

Daisy slammed her door behind her, and winced, expecting more angry shouts. Another rule was no slamming of doors allowed. But the reprimand didn’t come, and she relaxed in relief, sliding down the door to sit on the floor, head buried in her arms. She had to get out of here. How could she have never seen her aunt this way before? The woman was a tyrant! She was all sweetness and honey as long as you did all she said for you to do, but the moment you contradicted her…

Daisy shivered. “Hurry up, guys,” she whispered. “And bring a real good plan.”

###

Two boys ran out of the farmhouse after leaving a note to tell their uncle that they were okay, and not to look for them because they were on a very important mission. Okay, so the note had been a bit misspelled, but it had gotten the point across. After all, Bo was only in third grade, Luke thought, and he’d been the one to write it.

The boys were traveling at light as possible. Luke carried some food, sandwiches and granola bars, in his backpack, along with a shirt and pair of pants for Daisy, in case her aunt had taken away her stuff. Which was likely. Bo, being younger and smaller, had the directions and a mapbook. They weren’t taking any chances on getting lost. Bo also carried Luke’s bow and arrows. Archery was one of the things that the two boys, even at their young age, were very good at. And it just might be of some good use. Luke had an idea for rescuing their cousin, but he’d need the bow to carry it out.

The two boys ran across the yard and disappeared into the trees, using the woods skills that their uncle had taught them in order to not leave a trace of where they were going. It took them only a few minutes to make it to the road.

“Now what?” Bo puffed from behind him as they slid down the embankment and stood on the packed dirt. “How’re we going to get to Atlanta?”

“Easy.” At least Luke hoped it would be easy. “We find a truck and somehow get on.”

“I don’t think the driver will let us.”

He made a face. “No, Bo. We’ll *sneak* on. When the truck’s stopped.” He looked around. “What we need is to get ourselves a roadblock.”

Bo frowned, and looked around. Then his face lit up. “Like that one?” he pointed.

Luke turned to see what his cousin was pointing at, then grinned. A big log lay up on the side of the hill, almost ready to roll down. “Perfect! Now all we gotta do is find a truck going to Atlanta.”

“That’ll be easy. Almost every truck’s going to Atlanta.”

“Uh-huh. Then we push the log so’s it rolls down into the road, then the guy’ll have to move it.”

“And while he’s busy, we’ll jump in the back!” Bo said excitedly.

“Yeah!” He looked around. “We have to find some sort of place to look down the road… there.” He pointed to a tree. “C’mon.” He scrambled up the hill with Bo right behind him, then pointed up. “You’re still the best tree climber in Hazzard, right?”

The blond boy grinned, dropping his backpack and the bow. “Yeah. Gimme a boost.”

Luke put down his pack as well, then bent his knees so that his younger cousin could climb on his shoulders. He struggled to a standing position, making a face. “You’re growin’,” he complained.

Bo didn’t answer. He reached for a branch, then the weight was off Luke’s shoulders as the agile boy swung himself up into the tree. Luke watched as he scaled his way from branch to branch, making his way up. Then he paused near the top. “Hey, you can see for miles!” he called down.

“Any trucks?”

“Nope.” Bo settled himself into the crook where the branch met the treetrunk. “Hope one comes soon.”

“Yeah, really.” Luke slid down the trunk to sit in the pine needles. “Please, God, if you listen to kids, give us a truck,” he groaned, squinting at the sky. “We gotta get Daisy out of trouble.”

It didn’t take too long for a truck to show up. Only about forty-five minutes, according to the positioning of the sun. Of course, to Luke, it felt like forever. “Here he comes!” Bo cried excitedly, pointing in the direction of town. The boy bounded down out of the tree, nearly landing on his cousin’s head. “He’s comin’! The delivery van from the Boar’s Nest!”

“Great!” Luke leaped to his feet. “We *know* that *he’s* goin’ to Atlanta!”

It was less than a minute before the van puttered its slow way around the corner. “Now!” Luke snapped out, and both boys put their whole weights into pushing on the log. It didn’t budge, and Luke wondered if it ever would, but then it came loose with such force that the two cousins fell flat on their faces, sliding a little ways down the hill.

“You okay?” Luke panted.

“Yeah. Look!” Bo pointed. The log was rolling down the hill, picking up speed, until it reached the road. Its end lodged in a ditch, and the log jerked to a sudden halt, blocking over half the road. The bulky delivery van would never be able to go around the log. It would have to stop.

And it did. The van slowed and halted with its nose almost touching the boys’ roadblock. The driver’s side door opened, and a heavyset man climbed out, grumbling so loud that the boys could hear his complaints about stupid backwoods roads’ and the men who kept them up.

While the man was pulling and tugging on the heavy tree, Bo and Luke snatched up their packs and the bow and arrows. They ran-slid down the hill in the path the log had taken, so as not to leave other marks of their passing, and down onto the hard-packed dirt road. They ran quietly to the van and Luke opened the canvas flap over the back, motioning his younger cousin in. Then he followed Bo, grinning as he vaulted up and turned to resecure the flap. They sat down side by side, taking reassurance in the dark from each other’s presence.

In a few minutes, the van started up again, and with a lurch, two young Duke boys were on their way to Atlanta.

by: Sarah Stodola

Roseanne Douglas smiled to herself, studying her reflection in the mirror and smoothing her dress carefully. She’d just received the phone call from Sanchez, and he’d found Daisy Mae. And he was bringing her home where she belonged.

Yes, where she belonged. A farm was no place for a little lady. Roseanne heard the front door open, and smiled again, patting her neatly pulled up hair to make sure it was in place, then heading for the door with the swish of silk skirts. She was halfway down the stairs when she stopped, not sure if Sanchez had even found the right girl.

But, it was Daisy Mae. She could see that. Yet she looked so different..! She wasn’t wearing a dress, but instead some rather dirty-looking… jeans, she thought they were called, and boots! Boys’ clothes for a farm! The child’s hair was no longer a smoothly-brushed fall down the center of her back, but instead a wild, wind-blown looking mass of curls. And it was shorter, too!

“What… what’s been done to you, Daisy Mae?” she cried, stepping the rest of the way down to the first floor. The girl didn’t answer, and Roseanne reached out to raise her chin with her fingers. She was surprised again at the look in those eyes when they finally flashed up to meet hers. The quiet, shy little girl was gone there. Instead was a flame, something wild, and almost… angry. And defiant. That hit her the hardest of all.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Daisy Mae…”

Daisy Mae pulled away, stepping back. She looked taller, too, Roseanne thought. At least she’d been fed well, if not dressed well. “It’s just Daisy,” she said. Her voice sounded confident, assured. “And what’s wrong?” She laughed, almost bitterly, the sound totally unladylike. “What’s wrong is you took me away from my family.”

“But darling, I *am* your family.”

The now-disconcerting dark blue eyes met hers again, unhesitatingly. “Yes… But I was happy there. Why didn’t you let me stay in Hazzard?”

Some of the old quiet unsureness showed through into the last question, and Roseanne relaxed slightly. At least the young girl was still there somewhere, even if she been buried by the new, shocking sassiness. Hang those stupid country bumpkins! If they’d had Daisy Mae much longer, they would have ruined her forever! “Because you’ll be better off here, with your loving Aunt Roseanne,” she said gently, bending down to kiss the girl on the cheek.

To her surprise, Daisy Mae ducked away with a smooth, agile move that bespoke none of the fragile daintiness she’d always had, but rather a sinuous strength. Was the child perhaps more healthy now, thanks to mountain air? Maybe it was one thing those folk did right, living there. The girl wandered into the living room, looking around. “It hasn’t changed any.”

“Of course not.” She waved Sanchez away and followed her young niece. “It never has, and never will.” She smiled when Daisy Mae glanced back at her. “You know, you will need a bath and some clean clothes before you could really sit down though, so why don’t we let that be first? Then we’ll talk.” She rang the little silver bell that would signal the maid.

But Daisy Mae stepped towards the door. “I can get my own bath, Aunt Roseanne. I’m not a baby anymore!”

Roseanne felt her patience thinning. “No!” she snapped. You’re not! You’ve become a spoiled little brat, Daisy Mae!”

The girl spun around in the doorway. “Just Daisy! I don’t want to be called by my full name! And I ain’t spoiled!” The flash of defiance in her eyes told Roseanne that the child had used the bad grammar on purpose, just to spite her.

“Shut your mouth!” she ordered. “I don’t want any lip from you, understand me, Daisy Mae?”

Daisy Mae stood her ground, but slowly, under her aunt’s angry stare, gave in, looking away and sagging a little, no longer as drawn-up or proud. “O-okay… but Aunt Roseanne?”

“Yes?”

The eyes meeting hers now were shy, almost afraid. “Could you please just call me Daisy?”

Roseanne sighed. “Very well, I suppose. There is nothing wrong with that name. Now go with Marie like a good girl and take your bath.”

“Yes, Aunt Roseanne.” The child went out the door, with the maid, who’d been standing in the background, right behind her.

She sighed again, sitting down on one of the couches and folding her hands in her lap. Maybe there was hope. Maybe her baby was still there somewhere. The way Daisy Mae — Daisy — had backed down gave hope. She’d just have to be strict until she was sure that the girl was herself again.

###

“Are you sure?” Jesse asked, feeling downheartened.

“Well, you could try,” JD Hogg answered, waving a hand, “but those are rich, powerful folks up there.” He nodded, emphasizing his own point. “Too powerful.”

“There must be something that can be done, JD!” Jesse snapped, not at his old friend but at the situation. He sprang to his feet, pacing Hogg’s office. “Daisy is happy here! Why take her back to the city? Roseanne never seemed to show much interest in the kids before! Why now?”

“Daisy grew up there.” Hogg stood as well, putting down his cigar to cross the room and put a hand on Jesse’s shoulder. “This Roseanne wants an heir, someone to inherit her money and imitate her.”

Jesse turned his head to stare down at his old buddy. “All little Daisy wants is to have a family. She told me that she’d never felt like she had one before, what with her mama always being gone and her aunt ignoring her. She said she felt like she’d found a home here. And the boys love her. So do I.”

“Folks like them down in Atlanta don’t care about what a child wants,” Hogg told him sagely. “They care about power.”

“Then, how do we get her back?”

“There’s only one way.” At Jesse’s questioning look, JD nodded, smirking a little. “You’ll have to prove that the lady doesn’t love your niece, and that Daisy would rather stay here. You’ll have to take her to court.”

“But we don’t have the kind of money it takes to hire a lawyer!” Jesse exploded, starting to pace again. “That would be impossible! We’re just making ends meet now as it is!”

“Well, there is one way.”

He spun to look at Hogg. “So help me, JD, if you can help us and won’t…”

“Not I, oh, no, no!” JD hurried to say, moving back to his desk. “But I have a… friend, shall we say, who does lawsuits like that. He won’t charge you unless you win. But, he will charge you an arm and a leg if you do.”

“But I…” Jesse stopped to think.

“If you get your little girl back, isn’t that worth it?” Hogg smiled. “Money is what makes the world go ’round, you know.”

“No it ain’t, JD,” Jesse shook his head. “But… if it’s the only chance…”

“It is, unless you can get the girl here to testify for herself.”

He shook his head. “Okay, JD, call your friend’. I’ll find some way to pay for it, I suppose.” He sighed and picked up his hat, preparing to leave.

“You know I wouldn’t lie to you, Jesse,” Hogg told him. “Not when it’s somethin’ this important.”

“I know.” If it was the only chance, then he would have to take it.

###

Daisy didn’t say much during dinner, and afterwards, she was sent up to bed. She closed the door to her bedroom, and wiped tears out of her eyes as she looked around. The room was almost as large as the whole of the downstairs of the farmhouse. It seemed too big. She swallowed back sobs, but the tears continued to flow.

She had to admit it. She missed her new home. She missed the things she’d only recently gotten to know, the coyote howls in the distance, the crickets in the tree outside her window. She missed staying up and hearing Bo and Luke talking though the wall, she missed the Morse-code messages she and Bo would send back and forth. She missed Uncle Jesse yelling for them to be quiet and go to sleep. She missed sneaking out of her room after he was asleep to go play midnight fort with the boys under the blankets they’d strung across the room from bedpost to bedpost. She missed it all.

Daisy slowly walked across the huge room, wondering how she could ever have slept here and felt it normal. It seemed too big, too girlish with its pink and ruffles. She ran a hand along the edge of a shelf, looking up to see her old collection of dolls, as neat as ever. The picture of the cars that she and the boys played with, spread out across the whole bedroom floor, came into her mind, and she smiled. Now *that* sort of thing was fun. Things like those matchbox cars, and the treehouse that she’d helped Luke and Bo finish. Luke had said she could come into the club because she’d helped, but she could see that Bo had been right when he’d said that Luke really did like her. Even when he pretended he didn’t.

Finally her eyes rested on the bed, a wide expanse of pink polyester. She’d always thought it the most comfortable thing, until she’d snuggled up on a crisp fall night under a quilt of goose and duck down. Nothing was warmer or airier than that.

Daisy went into the bathroom and brushed her hair and teeth, then stared at herself in the mirror fiercely. “You are Daisy Duke,” she told herself, pointing a finger at the mirror. “Not anything or anybody else. You belong home, in Hazzard County. And somehow, you’re gonna get back there.”

Saying it out loud made her feel a bit better, as though now she was only sleeping over instead of living here. Heartened by her thoughts of home, she began to whistle as she moved back into the room, a trick Bo had taught her. She paused in mid-note when she remembered that Aunt Roseanne didn’t approve of girls whistling, then realized that no one could hear her though the almost sound-proof walls anyway, and continued with the cheerful melody she was making up.

She dug through her dresser for something comfortable to wear to bed, and managed to find only one article that didn’t have itchy lace, an old nightgown which was too small when she tried it on. Knowing that nobody would check on her until breakfast time, she just shrugged and pulled the dress that her aunt had made her put on for dinner over her head, not bothering with the buttons. She slung the dress over the foot of the bed, now dressed in only her t-shirt and underwear, but comfortable.

Daisy eyed the bed, then pulled a pillow and the comforter off. She struggled with the oversized quilt wanna-be until she managed to get it folded in half, then she folded it again from the other direction, making a somewhat small but soft square on the floor. Then she tossed the pillow onto it and tugged a blanket out of the closet, folding it in half. She threw the blanket up in the air and dived to get under it before it came down, giggling. She didn’t quite make it, she stood and threw the blanket up again. This was fun! On the fourth try, she got all the way underneath the blanket before it came down, and she just laid there for a couple of moments, grinning.

Then Daisy sat up, crossing her legs. Locking her fingers together in her lap, she looked out the open window, up at the stars. “Dear God,” she whispered, “thanks for letting me go live with Uncle Jesse, and Luke and Bo. It’s so much fun there. It’s really, truly home. Please, God, help me be good for my aunt, but help me get back to Hazzard too. Forever, cause that’s where I wanna be. Amen.”

She sat there looking at the stars for a few more seconds, then her eyes sought out one particular star, Bo’s special star that he had said he’d share with her. Daisy stood and crossed to the window, then reached up to place her finger over the dot of light in the sky. It wasn’t nearly as big or bright here in the city as it was at the farm, but it was there. “Hi Bo,” she said quietly. “Can you hear me? I’m okay, honest. But I wanna come home. I hope Uncle Jesse has a plan.” She was silent for a few minutes, just looking out, then finally said, “Goodnight, cousin. Friend.”

Then she went back to her little bed on the floor, and fell into it. She was asleep almost as soon as she’d pulled the blanket around herself.

Bo Duke was looking out his window, too, at the same star. He blinked tears out of his eyes, knowing that crying was a girlish thing to do, and reached out to touch the star through the windowpane. “I hope you’re lookin’ at this star too, Daisy,” he whispered so that he wouldn’t wake Luke, who was already asleep in his bed. “I care about you, ya know.” He paused, a little awkwardly. “G’night, Daisy.”

Then he went back to bed, and fell asleep as well.

by: Sarah Stodola

“I don’t care. She’s my niece. I’ve raised her, with her mother of course, for the past five years. She’s hardly left these grounds! She’ll be lost out in Hicksville like that!” Roseanne Douglas wiped her eyes with her handkerchief, staring imploringly at her lawyer. “You have to get her back for me.”

“I’ll try, Miss Douglas,” the tall, thin man sighed, closing his briefcase. “But that’s all I can do.”

She stood as he did, her eyes narrowing slightly. “I won’t have my niece corrupted by hillbillies, Mr. Sanchez. Little Daisy Mae is a lady. That’s all she knows. I guarantee you she’ll be miserable out there. And…” she drew the word out, fingering her purse, “I could make it worth your while if you get her back.”

He stopped halfway through the door, turning to look at her. “If the price is right…”

Roseanne smiled. “It will be. I promise.”

The lawyer smiled back. “Consider it done, Miss Douglas.”

As he left, Roseanne nodded to herself, looking at the picture on her desk, a picture of a young girl in a Victorian-like dress, dark blue eyes wide and smiling almost shyly. No one was going to take her baby away. Certainly not some hick farmer from the back side of nowhere.

She would get Daisy Mae back. Whatever it cost. She had the money to spare, and she would use it.

###

“Daisy Mae Duke, come to the principal’s office please. The principal’s office, Daisy Mae Duke.”

The PA shut off and Daisy turned her head to stare at Bo, sitting in the next aisle almost even with her. He shrugged, making an “I dunno” face. She shrugged back, then slid away from her desk and headed toward the door, feeling all eyes on her back.

She wondered what she’d done wrong. She couldn’t remember anything. In the entire three weeks she’d been in school, she hadn’t gotten in trouble, except for that first day when she and Bo had shown that bully what was what. She grinned at the memory.

She was still half in day-dream land when she opened the door to the principal’s office, and stopped dead in her tracks. The thin man leaning on the desk, a man she knew, turned and straightened, staring at her. Slowly, one dark eyebrow raised. “Daisy Mae?”

Daisy swallowed hard, slowly shutting the door behind her. This man was her Aunt Roseanne’s lawyer, someone she had met numerous times. What was he doing in Hazzard? “Hello, Mr. Sanchez,” she heard herself saying automatically, then she raised her chin a little, the independence she’d learned from her cousins coming to the fore again. “Please, just call me Daisy.”

“But your full name…”

“I know. But just call me Daisy.” Yes, her aunt had always called her by her full name, and she’d grown up with that name. But just like Luke and Bo had with their names, she’d rather have a shorter version.

Mr. Sanchez frowned slightly, but finally nodded. “Very well… Daisy.” He looked her up and down, the disapproving frown deepening. “Why are you wearing boys’ pants, young lady?”

“Because I want to,” she said defiantly. “And cause they’re more comfortable than a dress, and let me run better too.”

“You run?”

Daisy grinned, enjoying the expression of disbelief on the lawyer’s face. “And I climb trees, and I play in the creek, and I’m on the softball team. Good enough for you?”

He straightened, eyes snapping. “Where’d you leave your manners, Daisy Mae? In the barn?”

“Just Daisy.” She shrugged. “And… I just don’t really wanna see you, is all.”

“And your grammar..! I wouldn’t have thought two months could do *this* to you! What happened to you?”

“I realized I’m a Duke,” she told him proudly, tossing her hair back. “And that’s all that matters to me.”

“Well, you’d better regain the manners you lost, young lady, before your aunt whips them back into you!”

Daisy faltered. “What?” She looked over at the principal. “What’s he talking about?”

The kindly man sighed and removed his glasses. “I’m sorry, Daisy, but this man has court approval to take you back to your Aunt Roseanne. They said that she can take better care of you than your uncle, since she has more funds.”

“But..!” Daisy spun to face Mr. Sanchez again. “But I don’t want to go back to the manor! I want to stay at the farm!”

“You have to admit, your uncle is poor,” he simply said.

She bristled. “Maybe we don’t have all the money Aunt Roseanne does, but we get by!”

“Yes, you get by.” He frowned. “Barely. Don’t argue with me. You have no choice. Now, go get your things. We’re leaving.”

“Now?!” She backed toward the door. “No!” Turning the knob, she spun and ran out, down the hall toward her homeroom. Bursting in, she interrupted what the teacher was saying with, “Bo! They’re taking me away!”

“What?!” He jumped up, knocking his chair over. “No way! Who?”

“My aunt!” Her eyes were blurring with tears. She felt lost, not knowing what to do. “Bo, I don’t want to leave Hazzard!”

“And you’re not gonna. Come on, we gotta find Luke!” He was already starting for the door.

“Don’t you dare.” The angry snap came from Mr. Sanchez, who was standing in the doorway. There was utter silence in the room. He looked straight at Daisy. “Get your things. We are leaving. Now.”

She looked helplessly at Bo, and he looked back, just as helpless.

“Daisy Mae, do as I tell you,” the lawyer ordered. She slowly walked to her desk, and picked up her notebook and pencil case.

She walked toward him, past Bo, and paused beside her cousin. “I…” Her eyes filled with tears. He was the only best friend she’d ever had. Bo bit his lip, then suddenly reached out and pulled her into a rough hug.

“Don’t let ’em get you down,” he whispered in her ear, so Mr. Sanchez couldn’t hear. “Uncle Jesse will know how to let you come home. Just hang in there.”

“I hope so,” she said earnestly, but quietly. “I love it here. And I love all of you.”

He colored slightly. “…Yeah. I love you too, Daisy.”

The cousins clung to each other for a few moments, then Mr. Sanchez cleared his throat loudly, glaring, and Daisy pulled away, trudging over to where the lawyer stood.

“Good. Now let’s go so we’ll be home in time for dinner,” he said, walking out the door.

Daisy met Bo’s eyes once more, then had to follow.

As they drove out of the school grounds in a shiny black sedan, she twisted to look out the back window. She saw Bo, with Luke right behind him, come running out the door and stop, staring, in the center of the yard. She waved, hoping they’d see her, then the car accelerated as it turned a corner, and her cousins were out of sight.

###

“Uncle Jesse!!”

The shrill urgency in Luke’s voice made him jump, and he stopped the tractor, turning in surprise to see Luke and Bo running through the freshly-plowed field toward him. “What is it? Ain’t you two supposed to be in school? And where’s Daisy?”

“She’s gone!” Bo cried, leaping up onto the tractor. His dark blue eyes shone with not-too-well hidden tears. “Her aunt from Atlanta came and took her away!”

“What?!” Jesse stared, then met Luke’s worried eyes. “Is it true?”

The older boy nodded. “I saw them leaving. Bo came and got me, but it was too late!”

The farmer swallowed hard, then squeezed his eyes shut, whispering a fervent prayer for help.

“Uncle Jesse, what’re we gonna do?” Bo asked.

He opened his eyes, trying not to cry himself. He put a hand on each of his boys’ shoulders. “Luke, Bo, what we ain’t gonna do is panic. What we are gonna do is go see JD Hogg about what we can do to get her back. He’s the one who knows the most about laws and stuff.” He climbed down from the tractor. “But first,” he met two pairs of worried dark blue eyes, “we’re gonna pray for some help, cause we’re gonna need a lot of it.”

by: Sarah Stodola

“I’m not really sure I want to go,” Daisy admitted to her uncle, watching him as he prepared three school lunches, tucking sandwiches into small paper bags. “I mean, I won’t fit in. I don’t know much about farming or fishing, or whatever the other kids are going to want to talk about.”

“First thing,” Luke smirked from the table, “drop the fancy city talk.” Jesse shot a glare at the boy, and he hurriedly rephrased. “I mean, you talk like a grown-up from the city. No slang or nothin’. That’s not normal.”

She shrugged, a little. “I was privately tutored. Besides which, my aunt wanted me to fit into society, not the *back side of the country*. And I’ve only been here just over three weeks.”

Bo grimaced as he came down the stairs, taking them three or four at a time. “Your aunt was really into the rich folks stuff, huh?”

“Yes.” Daisy sighed. “I almost wish I’d come to live out here instead. But my aunt was kind enough to offer us her home when Daddy died, and Mama kind of *had* to accept. She figured it’d be better for me, growing up with plenty of money and nice things.”

“But that ain’t what life is about,” Bo argued.

“I know that now.” Her eyes started to shine. “It’s a lot more fun to run around like you boys do, or climb a tree. And it’s a whole lot nicer to be able to laugh, and to know I’m really loved, too.” She gripped Jesse’s hand tightly, then giggled slightly. “You know, if my aunt could see me now, she’d have a heart attack!” She gestured to her jeans and boots. For the occasion of school she’d put on a nice blouse for the first time in a month, but she’d left the skirt for the more comfortable jeans.

Luke shrugged wordlessly, his mouth full of blueberry muffin. But his opinion of her mother’s sister was evident in the way he rolled his eyes at the ceiling.

“Yeah,” Daisy smiled agreement. Then she turned to her uncle. “You know what, Uncle Jesse?”

“What?”

She hugged him happily. “I’m glad that I came here to live with you instead of staying in Atlanta.”

“Me too.” He hugged her back, then pointed to the wall clock. “Hadn’t you kids better get going? You’ll miss the bus.”

“Yikes!” Bo snatched up his lunch bag on the way out the door. “C’mon Daisy, you don’t wanna do that!”

She reached for her own bag and ran after him, letting the screen door slam behind her, something she would never have dared do back at the manor. “Wait up, Bo!”

She heard Jesse’s voice faintly from inside. “Hurry up, Luke!”

“Okay, okay,” came the reply, then the screen slammed open a third time, and pounding feet followed her own down the driveway.

Daisy looked up at the sky, autumn blue, with the trees turning orange and gold above her, and jumped up into the air, arms raised above her and laughing out loud in the sheer joy of being alive. Oh yes, she liked this life much more than the manor!

Luke shoved her shoulder as he went past. “Hurry up, kid, or we’re all gonna be late.”

“It won’t be *my* fault!” she insisted as she put playing around aside to run after her cousins.

It was at lunchtime that Daisy realized just how tough she was going to have to be, just because she was a Duke. She’d just found a tree to sit down under when a football hit her in the side. “Ow!” she protested, rubbing her smarting ribs and looking around for the owner of the offending ball.

“Hey, gimme my ball back!”

“Huh?” She looked up, shading her eyes against the noon sun. “I didn’t take it, it hit me!”

“Hey!” The boy laughed out loud. “Listen to the little girl from the city. You talk all proper!”

“So?” she started to bristle. For a moment she felt guilty about it, then she shook that feeling aside and glared up at the boy. She was a Duke now, and nobody messed with the Dukes! “Take your ball and leave!”

He just laughed, then snatched up her lunch.

“Hey..!” she protested, reaching to get the bag back, but the boy shoved her backwards.

“I don’t got to listen to girls.”

Daisy scrambled to her feet. “Give me back my lunch!”

“Why?” he sneered.

“Cause she’s my cousin, that’s why,” a new voice broke in. The bully spun around to see Bo standing there, hands on his hips, scowling.

“You again, Duke?” the bigger boy sneered. “Why don’t you just split?”

“Leave Daisy alone, Ricky!” the blond boy insisted defiantly.

Ricky sneered again. “Oh yeah. Like I’m so scared of you. Baby.”

Bo’s eyes narrowed, and he lashed out, striking the bully in the jaw. But the other boy reached out and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, lifting him up slightly.

“Take off, Duke,” Ricky said menacingly. “Before I pound you into tomorrow!” He tossed the lighter boy aside. Bo landed sprawled on the ground, coughing. Then Ricky hefted the lunch sack and started away.

Daisy couldn’t stand to see Bo, her friend, treated like that. She was almost more mad about that than about her lunch. She leaped to her feet and ran after the muscular boy. “Hey you!” she shouted. When he turned, she plowed into him, driving her shoulder into his stomach like she’d seen the boys do in play. Only she knew that Luke and Bo were careful with each other. Daisy wasn’t being gentle. The air came out of Ricky’s lungs, and he gasped, dropping the sack and half doubling over.

Then he snarled at the girl. “I’ll get you for that, kid!” He leaped for her, and knocked her to the ground. He reached down and took her shirt in his fist to lift her back up, just in time for a lanky blond boy to come springing through the air and land on his back, sending Ricky to the dirt again. Bo reached down for Daisy’s hand.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” she gasped out, then turned to glare down at the bully. “But he…”

“I know.” Bo grinned mischievously. “Hey, we did it together, cuz!” He raised one hand up.

Slowly, she smiled back at him, and raised her own hand to meet his midair in a high-five. “Yeah. We sure did.” She bent to pick up her lunch, deliberately turning her back on Ricky, who was lying there looking as though he was still trying to figure out what had happened to him. Then she glanced over at the other side of the schoolyard, where a group of girls was standing, watching her. Her shoulders sagged. “But I think I just lost my chance of making any friends. I mean, I know girls aren’t supposed to get too rough, even around here…”

“That’s not true!” Bo said vehemently, and she stared at him. “I mean, ’bout your having no friends! I’m your friend! And so’s Luke, or at least he will be!” At her skeptical glance, he shrugged. “He’ll come around. I really think Luke cares, down deep. He’s just never liked having new kids around. He didn’t like me when I first came to Hazzard, either!”

“I guess,” she sighed, starting to walk away.

Her cousin came up beside her, slinging an arm around her neck. They were almost exactly the same height, she noted, surprised that it was the first time she’d noticed that. “Hey, Daisy, know what?”

She glanced at him. He was grinning again. “What?”

“You just got in a fight! Wonder what your aunt would think about that?”

The mental picture of her aunt doubling over in a coughing fit, then fainting, made her laugh out loud. It wasn’t a lady’s soft giggle at all, but she didn’t care. She put her arm over his shoulders, too. “Yeah! That’d be so funny!”

“Got that right!” His dark blue eyes met her own. “Daisy, you’re a Duke. That’s all that matters. We stick together. Besides, I like you acting like a boy! You’re more fun!” They both laughed again, then he sobered a bit. “We’re in the same class, too, and know what? Nobody’s gonna push my cousin around while I’m there.”

“Yeah. Thanks. Same here.” She smiled at him, and for the first time in her life felt like she had a best friend.

Bo let go of her and started jogging away. “C’mon! Let’s find a shady spot to eat before they’re all taken up!”

“Okay!” She ran after him.

###

About a week after school had started, Luke was sitting in the barn on the floor, scowling at a model car that wasn’t going right. He looked at the instruction page, then back at the car, trying to figure out how to attach something that wasn’t in the instructions.

And trying to stay away from Daisy. She was entirely too nosey, that girl, always trying to see what everybody was doing. He felt kind of like Bo was desrting him, turning to the enemy side, the way the blond boy seemed to be making friends with her. Uncle Jesse was always making the boys spend time with her, let her go places with them. It wasn’t fair! Luke could hardly go anywhere with his friends anymore, cause if he did, she’d tag along and he’d get made fun of.

It just wasn’t fair.

Lost in his brooding, it was a few seconds before he realized he had company. He looked up, then glared at Daisy, the one standing there and intruding on his private space. “What do you want?” he snapped.

The girl’s eyes widened slightly, and she pointed to herself. “Who, me?”

Luke rolled his eyes. Bo was rubbing off on her. He returned most of his attention to the model instructions. “Why don’t you go away?”

“Why?” Then she breathed in sharply, a sound of admiration. “Wow!”

He glared at her as she crouched down beside him and reached out a hand toward his half-finished model. “Hands off. The glue ain’t set.”

“I’m not going to hurt anything.”

He snorted inwardly. Yeah, right. Why couldn’t she just leave?

“That’ll be a real pretty car,” Daisy continued, apparently oblivious to his discomfort and bad mood.

“Not pretty.” He scowled. “That’s like saying it’s sissy. It’s gonna be a racecar.”

“It still looks really nice. You’re a good builder.”

“What do you know?” he threw out a challenge.

She tossed her hair back indignantly, placing her hands on her hips. “It so happens, Luke Duke, that I once helped the cook’s son build a model rocket.”

“Your aunt let you?”

“No, she never found out.”

Luke sighed explosively, throwing the papers to the floor. “Well, this one ain’t goin’ too great.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

He shot another glare in her direction. “Uh-uh. Hands off! I don’t need the help of a girl to build a boy’s model!”

Daisy glared back. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you? And that girls are so dumb! Well I’ll let you know, I’m getting A’s in school!”

“So’m I. Doesn’t mean you know about cars!”

“Maybe I don’t know about cars, but I’d like to learn!” Both were standing now, practically shouting at each other.

“A girl mechanic? Just great!” Luke said sarcastically. “Instead of bugging me, why don’t you go help in the kitchen?”

“Cause I may not know much about cars, but I know plenty about models!” she snapped out.

The boy scowled, then folded his arms, shifting his weight to one foot arrogantly. “Okay then. *You* figure out how to do it, hotshot.”

Her chin lifted coolly, just as arrogant and self-sure as his. “Maybe I just will.” She knelt down beside the model, looking it over from all angles. “What’s wrong with it? Looks pretty nice to me.”

He crouched back down too. “Nothin’s wrong yet. I’m tryin’ to figure out how to add some spoilers to the thing. You know, like NASCAR racers have. I thought it’d be really easy, but with the way the car’s built, I can’t figure out how to attach the extra plastic and have it stay on.”

“Hmm.” Daisy bent over and studied the toy car intently from floor level. He had to admire her bravery, Luke thought. Not many kids stuck around when he got mad, much less yelled right back. Maybe she was a Duke after all.

But that still didn’t mean he had to like her.

Finally she sat up and looked at him. “Luke, it’s easy. Just… here.” She took the glue tube and proceeded to break off some tiny bits of plastic. She glued the triangular bits carefully to the spoiler he’d cut out, her older cousin looking over her shoulder despite himself, then attached the whole thing to the tail end of the car. “Just brace it, that’s all. The more surface space there is for the glue to stick to, the better it’ll stay.”

Luke felt like slapping himself upside the head. He should have seen that. Making a face, he said, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Daisy stood, looking down at him coolly. “Cause when things don’t go right, you get too mad to think.” She spun and left the barn.

Luke watched her go, unsure of whether to be insulted or not. Finally he sighed, and, slowly, smiled ruefully. Daisy might be a girl, but she sure was plucky.

He looked back down at the model. And she was smart, too. Whether he liked it or not. Maybe it wouldn’t be quite so bad, having her around. As long as she stayed out of his business, and didn’t get in the way.

He picked up another piece of plastic and started in on more trim.

by: Sarah Stodola

A few days later, Daisy sat in the barn, up in the loft. She’d watched the boys come up here before, though she didn’t think they knew that she had. She was leaning back against the wall, avidly buried in a book she’d found left there, when she heard a soft gasp. She jumped and glanced up, eyes widening guiltily.

“Don’t let Luke catch you up here,” Bo whispered, then clambered the rest of the way up the rope ladder. Daisy smiled, slightly. She liked Bo. He was the same age as her, eight, and didn’t seem to mind her company nearly as much as Luke did.

“I was just reading,” she whispered back.

“Readin’? Readin’ what?” Bo settled himself into the hay beside her, brushing back his blond hair. She showed him the cover of the book, and his eyes widened. He whistled, low. “You like cars?!”

She blushed, and nodded, looking away.

“Hey, neat!” She glanced back up to see him grinning, his eyes sparkling. “It must run in the fam’ly or somethin’. But, a girl likin’ that kind of stuff? Cool!”

Daisy couldn’t keep back a grin at that. She tossed the book to her cousin. He caught it with one hand and jumped forward, tackling her and knocking her backwards into the hay. She giggled, unable to keep quiet any longer, and threw a handful of hay at him.

Bo laughed out loud, a carefree sound that seemed contagious. Daisy laughed back, and scrambled to her feet, rushing her cousin like she’d seen the boys do when they wrestled. He wasn’t expecting the move from a girl, and so was off-balance enough for her to knock him down.

“Whoa!” He stared up at her, still grinning, but now with admiration shining in his dark blue eyes. “You’re pretty fast for a girl! Hey, you’re fast, period!”

“Really? Honest?”

“Aw, sure. I wouldn’t lie to my cousin.” He sat up and punched her in the shoulder lightly, more of a gesture normally used from boy to boy than the way someone would normally treat a girl, especially a young lady.

And for some reason, Daisy’s heart leapt for joy. She really was going to belong here. She knew that now. “Thanks. Hey, wanna show me what some of these cars are about? You probably know more than I do.” She used the slightly incorrect grammar on purpose, saying it just like the farm folk here in Hazzard would, and not the proper way of an Atlanta rich girl.

“Sure thing.” Bo flopped down on his stomach beside her, and she slid down next to him as he opened the book to page one and started talking animatedly about his favorite subject.

###

“You gotta be careful,” Luke warned as he, Bo, and Daisy waited for the trap they’d set to fill with crawdads. “These things pinch.”

“Hard!” Bo grinned. He leaned over the side of the rowboat. “Ain’t it been almost long enough, Luke?”

The older boy shook his head. “You’re too impatient. Not yet.”

Daisy peered into the clear water beneath. She could almost see bottom, in places. But not quite. “They’re like little lobsters, right?”

“Sorta,” Luke answered. “I’ve never seen a lobster except in books, but they look pretty close.”

“Kinda,” Bo chimed in, still balanced over the edge of the boat.

Daisy eyed his precarious position warily, wondering if he was going to fall in. “What do we do with them?”

“Eat ’em, of course.” Luke made a face. “Don’t you know nothin’?”

She glared back at him. “I’m learning!”

He just shrugged and looked away.

“Uncle Jesse’s crawdad bisque is great!” Bo laughed. He looked at Daisy with a mischevious glint in his eyes, then splashed some water up at her. “Gotcha!”

“Oh yeah?” She reached her hand over the side of the boat and splashed him right back. “Got you too!”

“Be careful, you two,” Luke warned.

Daisy nodded, looking away from Bo just in time to receive a faceful of water. Shaking it off, she glared in his direction. “No fair! I wasn’t looking!”

“What’s not fair?” The blond boy just kept grinning, infuriatingly.

She sat up and placed her hands on her hips. “You aren’t!”

He shrugged a little. “Just come and get me, then.”

“Bo..!” Luke started protestingly, but it was too late. Daisy stared as the younger boy leaped out of the rowboat, cannonballing into the pond with a big splash. He came back up, shoving hair out of his eyes.

“C’mon, guys!”

Daisy stared. “We don’t even have swimsuits!”

“We don’t need ’em,” Luke shrugged. “Why spend money on somethin’ you don’t need? Our shorts’ll work well enough.”

Bo whistled shrilly after coming up from a dive, calling out, “Are you two comin’ or not?”

“We’re coming,” Luke called back.

Daisy eyed the water. “It’s deep.”

“So?”

“But I can’t swim.”

“You not serious!” Luke stared at her, wide-eyed. “Now you really gotta jump in! It’s dangerous not to know how to swim around here!”

“I… I don’t know…”

“It’s easy!” Bo encouraged, treading water and splashing toward the boat. “Aw, c’mon, Daisy! You ain’t scared, are you?”

She drew herself up. “Of course not!” Which was anything but the truth; she was terrified.

“Then jump!”

Daisy crawled to the side of the rowboat, tensing. Could she do it? The boys wouldn’t want her to drown. But were they capable of helping her? She started to back away.

“Jump!” She heard Luke’s voice behind her, just as he shoved her, hard, into the water.

She plunged down, down. Panicked, Daisy stroked for the surface, and finally came through, gasping a breath of air.

“Hey!” Bo was beside her, coming up from below again. “Nice dive!”

She glared at him, but couldn’t spare any breath for words, too occupied with struggling to keep afloat. She saw Luke make a clean dive into the pond, then the dark-haired boy came up near the boat.

“Come on, Daisy!” he shouted. “Swim to me!”

“I can’t!” she managed.

“Sure you can.” Bo shoved her from behind, toward the oldest cousin. To keep from sinking, she had to move forward, and with much gasping, finally reached the rowboat’s side.

She grabbed the wooden siding with a white-knuckled death-grip, shaking. The water was too heavy! It caught in her shirt and shorts, dragging her down. She couldn’t do it!

But Bo and Luke were both laughing, playing in the pond. Daisy watched enviously as Luke made a dive almost straight down. How did they do that? Well, she thought, swallowing hard and bracing herself against the side of the boat, if they could learn, then so could she!

“Hey guys!” she shouted, then launched herself out from the boat. She almost went under, but made it back out to her cousins. The boys cheered and whistled as she turned, slowly, and fought her way back to the boat. Daisy gripped the edge again and grinned to herself. She would do it! She would prove she could! She would prove she could do everything the boys could! Then maybe they’d accept her, really accept her.

“C’mon!” Bo yelled as he scrambled out onto the bank and squirreled up an oak tree. She watched, fascinated, as he took a flying leap into the air, landing with a loud splash in the water. As Luke followed the younger boy up the tree, Daisy struck out for shore. She just had to learn how to swim! They were having too much fun for her not to want to join in!

Jesse smiled as he heard laughing children’s voices coming up toward the house. Daisy was finally starting to fit in. The cousins had gone crawdad fishing earlier, but they’d sure been gone a long time. They’d probably ended up swimming.

His suspicions were proved correct when the kitchen door swung open and three rather wet, and somewhat muddy, kids trooped in, talking all at once.

“Uncle Jesse, we caught a whole bunch of crawdads!” Luke announced happily.

“Uncle Jesse, I learned how to swim!” Daisy laughed, leaping across the kitchen. Jesse put out hands to grip her shoulders just in time to keep her from spattering mud all over the place, and all over him.

“Well, sort of,” Bo amended.

The girl spun to glare at both boys. “I did too swim! All the way from the boat to the shore and back again! Twice!”

“Well now, that’s a mighty fine feat!” their uncle smiled. “All right, I’ll take the crawdads.” He gingerly took the just-as-muddy bucket from Bo and dropped it in the sink. “You kids need to take a bath!”

“But we can’t bathe together!” Daisy protested.

“No, you can’t, but the boys can. All right, no mud on your feet?” At three nods, he ushered Luke and Bo up the stairs and down the hall to the bathroom. He waited just long enough to make sure that the two boys got into the shower together, clothes and all, then headed back downstairs to tend to Daisy.

Smiling, he shook his head slightly. It was time to get out the old bathtub!

Some time later, finally clean and dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, Daisy peered out from around the blanket her uncle had hung up for privacy across a corner of the kitchen. “Uncle Jesse?”

“Hmm?” He turned around from his place at the counter, and smiled.

“Where do I put the dirty clothes?”

“Well,” he washed his hands off in the sink and shook the water off, “they’ll need some real washin’, so how about in that tub you were just in?”

Daisy glanced behind her. “Huh?”

“You have to soak most of that mud out before you can stuff the clothes in that old washer. That thing’s about as ancient as they come; it don’t do a great job on its own.”

She giggled slightly. “Okay.” Pulling the blanket aside, she picked up the muddy shirt and shorts gingerly and threw them in the soapy bathwater.

“There!” Jesse smiled. “Beats scrubbing ’em anyday.”

“What are you doing?” Daisy changed the subject, coming over and craning her neck to try to see what was in the sink.

“Well, I’m done cleanin’ the crawdads, but I still have to cook them. Want to help?”

Daisy almost backed off, but, curiosity getting the better of her, she pulled a chair from around the table and climbed up on it. She made a face at the mess in the sink, poking it with one finger. “Yuck.”

Her uncle chuckled. “Now, sure. But wait till you taste them.”

“What are you making?”

Jesse started picking up the pieces of crawdad and washing them off under the faucet. “Crawdad bisque. Your Aunt Lavinia’s recipe. The best in the county,” he smiled.

Daisy tilted her head at him, leaning on the counter. “Who’s Aunt Lavinia?”

“She was my wife.” The smile grew softer. “Died just before Luke came to live with me. He came six months before Bo.”

“Oh.” She wasn’t sure what to say to that. “She was a good cook?”

“The best.” Jesse nodded at her. “She always wanted a little girl of her own. Wish she was here to see you now.”

Daisy returned her uncle’s smile slowly. “Didn’t you have kids of your own?”

“No.” He shook his head, dumping the last handful of diced meat in a pot. “We never did. It’s just you, Luke, and Bo. You three are the last of the Duke clan.”

“Really?” Her eyes widened. “Gosh.” She peered into the pot as Jesse lifted it to the stove. “What was she like?”

“Who?”

“Aunt Lavinia.” Jesse’s smile slowly left, and she wondered if she’d said something wrong. “Uncle Jesse?”

The smile was back now, but somewhat sad. “It’s all right, Daisy. I just miss her, that’s all. What was she like? Oh…” He trailed off, looking into the distance. “She was very kind. Loved children. She would have been delighted to have known you three. The prettiest girl in Hazzard. Every boy in town was after her.” Jesse chuckled. “But I got lucky, didn’t I?”

“I guess so.” Daisy straightened from her leaning position on the counter, and climbed down off the chair. “What else?”

Her uncle started cutting up and tossing other ingredients in the pot as he spoke. “Lavinia loved music. Had a voice like a bell, too.” Daisy was startled when he looked straight at her. “She looked an awful lot like you.”

Her eyes widened slowly. “I thought I looked like my mama.”

“You do. Marion and Lavinia were friends in high school, and everyone thought they were sisters ’cause they looked so much alike. It was after we married that your parents met each other.”

Daisy grinned. “Marion and Henry.”

“Uh-huh. Marion and my brother Henry.”

They were both silent for a few seconds, then Daisy looked back up at her uncle. “Did it hurt when she died? Aunt Lavinia, I mean?”

He froze, then nodded, slowly. “A bit.” He smiled at her. “Don’t worry about me, Daisy. It really don’t hurt that much anymore. I have you three to look after, and the farm to keep up, and crops to sell. I have too much to do to sit around and be all sad. I know I’ll see her in heaven, when the good Lord says it’s time for me to go, and that’s enough for me.” He returned to chopping celery.

“It hurt when my mama died too,” she whispered. “A whole lot. It still hurts.”

“I know, honey. I know.”

Daisy bit her lower lip, then reached out to wrap her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his chest. “I love you, Uncle Jesse,” she whispered.

He put down the knife and returned the hug, sighing deeply. “I love you too, Daisy. And I promise, I always will.”

She tightened her hold, then glanced over at what he was doing. “Can I help?”

Jesse leaned back and looked down at her, surprise in his eyes. The look quickly melted into a pleased expression. “Course, honey. How about makin’ up some biscuits to go along with the bisque?”

“Sure!” Somehow, it felt good to be here, talking like this, learning about her aunt. “How?”

He chuckled kindly. “You don’t know?”

“I’ve never cooked *anything* before!”

“Okay then.” Jesse wiped his hands on a small dish towel before opening a drawer under the counter edge and rummaging around. “There should be a recipe here somewhere… my Lord, I haven’t been through these in years. Aha.” He pulled out a small card with handwriting on it. “Here.”

Daisy took the card handed to her and studied it, trying to make sense out of the scribbles.

“You can’t read handwriting?”

“Not very well,” she admitted.

“All right,” her uncle smiled, taking the card back. “I’ll help you. He held the card out a little ways. “Let’s see… first, the flour.”

“Where’s that?”

“In the pantry.” He pocketed the card and headed for the small walk-in closet in the corner of the kitchen. “Everything’s in here… flour, baking powder…” He said the names of the ingredients as he handed them out to her. Daisy carried an armload to the table, then ran back for more.

“Now then,” Jesse said as he closed the pantry door, “let’s see what’s next…” Daisy, hovering at his elbow, could only grin.

Jesse smiled at his little girl. She was trying so hard to learn and experience everything all at once. He set about helping her make the dough, then put handfuls of it on a cookie sheet.

About thirty minutes later, Luke burst into the kitchen, Bo on his heels. “When’s dinner?”

“Soon.” Jesse handed the boys plates, bowls, and silverware. “Set the table.”

Bo stopped halfway there to make a face at Daisy. “Gosh, you’re as bad a mess as you were when you came out of that pond.”

“Am not!” She placed her hands on her hips, standing to her full height indignantly.

“It’s only flour,” Jesse said, waving the blond boy to finish his job. “It’ll brush off.”

“Why’re you covered in flour?” Luke asked.

“Cause I’m making biscuits!” Daisy grinned.

“You?”

“Sure,” Jesse came to her rescue again. “Leave her alone. Now let’s see…” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “They should be almost done. Let’s check.”

“Aw, just call us when it’s dinnertime,” Luke grumbled, walking out into the living room. Bo paused for a moment to arrange the dishes on the table, then followed his older cousin.

Jesse opened the oven door and studied the biscuits. The smell of warm baking drifted through the kitchen.

“They smell good!” Daisy exclaimed from beside him, dark blue eyes shining.

“They’ll taste good too,” he told her, wrapping his hands in towels then pulling the sheet out of the oven. His eyes widened slightly at the weight of the sheet, but he didn’t let his surprise show. Instead, he smiled inwardly, and setting the sheet down, poked at one of the biscuits. Yep. Hard.

Oh, well. His first batch had looked about the same. But he didn’t want to quell the girl’s excitement. How to soften them..? “Daisy,” he said thoughtfully, smiling down at her, “I bet these would taste even better covered in gravy, what do you say?”

“Okay!”

And when dinner was finally set on the table, Jesse had made good and sure that the biscuits on the plates were soft, practically smothering them in white country gravy and giving it plenty of time to soak in.

“Hey, somethin’ smells good!” Luke’s voice came from the doorway, and the two boys leapt into the kitchen, scrambling for their seats. Daisy beamed and turned proudly to go get the pan of gravy.

Bo poked at one of the biscuits still on the platter. “Hey!”

“Shh,” Jesse warned very quietly. “Be quiet. Just don’t take seconds. I made sure we can eat the ones on our plates.”

Luke made a face. “Can’t she do nothin’ right?” he whispered.

Jesse gave him a quick glare, and the two boys subsided as Daisy came back to the table. Their uncle said grace, and they all started in on the food. The boys were a little wary of the biscuits at first, but Jesse’s gravy trick had worked, and the former lumps of stone were actually good. He just hoped that the boys wouldn’t mention the ones still on the platter, still hard as rock.

As it happened, they did, but at least waited until the end of the meal, after Daisy had run upstairs on an errand for Jesse. Bo picked up one of the biscuits and pantomimed throwing it across the kitchen to Luke, who pretended to catch it. “We could play baseball with these things,” the blond boy laughed.

“Yeah. Hey, curve ball comin’ to your right!” Luke cocked his arm back with another biscuit in hand.

“No throwing food in here,” Jesse admonished.

“But what’re we gonna do with ’em?” Luke asked. “We can’t eat them.”

“No way!” Bo nodded.

Jesse glanced at the back door, then spoke quietly. “Take a hammer to them and feed ’em to the chickens, in with their regular grain. Just be sure to make the pieces small enough so the birds don’t choke. I wasn’t planning on chicken dinner tomorrow.”

The boys grinned and giggled at that, then took off outside with the platter. Jesse looked at the ceiling, shaking his head and smiling. *Lord, please don’t let Daisy do that one again.*