The Man He Used to Be, ch. 4

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by: Marty Chrisman

           

The Dukes spent a pleasant evening visiting with Shelby. All of them thanked her for her part in saving Luke’s life when he had been hurt. Jesse told stories about his days running shine with her granddaddy and Shelby admitted that she and Cory still ran shine using her granddaddy’s recipe. When she decided that it was time for her to leave, Luke quickly offered to walk her to her car before Bo could volunteer.

As they walked outside, Luke said “Ya know, I tried to find you after I got out of the hospital but I never could find your cabin.”

“Yeah, granddaddy had a thing about people knowing just where he lived. You can’t find the cabin unless ya know exactly where to look and how to get there.”

They paused by her car and Luke moved closer. In a quiet voice that only she could hear, he said “You’ll have to show me someday.”

“Maybe I will.” Shelby said with a grin

“I’d like to see you again.” Luke told her “I still haven’t had a chance to thank you personally for saving my life.”

“What did ya have in mind?”

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A Fantasy in Hazzard

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by: Cousin Shilo

Christie looked out the window of the small airplane. The turquoise water below
looked surreal, and she could hardly believe her dream was about to be turned to reality.
She glanced at the blue folder on her lap. Its contents spelled out the details of her
request. Smiling to herself, and shaking her head she glanced at the other passengers on
the plane. It was the first time she could remember being on a flight where most the
passengers were awake. Their expressions held the same excitement as hers. Sighing, she found herself wondering what fantasies they were about to embark on. She was sure more than a few were trying to visit lost loves. Not surprisingly, there weren’t any couples on board. Not to say they were all single,…just traveling alone.
Christie had never been married. At 28 years old, her mom was getting worried.
Not that there hadn’t been offers, but she was enjoying the freedom she had as a single
woman. Her blond hair now tied up in a clip and wearing a sun dress because of the heat,
she had turned a few heads at the airport. If her petite five foot, five inches and blond hair
didn’t catch their attention, her aqua colored eyes did. Now it was all accented by a deep,
dark tan.
Pressure started to build in her ears, telling Christie they were beginning their
decent, though she couldn’t yet see land out the small window she had her forehead
leaning against. She glanced about her again, and noticed others were beginning to shift in
their seats, feeling the excitement of what lie ahead of them.
It was only a few more minutes before Christie got her first glimpse of Fantasy
Island. Palm trees lined the white beaches, and the rest of the island from this view looked
heavily covered in rainforest.
The plane touched down on the calm water with barely a bounce, and immediately
began slowing down, eventually coming to a slow crawl as it made its way to the pier.
Two men stood on shore, side by side. Christie smiled at how out of place the pair looked,
standing in the sweltering heat in their matching three piece white suits. Then there was
the contrast of the two men. One was tall, a little over six feet, of European decent, with
slightly graying hair and a warm smile. The man at his side was much shorter, a midget in
fact, and had dark hair and also a warm smile. He looked decidedly more excited than his
counterpart.
As the passengers disembarked the plane, they were greeted much the same way
Christie remembered having done on her trip to Hawaii two years ago. One by one the
pretty dark haired native woman dressed in a grass skirt, bikini top, and her tanned legs
accented by flowers around her left ankle, placed a fragrant flowered Lei around every
passenger’s neck, planting a kiss on a cheek as she did so. From there they gathered on the shore, near the two men.
The tall man that Christie knew to be Roarke from the brochures, said in his
pleasant sounding accent, to the group in general, “Welcome to Fantasy Island!”

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The Man He Used to Be, ch. 3

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by: Marty Chrisman

Bo tapped the General’s accelerator, revving the engine, as he waited for the race to start. He never got nervous before a race but he did get impatient. Luke adjusted the strap on his orange crash helmet and glanced at his cousin with a grin. Bo was always full of nervous energy but before a race, that energy kicked into a high gear. And it was that same energy that brought out Bo’s razor sharp skills behind the wheel during a race.

The starting flag waved and the race was on. The General’s powerful engine roared as Bo took off, the rear tires smoking. It was only a matter of minutes before Bo had pulled to the front of the pack. Bo kept the lead, the General easily outrunning the other cars in the race. Which anyone who had ever seen the Duke Boys race knew to expect if they were entered.

Twenty laps into the race, with just five more laps to go, a yellow car suddenly appeared from out of the pack and pulled in beside the General on the left.

“Where the heck did they come from?” Luke said in a startled voice

“Who the heck are they?” Bo asked, equally surprised to find a little competition after all.

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The Man He Used to Be, ch. 2

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by: Marty Chrisman

After finishing supper and the evening chores, Luke took a shower and changed clothes. He was planning to go to the Boar’s Nest, just like he did almost every day. It was the local hangout, a honky-tonk owned by Boss Hogg, the County Commissioner. But then, Boss Hogg owned just about everything in Hazzard County and what he didn’t own, he held the mortgage on. (Just like he had held the mortgage on the Duke farm until Luke paid it off) Actually, there was an ironic justice in the fact that Boss Hogg had been the one who had bought Kelly’s property. And he had been forced to pay a fair price for it since it was part of her estate and the selling price had not been negotiable. So, Luke had actually paid Boss back the mortgage on the farm with Boss’s own money.

The Boar’s Nest was located just off Route 7 about five miles from the Duke farm and eight miles from the town of  Hazzard. It was located in a large one story cinder block building with a huge dirt parking lot in front. Luke pulled in beside a white jeep CJ7 with the name Dixie written in gold on the hood. The jeep belonged to his cousin, Daisy, who was a waitress at the bar. Since Bo had the General Lee with him, Luke was driving the black Sable that had belonged to Kelly.

Luke climbed out of the car and went into the bar. Several voices called out a greeting as Luke made his way through the crowd to the bar. Daisy smiled and poured a cold draft beer for him when she saw him enter the bar. She was the prettiest girl in Hazzard county with big blue eyes, a friendly smile, and long chestnut colored hair. She could shoot like Annie Oakley, drive like Richard Petty and knew the words to every Dolly Parton song. The guys all flocked around Daisy just like a bee to honey.

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