by: MacSas
“Okay, everyone knows the plan,” Clark said quietly, into the CB. “Let’s not make a move until Commissioner Hogg gives the signal”
“Roger that, Sergeant” the lead QRT man replied. They were concealed in an old van parked down an alleyway near the courthouse. Across the road, Clark sat in an old beat up car that Luke had borrowed from Cooter Davenport. As one, the men waited and listened.
* * * *
Inside his small office at the courthouse, Boss sat at his antique oak desk. As he drummed the short stubby fingers of his right hand against the finely polished finish, he dwelt on the past twenty-four hours. As planned, he had announced to Luke over the CB system that Daisy had entrusted a diary to him. He had told Luke that he was holding the diary in the safe at his office. By having this conversation over the CB, they had ensured that the entire grapevine, better known as the Hazzard Net, had heard it. Of course, it didn’t take long for Lex to hear through someone who knew someone who knew something. Lex had wasted very little time in letting Boss Hogg know that he was interested in the mysterious diary. He had written a note arranging to meet Boss at his office and offering a substantial amount of money for the journal. Of course Lex had come up with a unique way of ensuring that Boss got his note. He had stuck it to the door of Hoggs office…with a butcher knife. Clark suspected that this may be the same knife used during the attack on Daisy, so he’d sent it to Atlanta for testing.
This bravado by Lex proved that he felt secure enough to slip in and out of town, as he wanted. He obviously thought he would never be caught. Boss laughed to himself. A simple look at Roscoe would be enough to make any crook feel secure about their escape. Boss also knew why Lex had opted to use a butcher knife to pin his note to the door. Arrogance. This was his way of telling them that he was that much better than simple country cops. Why should he fear them? He’d already escaped from some of the best. And he had managed to elude capture from two highly qualified Mounties as well. Of course the man was feeling a sense of security, false as it may be. It was an attitude that Boss himself had had to adopt in order to drag him to the top. However, it was common knowledge that the only kind of crime that Boss allowed in Hazzard was the kind that he created. He had no time for drug dealers, gunrunners or woman beaters. Even Boss had standards. Not a lot, but some.
He looked at the clock, and waited.
* * * *
Luke hoped Bo would forgive him for the subterfuge. As soon as he’d heard Lex had taken the bait upon hearing his Hazzard Net conversation with Boss, he’d sent Bo on a needless errand in General Lee while he headed to town in Jesse’s pickup. He would have taken the General, but thought Bo may get suspicious if he asked him to do an errand in the truck. They always used the General. The pickup would also give Luke the anonymity he would need as well. He planned to be there when Lex was cornered. He’d been there for every event in the lives of both his cousin’s. Bo could basically look after himself, when he put his brain to it. Daisy could stand toe to toe with anyone, and she knew her own mind, but she was still very naïve about a lot of things.
As he drove along the winding county road that would lead him to town, he thought back on some of the times that he and Daisy had clashed. Most times over seemingly little things:
A childhood party she didn’t want to attend because she discovered she’d have to wear a dress. Oh, but not just any old dress, a frilly dress, with lace and ribbons! The poor girl had almost died when she saw it…
“I don’t want to go Lucas”
“You have to Daisy, you’re expected. How about putting a matching ribbon in your hair?”
“NO! I don’t want to go. I don’t want to wear this stupid dress, and I don’t care about this damn party”
“Firstly, watch your mouth. Secondly, you will put on that dress young lady. And you will go to this party and you will have a great time”
“I am not part of your Army Lucas!”
“Never say Army to a Marine Daisy. It tends to annoy them almost as much as sulky little cousins who won’t do what they’re told.”
Then there was the time she had had her little heart broken. She was only 10 years old, but was so sure that her world was about to end. Luke had sat her on his lap on the porch swing and together they’d watched the sunset.
“Why does love have to be this way Luke?”
“Sometimes people grow apart. Even if they’re pre teens”
“I think my heart hurts”
“Some would say that it has to. That this is just part of growing up. That’s how we learn to endure”
“I don’t think I will fall in love again”
“Of course you will. Honey, not every love goes wrong. One day you will find the man that is right for you, the one who will make all the past just disappear”
“Really?”
“Uh huh. And you will know that he is the one for you, simply because of the ones that weren’t right.”
“Did I mention it hurts?”
“Well, I’d be a little worried if you weren’t hurting, even just a little”
“I don’t think I’m old enough for this love stuff. I’m going to stay single for a few years yet”
“Thank goodness!”
“Yeah, we can’t have you threaten every pre teen boy that comes round here”
“I did not threaten, I just gave him a very encouraging warning. I smiled while I said it”
“Oh Luke, that just made you look more deadly!”
“Well, it will take a big man to be good enough for you, little cousin”
“He’d have to really be a Superman to get by you!”
“ Well, suns down. Want some ice cream and pie before bed?”
“Nah, I think I’ll just sit here and look at the stars a little while longer”
“It takes time but you’ll be okay Daisy”
“Yeah, I will Luke”
A few years later, a friend of hers had committed suicide. Following the funeral, Daisy had told Jesse that she was going for a walk; she wanted to be alone for a while. She ended up staying out all night. Bo had taken Jesse in the General and had looked up and down county lanes around the farm. Luke had stayed at the house, hoping she’d call by phone or CB to let them know where she was. He was almost at heart attack point when Daisy finally returned around 5am. His relief that she was unharmed quickly turned to annoyance. Especially at her attitude.
“Where have you been?”
“Out”
“Out where?”
“Just out”
“You didn’t come home last night Daisy”
“I guess I forget what the time was”
“You forgot? Daisy, what’s going on?”
“Nothing for you to worry about”
“Too late for that”
“I’m going to my room”
“What? That’s it? We’re not going to talk about this?”
“I’m tired Luke. We’ll talk later”
“That’s not good enough Daisy”
“Well, it has to be. I’m done talking”
Daisy had grown up being envied for having two strong cousins always willing to rush to her defence. The truth was, though, that she sometimes wished they’d just butt out. Especially Luke. And she had let him know in the loudest of terms. She seemed to spend most of their arguments telling him to quit living her life. Luke smiled as he recalled the time she had taken her friend Shawn’s advice and forced Luke to see her as a ‘big girl’… by moving out of the farmhouse.
“Daisy, let’s talk about this”
“No way Luke. I already told you, I’m tired of you watching over me. I’m not some delicate flower that you have to wrap in cotton wool. I need to be able to live my own life, on my own terms”
“But Daisy…”
“You know what Luke? You’re too used to having people follow your every order. Well this is a farm, not your ship. And I’m your cousin, not some newbie you have to whip into shape!”
“Daisy, if we could just talk …”
“Luke, we already did talk. However, it would seem that only one of us listened”
And with that she was gone. Like it was all his fault the blind had fallen from the lounge window, just as he’d been looking out into the yard. And of course, it was his fault that he just happened to be looking out that window when Daisy’s date had been kissing her goodnight. These things happen!
No one had been prouder than Luke when she had decided to go to Texas and study forensics, which up until then had been a mere hobby that she and her friend Mickey James had shared. She’d called home often, excited with each new discovery. A whole new world had opened to her and she was taking to it like a duck to water. It hadn’t taken long for her to win an internship with one of the cities best Crime Scene Labs. From there she simply grew in leaps and bounds.
Her being on her own had terrified Luke at first. But her relationship with Jeff had calmed him, albeit just a little. The break-up with him had devastated Daisy, and she had once again turned to Luke for support.
She may now be too old for him to put a band-aid on the hurt, but he could still make things right for her.
He could still be her Superman …