Through the old boards that cover the two small windows, small rays of light slowly begin to shine through to spread a little light across the cold and dark room. As night slowly turns into morning, I continue to stare at the boards while attempting to embrace all that had happened yesterday afternoon, of the horror and violence that had taken Luke’s life. Just like it could take Cooter’s life. Fighting with the tears that continue to water my eyes, I silently shift my thoughts as Luke’s dead voice whispers, ‘Don’t worry about me, cuz, worry about yourself. Get out, escape.’ I shake my head in disagreement as I listen in to the boy’s soft snoring as he lies on the floor besides me, able to sleep through the night in spite the nightmare he is living.

Through the closed door, loud and squeaky footsteps become audible as they grow closer with each step. Keith abruptly sits up, gasping breathlessly besides me. “You hear that?” he questions, fear and panic captures his normally calm tone, “They’re coming.”

I glance at him as his green eyes light up wildly with fear to express the horror he’s been through for the first time since I’ve met him. “I hear it,” I slowly state, attempting to be calm as the door is thrown open and a tall broad shouldered man walks in, his hood down and through the shadows I slowly make out his rough face.

“See you’ve awaken, Duke,” he says as he walks straight for me before reaching down and yanks me up by my shirt before shoving me into the wall to freshen the pain that rushes through my body. I take a deep breath in attempt to calm my fear and panic, trying to save myself from another attack. “Boss wants to see you.”

“Well, what if I don’t want to see him?” I quickly ask him and he responds by backhanding me across the face and I gasp in pain, the pain in my lungs beginning to flair up.

“You’ll do as we tell you to do,” he says as he roughly grabs my chin and forces me to look at him, at his wild eyes, “and do it gladly. If it were up to me, I’d kill you painfully and slowly. Boss has other plans for you, so be thankful you’re alive!” He slaps me harshly before he quickly turns me around to grab roughly onto the back of my neck to shove me out through the open door, closing the door behind him. Once out of the small room, we are in a bigger room that holds a fire place in the center of the right wall, a small hall way leads down directly right of the room I was locked in. A few feet way from the fire place sits a long and torn leather couch and a coffee table, a couple of rocking chairs sit besides the fire. In the corner, a few feet away from the fire, is a large flat screen TV with several new technical looking things sitting around it. The far wall, directly ahead of where I stand, is a bar slash counter for the kitchen that rests in the other room while the front door lies in the middle of the wall to my left.

Several large men sit around the fire place, playing cards are spread across the coffee table, while they talk loudly amongst themselves, laughing about something. “Max,” the man grunts behind me and a tall man with a head full of thick graying black hair slowly turns around to eye me with cold green eyes. A small evil smile builds in between his thick beard and mustache before he turns and says something to the three other guys that circle around the fire before he leaves the group.

“Thanks, Steel,” the man that had responded to Max smiles once again as he joins us, his piercing green eyes looks me over silently for a long silent moment before he sends a surprising solid fist into my stomach. I yell out in pain as I bend over only to get backhanded across the face to send more pain recoiling through my throbbing body. Blood quickly begins to run down from my nose as I struggle to breathe through the burning pain that engulfs my lungs once again and I begin to wonder if I’ll ever get to see or feel freedom again. “I’ve got him,” I hear Max say, sounding distant as I feel him grab me by the hair while Steel’s tight grip on my neck disappears. “Hey Bo,” Max goes silent as he grabs me by the neck where Steel had me and he shoves me around the couch, “meet your new friends here. Randal, Saul, and Sergio.” He points at the three men who remain standing where he had left them only a couple of minutes ago, they all grin evilly at me.

“They aren’t -“ I begin to say stubbornly before the one that Max had pointed out as Randal punches me in the face and more blood flows down into my mouth. “My friends.” I finish, staring daringly at the tall man.

“Well, you’ll be thinking differently in a couple of minutes,” Max laughs behind me before he shoves me down onto the couch and instantly two of his men sits tightly next to me, large guns pointed at me from both sides. “Randal, tun on the TV.”

“OK Boss,” Randal nods as he walks past Max to the large TV.

Max turns to me with a large smile across his rugged face and a thick ugly scar shines through his beard running up and down his right jaw line. “I want you to watch and listen well here…just so you know what will happen if you don’t do as I tell you to do,” he winks at me as the TV clicks on and darkness shines across it for a short moment before the picture clears to see a stack of wood lining against the wall. “Ready Sergio,” Max says into a cell phone before he gives me another wicked smile.

“Luke,” I hear myself gasp as the picture leaves the wood pile and onto a vivid picture of Luke standing tightly against a metal pole, thick chains tie him harshly against the pole. A thick cloth is held against his lower right stomach by the chains which is now thickly stained with his dark blood. Where he got shot. “Let him go,” I once again hear myself mumble aloud as he looks right at the camera and for a moment a flicker of pain and fear crosses his face before he shields it away.

“He don’t know he’s on camera,” Max informs me, “we have security cameras planted in each corner so we can show each side of him if you want. It picks up sound too. The cameras are small and within the shadows…he thinks you’re dead.”

“No…let him go,” I repeat as a muscular man with dark black hair walks in and he takes a couple of steps towards Luke before standing in a spot that won’t block the camera. Abruptly the man pulls out a large, ugly, and sharp knife out of a pocket and he makes a motion to stab Luke before laughing hysterically for a moment. “No!” I yell and as I go to stand up both men grab a tight hold upon my arms to pull me back down.

“His future is in your hands, Beauregaurd,” Max says to force more anger to rise within me, “you do what we tell you to do, he can live and just may walk out of here alive. You argue, don’t listen, and don’t do as you are told to do, I’ll let Sergio have fun with your cousin in there. Your choice.”

I stare at him before looking back at the screen as Sergio says something to Luke, something that is inaudible through the camera and Luke looks to be saying something back to him. “Let him go,” I finally respond and Max abruptly reaches down to grab a tight hold of my chin, forcing me to look at him.

“That’s not what I am saying. You do as you are told to do and he might not get hurt,” he spits at me as tears run down my cheeks at the pain from my chin, “you don’t do as you told, you get to watch Sergio kill him…slow and painfully. What’s it going to be, plowboy?!” He harshly lets go to stare demandingly at me.

I stare at him for a long moment, not knowing what to do or say without Luke getting more hurt than what he already is. “What do,” I start to say to be cut off by harsh coughing. As it slowly eases, I continue, “what do you want from me?”

“Glad we finally have an understanding here,” he shakes his head at me, “you are to join my gang and I as we continue to hit on Hazzard and surrounding areas. Robbing banks, jewelry stores, and anything else that comes to mind -“

”No way!” I abruptly yell back at them and Max once again grabs my chin harshly and forces my attention towards the TV.

“OK Sergio, Bo gives you the go ahead,” Max says back into his cell phone and I am struck with horror as the man on the TV nods silently before he shines the blade of the knife against the morning light that shines through the open door.

“No!” I yell while struggling to break free as he moves to stab Luke in the shoulder.

“Wait, Sergio,” Max silently replies in the cell phone and Sergio comes an inch from Luke’s shoulder with Max’s instruction. Closing the phone once more, Max eyes me, “I said it’s your choice. You do what I tell you to do or you watch your cousin die slow and painfully…after him, my men will bring in Jesse and you can watch him die the same wa-“

”No,” I try to yell out only for it to come in a whisper with fear and pain.

“No?” Max shakes his head, “You going to join my gang, Beauregaurd? You know, I think, when we do go into town, I’ll give you the orders to give my men. That way, it is you that looks to be in charge.”

“No,” I shake my head and he forces me to look at Luke, tied tightly to the pole, looking quizzically at Sergio as he begins to circle him with the knife pointed at him, his mouth opening and closing as he says something angrily at Sergio. Feeling a tear run down my face of resignation, I finally say, “Just don’t hurt him, please.”

“Depends on you,” Max says as he turns off the TV and he turns to Randal, “go get him the outfit to change into in his room.”

With that, Randal stands up besides me and he grabs me around the neck to drag me across the room before he opens the door to the room I had been locked in before. He roughly throws me in before closing the door behind him with a loud thud before Keith quickly walks over to me. “What happened?” he asks only to take a couple of steps back as loud foot steps echo from outside the closed door.

Randal reopens the door to throw in a black windbreaker with a hood and a black ski mask. “Put the coat on. You don’t know when our next job will be.” With that he slams the door shut once more and Keith once again approaches me.

“I don’t,” I struggle to speak, “want to talk,” I begin to cough painfully for a moment, “about it.”

Keith eyes me skeptically before eyeing the coat Randal had thrown in. “They’re making you do their job for them,” he shrugs.

“I said -“ I begin to say before throwing myself into another harsh attack as the emotions swell deeply within me. I slowly sit down upon the floor as the dark room seems to spin around me for a while before I once again take my medication once again. “Just leave me alone!” I yell at Keith as I re-pocket my inhaler, my mind revolving around all that had just happened.  Luke’s alive, but hurt. Chills run up my back as I silently envision the blood soaked cloth that was chained against his stomach, where he had gotten shot at and the bruising across his face that was slightly visible through the camera.

*                                  *                                  *

Staring blankly at the cold metal floor of the old and scraped van, I listen to the old engine working forcefully under the hood while angry fear filled thoughts spin wildly in my head. Thoughts of finding Cooter’s blood soaked body upon the stretcher to Jesse’s emotion-filled story of the truth of my parents, to being violently captured by Max’s men. Thoughts of what I am about to do. A violent shudder runs through my numb body as raw emotions of fear, anger, and worry explodes rapidly within me.

“You need me to go through the plan, Duke?” Max’s gruff voice brings me out of my thoughts and as Randal elbows me from besides me, I reluctantly look up at him. I slowly shake my head no at him as I force myself to rethink the plan he had repeatedly went over ever since they had drug me from the room and into the van. “OK. Just remember what happens if you mess up,” he snarls at me, “you’ll get to witness your cousin’s slow and painful death.”

“We’re here,” the driver slowly says as the van comes to a halt and my fear accelerates within me as I feel the fake metal gun resting within the pocket of the windbreaker they had forced me to wear.

“Put the mask on,” Randal hisses at me as he stands up along side all the rest and I reluctantly do as I am told. After placing the hood over the mask, Randal shoves me to my feet and forces me forward to follow Sergio and a couple other guys out of the van. Randal closes the door behind us, leaving Max in the van with the driver before he places a hand upon my shoulder while we walk quickly to the front door. “Take the gun out. You’re in charge…take the money, all goods. Or you’ll shoot someone. You mess up, you know what will happen to Luke. Got it.”

Taking a painful deep breath, I slowly nod while taking out the real-looking gun out from my pocket and follow Sergio into the half filled bank to send my heart racing rapidly within me. Picturing Luke tied to the metal beam and of the blood soaked cloth where he had been shot, I point the gun out before yelling loudly, “Everyone freeze, right there. Hands up so we can see them.” Yells of panic echo off of the bank’s walls as people slowly comply. “No one does a single thing unless told to. You fail to cooperate with us, people will start getting hurt. You listen and do as you are told, we’ll leave without anyone getting hurt. Your choice,” I shakily yell out as I see the gang spread out across the bank, their real guns pulled out in front of them. “Now my men are going to go through the isles and will be asking you to hand over all your goods or anything you have of value and then will be searching you themselves to make sure you’re not hiding anything. You,” I point towards the front at one of the clerks and her pretty face darkens in fear, “go and unlock the vault, bag all the money that is within and then give it to one of my guys. He will then go in himself to make sure you remembered to grab everything.”

She grasps fearfully before nodding and slowly steps back from the counter to do as she was told to do, no questions asks. Surprise and shame floods through my numb body, surprise at the sound of authority and demand in my voice, and shame at what I am doing. At putting such fear and panic through the innocent people of Choctaw County as their lives change dramatically within a few minutes of one day. I feel a tear break lose from under my mask as my thoughts turn to Uncle Jesse and I quietly envision his stern, disapproving, and angry look looking back at me to force more shame and guilt through me. ‘I have to, Uncle Jesse. For Luke,’ I quietly think in attempt to convince my guilt of what I am doing is necessary.

“You’re doing good,” Sergio whispers in my ear as he approaches me with his bag of goods, his Mexican accent thick. I slowly nod as I glance around the bank as the other two approach with their bags and followed by the third guy who had taken the money and goods from the back and from the people at the counter.

I listen to the door opening behind me before I calmly say, “OK. Very good people. I want everyone to lie down on the ground now,” I speak up as the door closes behind me while people slowly lie down upon the wooden floor, “I want your hands placed behind your heads, both of them.” I continue forcefully, aiming my gun around to make my point clear. As I notice everyone doing as they are told, I slowly back away and to the door. As I feel the door behind me, I slowly open it before saying, “You are now to count to one hundred, a loud and together. You get up before then, my back up men will come in and finish the job with all of you. No one is hurt now and you all have done a good job listening, so don’t mess up now. Start counting!”

“One. . .two. . .three,” they start as I quickly step out of the bank and into the cold and windy day before placing the gun back in my pocket and climbing back into the back of the van. Sergio slams the door shut tightly behind me before the van lurches forward and the engine reluctantly forces us onward and back towards their hide out.

“Look at all this,” Max whistles as he opens the bags and peers inside. Silence filters through the van before he looks up at me, “Sergio said you did a good job, Bo. Luke is saved for now.”

I stare coldly at him for a long moment as the fiery pain begins to tickle my lungs, growing worse with each breath as I am gripped by harsh emotions over what I had just done and why.

“Yeah,” Randal pipes up from besides me while fitting on another guy’s silver watch, “you are now one of us.”

***SHERIFF ROSCO COLTRANE***

Exhaustion grudgingly drips through my numb body as I stare at line of people that crowd within the sheriff’s station to enrage anger and fear within me. Anger and fear at what all these people will have to say or what may be revealed by interviewing the victims from the Choctaw County Bank robbing. “Sheriff,” a male’s voice gruffly states and I look up to find a man looking to be in his fifties slowly sitting down in the chair across from me, “this better not take too long. I’ve got things to do that have already been shoved back due to the robbery. Now this.”

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience and thank-you for coming to Hazzard,” I slowly state as I grab my notebook to open it to an empty page before grabbing my pen, “before we start, can I have your name and what you lost in the robbery?”

“Robert Barnes,” he dryly responds as his thin hand goes through his thinning gray hair while he stares intensely at me with his green eyes, “I had forty-eight dollars and some change in my wallet along with a few family pictures. They got my wedding ring, my watch, along with my wallet. At the moment, I don’t know how much money I had in the bank that they got.”

“OK,” I nod as I write down all that he had said, “Can you describe what had happened?”

“You think I’ve forgotten already?” he angrily snaps at me, “I was standing in line to put a check in my account when the door opened and several gun men came in. One stood in the bank giving out the orders while several other men went through the lines and took things from people that they had on them. Then when they were done, the man in charge had us lie down and count to a hundred while they left.”

“How many gun men where there?” I gently ask.

He stares at me for a long moment. “Four or five. Perhaps more,” he shakes his head in frustration, “I wasn’t counting. I was too concerned of what was happening.”

“I understand, sir,” I nod at him, “can you describe any of the men?”

“Yeah. The one in charge,” he looks cooly at me, “was one of your own. Someone from Hazzard.”

My heart freezes at his accusation that he had just made. Up until now, this was another robbery from Max’s gang and from the previous interviews I’ve had, they all added up to be that. “What do you mean? From Hazzard?” I hear myself ask.

“How dumb are you, Coltrane?!” he yells at me while hitting my desk, “It means what it sounds to mean. The guy in charge is from Hazzard, I know who it is.”

I eye him for a long moment. “Well, OK,” I nod as I look over his shoulder at the people milling around. Some already have been interviewed by me or one of the agents, while a few are left to be interviewed. “Let’s have a description and who you think it is.”

“I don’t think, I know. I’d recognize the voice anytime and anywhere, as would you,” he snaps harshly at me, “It’s Bo Duke.”

I abruptly look up at him as my thoughts fall upon Jesse walking in here yesterday afternoon to report his boys as missing, the fear and worry in his eyes had shone brightly as tears had fell down his aged cheeks. “Bo Duke,” I slowly repeat, “look sir, are you -“

”Yes I’m sure. It’s Bo Duke,” he says impatiently.

“If he had a mask on, how can you be-“

”I’m sure it is him, sheriff. It was his voice, the same height,” he says angrily, “the same wheezy breathing he has. I know it’s him sheriff.”

“How can you be so sure, sir?” I ask again.

He rolls his eyes at me. “He dated my youngest daughter for over a month before he stood her up for some other girl,” he harshly responds, “I’ve chased him out of my yard more times than I can count. I’ve had my confrontations with the kid enough times to know who he is and what he sounds like.”

“Look Robert, I understand he hurt your daughter and may have some hard feelings between your family and him for what he had done,” I slowly start before Robert cuts me off.

“Wait right there, sheriff! This statement has nothing to do with my daughter or my family or any hard feelings he made by what he did! You asked for a description and to who it was,” he points at me, “and I told you. That’s it. You asked how I knew it was him and I told you how I knew it was him. It was Bo Duke. Plain and simple!”

I eye him for a long moment as doubt and resentment towards him build within me towards his accusation and his attitude. “I have your statement wrote out, Robert. Thank-you for your time,” I finally say, anxious to get him down and out of my face, “you’ll have to stay for a few more moments. One of the agents may want to interview you for themselves.”

“What?!” he yells as he stands up, “I have things to do sheriff and -“

”I’m just giving you the orders I was told to give, sir. You are free to go, but if you do, they may call you back to Hazzard to interview you again. It’d be easier on everyone if you were to stay and do it now,” I calmly respond to receive a harsh look before he steps back down to join the crowd of people that swarm about.

“Sheriff,” Sergeant Frank Mills yells out and I look over towards the empty office that sits besides Hogg’s office, the empty office that Mills has made his own. I sigh heavily as I slowly stand up as he motions for me to join him and I slowly make my way over to the office.

“Yes, Sergeant,” I nod at him as I close the door behind me and as I turn around I find a young woman sitting in the metal fold up chair.

“This woman here says she knows who the lead robber was,” Mills says, “Maya, will you please give me the description to Sheriff Coltrane. The same one you gave me.”

The blond woman nods as she boldly looks up at me with sapphire green eyes. “He was tall and lean. Wheezy breathing,” she pauses, “it was Bo Duke, Sheriff.”

“Bo…” I sputter as my mind goes back to Robert’s statement, the accusation I was hoping would be proven to be made up due to his hard feelings towards the youngest Duke boy. “How can you -“

”Easy sheriff. I use to date him a few months back,” she shrugs, “I can’t believe he would do such a thing, but it was him. It had to be. If not, it was sure someone with the same figure and sounds just like him and has asthma as bad as he does.”

“Bo wouldn’t do this,” I start to say as I look from her and then to Mills who glares at me, “I know him. I know his family, they’re the straightest and the most honest family we have here in Hazzard.”

“Just like Garrett?” he snaps at me, “Isn’t Bo, Garrett’s twin brother? Isn’t Bo one of the boys’ names that Jesse Duke was asking about.”

I numbly nod. “Garrett just got to Hazzard, we haven’t seen him until now. I don’t even think Bo has seen or known him until now.” I finally respond.

“Well, maybe they did know each other…by being in the same gang,” Frank snaps at me, “that’s where they disappeared to yesterday, to join the gang.”

“No,” I confidently state, “Bo or Luke wouldn’t be a part of that gang. I think Jesse’s right. Something’s wrong, they’re in some -“

”Well Sheriff, until you can prove to me of all that to be true,” Frank boldly states while glaring coldly at me, “I am going to put Bo down as being a part of the gang. A question mark by Luke. She is the second one to point it out to be Bo…the other guy was only guessing.”

I shake my head in anger at him. “Do whatever you have to do, Sergeant. I have to go,” I open the door, “you and your men can finish up with the interviews. Me and my deputy have work that needs to be done.”

“Sheriff – “ he calls out as I slam the door shut behind me and I quickly walk through the people until I reach the empty hallway.

“Howdy Sheriff,” Enos smiles at me as he walks into the hallway from outside, “where you going?”

“To see Jesse Duke,” I curtly respond, “Enos.”

“Yes Sheriff?” he asks.

“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you. It’s a zoo,” I sharply respond as I reach the door, “perhaps you can go check things out around town. Count the pot holes or something. Check the meters. The FBI has the sheriff’s station packed with people and are taking the investigation as their own.”

He nods as his smile turns into a frown. “About the robbery in Choctaw?” he questions and I nod before I motion him outside before I tell him about what Robert and Maya had said and of Sergeant Mills theory. “Bo wouldn’t -“

”I know. I’m going to go warn Jesse right now,” I shake my head, “he deserves to know. I’ll call you on the CB if I need anything or if anything changes.”

“OK Sheriff,” he nods as he walks to his car and I climb into my own.

***UNCLE JESSE***

An intense pain throbs heavily in my chest as I stare at an old photo that lies in a silver picture frame that stands upon the old kitchen table. A picture that had been taken several years ago at Hazzard’s annual summer picnic and taken by one of the local photographers that takes family photos at a small fee. In the picture I kneel against the thick trunk of a large tree while Bo sits on my left side, Luke sits on my right side, while Daisy sits in front of us all. Luke had only been home from war for a couple of months when the photo had been taken and was going through a hard time adjusting back to normal while Bo had a hard time understanding why Luke wasn’t the Luke that had left nine years before. Despite the hard time that they both were going through, big genuine smiles spreads across their face as they had been lost in the moment of once again being a family.  A family that has now been shattered and ruined within the matter of a couple of hours, leaving me to wonder if there is any chance of it coming together again.

Abruptly, I am pulled out of my thoughts and worries as the noise of a car pulling into the drive way interrupts the thick piercing silence that has filled the winter morning. Sighing heavily, I glance away from the picture, I slowly stand up and walk away from the table to walk to the sink to find Rosco’s patrol car parked next to my truck. He slowly opens his car door to step out into the chilly morning, slowly glancing away before he turns towards the porch and begins his walk to our front door. Fear, worry, and hope all rush wildly within me at the sight of seeing the local sheriff at my front door and what it means. Forcing myself to push aside the fearful thoughts of what he may say, I silently pray that he’s here to deliver good news about the boys.

Watching him walk up the couple of steps onto the porch, I slowly walk back over to the front door to open the wooden door just as he goes to knock on the screen door. “Sheriff,” I slowly respond as I open up the screen door and step aside to let him in and he walks past me to walk to the open area of the kitchen. Dread and fear raise wildly within me as he slowly takes off his black hat and his glistening blue eyes quickly darts to the wooden floor under his feet to silently alert me of why he’s here. “You find my boys?” I quickly fill the silence, though deep down know that’s not why he’s here. The hat off and his reluctancy to look at me only tells me it is nothing good only to confirm with the rising dread that had filled me at the sight of his car.

“No sir,” he shakes his head before he looks up at me, “you hear about Choctaw’s bank being robbed this morning?”

“Yeah…yeah I did,” I nod, surprised at the direction he is taking me, “that’s real bad. Though the radio said no one got hurt.”

“No one got hurt this time,” he nods in agreement, “which is the only good thing about it. The FBI are figuring this is another hit by Max’s gang, same MO and everything. Though this time, they didn’t have the kid.”

I stare at him for a long moment, growing impatient. “That kid’s been through a lot,” I dryly respond before taking a step closer to him, “Rosco. Why don’t you get to the point? What’s all this about if you haven’t found my boys?”

His attention goes back to the floor for a long quiet moment before he looks back up. “We’ve been interviewing the victims or witnesses in the bank all morning, Jesse,” he pauses for a long moment, “they were still interviewing them when I left a few minutes ago.” He goes quiet another long moment as he unsurely looks around and back at me, “So far at least three people have identified Bo as being the lead man in the robbery.”

My heart comes to an abrupt halt as another flow of violent emotions runs rapidly within me and for a moment a wave of nausea rushes through me. “No…no. Bo wouldn’t do that,” I hear myself say aloud, “it can’t be him.”

“That’s what I tried telling Sergeant Mills,” he shrugs, “but he isn’t listening to me.”

“Who identified him as Bo?” I ask, looking up at him.

“I can’t give names, Jesse. One was a father to one of Bo’s ex-girlfriends. Another was a woman who had once dated him or something like that. Not the father’s daughter, another girl,” he says as he refuses to look at me, “and a guy that wasn’t sure, but thought it could be Bo.”

I eye Rosco hardly for a long moment. “The father is probably still upset at Bo for seeing his daughter, for breaking up with her or something like that. His ex-girlfriend is -“

”I don’t think so, Jesse. Perhaps the dad…he has a temper on him, but the ex-girlfriend was genuine,” Rosco plainly states as he looks up at me to eye me, “Sergeant Mills is now convinced that he’s a part of the gang…with Garrett. He is also figuring if Bo’s a part of the gang, so is Luke.”

“This is outrageous, Rosco!” I yell, my voice being thrown back at me from off of the walls, “My boys would never be apart of such a horrible gang as that…Bo has yet to even meet Garrett!”

“Look Jesse,” Rosco looks sympathetically at me, “I’m in the same boat as you are. I tried saying the same thing to Mills. He’s not listening, all he’s listening to is what the evidence is pointing at.” He pauses for a long moment. “I don’t know what all this means, Jesse, but I wanted you to hear it from me and not from them. You deserve a heads up on this.”

I nod at him in appreciation. “I appreciate that, Rosco,” I slowly say as I look back down at the picture in the frame and back at him, “How can they identify the lead gun man as being Bo? I thought they were wearing masks?”

Rosco nods as he begins to nervously fidget with his gun belt. Coming to a stop he looks at me and says, “They were…armed and masked. But the couple that I heard from both said he sounded exactly like Bo, was wheezing like Bo does, and has Bo’s figure.”

“That’s hardly enough to prove anything! You know how many people have asthma? Bad asthma?!” I yell at the sheriff, my temper exploding despite my knowledge that Rosco’s here to do me a favor in letting me know, “Or who all has his build and height? It could be anyone! That don’t prove anything!”

Rosco nods as he takes a deep breath. “I know, Jesse. So does Mills,” he continues as he peers through the window over the sink momentarily before stepping away and eyeing me, “but right now, that’s all he has and that’s what he’s going with. And the fact that Garrett is Bo’s twin brother and is currently in jail on charges of beating Cooter…it doesn’t help Bo any. I know they haven’t met yet and heck…aren’t anything alike if you ask me,” he pauses, “but he don’t know that and as I said, he’s not listening to what I say. All he’s hearing is the evidence that is putting in front of him, what it looks to be. I’m sorry, Jesse.”

I nod sadly at him as his implications slowly sink down within me of what he is saying, of what the leading FBI is convinced of. Fighting to hide the violent emotions that continues to build within me, I slowly glance back up at the local sheriff who watches me with cautious blue eyes.“My boys…they wouldn’t do that, not unless -“ I cut myself off as my imagination begins to form vivid pictures within me of what could make them do what they are being accused of, “not unless they are being forced to do it.”

“I know they wouldn’t, Jesse,” Rosco responds as he moves towards the door, “I’ll try to persuade Mills of that, but I don’t know how good that will do. He’s set in his ways and probably won’t be persuaded otherwise until he is proved they wouldn’t do that. But,” he shrugs, “I’ll try. I have to get back…they’re probably already upset at me. I kinda walked out on them after they wouldn’t listen to my reasoning. But I wanted to tell you myself.”

“Thanks, Rosco,” I say as he opens the wooden door.

He nods as he opens the screen door and the cold wind blows in to send chills racing up and down my body. “If there is anything I can do for you, Jesse. Just tell me,” he looks at me and as I nod, he slowly closes the door to run down the steps of the porch and into his car.

Closing the wooden door, I silently watch the sheriff’s older model patrol car slowly backs away before turning out of our mushy dirt drive way and turns left, on his way back to town. Fear and horror grabs a tight hold of me as the sheriff’s words continue to run through me, of the people’s accusations of Bo being the head bank robber this morning to send questions rippling through me. If it’s Bo that had held that gun and gave the strong orders that Rosco is suggesting, then what is making him do such a thing. How can someone such as Bo turn for a law biding citizen, who would lean over backwards to help anyone in need, turn around the next day and rob a bank at gun point? Or how can he hold the gun with power and ease while placing an edgy authority to his voice to get the first job done to perfection, to get what he wants?

‘The bank robbery in Choctaw had been done with perfection and with little evidence left behind as the bank had been left cleaned and the people had fearfully handed everything over that they had with them. Unlike the job they did here, in Hazzard, the job was done with perfection, speed, and the lead robber held the air and voice of authority.’ Elton’s, one of Hazzard’s radio DJ, voice speaks up at me as he had described the bank robbery at the noon news break with a hint of fear and worry in his voice. ‘Unlike the job they had done in Hazzard where it left a local man shot in the arm and a puddle of blood on the floor and the leader had been gotten what he wanted by being violent and hostile while holding an innocent boy at gun point.’

A violent shudder runs through my body as a vivid picture builds in my mind of Bo dressed in a black windbreaker, hood up, and a black ski mask covering most of his face as he stood near the glass door. An ugly black gun is held tightly in his hand as he aims it across the bank while watching the rest of the masked men walk down the isles and taking the money and goods away from the innocent town people. “No,” I abruptly break the silence that had built within the kitchen upon Rosco’s departure as disbelief and anger ripple down my body. Disbelief that Bo would do such a thing as rob the bank in Choctaw and be able to do it with enough conviction and authority to be able to pull it off and anger at the people who would believe it was Bo.

“What Rosco want, Uncle Jesse?” Daisy soft voice brings a rush of surprise through me and I reluctantly turn away from the small window to look back at my niece who stands in the door way of the living room. Her blue-brown eyes are watered and filled with emotion as she leans against the boards of the entry way, her arms are crossed across her chest while she waits for an answer. After a moment of silence, she stands up to take a couple of steps into the chilly kitchen before daring to ask, “Did he find the boys?” she looks around and back at me, “Are they OK? Uncle Jesse?”

I slowly shake my head at her before stepping away and once again look at the old picture that I had taken out of my room and placed on the table to look at while I was in the kitchen. “They haven’t found them,” I finally say, my voice trembles with my own emotions before I look up at her, “Rosco was here about the Choctaw Bank Robbery. -“

”Choctaw Bank Robbery?!” she yells as she moves to the kitchen sink, “That was a horrible thing and I feel bad for all those affected by the robbery, but what has that got to do with us? With the boys?! Bo and Luke have been missing for over a day now and -“

”At least three people that was at the bank the time it was robbed,” I reluctantly interrupt her before pausing heavily to sort through my thoughts, “claim the robber in charge was Bo.”

“What?!” she yells stepping away from the sink to look at me, tears run down her pretty cheeks as she scans me silently, trying to decide on whether or not if I was joking or telling the truth. “How can anyone believe that? Bo wouldn’t and couldn’t do such a thing like that!”

“Calm down, Daisy. It won’t help to get that upset over it,” I sigh heavily as I step over to her to pull her into a hug as Kristy walks into the kitchen. Taking a step back, I say, “I don’t know how they can believe that and I told Rosco the same thing, he says he told Sergeant Mills the same thing as well. Two were sure it was him, one thought it could be Bo. They said the leader was the same height and build as Bo, sounded like him, and had the same asthmatic breathing as Bo.”

For a long moment she just stares at me before she glances over at Kristy who takes a step back into the door way before she steps back into the living room and out of sight. Looking back at me, Daisy finally says, “I don’t care, Bo wouldn’t do that,” she pauses for a long time before she leans in to give me a hug, “what are we going to do now, Uncle Jesse?”

I look at her before giving her a shrug. “Nothing,” I reluctantly say and anger flares in her eyes at my answer, “look Daisy, there is nothing we can do this time other than to wait it out and let the FBI do their job. We go out and try to do something,” I pause heavily, “we may end up in the same situation as Bo and Luke and that won’t help them any.”

She reluctantly nods at me before saying, “OK.”

“When they arrest this gang and find the boys,” I pause heavily as a rush of fear runs through me as I once again remind myself that I may not see my boys a live again, “then we can work on saving Bo’s name and reputation.”

“OK,” she repeats as she wipes her face and for a moment a look of exhaustion runs across her face, “I’m scared for them, Uncle Jesse. If that was Bo, at least we know he’s still alive and for the most part unharmed. But what about Luke? Or what would make Bo rob a bank for them?” she asks the questions that had been forming in my own mind, “What if they don’t find them alive?” Tears instantly runs down her face and I once more pull her into a hug and kiss her brown haired head and after a moment she pulls herself away and wipes her face once again. “I’m sorry, Uncle Jesse.”

“No need to be sorry, Daisy. It’s the same questions that I’ve been dealing with as well, same thoughts. Guess it’s now a reality,” I finally respond before going quiet, my thoughts switch from the current situation to the past of learning of her parents’ death, “I remember how hard I had taken it when I heard your parents had died. When Luke’s parents had died or when Julianne and Noah had died.” I pause as my heart throbs painfully at the thought of all the loved ones I’ve watched get buried in the earth. “Of the loss and the pain I felt afterwards…of how the feeling never goes away, it just fades a little as time goes on. But always there.

“Throughout all that though, I also gained something…something very special. I got to take you and Luke home, helped you get through the hard and difficult time that you were facing. We went through it together and helped each other,” I pause for a long moment as I sit back down at the table and return to staring at the photo that sits in front of me to force the tears to slowly break through to run down and tickle my cheeks. Wiping them away, I look back up at Daisy to say, “They can’t die. I can’t deal with either one of them dying…especially both. Y’all are all I have left.”

“Oh Jesse,” I hear her say as she bends down to hug me, “don’t think like that. They’ll be fine…remember? They’re stubborn and strong.”

“So is the gang that they’re up against,” I quickly throw back at her and she stiffly nods at me as Kristy walks back into the kitchen.

“Have faith Jesse. They’ll be fine and we’ll all make it through this,” Daisy slowly steps away to receive a hug from Kristy.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Kristy uncomfortably asks as she leans against the counter, “With anything?”

“No,” I shake my head at her, “but thank-you. I’m sorry you came to Hazzard at this time to have to see and witness all this.” I cut myself off as I am reminded of where it all had started, with Cooter’s beating and Garrett’s arrest for the beating. “If your brother didn’t do that to Cooter, I’m sorry he got pulled into this as well. To be honest, I’m not convinced either way with him.”

Kristy shakes her head at me while biting her lower lip. “Garrett didn’t do this to your friend and he doesn’t know this gang that has your boys, but Garrett’s past and his attitude doesn’t help him any. You can say, he done this to himself,” she boldly states, “I just wish there is a way to undo the damage he has done to himself to put him in the position he placed himself in. As I said, he’s done some horrible things in the past and he has hurt his share of people in the past, but it was always someone he knew and held a grudge against. Not someone who made him angry over a price…he would have had a comment or two that wasn’t nice, but he wouldn’t have beat him like that over a price.”

Daisy and I both eye her for a short moment while what she had said slowly sinks in, my thoughts slowly goes through all that has happened within the past few days. From Bo finding Cooter being moved on a stretcher into the back of the ambulance and through Rosco visiting us to say the lead bank robber being identified as being Bo. “Yeah maybe. Hopefully when this is all through and they got Max and his gang behind bars, the whole truth will come out,” I dryly say to break the silence, “if Cooter ever wakes up, perhaps he’ll be able to tell us who his assailants are.”

Silence slowly rebuilds itself within the large kitchen as I return to looking at the picture that sits in front of me, at Bo and Luke looking back at me with large smiles spread across their faces. “Well,” Kristy slowly speaks up and I glance up at her as she eyes Daisy and then I with unsure green eyes, “I’m here if there is anything you want me to do or can do to help.” she pauses for a moment, “I want to thank you both for your hospitality of my kids and I…especially while you are going through such a difficult time.”

“What are families for?” Daisy asks forcing a smile, “We’re glad you are here and to be able to see you after all those years apart…I thought we would never see you again. Glad I was wrong.”

“I’m glad that you were wrong as well,” Kristy pauses for a short moment as Jamie runs into the room, her pigtails swinging as she runs into her mom, giving her a hug. Picking Jamie up, Kristy slowly speaks up again, “I think we’ll be moving out this afternoon…as soon as Shay wakes up from his nap.”

“Moving out?” I look up at her questionably, “I didn’t mean to run you -“

”Oh no, you didn’t. I just feel like we overstayed our welcome a little by staying as long as we did. I should have found a motel room nearby when we first came,” she pauses as Jamie rests her head on Kristy’s shoulder, “thanks again for allowing me to stay in your room, Daisy and for all that you have done. Both of you. Thank-you.”

“It’s yours as long as you want to stay, Kristy. I mean it,” Daisy hugs her cousin, “we’ve enjoyed having you here. Haven’t we, Jesse?”

“Of course,” I respond, “you are welcome here as long as you want. You and your kids.”

Kristy nods in appreciation. “Where are we going, mommy?” Jamie asks, picking her head up.

“To the motel for a few days,” Kristy responds before looking back at me, “I think it would be best for everyone. You are going through a hard time and you don’t need a couple of kids running around the farm yelling and getting in the way.”

“You haven’t been in the way,” I respond slowly, “but the choice is yours. I just want you to know that you are welcomed here anytime.”

“Thanks,” Kristy says as she sets Jamie down before telling Jamie, “why don’t you go pack up Shay’s and your toys.”

The little girl nods before she slowly turns around to eye Daisy and I while she walks out of the room and into the living room. “Are you sure you want to do this, Kris?” Daisy finally asks, “The motel here in town ain’t all that kept up and the rooms aren’t that big.”

Kristy nods. “I know. I stopped by already to rent a room,” she sighs, “but it’ll do for now. After this all settles down with Garrett and everything else, I’ll look into finding a job and a permanent place to live.” She pauses as she watches Jamie climb up to the table. “But for now, this will do.”

“Well, you’re always welcome here,” I slowly say as a rush of exhaustion ripples through me to remind me of the long night that had passed last night of worrying about Bo and Luke, haunted by nightmarish thoughts of all that they may be going through.

“Thank-you, Uncle Jesse,” she smiles as she walks over to me to give me a hug.

***LB DAVENPORT***

“Cooter,” I slowly say, my voice coming across more like a whisper as I glance down at my cousin lying in the hospital bed full of wires and needles sticking through his ghostly pale body. His still and bruised body looking still and dead within the white blankets that cover him, the only sign of the little life that remains within him is the slight movement of his chest and the annoying monitors. “C’mon cousin, you gotta wake up,” I continue to receive only the beeping of the monitors to respond as I had expected. “You’ve got people waiting on you to wake up, waiting to hear your story of who did this to you. People are worried. I included.”

I slowly sit down in the old metal chair that rests in the corner near the head of the bed as I slowly watch him lying silently still in his bed with questions racing through me. Questions about what Cooter’s future may hold for him or what will happen if he slips any farther and dies. A shudder runs across my back at the thought of losing him to the violent men that had beaten him, losing a cousin that I had once considered my brother. “No,” I speak aloud to hear something other than the slow and un-rhythmatic beeping of the monitors, telling me just how close we are to losing him, “you’ve got to be fine, wake up, and beat this thing. Prove them doctors wrong. You gotta, Cooter!”

As he fails to respond once more, my thoughts slowly take a u-turn from his violent beating to reach back into the past when I had last been to Hazzard, of the argument that had erupted between us…

Bright sunlight shines in through the dark garage to display dark shadows across the cracked oil stained cement as I stare silently at the bright orange car that rests in the left slot of the two car garage. Thick and wet dirt is splattered across the orange paint and across the large and bold oh-one that rests on the doors while dark mud is splattered across the cracked windshield. I hear myself let out a small laugh at Bo’s story he had given to me when he had driven his beloved car into the slot with a sad and hurt look across his pretty face. He was out playing chase with Brodie and Dobro when they had accidently sped past ol’ Rosco’s speed trap which led to another chase and led him and The General into a ditch with a flat tire. Losing the chase between his close friends and then again to the local sheriff, had left him angry and disappointed along with hurt pride, but what had really hurt was when he climbed out of the car to find the large dent marks in the doors, the flat tire, and the shattered windshield. That and the seventy-five dollar speeding ticket the sheriff had given him. “Uncle Jesse is gonna kill me when he sees the ticket,” the youngest Duke’s voice had trembled at mentioning his uncle’s name, “we hardly have money for food and clothes not alone a seventy-five dollar speeding ticket.” He had shaken his head in disbelief as he stared at the damaged General before he had looked back at me, “How much would it be to repair it?”

I had told him I’d handle the cost of the damages and when he had went to argue against it, I had gently reminded him that he’ll have his uncle to deal with. He deals with his uncle, I’ll deal with the price. It is worth paying to fix such a great car as The General at seeing the hurt that had spread across the young blond’s face, not physical hurt, but hurt at the sight of the damage he had done to his car. Never before have I witnessed a man or a person that had such love for their car, who places such humanization into a vehicle as Bo does with The General. It is almost as if it hurts him as much as it does The General when The General is hurt or damaged in any way. Though, since I’ve gotten to know the young Duke, this is only the second time since he’s brought the car in for any repair that he himself can’t do. Bo prides himself in his strong knowledge in car repair and in his excellent driving skills that helps him out drive anyone that dares to race against him. So when an accident such as this, it seems to tear his pride to pieces at the sight that he had failed his car, but to Bo, it’s not a car, it’s a him. This time, he said, he had driven over a nail or something sharp when he was racing away from Rosco, which had spun his car and he lost control. Which had eventually landed him into a deep ditch and being halted by a thick trunk of a large tree.

“Well General,” I smile at the car as I slowly stand up to walk around the car for a moment to reevaluate the damages that had been done, “I think we can have you fixed in no time.”

“The General?!” I hear a familiar voice to force me to look up from looking down at the hood of the car in the far corner to find Cooter standing in the door way. “What Bo do this time?”

I shrug as I take in my cousin who had been gone for a month or so for some seminar he won somewhere in Florida. “Rosco drove him into a ditch,” I shrug again, “Bo says he ran over a nail and the car spun into a ditch and into a trunk of a tree.”

“Shhhh!” Cooter smiles as he places his finger to his lips to hush me and I look at him quizzically, “You called The General a car,” Cooter whispers, “he don’t know he’s a car. Bo’s got him thinkin’ he’s part of the Duke family.”

“Well, perhaps in a way he is,” I shrug before laughing at myself, “now he’s got me calling The General a he.”

“He is a he,” Cooter smiles, “The General serves as much protection for Bo or whoever is driving him as any family member would. Plus, that there car, is Bo’s pride and joy. He built it with a little help with me and raced to save the farm, it has a lot of meaning to him, something that has helped him get over Luke not being home anymore.”

“I think Bo’s mentioned how The General came about a couple times or so,” I smile at Cooter as we hug each other before he lets go to have a better look at The General Lee, “plus a few stories of Luke as well. I feel like I know the guy, though I’ve never personally met him before.”

“I tried warning you. He looks up to Luke, always has and probably always will. I just hope for his sake and everyone else’s that he’ll return home sometime soon and alive,” Cooter goes silent as he seems to think of things for a brief moment, “it’d kill Bo if something were to happen to Luke. It killed him to see him leave and to have him gone for so long.”

I nod slowly as I think of the pictures in Bo’s room or how touchy and sensitive he gets when someone brings Luke up and how easy he is angered if someone were to speak negatively of him. “Must be someone special to him,” I finally say aloud, “as I said, I feel like I should know him by now by all that he’s said of him. Said he’s at war with the Marines in Afghanistan. Very heroic, hopefully he’ll be home soon.”

“Seven years is a long time of being gone,” Cooter nods, “he came home for a couple of months a couple of years ago, but still. Bo took it hard for him to leave again,” Cooter pauses for a long moment, his attention goes back to The General, “that’s where The General came into the picture. Jesse asked me to help bring Bo out of the shell he seemed to lose himself in. He already built the engine when Luke first left, so I suggested to build a car. Everything else kinda fell into place.”

I nod as I allow silence to return within the shadowy garage before switching the topic. “I thought you weren’t to be home for a couple more days,” I slowly state, “How did everything go?”

“Perfect. Had the time of my life,” he smiles crazily at me, “felt like I died and went to heaven. That is until they cut it short and sent everyone home early…said they went over everything faster than they had expected. So here I am. How things go here? I see you and Bo got along?”

“Of course,” I grin at him as I wipe grease off of a wrench I had picked up off of the tool bench, “it’s a great family. They seem to help hold Hazzard together with Hogg running the place and all. Takes me back to being a kid and being sent here while my dad went out and lost himself.”  

“As I had said, not a whole lot changed since then. Then again, things always seem about the same here,” Cooter shrugs as he begins to walk around his garage taking everything in before he comes to the empty slot where his tow truck had once been parked. “Where’s my truck at, LB?”

I swallow harshly as he spins around to glare angrily at me, accusation thick in his brown eyes as he takes a couple of steps closer to me. “I uh,”I pause as I look away from him before I force myself to look back at him, “I loaned it to the sheriff and he wrecked it. Really wrecked it.”

“LB,” he starts, “why would you do that? Why would Rosco want to use my truck for?”

“First of all, he didn’t give me much choice. His car was in the garage and I was working on it while Enos was out and for some reason or another he felt he needed to chase Bo. I can’t remember what they were accusing Bo of that time, but he was in some sort of trouble,” I pause, “I told him no, that you didn’t want your truck moved and that it had something of value to you in it,” I shake my head as I take a deep breathe, “he told me if I didn’t give him the keys, he’d arrest me for obstructing justice and that’d give me time behind bars. I’m sorry, Cooter.”

He eyes me harshly.”What about your truck?” he snaps, “You could have lent him your truck to chase Bo with…by now you should know what kind of a lousy driver Rosco is…especially since you were working on his car!” 

I nod in agreement. “He asked for your truck, got in your truck, and then demanded for the keys. I didn’t think of my truck until he was gone. By then it was too late,” I shrug at him. “Look, if it makes you feel better, I’ll pay for the truck to get fixed.”

“Dang right you will,” he glares angrily at me and then at The General, “so where is it?”

“The truck? I took it to my garage in Capital City. We had the parts there that you didn’t have here,” I slowly answer to receive another harsh look and I nod knowing what he was asking about. “I don’t know, Cooter. I looked through the cab for it when Rosco called it in, but I couldn’t find it. It must have rolled out when he rolled the truck. I’m real sorry, Cooter.”

“Sorry don’t help nothing. Will it?!” he snaps angrily at me, “I told you not to drive my truck since you had your own. I told you not to allow anyone inside it. What you do? You let Rosco drive it!”

“What else do you want me to do, Cooter?” I hesitantly ask, “I had Bo and Jesse looking around the truck for it, but it wasn’t there. Wasn’t in the cab and it wasn’t around the accident. I don’t know where it is!”

I yelp in surprise as he rushes at me and grabs a hold of the front of my overalls and harshly jams me into the walls of The General. “I told you what I was hiding inside of it. It was the bag of money I had stored away for my mortgage which is due tomorrow!” he yells as he holds me against the car, “I thought I would come home now in order to make sure it got paid…I had thought of staying in town a couple of days to look around, but had decided against that! Good thing I did, huh?! You’re always messing things up, Longstreet!” he yells, using my full name as he pushes me harder against the open window to cause pain to pinch up and down my back, “No wonder why your dad was always dropping you off at my parents’ house, always glad to get rid of you. He was always looking forward to get rid of you to lose himself in that bottle of his because he was so ashamed of the mess up kid he got…the mess up kid that he was left with when your messed up mom ran out on you and him. She probably ran out because she realized what a mess up and failure you were…even at the age of five she knew! She is a lot smarter than what I gave her credit for…and if I were your dad, I’d be losing myself in a bottle as well!”

“Cooter,” I hear myself say as harsh emotions build within me as all he had said continues to yell back at me to slowly turn into my dad’s voice yelling at me for being no good, a failure, “you’re mad. You don’t mean all that.”

“Like heck I do,” he spits in my face before he lets me go and back hands me across the face, “you lost my money. My money to pay for next month’s mortgage that is due tomorrow! How am I to gain eight hundred dollars by tomorrow? You got some to give me?”

I slowly dig into my overalls front pocket to take out an envelope. “I went to Capital City with your truck and I picked up the money I had…it’s four hundred and fifty dollars,” I sigh as I receive another harsh look, “that’s all I have Cooter. I have nothing after taking that out of my bank. With all the fees at the garage, I hardly had enough to take home to amount to much. I know that’s not all that you owe, but at least it’s over half of what you do owe.”

“At least over half of what you owe,” Cooter snarls at me, “it don’t matter much to me, now does it? If I don’t have eight hundred by morning, I’ll won’t have no garage. You think Hogg will care that you lost my money and only had four hundred and fifty dollars to give to me? Heck he probably had Rosco steal it for himself, that’s why you couldn’t find it!”

“I said I was sorry, Cooter. I gave you all my money,” I slowly state, “there’s nothing else I can do.”

He nods his head at me before pointing to my truck. “You can turn around and walk to your truck,” he yells, “and get out of town before I see you again. The next time you want to come to Hazzard, you better have the remaining three hundred and fifty dollars to offer me or else hope you don’t see me while you’re in Hazzard. Better yet,” he pauses, “don’t come back to Hazzard.”

“I thought we were to -“

”Forget it, Bo will do it for me,” he interrupts me, “Bo, Dobro, and Brodie would all be glad to help out at the garage while you sneak out of town before I do anything more to you. I’m going to lose my garage, LB. All due to your stupidity!”

I nod as I take a couple of steps towards the open garage door way before I turn around to look back at him as he starts to count through my money. “I told Bo that,” I pause as he angrily looks up at me, “that I’d cover the charges it’d take to fix his car.”

“You mean, The General?” this time he says it angrily, no joking in his voice, “How you plannin’ on paying for it if you don’t have the money?”

I shrug slowly. “I figured I’d take the parts and all that is needed from my garage to help with The General,” I pause slowly, “he was already worried about what Jesse will say and react when he hears that he got a seventy-five dollar speeding ticket out of the accident. I told him to worry about Jesse, I’ll worry about The General.”

He goes to angrily say something before he closes his mouth and looks at The General. “I’ll take care of it…he don’t deserve your lousy charitable donations. Neither does The General,” he throws back at me, “Now go!”

I nod once again before I turn back around to walk to my truck that sits parked in the hot summer sun and as I climb into my hot and stuff cab, I yell out at him, “I’ll have one of my guys drive your truck down when it’s ready. Rosco wrecked it a couple of days ago so they should have it about done by now.”

He eyes me harshly once again before I slowly back out of the drive way and drive away to leave him counting the last of my money. For a short moment, I think of stopping at the Duke farm, to tell them all good-bye before I drive forward and out of town, on my way back to Capital City…

“LB,” I hear a soft voice saying my name and as a gentle pressure lands upon my shoulder, I am dug out of my old memory and jump in surprise at finding the woman I had met at the Duke farm yesterday standing next to me. “Sorry to disturb you,” she removes her hand from my shoulder as her attention goes to Cooter and then to me, “I was just making sure you were OK. You looked as if you were sleeping with your eyes open or something.”

I give her a small laugh before nodding and looking back at Cooter who remains strapped in the old hospital bed with wires and noses hanging from behind him to run down and into his bruised and pale body. “Yeah…sorry about that. I was just thinkin’ about something,” I shrug as I glance back up at her, “you’re Bo’s sister.”

“Half sister,” she smiles as she nervously pulls her curled strawberry blond bangs out from her soft and gentle green-blue eyes, “Kristy Duke.”

“LB,” I say and we eye each other as we shake hands, “where’s the kids?”

“Daisy is with them at the motel room. She helped me move us in from the farm,” she slowly responds and as I eye her questionably.

“The motel? You’re brave,” I whisper at her.

“It’ll be fine,” she nods as her attention goes to Cooter and fear darkens her face momentarily before she looks away, “it’ll be just for a while until things get settled down and all. After this settles down, then I’ll look for a job and a place to stay. Until then, this will do.”

I slowly nod at her as I silently take her in for a couple of minutes. “Well, if Cooter ever wakes up,” I pause as the questions of his future once again pours through me, “you can ask him about his parents’ old place that he rents out. It’s empty for the most part. Ethan and I moved a few tools in there and are opening up shop there until we can move back to his garage. But afterwards…it’d be big enough for you all to fit into and all.”

She nods nervously at me as she looks back at Cooter. “I’m sorry about your cousin,” she slowly says, “I hope that he’ll be OK.”

I slowly pull my attention away from her to look at Cooter, at his bruised, pale, and still body lying vulnerable upon the old hospital bed. Harsh sadness builds within me at the sight of him looking so weak and vulnerable, ever since I’ve known him, he was strong and full of life, enjoying life to the fullest. Now he fights to keep life and not to fall into death. “He’s strong,” I finally say, my voice trembling, “if anyone can win this fight, it’d be him.” I pause for a short moment before looking back at her, “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, sure,” she shrugs at me.

“Your other brother or half brother,” I slowly start up, “Garrett,” I nervously continue, “do you think he could do something like this? To him?”

She eyes me for a long moment with emotion-filled eyes, emotions flowing from anger to sadness to fear. “Those are two different questions,” she finally states, “I’ve said it to Jesse a couple of hours ago…he’s not perfect and he’s done some horrible things in his life and a couple of them are beating someone. But it always had been someone he knew and someone that made him and his friends upset…not that, that makes it right or anything,” she slowly adds, “But to Cooter?” she shakes her head no at me, “No…he didn’t do this. For one thing, he wasn’t in there long enough to do much of anything to him. He was in and out within a minute. Second of all, he wouldn’t start a fight over the price of gas…maybe an argument, but nothing like that.”

“OK,” I finally respond as I look back at Cooter while wondering if the last time I saw him will be the last time I’ll be able to see him alive and conscience. The last time I get to talk to him being with him being mad and upset at me for losing his money, of him kicking me out of his garage.