It had been a long hot, and dry summer in Hazzard County. Everyone had kept indoors as much as they could. Which meant the Duke boys, despite all their spirit, had been inside more than was their wont, and it was starting to give them cabin fever. There had been a few races, but nothing big, there was one coming up at the end of the month, and they had been giving the General the works trying to get him ready.
"Luke" Bo said after they'd come in from the garage, shirts off and dripping in sweat from the Georgia heat. His cousin grunted from behind a giant glass of lemonade to let Bo know he was listening. "We've done just about everything to the General that borrowed tools and discount parts can buy, and the race is still two and a half weeks out."
Luke nodded "we could freshen up the paint job."
"It's too hot, we'd run the risk of it bubbling."
"You two could try picking up a book to read" Daisy said with a laugh as she poured them both refills of lemonade.
"I've done read all my car magazines."
"I meant recreational reading Luke" she said holding up a book.
"Since when did you read for fun?" Bo asked sitting up.
"Well I've been making friends with the new school teacher we've got in town. She said I was welcome to borrow her books any time I liked" Daisy's smile left her face for the space of two or three seconds, but the boys didn't notice. The thought had occurred to her that her two cousins might suddenly want to read a whole lot more once they caught sight of the new school teacher, and that would spell trouble all around.
"We'll pass Daisy" Bo said getting up. "I'm gonna go get cleaned up, maybe go down to the Boar's Nest. Wanna come Daisy?"
"Not tonight, I don't have to work, so I don't really feel like being there, besides, this book is starting to get really good" she got up, gave her cousin a kiss on the cheek and went into the kitchen to sit down by the refrigerator with the fan. Bo and Luke simply shook their heads, and an hour later were out in General Lee driving towards town like two bats fresh out of hell.
They got to town before the sun was even down, which meant the Boar's Nest was not really alive yet. Just the families of Hazzard County finishing up meals, or the more respectable folk getting themselves a shot or two before heading home and retiring for the night, before the night really began.
Bo and Luke went in, ordered two beers, and were regretting driving the General there so fast, seeing as no one worth seeing was there. Yet. But the General had run in perfect tune and was going to be more than ready come that race at the end of the month. Luke was staring at the label on his bottle like he could somehow make the attractive lady on the label come to life if he looked at it hard enough. It'd be the only thing that could turn around this dud of a summer. There wasn't a girl left in Hazzard that would talk to him or Bo. At least not in public, and the number of secret romances were running thin, seeing as the boys were about as good at making relationships work as they were at staying out of trouble. Bo let out a yawn, and turning away from his cousin, so as not to be rude he caught sight of a girl he'd never seen before. She had long honey blonde hair and was dressed real smart in a dress that fell just above her knee and flared out at her hips. She wasn't the current idea of beauty, she looked more like some of those pinups from Uncle Jesse's day that would have been painted on the front of some man's airplane during the wars.
"Luke, is she real you think?" Luke looked up from the label on his beer bottle.
"Well, there wouldn't be any harm in talking to her to make sure" he said with a grin as he slid out of his seat.
They watched her sit down and order and then walked up, hands in pockets. If they hadn't been such decent guys it would have looked something like two buzzards approaching a dead 'dillo on the roadside. But the boyish faces that showed their good natured hearts were enough to assure anyone that while they were nothing but trouble, they were a good kind of trouble, a trouble you could trust.
"Howdy" the blonde said looking up at the two boys.
"Hey" Bo said.
"Mind if we sit down?" Luke asked, even though he'd already sat down across from her at the booth table, Bo joined him.
"Doesn't look like it mattered whether I minded or not?" she said arching her brow while a broad smile sat on her face as her strong accent poured out her words.
"Say, you ain't from around here?"
"Your powers of observation are keen I see" she said with another sassy grin. "No, I just came into town, I'm from Texas."
The two boys' eyes went wide, Texas was halfway to China by their reckoning the only thing more outrageous would have been for her to be from California or England.
"Texas" they both repeated in united disbelief.
She smiled again, she was hoping the boys would get around to introductions sometime soon, otherwise this would just be awkward. Her whole face seemed to say 'well aren't you silly country boys going to ask me my name' Bo finally caught the signal.
"So, we know where you're from now, but what's your name. I'm Bo by the way, and this is my cousin Luke."
"I'm Samantha, Samantha McKinney, nice to meet you both" she said with a warm smile.
"Hey, can we get you something?" Bo asked, already halfway out of his seat to fetch whatever she asked.
"Well, I already ordered, and the only thing I was wanting was company, and you two will do just fine for that."
The boys both grinned ear to ear. There was something interesting about how the Duke boys dealt with women. Despite having romanced over half the eligible women in the county, Bo and Luke had managed to never fight over the same girl. Not once. If they both found themselves fancying the same female they just waited for her to choose which one she fancied best. This wise plan was more than likely instilled into them by their uncle and carried out by the brotherly love they bore each other. No girl was worth busting up their family for, and sometimes, on very rare occasions, it took Daisy to remind them of this fact.
They sat and talked and the sound of her high laughter and Texan drawl rang throughout the Boar's Nest until the night crowd showed up and filled it with their own talk and laughter.
Bo got up and held his hands out to her "You wanna dance?" he asked with confidence, but just that hint of country boy shyness that made it almost impossible for a girl to say no to.
She got up and took his hand and he whirled her around the dance floor.
"You dance really well for a Georgia boy" she said smiling.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, feeling just a bit offended.
"It means, you dance almost as well as the boys out in Texas" she said laughing and then went into an explanation of some of the swing style moves she'd grown up with. Bo smiled.
"Mind if I try that last one you mentioned?" he said smirking as he spun her out, pulled her back in and rolled her across his back and back around.
Samantha was a tad breathless, not expecting him to pick up on the moves she was describing, quite so easily. He held her close as she caught her breath and balance again, and because it was a perfect excuse to have her close. He smiled down at her.
"Hey, let me get you something to drink" he said leading her to the side of the dance floor and getting her a glass of sweet tea.
"Thanks" she said sipping it. She stopped short as she saw the clock on the opposite wall. Her face went a little pale and she set the glass down.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah, only, I need to get home" she said picking up her purse from where she'd been sitting earlier.
"So soon? You need me to give you a ride?" he asked. Bo really didn't want her to leave, not only was she pretty but she was interesting, full of ideas and fun, and she was from Texas too, that made her the closest thing to exotic that Hazzard County was ever going to see.
"No, I drove, but thanks" she said disappearing out the door before Bo could even try for a goodbye kiss. He watched her go from the door, tearing out of the parking lot in an old cherry red Chevelle, he felt pretty sure he could wind up losing his heart to a girl who drove a car like that. Only it looked like he wouldn't have the chance to do that, seeing as she'd left him with nothing but her name. Some fairytale about a princess at a dance that he'd heard Jesse read Daisy as a little girl came to his head, but he couldn't quite place it. He went out walking in no particular direction. So lost in thought that he walked the whole way back to the farm. Which was fine with Luke, he'd found himself with an old flame and was making the most of it, taking her out for a moonlit drive in General Lee.