It's A Wonderful Life
This story is based somewhat off the movie It's A Wonderful Life. The idea for this just randomly popped into my head, so please don't question the reasoning behind this, there ain't none. Blame Boss Hogg if you have to, that's who makes everything go wrong. Unless you think it's good, lol.
By the way, at the beginning it talks about a picture of Bo and Luke. It's the same one that's there if you open the season 1 DVD box set, for those of you who have it. Hopefully you know which one I'm talking about.
When Bo and Luke have a heated arguement, and Jesse and Daisy seemingly take Luke's side, Bo wonders what it would be like if he were never born. Please read and please review! Enjoy! One-shot. Uh, by the way, Bo says a naughty word down there somewhere, and I know Bo would probably never do that, but he gets a nice scolding from Uncle Jesse, don't worry.
He sighed as plopped himself down on his bed. Bo sat staring at the bed beside his, the one belonging to his cousin Luke. Tears welled in his eyes as he recalled the fury in his older cousin's eyes.
He lay his eyes on the picture that lay on the nightstand which rested between the two beds. It was Bo and Luke a couple of years before. A goofy picture, really. Daisy had taken it as a joke when they weren't looking, but it was hilarious so they had to frame it. The two cousins were working on their car, the General Lee. Both wore strange expressions on their faces, as they weren't expecting their picture to be taken. Luke looked unfocused, probably due to the sun in his eyes, and Bo looked as if he was about to cry. Bo smiled as he remembered how they'd chased Daisy around for a few minutes, faking anger about the picture. Those were some good times.
The young man wished he could share another happy memory with his cousins. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure if he could ever experience that brand of bliss again. His heart broke again as he remembered what had happened.
It had been an exceptionally warm day in Hazzard County as Bo and Luke finish up the chores. All seemed well with the world, at least at first. They were heading inside for lunch, smiling and laughing.
Luke thought it the perfect time to mention that he had a date with Cindy Wilkins that night. That's what started it all.
"Luke, I was just out with her three nights ago!" Bo protested. "Ya know we had a date an' ya know it went really well! I was gonna ask 'er out again but now I can't cause you did!"
"So?" Luke said. "I can go out with whoever I want! It's not like ya'll are goin' steady or somethin'!"
"Yeah, but I wanted to!" Bo shot back. "I can't believe yer doin' this!"
"Hey, this wasn't one-sided, ya know. Cindy accepted the date. Maybe she don't like ya as much as ya thought."
Jesse cut in. "Boys! No arguin' at the table!"
"Fine," Luke said, and ceased. Bo did the same. After lunch however, the two finished their arguement outside, Jesse and Daisy watching it all take place.
"Luke, I can't believe ya done this!" Bo cried. "Ya knew I liked 'er! Ya knew I wanted ta date 'er!"
"For your information," Luke started back, "I didn't know. And also, I was plannin' on askin' 'er out before you did. But I was nice enough not ta say anythin' when ya did!"
"That's cause you hadn't already gone out with her!" Bo yelled. The arguement when on like this for a few minutes, before Bo decided it was appropriate to throw a punch at his older cousin. Daisy stepped in, attempting to play referee.
"Bo, wait a minute," she said. "Maybe Luke really didn't know ya liked her! I sure didn't!"
"That's bullshit!" Bo shouted at her, causing tears to well up in her eyes. She stepped out, and Jesse grew very angry.
"Bo, don't you ever let me hear you say that again 'er I'll switch ya from here to the moon!" he shouted. "You know better than ta use language like that, I raised ya better than that, Bo, now apologize ta Daisy!"
"I'm sorry Daisy, I really am," Bo said quietly. Without another word, he went back inside and headed to the room that he and Luke had shared for so long.
Now Bo sat, feeling empty and defeated. He had screwed up, big time. What was a guy to do when he felt his family had turned their back on him? Uncle Jesse was angry with his use of bad language, and Daisy was too, and he couldn't blame her. He'd been a jerk to Luke, too, and he knew it. He was too stubborn to do anything about it.
Besides, Bo doubted his family would even forgive him for the way he acted. Heck, he didn't even forgive himself.
"They'd all just be better off if I wasn't here!" Bo cried angrily to himself. "I'm just gettin' in the way! I wish I'd never been born!"
Bo began sobbing, uncontrollably so. He didn't stop for quite a while, but eventually, the young man cried himself to a deep slumber.
The next thing Bo knew, he was waking up in the hayloft. How'd I get here? he wondered to himself. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and inched his way down the ladder. He found Jesse stacking something in the pickup bed. The General was nowhere to be found, but he figured Luke had gone to town or something.
"Hey, look, Uncle Jesse," Bo began. "I'm real sorry about everythin' I said earlier, I'm gonna go apologize ta Luke now, ya know where he went?"
Jesse made no recognition that his youngest nephew was even there. Bo went up to his uncle and tapped him on the shoulder, calling his name, but Jesse still did not turn around. Bo furrowed his brow in confusion. It was as if Jesse didn't even feel his touch.
"Uncle Jesse . . ." Bo felt abnormally confused. "Come on, Uncle Jesse, I thought ya told us not ta hold grudges like this." Jesse turned around, and, looking directly at the spot where Bo stood, walked right through him. Like he wasn't even there.
"What in tarnation's goin' on here?" Bo shouted. No answer for a few seconds, until a voice began to speak.
"You're not really here, Bo," it said. It sounded incredibly familiar to Bo, but he couldn't place it. "You were never born."
"What?" Bo spat. "Who are you? What do ya mean I was never born?"
Suddenly, after a flash of blinding light, a familiar woman stood in front of Bo. "This is what the world's like without you in it."
"Aunt Lavinia?" Bo said in exasperation. "But yer supposed ta be-"
Aunt Lavinia cut him off. "Yeah, I am. I'm your guardian angel for now. I'm here to show you what everyone's life would be like if you weren't ever born. Let me fill you in on what's happening now. Luke ain't alive, he died in the Marines. After spending two years there, he felt detached from his family, so he got shot, much like in your world. Only this time, he didn't fight so hard to come back. He lay on the ground and bled to death. Daisy and Jesse have lost the farm because they can't drive as fast as you or Luke could."
"They're Dukes, they're not that much slower than us," Bo commented.
"Not in your world," Lavinia explained. "In this world, they don't have as much of the will power or influence to maniac drivers as before. Jesse was obviously still a Ridge Runner, but he doesn't care so much anymore."
"So that's why Uncle Jesse seems ta packin' up the truck?" Bo inquired. Lavinia nodded in response. "Can we go inside an' see them?"
"Yes, but remember, they can't see you or hear you," Lavinia told him. Bo nodded his understanding. "Let's go."
Inside, Bo wasn't prepared for the sight that met him. There was Daisy, on the couch making out with . . . Cooter! His eyes went wide, and he looked questioningly at Lavinia. The older woman smiled gently at him.
"Without you or Luke to influence her better, or even Cooter, they're both kinda wild. They do this all the time, an' Daisy tries ta do it with Enos, but, well, you know Enos." Bo nodded.
"What else is really different?" he wondered, partly to himself.
"Well, Jesse doesn't have the same happiness as normal. I'm gone, as usual, his boy's in jail, and his girl's not exactly an angel, either. He feels defeated, especially now that he's lost the farm and has to move."
They watched as Jesse came into the living room, looking angry. He grabbed Cooter's feet and pulled him off of Daisy.
"You two git goin'!" he commanded, harsher than Bo ever remembered, even when he was yelling at Bo earlier for his use of bad language. "I ain't loadin' that truck up by myself, now git out there an' help!"
Lavinia looked at Bo again. "Cooter's life is different, too. Since you weren't around, Luke weren't as interested in cars, so naturally, Cooter isn't either. He's not a mechanic now, instead, he's just a bum who doesn't have any money or a job. When he lost his farm, Jesse took him in. He sleeps in your room. So as you probably guessed, he and Daisy sometimes have a little sleepover."
"Are they gonna get married?" Bo asked. Lavinia shrugged, indicating she didn't know. "They sure looked like it. Where are they gonna live now?"
"They rented a small apartment in town," Lavinia informed the blonde man. "Jesse's very upset about it. Whenever he got down before, he'd always bury himself in farm work, but he can't do that now." The two turned their attention back to Jesse, Daisy, and Cooter.
"We're comin', Uncle Jesse, hold on!" Daisy told him irritably. "Aren't we honey?" Cooter grinned and nodded. They shared a few more kisses, and Jesse rolled his eyes in disgust.
"Git goin', now!" Jesse demdanded. "An' I mean it, now!"
"Bo, I'm gonna do somethin'," Lavinia said. "Come outside with me." Bo followed his aunt outside, and she said, "I'm gonna make you part of their lives, so you can really interact and learn about them without me. I'll still be watching, but you have to do this on your own. So you go up there and knock on the door, and introduce yourself as Bo Wiley. Tell him Boss Hogg sent you to help them move. They can see you now. An' don't worry about Boss, I made him think he sent you."
All of a sudden, Lavinia disappeared, and a black pickup was parked in the driveway. Bo figured it was supposed to be his, so he went up to the Duke's porch and rapped on the door.
"What do you want?" Jesse asked gruffly.
Bo smiled politely. "My name is Bo. Bo Wiley, Un . . . Mr. Duke. Boss Hogg sent me here to help ya move."
Jesse studied him skeptically. "J.D. Hogg wants ta help us move?"
Bo shook his head. "No sir, he wants me ta help ya move, which I'd be glad ta do. I . . . uh . . . am a little short on cash, so Boss is paying me ta help."
Still hesitant, Jesse narrowed his eyes. "He's gonna pay ya? I don't know 'bout that, but I'll tell ya what. If he don't pay it, which I'm sure he won't, I'll pay ya for him. I'll give ya the money that was supposed ta be fer the mortgage."
Bo nodded. "Thanks, uh, Mr. Duke." It felt weird to him, not calling the man Uncle Jesse.
"You can call me Jesse," Jesse said. "This my niece Daisy, an' this is Cooter."
"Hey suga," Daisy said seductively. "He's kinda cute, Uncle Jesse." Cooter cleared his throat, but Daisy ignored him, and put her arms around the mechanic--well, non-mechanic's waist. "So he's gonna help us move?"
Jesse nodded. "Yup. Bo, why don't you an' Cooter go load that there couch into the back o' yer truck. Looks like ya gotta nice one there."
Bo nodded, not sure what to say. He felt really strange being there. He wished Lavinia were still there, and that he could go back to being a bystander instead of part of the action like before. Instead, he felt like explaining something about his real life.
"Back home, in a place a lot like Hazzard, me an' my cousin had a real nice orange rebel car with Confederate flags everywhere. We called it the General Lee. It could outrun anythin'. We'd have ta outrun the police many times, an' our sheriff ended up in the pond."
Daisy eyed him curiously. "That place sounds exactly like Hazzard. Sheriff Sam ends up in the pond a lot, too."
Sheriff Sam? Bo wondered. What happened to Sheriff Rosco?
"Yeah, it was real fun runnin' our sheriff, Sheriff Rosco, into the pond," Bo told her.
"We used ta have Sheriff Rosco," Cooter said. "He was crooked, but not as much as Sheriff Sam. We tried ta git 'im re-elected in the '79 election, but he lost. Now Boss Hogg ain't as rich as he used ta be cause Sheriff Sam knows how ta swindle him inta splittin' thangs evenly with 'im."
"I have a nephew who's in jail on false charges," Jesse said. "Sheriff Sam framed 'im up too good. If he'd use his smarts fer good, not evil, than that man would be the best lawman in dang near the whole country."
Bo began feeling very uncomfortable with the situation. But nothing prepared him for the conversation he overheard a few hours later between Jesse, Cooter, and Daisy while they were in the barn.
"Do ya'll really believe that Bo dude's life is so much like ours?" Daisy asked of them. "It seems just too coincidental to me."
Jesse and Cooter nodded their agreement. "Feel like he's mockin' us," Jesse said. "Like he's from another world that's better'n ours."
"Uncle Jesse, that's impossible," Daisy said irritably. "You know that can't happen."
"I know, yer right girl, but there's still somethin' fishy 'bout that character," Jesse said. Cooter and Daisy nodded. "I don't trust 'im one bit."
They didn't know it, but Bo stood right around the corner. He walked away, nearly in tears.
"They don't like me here, either," Bo said. Just then, a flash of light brought Lavinia in front of the black pickup.
"Bo, you're missing the point," she said. "They don't like you here because they don't know you. In your world, they love you no matter what because you're family. I hope you can understand that Bo. Everyone's life is better off in your world. And Luke, he actually has a life in your world."
"I can't stand bein' in a world where there ain't no Luke," Bo said sadly. "I just wanna go home now."
"Only if you understand why I brought you here," Lavinia told him.
"Ta show me that everybody's life ain't is good without me there," said Bo. "Or somethin' like that."
"That's pretty close," Lavinia said. "You even benefit Rosco and Boss Hogg's lives, interestingly enough. Oh, I forgot to tell you where Enos is. He's not a police officer. He works at Ruebottom's store at minimum wage. Do you know why he's not a police officer?"
Bo grinned, and half-chuckled. "Cause when I was in the first grade an' he was in the fourth grade, an' the principal thought it was me who kept stealin' the supplies from the classrooms, Enos proved me innocent. That was the day he decided ta dedicate his life to the law. But if I weren't there, he never did that."
Lavinia nodded. "I think it's time I take you home now. What do you say?"
"I say let's do it," Bo answered. Lavinia smiled, and with another flash of light, Bo found himself in the bedroom, waking up from a nap.
"Bo," a voice called through a thick haze. "Bo, wake up." It seemed to be Uncle Jesse. "Bo, it's mornin', time fer breakfast."
Bo was dazed. For a moment, he couldn't figure out where he was. He stared blankly at his uncle, watching his face slowly swim into focus.
"Uncle Jesse?" he said softly in a voice that tore at Jesse's heartstrings. It sounded miserable, like he was a scared small child.
"Yeah, Bo?" Jesse answered.
"I'm real sorry 'bout earlier," he told his uncle. "I was way outta line, I'm sorry! Where's Luke?"
"Right here," Luke said, a slight cold twinge to his voice that scared Bo. The younger cousin looked up to see his older cousin standing leaning against the door frame.
"I'm really sorry Luke, I really am," Bo said in desparation. "I was a jerk, I ain't got no claim over Cindy, an' I unnerstand now ya didn't know I liked her a lot. I unnerstand if ya don't wanna speak to me anymore."
There was something in Bo's voice that neither Luke or Jesse could detect. But Luke knew that he couldn't resist forgiving his younger cousin. He smiled slightly and sat down next to Bo on his bed.
Throwing his arm around the younger man's shoulder, he sighed when Bo leaned his head on his shoulder. "I forgive ya Bo," he said. He was confused about his cousin's odd behavior, but he figured that while the man had been napping since after lunch the day before, he hadn't gotten all that much sleep. "I want ya know I love ya, no matter how mad ya make me, okay?"
Bo nodded. "I love ya too, Luke, an' I feel terrible 'bout yesterday! I was so wrong an' stupid . . ."
Neither had noticed, but moments before, Jesse had left, leaving the two cousins alone.
"Bo, yer a Duke, an' Dukes ain't stupid," Luke said. "Don't feel bad anymore. I said some things too that I ain't too proud of, an' I'm sorry too."
"I forgive ya, too, Luke," Bo said. They smiled at each other.
"I'm hungry," Luke commented. "How 'bout you?"
"Well I ain't eaten since yesterday," Bo told him. "I'm starvin', let's go see what Daisy's made fer us this mornin'."
"Okay." They got up, and just as they were at the door and Bo had convinced himself that the parallel world episode was a dream, he heard the voice of his aunt Lavinia calling from a distance.
"Nice job Bo . . ." she said. Bo stopped dead in his tracks, and Luke looked behind in confusion.
"What's the matter, Bo?" he asked.
Bo grinned at his older cousin. "Nothin'. I thought I heard somethin', but it was nothin'."
The two cousins headed out to the kitchen. Bo apologized once more to Daisy, and within minutes, the family ate breakfast in perfect bliss, and everything was completely back to normal.
THE END
Okay, I don't know what that was all about, and I know it was a little corny, but I hope you liked it just the same. Please review, just push the little button down yonder and type up a little message for me.