It was a beautiful spring mornin' in Hazzard County. The bees was buzzin' the birds was singin' and everybody seemed to be congrigatin' outside after a long winter nap. It was just the type of day that was perfect for a ride in the General Lee. And that's exactly what Luke was doin'.

"This here's Shepard callin' lost sheep." Uncle Jesse sang cheerfully over the CB.

Luke picked up the CB handle. "Lost Sheep here Uncle Jesse."

"Where in tarnation are ya? I thought you'd be back from the post office by now."

"Sorry Shepard. It's such a nice mornin' I thought I'd drive around a bit."

"Well I can't blame ya for that. It's just a minute ago that I finally tore myself away from the rockin' chair on the front porch, but when I did, I discovered a very interestin' fact."

"What's that, Shepard?"

"The chores didn't do themselves. Not a bit. And with Bo bein' out of town since yesterday at that Nascar race and all, it's gonna take longer to get 'em done."

"I read ya Shepard. Over and out."

Luke continued down the road at a pace that would be considered normal for anyone except the Duke boys. He was in no hurry to get to the farm today as it was the first good day of the season for plowing. Without Bo to help and Jesse too old to do more than he normally expected of himself, Luke had a long day ahead of him.

Spying something unusual ahead, he pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. At the side was a long abandoned driveway blocked off by two poles across which a chain usually stretched. This time, however, the chain was loosed and fell to the side.

"Luke got out and examined the chain. The padlock was still locked tight, simply being used to loop the chain back onto itself. He quickly realized it was more of a deterrent than any sort of security as the loop would simply slide back down onto the pole as needed.

Luke thought and smiled a little. "Wonder if Carly is back in town?"

Carly was an old girlfriend of Luke's. They had parted on good terms two years earlier when she and her family moved closer to Atlanta where she planned to pursue her doctorate degree. Maybe she was back, or maybe someone was messing with their property. Either way, Luke decided to check it out. He climbed back into the General and made his way to the old homestead.

The old place hadn't changed much since Luke had been there last. Aside from a few overgrown shrubs and a yard full of weeds, it was exactly the same.

Luke looked through all the windows of the farmhouse before deciding to check out the barn that was just off to the side. Not seeing anything suspicious right off hand, he decided to climb the ladder to the loft. This place brought back some memories. It was the place where he and Carly had spent their last evening together, gazing at the stars among other things.

Deciding that the place was secure enough, he decide to lay back on the hay, reminiscing about his time with Carly. Moments later, he heard a movement. He jerked up to see a face staring at him from the top of the ladder. It was vagely familiar, but Luke couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Well well well, if it isn't the one and only Luke Duke."

The man's mouth twisted into an ugly grin as he pointed a gun at Luke. "I'm mighty glad to see you. You saved us all that trouble of tracking you down and dragging you back here, didn't he Horace?"

"He sure did Charlie." A voice at the bottom of the ladder, apparently belonging to 'Horace' replied.

Luke had his hands up. "Look, I don't know what this is all about but….."

"You don't know? Well, you just come down this ladder here nice and easy and we'll be glad to refresh your memory."

Luke slowly walked toward the ladder with his hands up. As soon as he was close enough, he let out a swift kick, knocking the gun free from Charlie's hand. Charlie, startled, fell backward, landing on his friend as the gun hit the ground and went off.

Luke turned with lightning speed and grabbed on to the rope that was suspended just outside the loft window. Quickly climbing down hand over hand, he reached the ground and quickly ran for the General Lee.

He never made it.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Uh, my head."

Luke shook his head, trying to clear it of the cobwebs. "Uncle Jesse? Daisy?"

"They're all right-for now."

The statement suddenly brought Luke back to his senses. He opened his eyes to see Charlie there, cleaning his gun and sporting a swollen and bruised cheek-apparently from the fall. It didn't take Luke long to recognize the interior of Carly's old house.

"Okay what do you want from me?" Luke asked in a matter of fact way.

"Actually Mr. Duke, I don't want nothin' from you. I just want you to help me recover what was rightfully mine in the first place."

"Righfully y…..wait a minute." Luke said, holding up a finger as a memory fought it's way to the forefront of his mind. "You're Charlie Mantooth. And Horace, if I remember right, is your brother."

Charlie smirked and nodded his head. "They always said you's the smart one. It's been over a year since you and that blond-haired cousin of yours caught up to us after we robbed that bank and you still remember the details."

"Well, it wadn't anything personal." Luke replied, holding his head where he had been hit. "It's just that the whole thing got pinned on my cousin 'n me and we had to prove our innocence."

"Well, sounds like it was a personal problem to me. The facts of the matter are that that we cleared over $50000.00 from that bank, and that's how much we'll be collectin' from you before you'n your family can sleep sweet at night again. You got that, country boy?"

"Fifty thousand dollars? Look I don't have that money. It all went back to the bank."

"Again, it sounds like a personal problem to me. Now we didn't go through all that trouble of breaking out of jail to become a couple of paupers on the run. Now you find a way to get our money and you find a way quick or you'll regret it, you'll regret it a lot." He finished by handing Luke a photo.

The photo showed what appeared to be a grave in a cemetery, although Luke didn't recognize it as any of the ones in Hazzard. However, a few new arrangements and the lack of a tombstone told Luke it was new.

"Is this supposed to mean that if I don't do what you say, you'll kill me?"

"Oh no." Charlie shook his head. "You won't be any good to me dead. What I'm trying to tell you is that if you come through for me, I just might tell you where that grave is."

"And why would I be interested in that?"

"Well, I figure you'd be real interested in findin' it. I know yer cousin's interested."

"Daisy?" Luke asked.

"Uh uh." Charlie shook his head. "Blondie."

Luke didn't like the sound of that. "What do you mean?"

Charlie snickered. "You don't find it unusual that you haven't heard from him since early yesterday?"

Luke felt a sense of dread. "He's out of town on a trip to a race. We didn't think much about it."

"Well, that's good for me anyway. Made it a whole lot easier to handle your cousin when he got…shall we say….sidetracked from his trip."

Luke's eyes widened in realization as he looked at the photograph again. "If you've killed him I swear I'll….."

"Calm down." Charlie interrupted. " He ain't dead-yet. 'Least I don't think he is. I'm pretty sure there's plenty of oxygen goin' down that tube."

Luke shook his head in confusion. "What tube?"

Charlie smirked. "Didn't you look at the picture?"

Luke studied the picture for a moment longer. He hadn't thought much about the cylinder shaped object-a pvc pipe- sticking out of the ground before, not until Charlie pointed to a small box partially obscured by some of the flowers. Luke had to strain to see it, but he finally noticed the word 'oxygen' and an almost invisible tube inching from the oxygen chamber , inserted into the pipe.

Luke's eyes widened in shock. "You mean to tell me that Bo's been buried alive?"

Charlie smiled. "See, you are the smart one."

Looks like Bo got a free ticket to the great beyond.