House of 1,000 Hazzards
February 13, 1978
Cousins Bo and Luke Duke were on their way back to Hazzard County, Georgia after having just spent the weekend in Austin, Texas checking out a new racetrack that had just been built there, when all of a sudden they found themselves caught in a torrential downpour on some backwoods road somewhere in south-east Texas. It was about nine o' clock at night and the boys were driving in their usual orange 1969 Dodge Charger with 01 painted on both sides and a confederate flag painted on the roof, which was known to most folks as The General Lee. The General handled great in pretty much all weather conditions, even heavy rain like it was in now which made the dirt road it was travelling on into a slick, muddy mess. Bo Duke, the one driving The General, who was tall and thin with thick, light-blonde hair and baby blue eyes, was being especially careful with his beloved car and was driving much slower than he normally would have prefered to. Luke, who was shorter and more muscular than his cousin, and who had dark hair and eyes, sat in the passenger seat with his arms folded and a frown on his face.
"I told you a storm was comin'," he said to Bo. "We should have left Austin this mornin', then we wouldn't have gotten caught up in it. Now here we are lost in the rain."
"We ain't lost," said Bo, defensively. "The clown back at that gas station said that if we take this road down about half a mile this-a-way we'll hit the highway, then we'll head North on that and be away from this storm in no time."
"That is if you don't drive us into a ditch first," said Luke.
Bo didn't answer, he just gave his cousin a quick, annoyed look, and then focused his attention back on the road. Even with the windshield wipers on high and his brights on it was still difficult to see what was up ahead.
"Hey, what is that?" he said, suddenly. He pointed ahead at what appeared to be a person standing by the side of the road about ten yards away.
"I'd think by now you'd know what a girl looks like," said Luke.
Bo looked at his cousin and then again up ahead. Sure enough, it was a girl. A young girl. Maybe twenty-two, with long, curly, blonde hair, who was wearing a long brown coat and a straw cowboy hat. She was holding an umbrella above her head, though it clearly wasn't doing her any good, because she was soaking wet.
"Oh, we gotta pick her up," said Bo, and Luke nodded in agreement.
As soon as they pulled up next to the woman, Luke rolled his window down.
"Hey, darlin', you need a ride?" he asked.
"Love one," said the girl. She had a high-pitched, childlike voice.
The doors on The General Lee were welded shut, so Luke had to climb out the window and then help the girl to climb in. By the time she was settled in the back seat and he was back in the passenger seat, he was as wet as she was.
"Hi, I'm Bo Duke, and this is my cousin, Luke Duke," said Bo, looking back and giving the girl a big grin.
"You can call me Baby; Baby Firefly," said the girl.
"So where to, Baby? asked Bo.
"My house is just up the road. I'd be much abliged if ya'll could take me there," she said.
"Can do," said Bo. He stepped on the gas and The General started moving down the road again.
"So what brings a nice girl like you out at this time of night in this kind of weather?" asked Luke.
"I was just out for a walk," said Baby. "Then I kinda got caught in the storm. I'm glad you happened by, otherwise I'd have had to walk all the way back home in this."
There was a silence and Baby began to look around at the interior of The General Lee.
"I sure do like your car, boys," she said.
"Thanks. The General Lee is 'er name," Bo said, proudly. "Fastest car in all of Georgia."
"Maybe even the whole United States," added Luke.
"Georgia, huh?" said Baby in a mischievous sort of way. "Ya'll sure are a long way from home."
"We were down in Austin watching a race," said Luke.
"I don't see many houses out this way," said Bo. Truth be told he couldn't see much of anything outside in the blackness.
"It's just up here. You'll see the gate," said baby, pointing forward.
All of a sudden the back right tire of The General Lee blew out with a boom!
"Wooo," cried Baby, as the car jostled. She sounded like she was riding a carnival ride.
"Dagnabit!" said Bo. He pulled over to the side of the road and put the car into park. Bo and Luke turned to each other.
"Good thing we've got that spare in the trunk," said Luke.
"Yep," said Bo.
They just sat there looking at each other.
"Well, time's a-wastin'," said Luke, impatiently.
"You're already wet," said Bo.
"Which means it's your turn," said Luke.
Baby watched their back-and-forth with a bemused face.
The cousins stared at each other for a second and then at the same time began to play rock, paper, scissors. Bo threw rock, Luke threw paper.
"Damn," said Bo.
"If ya'll don't feel like changing a tire out in the rain, I can always run to my house real quick and have my brother, Rufus, come get ya with his tow truck. You can join me and my family for dinner while he fixes your wheel. He's real good with cars," said Baby.
"I appreciate, it ma'am," said Luke, "But we're pretty good with cars too. Bo will have it fixed in no time and I'd hate to inconvenience you and your family."
Baby looked slightly put out, but then she smiled and began to giggle.
"No inconvenience at all," she said. "There's Rufus right now in fact."
Bo and Luke looked ahead of them as headlights suddenly appeared coming towards them from a distance. In no time at all an old, beat up tow truck drove past them and went to The General's rear.
"Musta been out lookin' for me," said Baby. "Can't get any luckier than that, huh?"
Luke looked like he was about to make an objection, but Bo put his hand on his cousin's shoulder.
"It's fine, Luke, we'll go have dinner with this nice young lady and wait for the storm to pass," he said, then he turned back towards baby and gave her a wink. "I was starting to feel a might peckish anyway," he said.
Baby smiled and licked her pink lips.
"My family makes the best fried chicken around," she said, and giggled again.