Chapter One

[The Dukes of Hazzard]

"Caitlin, come on! You'll never believe what I found!"Emily hollered from the Bamboo Forest. I was on a mound of dirt and was making a Bamboo Broom.

` "I'm coming," I yelled back through the thick, dark forest. It was darker than usual.

That was because it was about 5:30 p.m."Where are you, Emily? I can't see you."

"I'm right behind you, silly." Emily said with a little giggle.

"I knew that. I was just seeing if you were paying attention, that's all. So what did you find?" She motioned me to look at a hole. The hole was about a foot deep, and at the bottom were flowers.

"I found this on top of it," Emily held up, what might be, a wooden manhole cover. I took a closer look and saw that there was an I on it and it was circled.

"Look what I found," I said as I looked down into the hole. I held up two, green leather pouches, "Weird, uh." One pouch had my initials on it, C.Z.B.. The other had Emily's, E.A.B., [Note that we are NOT related. THANK THE LORD FOR THAT!]. Emily and I stared bug-eyed at the two pouches.

"This is really weird," Emily said, still looking at the pouches. She picked up the one that had E.A.B. on it. "These are our initials, Caitlin! This is freaky!"

I picked up the pouch with my initials on it and opened it. Inside was a note, and one was in Emily's as well. The notes read this:

JUMP IN THE HOLE,

COUNT TO 10,

CLOSE EYES,

BITE TONGUE LIGHTLY.

HURRY!

"Okay let's do it. What do we have to lose?" I said jumping in the hole, "Come on!"

"Okay, okay." Emily jumped in the hole as well. "Okay ready?"she asked.

"I'm ready." I answered slowly.

"One, two, three, four, five. . . . " We counted together to ten. We closed our eyes and bit our tongues lightly. Suddenly a cold, chilly wind swirled around us, and as suddenly as it started it stopped.

I opened my eyes after awhile and looked around. We were in a meadow, and there were flowers, and a pond with tall cattails at its bank. I could hear the birds singing their song s of joy, and happiness. I even thought that I heard a Morning Dove.

I gave Emily a little shake, "Open your eyes, Em. Look around." Emily opened her eyes. She stared past me, backed up, turned, and ran."Emily, come back! Where are you going?" I looked in the direction that Emily had looked before she bolted off. An orange car was speeding toward us. I turned and ran in the direction of the edge of the meadow where a forest stood. When I got there, I hid behind the first big tree that I came to.

In the middle of the field, where Emily and I had been standing, the orange car stopped. "Hi, Caitlin, that car looks vaguely familiar, don't you think so?" Emily whispered from a bush to my left.

"Yeah, it does." I whispered back and looked closer at the familiar orange car. Two men climbed out of the windows from the two front seats. One man had on dark blue jeans, a blue jean shirt and brown boots, and brown hair that looked like it was starting to curl.

The other man had on a dark yellow shirt with a light blue one on underneath it, and light blue jeans, and brown boots. His hair was blond and it too looked curly, only this man's hair was much more curly than the other man's hair.

"Bingo!" I heard Emily cry. She tugged on my blue jeans. I looked down as she pulled me toward her and she said, "Don't you know who those two men are? I can't believe I realized this before you, [which kinda scares me, since I've only seen only seen one of this stupid show]. It's Bo and Luke Duke!"

"Oh my god! You're right, Emily!" I exclaimed happily. DUH! I thought to myself.

"Caitlin, look!" Emily whispered, tugging on my white T-shirt. I looked up and there at the edge of the woods were Bo and Luke Duke! We got slowly to our feet. I looked at Emily and smiled a huge smile.

"Are you Caitlin and Emily?" Bo asked looking at a piece of paper. I guess it had our names on it or something.

"Yes, we are. Who wants to know?" Emily answered casually.

"Well, then you'd better come with us. It's important that you do." Luke said. I thought that I would die. I used to watch the show all of the time . . . ! Oops! I'm getting ahead of myself. "Emily, pinch me." She pinched me alright. She pinched me HARD! "I didn't mean that hard, Em." We walked to the car. Bo and Luke helped us through the windows, because the General Lee [That's the name of their car.], was a race car, so the doors where welded shut.

As we drove along Emily said, "I can't believe I'm in this car! I'm going to freak out. Hey, that's a cliff isn't it? What are doing? You're to kill us all."

At that moment we were approaching a cliff. What Emily and I didn't know was that Bo, who was driving at the time, was planning to jump the cliff. "Don't worry, we'll make it. Right, Luke?" Bo said to reassure us that he knew what he was doing even though we doubted it.

"Of course we'll make it. Don't we always?" Luke replied.

"I don't know if you do. That's why I'm checking." Emily said a little annoyed with the answers that she was getting out of someone that she didn't even know.

"Don't worry, Em. They know what they're doing." I reassured her.

"How do you know? We could be lying about all this." Bo said.

"Are you a Duke?" I asked, Of course I knew the answer.

Yes, ma'am, we are, but . . . "Bo replied.

"Then that's enough for me."

"What about me?" Emily said.

All of the sudden we went flying up in the air. "Yeeha!" Bo and Luke cried out together. I think I'm going to be sick." Emily said clutching her stomach. We landed with a huge bump. I felt like I was going to break free from my seat belt. "We aren't going to do that again to wherever it is that we're going are we?" I asked. It cool was to fly up in the air, but I wasn't waiting for a bump like one anytime soon.

"No, that was the last one. Promise." Bo said, "We're going to our farm. Our Uncle Jessie has sent for ya'll. You still have your pouches, right?" Luke said.

"Yes." Emily answered holding up her pouch with her initials on it. There wasn't a lot of talking until we got to the Hazzard County line.

"We need some gas. We'll have to stop at Cooter's for some gas." Bo said. He turned into a garage, and got out of the car. A man with an old dirty shirt and blue jeans on, and a red hat on his short brown hair came toward us.

"That must be Cooter," I said excitedly, "This is amazing!" I looked over at Emily who, at the moment, was starring out the back window onto the street behind us.

"Caitlin, Mr. Mistoffelees is running over here!" Emily exclaimed. I looked and sure enough he was bounding over to the car like cat running after a mouse or some rodent. I turned back to Emily to say something, but all I saw was a pair of feet sticking out of the window. I bit my tough lightly and now stood outside of the car, in front of Emily, who was still struggling to get out of the car.

"So you need any help?" I asked, tapping her the shoulder.

"What, how?" Emily said. She had obviously forgotten that in Imagenopolis that's how we got around by biting our tongues lightly and popping up wherever it was that we wanted to be.

"We're in Imagenopolis, remember?" I reminded her.

"I knew that." she lied, and bit her tongue lightly, and soon was standing beside me.

"Hey, girls, fancy meeting you here." A voice came from behind us.

"Mr. Mistoffelees," Emily said dreamily, "Finally," But she was interrupted by,

"Finally?! What do you mean by that?" Mr. M said [ still Mr. Mistoffelees. It's just easier to type Mr. M].

"It's just that I haven't seen you in almost over a year now that's all. I've missed you so much!" Emily said. I looked over to Emily and gave the couple the ' I think I'm going to be sick' look.

I guess that I have a lot to explain right now, don't I? First of all, Bo and Luke Duke are from a T.V. show called 'The Dukes of Hazzard'. Also they have a cousin named Daisy and an uncle they call Uncle Jessie. Plus Bo and Luke are cousins as well. The T.V. show does not air on T.V. any more, but reruns are being played on TNN. In Clemson that's channel 28.

Mr. M is from a wonderful Broadway play called CATS. I bet that was a big surprise. Mr. M in the play is a magical cat who is highly respected for saving the leader, Old Deuteronomy. In the play CATS Mr. M is played by Jacob Brent. Emily is crazy about CATS so she put CATS in Imagenopolis. Oh yes, one more thing I should inform you about. Mr. M and Emily are girlfriend and boyfriend. Now I don't mind them dating and all that, but I have to admit I'm allergic to cats. But the weird thing is if I'm outside in Imagenopolis I don't react. Unfortunately, when I'm inside, I start sneezing like there's no tomorrow. I think Emily finds that very funny.

Anyway, where were we? Ah, yes! Mr. M had just joined us. "Caitlin, it's so good to see you again." Mr. M said.

"Like wise I'm sure." I said flatly, and rolled my eyes when no one was looking.

"Caitlin, telephone!" a voice called from behind. I turned around to see who it was. It was Cooter and he was holding out a telephone toward me. I ran over to take the phone.

"Hello." I said into the phone.

"Hi, it's me. Simmon." The voice on the other side of the line said.

"Simmon! Oh my god! Where are you!" I said happily.

Simmon is my boyfriend in Imagenopolis. The only bad thing about this is that his dad is in the Imagenopolis Military. Now you might think what's wrong with that? Well, I'll tell you why. The military is after Emily and me, so we have to keep a low profile. You maybe wondering what the Imagenopolis Military would want with us especially since we made up Imagenopolis? Well, the military wants us, because they want total control over the land. If they can get us out of the way then it's theirs. They are so desperate that they even have Wanted posters posted everywhere with an award for over 1,000 dollars for us. [Lord Doom's poster says he wants dead or alive, but dead would be better.]

"I'm in your car. You left it at the Duke's house last time you were here, remember. Actually, I'm at the Duke's right now waiting for you to get here. I've missed you so much." Simmon explained.

"I miss you too," then my voice changed to a whisper, "your dad doesn't know where you are does he? I don't want the Dukes in any danger." His dad doesn't know about us. In fact the only one who does know besides us is Emily. So we made her promise not to tell anyone.

"No he thinks I'm at the library. Don't worry. Listen I had better go. I'm using your car phone." Simmon said we hung up.

"Who was that?" Emily asked when I got back.

"Oh, it was just Simmon. He heard that we were in town so he thought he'd try to contact us and meet up with us somehow.' I lied. Emily knew why he had really called, but she didn't say anything. All she was,

"That's nice."

As we drove to the farm, we passed pastures of horses grazing or sunbathing. I wish I were them, I remember thinking, all day doing whatever you want. No one chasing you or trying to kill you. I bit it's great.

We turned onto a bridge that went over a stream. On the other side was a little farm. A expansive maroon barn and an old white house, with a white pick-up truck, a white jeep with "Dixie" on the side, and a yellow car with blue trim in front of it. "Hey, Caitlin, isn't that your car?" Emily said pointing to the yellow car with blue trim.

"Yeah, that's one of the things Simmon called about." I answered.

"Who's Simmon?" Luke asked.

"He's a friend of ours." Emily explained. She smiled at me and gave me a wink.

"Oh, yeah, I met him once in town. Nice kid. Remember, Luke?" Bo said.

"He was that kid with the brown hair and the blue eyes, right?" Luke asked to make sure he had the right person on mind.

"That's him." I said. We were now parked by the white pick - up truck.

"Are you kids coming in or are ya'll just going to sit there all day?" said a voice said. We all turned and saw Uncle Jessie, an old man wearing a red baseball cap, an off white shirt, and blue jean trousers. He's a little on the heavy side, but he's full of life.

"Hi Jessie!" I said, happy to see an old friend, "How are you doing?"

"Good, how's about we go inside. Daisy has been cooking all day, and she can't wait to see you, Caitlin." Jessie herded us into the house. As we walked in we could smell apple pie, and homemade apple sauce. The smell was sweet and rich. Emily thought so too.

"Oh, Caitlin! It's so good to see you again." Daisy said from the sink. She ran from the sink and gave me a hug. "This must be Emily Benson. Caitlin has told me so much about you." Daisy was clearly happy to meet Emily.

"Oh, I almost forgot," I said realizing that no one knew Emily, "This is my best friend Emily. Last time I was here Emily was at the Alley for the Jellical Ball."

"What do you mean last time?" Luke asked.

"You and Bo were on the Circuit. Lance and Coy were here,"Daisy explained, "That was about.........let me see........that was about a year ago."

We talked for while, and then decided to play a board game called Trivial Pursuit, which is a trivia game. The teams were: TEAM ONE- Jessie, Bo, and Luke. TEAM TWO- Daisy, Emily, and myself. It was a very close game, but we missed our last Question: What is Speleto, and where is it? Answer: Arts festival [international] and it's in Speleto, Italy.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" Jessie teased. Emily, however, came up with a good come back, "That's okay. While men are studying the world, women are ruling it." Not bad, and I can't say that I disagreed either.

After we got the game put the game away, the mood in the room got a little serious. Jessie sat on the couch, leaded back, and folded his arms. "The reason that I wanted you over here is, because Decker is here. He heard you girls might be coming by for the Jellical Ball this year." The tone in his voice was low and shaky and I felt uneasy at the moment.

He explained that Decker was staying the Hazzard Inn, which was right across from Cooter's Garage. "So he could have seen us when we were at Cooter's to get gas." Luke said.

"I don't doubt that for a minute," Uncle Jessie said, "but now don't you girls worry any. It'll be okay." Though his words were comforting a little I still wasn't sure about it all.

"I'd worry," Daisy said. My eyes widened. I was just settling down after what Jessie had said. Daisy continued, " He was here today, at the farm." My heart sunk into my stomach and then did a flip.

"That can't be good." I said.

"He said something about someone named Simmon. I didn't know what he was talking about. Then I thought it might be your friend Simmon, Caitlin."Daisy added. I could feel the tears trying to gush through and pour out my eyes, but I managed to hold them back until that night when we slept up in the loft of the barn.

After that I never saw Simmon again. However, I saw plenty of Decker. He kept on coming to the farm, and searching for Emily and me. Several times he would have had us if the Dukes hadn't made a diversion so we could amscray. it was pretty scary trying to keep low with Decker everywhere. I thought that we'd never get home in one piece. "Ya know," Cooter said one day, " I've been seeing less and less of old camouflage lately. Maybe he's given up and gone home."

"I wish that, that were true, but he's probably laying low for now. He probably has a plan or something like that."I said.

"She's right ya'll. Decker's thinking of a plan and all we're doing is sitting around waiting for his next move," Luke said, "We've gotta come up with a plan now." I chuckled. That had reminded me of someone who was always thinking up plans to get out of even the tightest of pickles( problems).

"Ya know sound just like a friend of mine." I said. "Oh really," Luke said, "Just who would that be?"

"Hanniable. He's always coming up with plans to help him and his friends get out of trouble. I think that they probably get into more trouble than you would in a week,"I explained. Hanniable is from the tv show The A-Team. It used to air on FX(in my town of Clemson it channel 37.), but I haven't seen it on that channel for a while, " He's part of the A- Team. He's like the ringleader of the whole operation."

"I've heard of them. Decker's after them, too. You guys must keep in touch.."Cooter said.

"Not really, Emily and I haven't seen them in over a year." I replied.

"Speaking of Emily, where is she?" Cooter asked.

"Oh she's getting ready for the Jellical Ball."

"Weren't you going to go, too?" Bo asked.

"Yah, but with Decker running around I decided not to go. Besides that's always been Emily's thing." I answered, "In fact, I thought I saw him talking to Boss Hogg the other day." Boss Hogg is the commissioner of Hazzard county. All he wants is money, food, and the Duke boys in the slammer. Plus he owns about two thirds of hazzard. Boss Hogg always wears a white suit and a white cowboy hat to mach. He's not the best dresser in town, but he sure is the richest. That's because he's always coming up with schemes to trick people out of their own money. Like once he tried to stop someone from paying their mortgage on time by setting up road blocks and speed traps.

"That's all we need. Boss getting into this. I bet there's some kind of money involved or else he wouldn't dare stick his nasty little head in it." Bo groaned.

"I'm not worried,"I lied. Actually, I knew that there was a lot to be worried about, but I was trying to keep my cool.

"How can you be so calm about all of this?" Luke said, amazed that I was so calm at the time.

"I've been through this kind of thing before." was the reply I gave him.

After a while we had decided to go back to the farm. I was hoping to catch Emily before she left for the Jellical Ball. "We had better get back to the farm soon," Bo said, "see ya back at the farm, Caitlin." Cooter got surprised look on his face, "You drive?!"he asked me.

"In this world I do. Back home I'd be in a lot of trouble." I said. I could just imagine me driving through my neighborhood and getting in major trouble with my parents.

Bo chuckled, "Ya, she beat us here." Bo said."Don't let that get out!"Cooter joked. Bo and Luke are know for their car, the General Lee. It's fast race car. Cooter's right, though, if people heard that a twelve year old beat them.

"You wouldn't want to race back to the farm, would you?" Bo challenged.

"You're on!" I called back from my car.