"My Last Name"
Eight year old Bo Duke was having the worst. Day. Ever.
He landed face-first in the gravel, and bit his lip. Hard. He could taste blood as he pushed himself to his knees to look up at his tormentors. His yellow t-shirt was dirt-stained and there were holes in his blue jeans.
Ten-year-old Davy and eight-year-old Tommy were standing above him. "Come on, Ducky," Tommy said, clenching his fists. "Whatcha gonna do about it?"
"It's Duke!" Bo yelled back. That was what had gotten him knocked to the ground in the first place.
"What was that, Duck?" Davy taunted. He waited for Bo to get back to his feet, and shoved him down again. Bo's elbows caught the fall, and scraped his skin raw.
"Leave me alone!"
"But Bo…you're already alone," Tommy pointed out with a grin. "Mommy and Daddy are gone, and the little baby's crying!"
Bo didn't know how anyone could be so mean. It had been a week since his mom and dad, and Luke's and Daisy's, had all been in a car headed for a social at Old Man Halliday's, when it started to rain. The road got wet and slick and Bo didn't know who was driving, but they hit a rough spot. The car flipped and…
He couldn't help it. The tears started to fall, the ones he'd been so careful to keep hidden until now.
"Awww…." Davy said sarcastically. "Baby."
Bo tried to ignore the throbbing pain in his arms as he got up and threw himself at Davy, knocking the bigger boy to the dirt. But Tommy was right there, trying to pull Bo off Davy, but Bo wasn't having that.
"Hey!" another boy yelled, looking up from his football game. He dropped the ball and ran over to the fight. He hauled Tommy off Bo with one hand and pushed him away. "Back off, jerk," he said. He kicked Tommy in the seat of his pants and sent him thudding to the dirt. A crowd of kids had started to gather, as Davy managed to wrangle himself away from Bo and jumped on the older boy in the blue button down. It was a bold move, considering their size difference. Luke Duke was three years older and muscular from helping Uncle Jesse and his daddy with haybales. Davy managed to get a good swing in, before a little girl in pigtails and a pink t-shirt stepped into the fight and punched Davy square in the nose. Davy cried out, as he started crying and holding his nose.
"No fair!" Tommy yelled as he scrambled to his feet.
"That's what you get for pickin' on my brother!" Seven-year-old Daisy Duke yelled, and stuck her tongue out at them.
"He ain't your brother!"
Luke helped Bo to his feet and brushed him off. "Yeah he might only be my cousin," he told the two bullies. "But we got the same last name-so that makes him our brother, too." The logic may not have been sound but, it made sense to 11-year-old Luke.
"We're family!" Daisy informed them, her hands on her hips. It made perfect sense to her.
Bo looked up at Luke, and over at Daisy.
He liked the sound of that.