Author's Note: This is Bo and Luke's life together, from the first year Bo was with them, until when Luke leaves for the Marines, and one year after he gets back. It is all different events, but they all are tied together by more or less the same phrase. I thought it might be fun to tell their lives together by something that keeps happening. This follows on the same line as 'It's Cold,' and some of the events are even similar with the ages. This time it is quite different though.
Big thanks to Earendil Eldar for beta work.
Warning: The warning is placed here for vinsmouse, who wanted a spew warning here, claiming it might be a bad idea to drink while reading the funnier parts. So please keep in mind that drinking any kind of beverage while reading this, might be hazzard'ous to the health of your screen.
Disclaimer: The Duke Boys are not mine, I don't own the Duke boys, nor the General Lee. I promise that once I'm through with them, there will be nothing broken that a trip to Cooter's garage can't fix….
I'm Scared, Part One
There was a classic line whenever the hero was in trouble, heaps of trouble, that had gotten stuck in Bo's memory. 'He couldn't recall if he had ever been this scared before.' It sounded catchy, and just after he said that, or thought that, the hero would always get himself right out of the trouble. There wasn't a hero that couldn't always get himself out of any trouble. Roy Rogers was the master, then there was Burt Reynolds, he was the same way.
Luke was a hero, he had been to war. He never talked much about it, and Bo never asked much, but he had gotten himself through it and had gotten home okay. That wasn't what made him a hero in Bo's eyes though. Bo had made up his mind about that long before Luke joined the Marines.
It was like their uncle Jesse, he was a hero in his own way. He had taken in three kids that weren't his own, and had raised them right and proper. No matter how much trouble they always got themselves into, Jesse was always there for him.
When Bo was a little boy who liked to pretend that his bike was Trigger, he had thought that Roy Rogers were the biggest hero, but he had been wrong. It was people like his uncle, like Luke, even Cooter who might never grow up who where the biggest heroes. It was how they always thought about everyone else that made them that.
Now he was thinking of Roy Rogers though, because he could always find a way out, because he himself needed a way out.
That line was still ringing in his head, 'he wondered if he had ever been this scared before?' He couldn't stop thinking about it, because where he was now, he couldn't recall if he had ever been this scared before.
Luke had told him to be careful, and he had tried to. He had gone hunting on his own, and had seen some guys setting up illegal traps. Then they had seen him, and they hadn't been too happy with him. He guessed he could understand that. He wasn't too happy with himself either since he had let them catch him. It hadn't been on purpose; he had been running away from them when he ran straight into an old abandoned mine shack. That was, he stopped running when he went crashing down through a hole in the tunnel roof or something. It wasn't a very big opening, just a little bigger than needed for him to fall straight through, which he had done.
The only bright thing was the crooks had decided he would die before he was found and could tell anyone. The bad thing was that they were right. He had hurt his ankle really bad when he fell, and his wrist as well, so he couldn't climb back up, nor could he make his way down the tunnel, and even if he could, that would be even more stupid than anything else he could do, except maybe falling down in the first place.
It wasn't his fault that people left their old abandoned mines where people could trip on them though, people really ought to be more tidy.
That was why that piece of saying was ringing through his head. Because as the sun went down, and even the small light that had come from the hole he fell down into started fading. He couldn't really decide if he had ever been this scared before in his life, and he had been scared many times.
Some years ago Jesse would tell them about the time when Bo was just a little more than one year old. He would tell them how Bo was the most curious baby he had ever seen, who always had his nose everywhere. They never talked all that much about when they were small children, but sometimes when Bo's curiosity got him in trouble Jesse would say that it figured since he had always been that way.
He would tell them about when Martha had been making cookies, and Bo, as curious as ever had wanted to see what she was doing. The boy had just started walking, and had made his way over to the oven.
At first he kept away a little. He usually was in the kitchen where she could keep an eye on him as much as possible. She always told them it was one of the hardest things she had ever done, because no matter how good you watched him, Bo always found something that he shouldn't.
That time she had turned around only to see Bo reach for the oven. She had opened it to take out another batch of cookies, and Bo was reaching right for it. Holding the hot metal sheet with the cookies she couldn't just drop it and so she yelled his name to make him stop.
Bo who got startled by her shout took a step back and tripped over a bucket that stood there. Falling to the floor he was screaming at the top of his lungs as he had been frightened badly by it all.
Martha quickly dropped the cookies on top of the stove, slammed the oven door shut and scooped him up.
The boy had been badly frightened and it had taken her a long time to calm him down, and even after it, Bo didn't trust the stove. Jesse would laugh and say how he used to be glaring at it whenever he had to walk close to it.
When he was two Jesse had told him that the most afraid he had ever been during that year was actually of a cat. He had told them about it once, and Luke had laughed so hard Bo got really mad at him. He had been grateful that Jesse told Luke it wasn't no laughing matter for a two year old boy.
They had been visiting some friends, and Bo had been sitting in the middle of their hallway floor playing happily. He always loved to play at their house, because the woman would always take him to that big chest that was full of toys after their own kids.
Luke would go playing with their son who was a few years older than him. So that would leave Bo to himself.
Jesse smiled as he said that whenever they were there, Bo would head straight to that ol' chest and wait for them to open it and let him take out the toys. He had been playing with a really amazing race car. He loved that car, you could wind it up, and then it would go racing all over the floor. He wasn't very good at winding it up, but he could play with it anyway, and sometimes someone would help him with it.
Jesse would say that it was when he saw him sitting there with that car that he knew Bo would always be one for fast car, because even back then he had a calculating little mind about how to drive them to win the races.
Those people also had a cat thought, and while the cat didn't mind the kids, it didn't like them too much either.
The cat just didn't see the small boy as something she needed to pay any head to. So Bo had looked up as the cat came, only to see it leap straight over him, not bothering to go around him.
Bo had given a shriek of fright and fallen over backwards, terrified. He hadn't stopped screaming and crying until Martha had taken him in her arms, and they had taken the cat outside.
One of the first times he could recall what had happened was when he was three. He had been out playing in the front yard, and had seen a few of the chickens come over. Knowing it would make them scatter he clapped his hands as he stepped over to them. Sure enough the flapped their wings and ran away from him.
Bo laughed. He wasn't supposed to be chasing them, but he could never keep that in mind when it was so much fun.
Laughing loudly he ran a few steps after them again, shrieking and clapping his hands.
He would yell like a cowboy, and they would really scatter. He allowed them to settle for a bit, then he took off after them again.
He chased them around the yard for a bit, then as he came close to the picnic table they kept outside a chicken came flying out from under the bench and went straight into his face, the sheer force of it was enough to send him flying backwards.
Never mind that getting a chicken in the face hurt, it is also something very terrifying. So for a moment Bo remained on his back, trying to regain his breath in shuddering breaths.
Then he slowly sat up and looked at where the chicken was calmly scratching for worms and bugs.
"Okay," Bo said as he slowly brushed himself off, still really scared. "If ya gonna go an do that to me, then I'm gonna be chasing ya."
There where those times that just startled you because they were so sudden, those were pretty bad, but the worst where the ones when you were scared for a long time.
When you were terrified, and you knew why, but you couldn't do a single thing about it.
It was like the time when he was just four years old, and they were out in the yard a hot summer's day. They had some hot biscuits, and cookies, and some cool lemonade. Bo loved it the way the ice clinked in the glass so he would swirl it around.
He was laughing because of something funny that Luke said, and as he took a long draught of his lemonade he was still laughing. He felt the ice cube slip into his mouth, and he gulped, only to have the ice go down the wrong way, and suddenly he could hardly breath anymore.
Martha immediately scooped him up and told him to cough, but he couldn't cough it up, not even with a good slap in his back.
He could just draw enough breath that he didn't fully choke, but he wasn't really getting enough, and he was so scared he kept crying softly. Tears kept streaming down his face because no matter how hard he strove, he just couldn't fill his lungs.
Luke was standing beside him and had taken his hand, and Bo was glad for it. Martha had him in her lap and sat stroking his hair. Saying there was nothing to do about it, and as long as he took it easy he would be fine.
Bo pressed his face against her as he tried to do what she told him. Tried to stop struggling and just breathe softly to make use of whatever air he could get.
The whole time they were talking softly to him. His uncle had a hand on his shoulder, and he was glad for it even if he was still just as scared.
Slowly the ice melted and he could breathe a little easier. Little by little he could get a tiny bit more air. Still, even when he could breathe just as before again he didn't want to move away from his aunt. He was still so scared that it was enough to make himself stop crying.
Martha didn't make him either, she let him sit there for as long as he felt he needed to.
Then there were things like darkness. He had never really been afraid of the dark, not so that he wanted to have a light on in the room.
It was just one time he had been terrified because it was dark. When he had been five and he had been out climbing trees after supper, and had gone a bit further than the old oak tree out in the yard.
He found a really great tree, it was perfect for climbing, and when he was in the top he could see really far.
It was so much fun that he stayed there for some time, then as he could see it growing late he knew he had to get home and started climbing down. He stepped down on a tree branch, a slightly smaller one that grew very sharply upwards, and his foot slipped down in the wedge between it and the tree trunk, and he couldn't get lose.
No matter how hard he pulled he couldn't get his foot lose, and he pulled so hard that he almost lost his grip on the tree branch he was holding on to. Then he started getting scared.
When it grew dark, and he knew he was supposed to have been home he was scared as well, and it didn't help that it was getting darker and darker. He had shouted for them a few times, for his uncle and for his older cousin. Then when it grew dark he was too afraid to cry out for them anymore, because there just could be something else out there hearing him.
When he finally heard his uncle calling for him he was almost too scared to call out, but he did.
He recalled how his uncle Jesse had stood there beneath the tree and asked him what he was doing up there, while he scratched his head. Bo told him how he had gotten stuck, and then Luke was there as well. Climbing the tree to where Bo was, Luke helped him get his foot free. He helped him to climb down as well, and then his uncle carried him back to the farm, not even angry with him. He was just smiling and telling Bo that they would always go looking for him, so he didn't have to be worried.
It was strange how you were so often afraid of things that weren't really bad, like doctors and hospitals. He was scared out of his wits when he was six and had to go to the hospital for a bad cut on his leg.
He had been playing with Luke, and fallen against a very sharp piece of metal, so his uncle rushed him to the hospital. He was a bit scared of the doctor, even if he always had a piece of candy for him when he was done. He was just scared because he was always doing such strange things.
The hospital was way worse though, everyone was always in a hurry, and they didn't have the time for him to be afraid.
The other doctor he'd had, he was always careful, and he never did anything without saying what he was doing. Or at least saying something. Bo was scared then too, but at least he knew that whatever was happening wasn't bad.
Now he wasn't so sure. First they were going on about his leg, then they jabbed a needle in his arm, and they didn't even say why. Then he just got sleepy, and that scared him bad. That was when he lunged out for Luke and refused to let go, no matter what they said, he didn't trust them.
They were all telling his uncle how he would be okay, but he wanted them to tell 'him' that he would be okay. So he refused to let go of Luke, for he was telling him that he would be okay, even if it hurt, and even if he was scared.
TBC
Thank you all for reading, I'll do my very best to reply to all signed reviews, Elenhin