"Well, welcome Mr. Henry, welcome!" Cooter Davenport said, shaking his hand vigorously and beaming. It was a bit hard to believe, given this reception, but this was the first time Cooter had met Mr. Henry Birdie and his six kids in person. Him and Henry had talked on the phone previously, but beyond that they hadn't met face to face before. Henry smiled, "Mr. Cooter" he greeted, as he had been instructed to use the mechanic's first name on their phone conversations.
Apparently he still didn't have it completely correct though. "Nah, just Cooter" Cooter corrected him. Again, all Mr. Birdie could do was smile and nod. He wasn't sure if he would be able to call him 'just Cooter' and not feel awkward, but the request and friendly hospitality were greatly welcomed. "Alright, Cooter" he fumbled out with a smile. Rose and Beth both glanced around the yard of their new home and took stock of both the house standing over behind the group as well as the surrounding farmland.
Violet also glanced around at the house and surrounding land, but she was taking specific stock of the wild and other type flowers that were scattered about here and there within the land. Almost seeming to fit her name, one of Violet's loved hobbies was to collect up flowers both for vases and also to make anything and everything she could think of from them. She didn't go overboard into the "artistic clutter" of said stuff, but still, growing up Violet had been the first little girl to make those flower wreaths you saw them skipping about with.
Sweet, shy and quiet Nellie also studied her new homestead and smiled to show her own approval of the place. Her father was right, it did make the whole move better by being a very nice looking farm. Lydia was currently running around the fields to show her own favorable assessment of their home. "Grant! Come catch me!" she called playfully.
Grant, who stood there with his hands in his pockets, and also thought their home looked great, smiled at his little sister but shrugged and shook his head to decline the invitation. "Come on!" Lydia called, stopping her running to stand there hopping impatiently like little kids do as she goaded her brother and hoped to win the discussion. Just then she was interrupted by a dust cloud flying around her and making her cough.
Out of the dust storm came an orange car with a 01 on the side. The car skillfully jerked (if such was possible) about and came to rest behind the other two cars. Two young men hopped out of the sealed doors. "Hey there Cooter!" the blond called. Cooter nodded, "Hey Bo, Luke" he greeted.
Lydia came over, still coughing, and Luke noticed this. "Hey, Mr. Skillful driver, I think you kicked dust into the little girl's face" he commented. Bo turned his attention to the kid Luke had mentioned and he grinned sheepishly, "Aw sorry there little miss" he said, gently jabbing her in the shoulder just barely, "ya kinda disappeared on me there and I wasn't expecting one as young as you to be standing there". Lydia grinned up at the nice boy, "Aw that's ok Mister" she said.
Balladeer: I don't believe it, Bo's charm truly does work on girls of all ages for varying reasons.
With his apology accepted, Bo and his cousin Luke turned their attention to Cooter and the rest of this new family with him. "So, Cooter, ya gonna introduce us?" Luke asked, indicating the others. Cooter glanced behind him, "Huh? Oh, yeah uh, this here's Mr. Henry Birdie and his family" he said, "I recently hooked 'em up with a place here and they'll be staying; and these two are Bo and Luke Duke" he explained to Mr. Birdie and his kids.
Rose smiled and gave a polite nod, "How do you do, I'm Rose and these are my siblings, Beth, Violet, Nellie, and little Grant and Lydia" she finished. Long ago, the whole group of them had noticed that introductions went quicker if whoever said hi first sometimes just introduced their other siblings. After this introduction though, Grant sighed. It wasn't the first time he'd heard Rose's introduction but he wondered why the title "little" had to start with him. He could see how Lydia was "little", she was five, but he was ten years old for crying out loud!
As he sighed and glanced off to the side, Grant noticed the two youths' neat car and stepped forward for a closer look. Lydia turned her attention to watching her brother's exploration as well.
Bo grinned at the admittedly cute, blond oldest girl as she introduced her family. He stepped forward, a hand extended to shake, "Well, it's a pleasure Miss Rose Birdie" Bo said, the grin still on his face. Luke sighed.
"Ya know" Bo went on, addressing the question to both Rose and Beth to be polite to both, "Luke and I are sort of experts on the back roads around here, so if either of you ever need a tour, we'd be happy to oblige, wouldn't we Luke?". Luke smirked, shaking his head, yet next nodded, "Oh yeah, sure" he replied, sending his cousin a knowing look.
Mr. Birdie looked at Bo with a non harsh, yet semi-suspicious look, yet just then Cooter pulled his attention away from the boy talking to his daughter though by asking him something about his car.
Rose smiled, her cheeks tinting just a bit at Bo's grin, she side glanced at Beth, who also smiled. "Well, thank you very much for the offer Mr. Bo Duke" she said, "I think my sister and I would love to join you".
Bo smiled, "Great, so when should we show you two around?".
"Uh, Bo" Luke piped in, he was starting to wonder how they could invite just Rose and Beth and not seem to be ignoring their younger sisters. Yet Violet and Nellie seemed to get what was going on and just minded their own business.
"Um, well we'd be free from helping Pa settle in and everything probably this Fri" she answered. Bo grinned. "How's tha--", Rose began, yet her sentence was suddenly cut short by a loud reverberation of the tune of Dixie. Everyone turned towards the Duke's car, the General Lee, and found Grant hanging slung over the driver side door with his legs sticking out, "That's the coolest horn ever!" he exclaimed. Rose sighed, leave it to her kid brother to be annoying at really bad times.
Luke laughed, for a whole list of reasons, the awesome good timing of the annoyance being one of them. He walked over and lifted the boy down from their car. "Well you obviously have a good taste in cars" he commented with a smile. Grant smiled back, "How'dya get it to do that?!" he asked excitedly. "It's a secret there bud" Luke replied.
Bo frowned as he walked over, "Yeah, and I wouldn't go messing with...", he began only slightly annoyed, yet a motion from Luke halted him. Luke leaned over to whisper, "Ya know, the quickest way to impress girls is being nice to their kid brother" he whispered over with a grin. Bo sighed and glanced back down at Grant, "Uh, I mean, of course it's ok there...bud" he said, giving an awkward slight hair ruffle.
Grant gave him a suspiciously confused look, since he'd dealt with the whole fake attention from his sisters' admirers' before and was starting to be able to notice it, yet he didn't say anything. After all, whether they were faking it or not, these older boys seemed cool enough.
Meanwhile, back at his office, Boss Hogg sent Rosco a strange look as the Sheriff relayed the information about the conversation he'd had with the Birdie family. "And he asked if I was involved in the Mafia?!" Boss asked in shock. Rosco nodded, "Well yeah Boss" he said. He shrugged a bit, "but I can see where the confusion might..." he began to try and explain.
Boss Hogg was quick in interrupting him though as he waved his cigar slightly, "Best keep an eye on this kid, Rosco." he said, "He sounds like the type ta blow up mailboxes, and that could be expensive".
Rosco glanced down, fiddling with his hat as he often did whenever portraying contrary opinions to what Boss said. "Oh well Boss he's just a pint sized little boy there" the sheriff said, "I--I don't think...".
"Rosco when have I ever told you, in direct order form, to watch someone and you thought differently" Boss threw out, swiveling in his chair to face the sheriff. Rosco glanced down again, "Uh, well never Boss" he answered.
"Good" Boss said, "No point startin' now". He swiveled back around and continued with the instructions, "So this Birdie boy, you keep an eye on him. I don't care if he is a juvi, first mailbox he blows up you book him".
Rosco nodded along with the instructions, "I book him" he repeated. He then stopped and glanced up, "B-book him? I-In the normal jail Boss?!" he asked for clarification.
Boss nodded, "Of course, I'm an equal opportunity provider. Normal prisoners and Juvenile offenders need to learn to get along, saves more money for me" he replied.
Balladeer: Aint he just a fine example of a humanitarian.
A/N: Changed my mind at sending the girls' at the Dukes (there's a reason I couldn't resist that you'll see later!), but still no serious pairings.
