Author's Note: Bo gets a girl in his sights, but sometimes the past makes it hard for someone to fully enjoy the future.
Big thanks to Vinsmouse 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.
This story deals with things that some people might find slightly difficult to read about.
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…. Kerry-Marie however is mine.
Haunted By The Past
Chapter 3: Fish
Fishing was one of their favorite ways of getting food on the table. It meant relaxing in the shade with a beer each and just relaxing in comfortable silence. While Luke had always claimed it was the one time Bo was quiet, he was the first one to enjoy some relaxed and idle talk while they waited for the fish to bite. It was waiting comfortably while the food came to you instead of chasing after it.
The reason some seemed confused for it was that since the boys usually drove at a fast pace some seemed to think that they were literally unable to sit down and relax. They were wrong the Duke boys knew very well how to sit back and relax, they just preferred to do it like this.
Coming back into the farm house with a half dozen fish on the line they grinned as they saw Daisy take a can of beans from the pantry shelf.
"Hey, Daisy, look at these will ya?" Bo grinned as he put the fish down on the counter.
"Looks really nice Sugar." Smiling Daisy put the can back on the shelf.
"We kinda invited them for dinner." Luke joked.
"Yeah, they heard we were getting some of Uncle Jesse's fish stew, so they wanted to tag along." Bo added.
Daisy laughed at them and shook her head. "Well, in that case you had better get started there."
"On what?" Bo frowned confused wondering what she was talking about when the chores were all done.
"The fish needs ta be cleaned out Bo." She grinned at him. "Or Uncle Jesse ain't gonna be able to cook it."
"We're gonna clean it out?" Bo asked with a confused look between his cousins. "Why?"
"Because she is a girl and she tells us too." Luke turned to the counter and got a sharp knife suitable for the task from the kitchen drawer.
"Is that a good reason?" Bo frowned.
"Unless you want starch in your under shorts I'd say it is a very good reason." Luke told him. "Now get started, I ain't doing all of it."
Bo stepped up to him and grabbed his own knife before helping him. Both of them was good at taking out the fish, taught by their uncle from early days and it wasn't as if they really minded it either. It was mainly that bringing the fish home, they had hoped that they would be able to do some tinkering on the car before supper. A car like the General demanded constant attention, partially of the way that they drove him but also because they did always shower him with attention.
The way they always kept him tuned to perfection, the way they always made sure every bolt was tight and everything just in order. It did however mean that if anything changed the whole performance would drop at the same rate.
While they could not afford any new parts at the moment to heighten the performance, they could at least keep him in shape.
"We can work on the General after supper." Luke suggested having a pretty good idea of what Bo was thinking about.
Bo grinned at him nodding and just about to finish up his fish when he felt something slimy at the back of his neck.
"Luke!" Glaring at his cousin he grabbed the fish entrails Luke had seen fit to put there. "That's really immature."
"Yer just saying that cause I thought of it first." Luke chuckled happily.
"Okay, then I reckon this is okay." Grabbing a cut of fishtail Bo plunged it inside the lining of Luke's shirt and watched as his eyes got wide.
"Bo," Luke's tone was a low warning, one Bo ignored as he laughed.
Daisy shook her head and was grateful that both boys dropped their knives on the counter before bolting outside. Bo fleeing for his life with Luke hot on his heels.
Shaking her head, Daisy started cleaning up the counter. When the boys had gotten the fish, and cleaned them out it was the least she could do. Though she had to smile over how they both acted so much like small children. Glancing out the kitchen window she saw Luke catch up to Bo and take him down with a football tackle.
The boys wrestled around, and it was kind of amusing to watch the boxer verses the linebacker. While Luke was more limited because he really couldn't deal his cousin a right hook, he sure did know how to restrain him. Maybe it was the Marine training, but it almost seemed to Daisy that he was playing with his cousin like the cat would a mouse.
It was obvious that he could do what he pleased and was in fact doing it right now. Keeping Bo more or less restrained on the ground. Bo was good at tackling, but he really didn't know so much what to do when someone already was on the ground. On the other hand, he apparently knew more than he let on, for when Luke eased off a slight bit Bo threw him off and leapt to his feet taking of running. This time Luke had a harder time catching up and having cleaned up Daisy stepped outside to watch them. Bo was in full flight and leapt up over the tailgate of the pickup, one step in the truck bed before he went over the cab and hood landing on the ground again. She had never seen someone overtake a pickup in quite that manner before but Luke wasn't thrown off by the act. Instead he moved to intercept him by running past the pick up and he did close in a great deal.
Daisy laughed thinking that it would sure be an amusing sight to anyone who came visiting. To her it seemed Bo only made one mistake, he tried to throw Luke off course. The thing was, that Bo was actually a fraction faster than Luke and if the boys were in open terrain he did stand a chance of winning, but when he tried stunts as with the pickup he actually lost distance.
Up until when Luke reached forward and yanked him to a halt by grabbing his shirt collar. Daisy winced as she heard something rip and knew exactly who would be asked to mend the shirt. It did however look quite comical the way Bo was pulled to an abrupt halt and came to lean backwards until he crashed to the ground, pulling Luke with him in an attempt to keep to his feet. That was probably the most amusing of it all, because Bo flung his arms upwards grabbing on to anything he could get a hold of, which was Luke. He wound up pulling his cousin forward and downward so that the two of them looked almost like two poles falling towards another. Luke coming down more or less on top of Bo.
Luke took it with amusement as he considered his revenge complete. He rolled off Bo laughing while the blond boy coughed, trying to pull in air. He refused to see anything amusing in it before he had gotten back the air Luke had forced out of his lungs with the impact.
"You okay cousin?" Luke helped him to sit up giving him a slightly concerned look.
Bo gave a nod as he rubbed at his throat and gave another cough drawing a full breath. "There weren't no need ta git so rough," he complained.
"Ya shoved a fish tail down my shirt." Luke pointed out as he helped Bo to his feet, grinning as he watched the red slightly raw line at his collar bones. It sure had been some force when he pulled him to a stop. It showed not only there but also where there was two large rips in his shirt, one on each side.
"Yer the one telling Daisy my shirt need mending." Bo told Luke with a rather angry glare.
"No need Bo, git it off and I'll git started on it." Daisy told him.
"That was fun," Luke grinned as he sank down on the couch and leaned back relaxing.
"Really fun." Bo rubbed at the sore line the shirt had left again as he headed towards the boys bedroom instead.
"Bo, if ya give me yer shirt I can have it mended for ya before supper." Daisy told him and Bo shrugged out of the shirt handing it to her.
"Ya ain't mad at me are ya Bo?" Luke asked from the couch, not wanting to do something to upset his cousin even if he thought that Bo should know it had all been in jest.
"No, but it's kinda sore." Bo rubbed at the red line again. "Wasn't any need ta be quite so rough there."
Luke nodded as he saw the red line, it did look kinda raw and sore. "Tell ya what Bo, got a brand new car magazine by my bed, ain't even read it yet. Ya can read it first, that make it up to ya?"
"If ya git me some lemonade." Bo nodded as he went into the bedroom to get the magazine and Luke went to the kitchen for two glasses of lemonade. Daisy added them in a cookie each, even though it would soon be supper since she wanted to keep them in a good mood. Then she sank down to mend Bo's shirt. It was a lucky thing that it was mostly only the seam or it would have been harder to fix it.
Bo settled down on couch beside Luke and started reading the magazine. She didn't know why they bothered to try and read it before the other anyway. As soon as he saw something he thought was good he was telling Luke to take a look and then suddenly one of them was reading out loud to the other. It was more as if they were reading it together.
"Now, that just makes me feel good seeing them boys do things together like that."
/Please leave a review, the cricket is hungry…..
