CHAPTER 6
"Daisy, please. Wait and take a deep breath. I don't think is a good idea to rush to Dillard like that. You're not even sure that deputy is Enos". Standing on the threshold of Daisy's bedroom Uncle Jesse was looking at his niece who was packing her little baggage, Bo and Luke behind him, silent, looking at each other.
"Maybe that deputy is not Enos, you're right, but I know… I feel he IS Enos. Anyway, the only way to find it out is to go to Dillard looking for him". As she talked she kept on moving all around her little room, catching various clothes and slipping everything into her bag, quickly and apparently confusing.
"We should ask Rosco to call Dillard's sheriff and ask 'bout his deputy, to know if he's Enos or not". Uncle Jesse entered the bedroom, cautiously as if Daisy could bite him, like a cat protecting her kittens. Bo and Luke, instead, stayed on the threshold.
Daisy stopped in the middle of the room, glaring at him, her eyes full of anger, "Rosco? I don't think he could help us. I think he doesn't even care of Enos at all. Besides", anger disappeared from Daisy's eyes and worrisome took its place, "Besides, if Rosco calls Dillard's sheriff, Enos would know we've found him, and maybe he'd run away again. I can't run this risk. I won't let him run away again".
Uncle Jesse sighed, "So, what are you thinking to do?"
"I'm goin' to Atlanta to take a bus bound for Dillard". Daisy sat on her bed closing her bag, "Then, if that deputy is not Enos, well, I'll come back. Don't' worry uncle Jesse, I won't get lost on the way to Dillard".
"Daisy, I'm not asking you 'bout your schedule. I'm asking you what you want to do when... and if… you meet Enos. Do you think you can simply grab him and drag him from Dillard to Hazzard?" Uncle Jesse sat near Daisy.
Luke slowly approached Daisy and uncle Jesse, "Daisy, we're only being trying to figure out why you're acting like that. Uncle Jesse's right. There's no reason to rush to Dillard right now. We should plan something to convince him to come back home instead of chasing him like that. It could bring more problems than you think of".
Uncle Jesse's inquisitives eyes fixed Luke, wondering what exactly his nephew knew 'bout what happened between Enos and Daisy the day Enos left, but since that day they didn't talk 'bout it any more, and for sure Daisy didn't tell Luke anything.
Bo nodded leaning against the doorpost, his arms folded, "If Enos is there he's OK, since he's a deputy there right now. And if that deputy is not Enos, it's totally useless to go there"
"And if you think you can simply go there and drag him back, well, it's not so simple. I think you should be more cautious. He's not a child, and he knows what he's doing. And I really think he'll come back when he'll want to, there's no need to force him. We can find another way… more cautious. Actually you're … overexcited", uncle Jesse resumed perfectly what they're thinking 'bout Daisy's hastiness. The previous day she rushed to the farm with The Georgia Daily Digest in her hand, and they managed to convince her to wait till the next morning to go to Dillard instead of taking her jeep and driving directly to that town as she was planning to do, despite she didn't know the road (snowy roads, as they learned), and sun was starting to go down. They hoped that the night would have calm her down, so they could talk to her more quietly the next day, but they were wrong, and now Daisy was even more determined after a night spent tossing and turning in her bed.
Daisy stood up, folding her arms and looking in their eyes with a resolute gaze, "I think Enos needs help. Even if it seems he's OK right now. If he was so… OK… he wouldn't have left like that. And I'm not so sure he'll come back so easily. I know him better that anyone else. And if we wait to find another way to convince him to come back, I fear he'd run away again and then it could be too late. I can't wait, no matter what. And if any of you has the notion to stop me or to let Enos know 'bout my arrival to Dillard, you just forget it".
The three men Dukes looked at each other, well remembering another similar conversation with Daisy; there was no way to stop that woman when she decided to do something, and she was totally impulsive if that thing involved Enos, as they once experienced.
A sigh of resignation slipped out uncle Jesse's mouth, "OK, I'm goin' to give you a lift to Atlanta".
Daisy nodded, "Ok, I'm ready", she looked at the clock, "It's time to go".
Few after Bo and Luke were looking at the dust raised by uncle Jesse's truck as it started heading to Atlanta.
Early in the morning Enos entered the Courthouse rubbing his hands after he took off his gloves, "Possum on a gum bush, sheriff, it's so cold out there I can't even feel my nose and my fingers right now"
Sheriff Cox smiled at Enos' childish and funny way to talk: no curses from that deputy, but only strange expressions and sometimes incomprehensible stuttering to make Sheriff Cox wondering if Enos' former sheriff was able to understand him. In effect Sheriff Cox didn't know Rosco P. Coltrane, 'cause if he had heard a talking between Enos and Rosco, it would have been for sure the most surreal conversation ever heard.
"There's some hot coffee here", he pointed at an electric kettle steaming hot.
Enos inhaled coffee's strong smell, he filled his cup and then he sipped slowly the dark liquid as warmth reached every part of his body (especially his frozen extremities) sip after sip, "Great coffee, Sheriff. Thanks".
"It's great 'cause you're quite frozen. But if you want to drink a really great coffee you should try Italian coffee", then Cox started to list various Italian brands and to talk 'bout the best way to prepare coffee, "and the secret is not only the coffee's blend, but also the water and the mocha". He stopped looking at Enos' surprised face, realizing he probably talked too much, so he prevented any possible question, "OK. It's time to go out. I hope you're a bit warmer right now, boy, 'cause Dillard's deputy can't be so sensitive to cold like a silly woman"
Enos smiled wide, "Yes sir", and he avoided any further question, well knowing the way a man uses to avoid any possible embarrassing question 'bout a woman: false harshness and suddenly changing the subject.
Coming out the Courthouse something caught sheriff Cox's attention, "Enos, did you sleep this night? You have some terrible rings under your eyes"
Enos rubbed his face remembering the dream he had that night ('bout him, Daisy, and Beth in Dillard); after that dream, so strange and so sudden after a refreshing pause, he spent all the night to look outside the window, wrapped in a heavy but not enough warm blanket to prevent him to shake as a leaf in the wind (but probably the problem was him and not the blanket), trying to analyze every detail of that dream like if he was analyzing a crime scene, using his cop's and rational mind, trying to find a possible explanation like that day at the Dukes farm, but the more he tried to find a sense in that, the more he got confused.
Fortunately Sheriff Cox could only see his tired face but he couldn't feel his headache. Enos wondered if it was finally time to pay Dillard's doc a call. He shook his head, "I didn't sleep well, you're right. I think I need to get used to this cold, it really bothers me, night and day", he sighed, " I wonder how much cold this winter could be. Is it the coldest winter ever, sheriff? Or am I really so sensitive to cold? Have you ever seen a winter colder than this one?", he looked up at the sky, "and it seems it's goin' to snow again".
Sheriff Cox smiled, looking up at the sky, "Yeah, it's goin' to snow, again", and he avoided any further question, well knowing the way a man uses to avoid any possible embarrassing question 'bout his deep feelings and his weakness: blabbing 'bout totally useless things, especially the weather.
In that same morning Daisy was coming to Dillard. She looked outside the bus' window, wondering how and why exactly Enos arrived in such a snowy place. Resting her head against the window she thought of her trip to Atlanta with uncle Jesse.
"Are you sure you want to go there, Daisy?"
They just left the farm and uncle Jesse was trying again to stop her.
"Yeah, I'm sure, uncle Jesse. If Enos is not there, I'll come back soon, tomorrow, 'cause there's no need to stay there. And if he's there, I'll call you, so you won't worry if I don't come back soon"
Uncle Jesse nodded, "Let me know anyhow. Call me when you arrive to Dillard, and let me know if he's there or not and when exactly you're goin' to leave Dillard, with or without Enos"
Daisy smiled, "Don't worry, uncle Jesse. I'm not a child anymore"
The look uncle Jesse's shot Daisy made her freeze; for sure he knew she wasn't a child any more, especially after what he saw that day at the farm. Daisy blushed: she had kissed many men in the last years, and with some of them she had gone further (never with Enos, anyway), and probably uncle Jesse knew (rationally) it very well, but he didn't want (emotionally) to accept it; uncle Jesse didn't even want to imagine that side of Daisy, but unfortunately he saw it.
After an embarrassed brief pause, uncle Jesse's voice broke the silence.
"Be careful, Daisy. Use your mind before to act".
Daisy blushed even more, knowing very well what was the sense in uncle Jesse's words, what he was thinking of 'bout being careful and right-minded. She looked outside the truck's window at the dawn lighting Hazzard.
Uncle Jesse avoided any further discussion, well knowing the way a woman uses to avoid any possible embarrassing discussion: getting lost in her thoughts.
The bus finally stopped in Dillard's square, and Daisy carefully looked around to see any patrol car; she sighed in relief when she realized there was no patrol car all around, 'cause she wanted to know if Enos was there without let him know she was there. She couldn't let him see her till she had a plan 'bout what to do and what to tell him; in effect her family was right: what did she want to do? Grab his ear and drag him back to Hazzard, like a mother with a naughty child? She sighed, "Well,nowIhavetoknowifhe'shere,thenI'mgoin' todecidehowtoact"
After a brief call to the farm from a telephone box, simply to tell uncle Jesse she was finally in Dillard, Daisy looked around at the little square, so similar but so different from Hazzard or some other Georgia's little towns; an evident difference from Hazzard was the white cloak covering everything. She looked at the sky: it seemed it was goin' to snow again.
Her bag in her hand, Daisy headed to the Post Office, the right place to start her search; thinking of Miss Tizdale, Daisy thought that whoever worked at the Post Office, he had to know enough of the town, especially news and movements.
"Good morning", she smiled at the woman behind the counter, a small skinny woman, pretending a mix of shyness and worrisome, "I just arrived here for a vacation, and my husband is goin' to reach me tomorrow", Daisy wondered why that particular of her excuse was coming to her mind, since there was no need to add it to her story, "unfortunately, on the way here, at one of the bus stations nearby, someone stole my wallet, so I have no documents with me… and no money", her voice cracked in a sob, as she thought she would have been a great actress, "I should talk with the Sheriff… or some deputy here… 'bout it" , she gave a deep sigh, "but I don't see any patrol car in front of the Courthouse, so I was wondering where I can find them". She stopped, looking at the woman in front of her, wondering if her words were convincing.
"Oh my God. I'm so sorry", the little woman approached Daisy, "I'm so sorry for you. You should talk to Sheriff Cox immediately. Unfortunately Sheriff Cox and his deputy are out on patrol right now, as every day, but I can inform them 'bout you", she pointed at the C.B. on the counter.
Daisy started, trying to stay calm despite this unplanned evolution, "Oh no, there's no need to ask them to hush. I'd like only to know when they'll come back, or where I can find them. My wallet is gone, by now". Sheriff Cox… and his deputy: unfortunately that woman didn't tell her the deputy's name, but she couldn't ask it without appearing suspicious.
"Uh, well, usually they have lunch at Molly's, then they come back to the Courthouse, but now they can be everywhere out there, on patrol", the woman looked at the clock, "It's 11 a.m., you should wait for them at Molly's, having a hot tea and reading the Dillard's Gazette, or you can start to visit the town, there are great places to see", then she headed to the cash, taking some money from it, "This is for you. You need some money till your husband comes here".
Daisy blushed, raising her hands, "There's no need to…"
"Oh please. It's a small loan. Tomorrow, when your husband will be here, you'll give me back the money", she winked at Daisy, "I'm curious to see the husband of such a beautiful woman"
"Thank you very much", Daisy took the money, blushing for her lie and for the woman's words; she held back a smile thinking that, in effect, that woman probably had already seen not her husband but someone close (her fiancée? her best friend? the man who's dreaming to be her husband?).
She came out the Post Office and she spent some time wandering around town, a beautiful town but too much cold for her, then she started to wander nearby Molly's, waiting for Sheriff Cox… and for his deputy.
Inside Molly's, finally a warm place where to stay, Enos was finishing to eat his soup.
"My God, Enos, there's something better to eat than soup"
"A soup is what I need in a day like that. It's cold out there, Sheriff"
"Oh, sure, so you're planning to eat soup every cold day. It means you're goin' to eat soup every day till spring. Oh my, oh my", Sheriff Cox shook his head biting into his beefsteak.
Suddenly Enos froze, becoming pale.
"Enos, are you OK?", Sheriff Cox's voice sounded serious as he turned to the street outside Molly's, trying to understand what Enos was looking at, but the street was totally empty except a little child with his mother.
Enos shook his head, "Uh, nothing. I thought I saw… uh… nothing". He decided it was really time to pay Dillard's doc a visit, since now he was having not only strange dreams but also hallucinations: for sure it was an hallucination. Or not?
Daisy's heartbeat started to fasten as she saw Sheriff Cox and his deputy (Enos, no doubt 'bout it) coming out their patrol cars. She looked at him inside Molly's, through Molly's large window, from a hidden spot behind the corner at the opposite side of the street, till a little child coming out a shop with his mother pushed her few steps forward.
Only few seconds outside that hidden spot but she saw clearly Enos raising his head from his lunch and looking outside Molly's, his eyes pointed exactly on her.
Again safe in her hidden place, Daisy's heart was now pounding furiously. Did he really see her? When Sheriff Cox and Enos came out Molly's, Enos looking all around with circumspection (confirming her suspect), she run away in the opposite direction of the Courthouse (where Enos probably was heading due to Post Office's woman), trying to figure out her next move, and hoping it would have been a less disastrous and compromising move.
Ok, now Daisy is in Dillard, more things to come. Stay tuned ;-), and REVIEW!
About Daisy's men along the series: for sure that woman fell for different men (most of them totally WRONG). I don't know if Daisy really went further than simple kisses with them, but, somehow, I feel she did. The only virgin there was Enos, LOL