Jesse stared at Claiborne unblinking when he uttered that statement. After what seemed like much later he rose from his chair, never breaking eye contact with the head of Osage's corrupt local government.
"You gotta be out of your ever lovin' mind." Jesse muttered, his voice increasing in volume the more he talked. "I can't make shine. I signed a contract years ago promisin' the U.S. of A. government that I'd never manufacture one drop again so long as Bo and Luke didn't have to serve time for runnin' it!"
"Well contracts can be broken, especially when the right situation presents itself." Claiborne smiled. "And seeing where your boys are now, it don't look like that contract is doing you much good anyway, does it?"
After Claiborne allowed that to sink in, he continued to speak. "Now your boys owe me, Jesse. When they sent me down to Atlanta with all them false accusations, they cost me. I had to sell my car, my house, and I had to empty my savings account to pay the lawyer to get out of that one. I'd say a batch of your finest would be a good starting point to me recovering some of my property."
"First of all, them charges were 100% legit, and you and I and all them boys you kept in this dump of a prison for all those years know it too." Jesse replied. "Second of all….and while I don't approve of it, I'm curious all the same…what keeps you from doing what you do best? Consider your house, for instance. What's kept you from going over to your old place and manipulating and corrupting the new owner's till they was so scared or fed up with you that they'd gladly hand over the key to the front door?"
"The difference between the people that are in my house and your boys is that they bought the house fair and square and created a resource….money, in the situation….to get me out of a tight spot, whereas your boys did what they could to put me in that spot in the first place. I do have some principals, Jesse."
Jesse shook his head. "Principals? What you call principals is what most people would call acting how you have to in order to get what you want. Only you add the bonus of takin' them same people that had what you wanted and throwin' em' by the wayside after you got it."
Just then the door to the office opened. "Prisoners are ready, sheriff." Marcus announced.
Jesse turned to look at Marcus before he turned back to Claiborne. "Principals." He sneered. "After I talk to my boys, we'll see just how honorable some of your principals are."
Claiborne's lip stiffened as Jesse walked to the door. "Tell that bumbling deputy to come pick up the crap he left behind." He added, reaching forward and swiping Enos's hat….which had been placed on the edge of his desk…..to the floor.
Jesse reached down to pick up the hat and continued to the door. Spying Enos some distance away, he called him over so he could return the property.
"Want me to walk with you Jesse?" Enos asked, upon learning of the fact that he was being allowed to see Bo and Luke.
"That might be a good idea." Jesse replied, indicating that he wanted him to follow.
After several corridors and two sets of steps, Jesse stopped and awaited Marcus to open a door. Even as he did so, the deputy ordered Enos to stay back. When Jesse looked at him, he shook his head and apologized. "I can't do anything they won't let me do, Uncle Jesse. I don't have no jurisdiction here."
Jesse nodded sadly, yet he understood the situation. As Enos took steps back, Marcus opened the door. "Five minutes." He announced, motioning Jesse inside a darkened room. Once Jesse entered, the door was shut behind him and a light was flipped on from somewhere outside. As the room lit, he found his nephews sitting in chairs at a simple, round table.
"Uncle Jesse!" Luke exclaimed, getting up and rushing forward to hug his Uncle. Uncle Jesse immediately returned the hug, squeezing tight as he shut his eyes. He held Luke like that for a few moments before he turned to Bo.
"Get up and hug me, Bo. I want you close to me, even if it's just for a moment."
Bo got up and had his turn with the hug, but Uncle Jesse could feel him flinch during the act.
Jesse looked at Bo's face and became concerned. "What happened?" He asked, immediately getting his answer when he noticed that Bo was nursing the pinkie on his right hand.
"It'll be alright, Uncle Jesse."
"That may be so, but what's wrong with it?"
"It's my fault." Luke jumped in. "We were sitting on the floor and when I went to get up, I accidentally stepped on it."
"I'm sorry, Uncle Jesse." Bo quickly interrupted. "I know you told me to stay on the farm today but I just had to try to get in contact with Luke. I had no intention of crossing the county line but this little boy….."
Jesse held up his hands. "I know the whole story. It turns out the boy was snookered into playing hurt by Claiborne on account of he had took his daddy and told the boy that if he wanted him back, he'd play along. Looks like Claiborne figured on you possibly trying to contact Luke and used him to get to you."
Bo's lips pursed in frustration and he brought his fist against the table, only remembering afterward about the sore pinkie. He immediately began to shake pain from the hand and nursed the finger.
"Don't worry, Uncle Jesse." Luke continued. "We'll figure a way out of here somehow. We've always figured a way out whenever we've been in jail."
Jesse looked at them. "I don't doubt that with enough thought and opportunity, you boys could figure a way out of here. The part that's got me worried is what would happen on the other side of the fence if Claiborne was to set his sights on you before you made it back into Hazzard." He then pulled some paperwork out of his back pocket. "I've not exactly been sitting around listening to my hair grow today. I did manage to gather up some documents that would have at least got you out of jail, Luke. It would have been legal-like and Claiborne couldn't have done a thing about it. Now it's my figuring that we could do the same thing for Bo, only with it being a Friday afternoon, it could take some doin' for a government worker to step into an office any time over the next couple of days to draw up any type of paperwork."
Luke looked at Bo, who shook his head.
"No, Luke. Now you go on. Ain't no need of us both sitting here."
"Uh uh." Luke replied, turning to his uncle. "Uncle Jesse, you just hang on to that paperwork until you get Bo's. Ain't no way I'm gonna leave you here by yourself, cuz."
"But Luke if you leave you can help Uncle Jesse do whatever it is he needs to do to get me out of here."
"If we were in the Hazzard jail, I wouldn't have a problem with that. Heck, I'd even feel alright leavin' you with Sheriff Little. But Claibore? If he knew that Jesse was scurrying up release paperwork, he'd have you hid somewhere by the time we got back with it, and we'd never find you. And an escape attempt by yourself? Forget it. No, the best course of action right now is to not even let Claiborne on to the fact that this paperwork can be obtained."
"I agree." Jesse nodded. "We're still workin' on getting Cassius right back in jail where he belongs, but in the meantime we'll do things legal on our side so we don't run into no trouble as far as that's concerned" He commented as he heard the door open behind him.
"Time's up old man." Marcus announced as a solumn Enos stood in the background, managing a friendly wave.
Jesse hugged both the boys at the same time. "You two be careful and look out for each other. And don't do anything stupid. With any luck, we'll get all of this worked out soon."
"Yes sir." They replied unanimously.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
The following Monday a frustrated Jesse was in his truck on his way back to the Osage jail, once again accompanied by Enos.
Knowing he should be able to get paperwork for Bo as well, Jesse had stopped back by the office on his way out of the Osage jail Friday evening, choosing to appease Claiborne by letting him know he would 'think about it' when asked again if he would agree to go back into the whisky business. Claiborne replied that he looked forward to his answer, and that he hoped the boys wouldn't get 'too uncomfortable' in the meantime.
What followed was a weekend that clearly validated his aggravation. Not only could they not get anyone to agree to draw up Bo's paperwork until Monday morning, Jesse had also somehow managed to lose Luke's. They had spent the weekend tearing the farm apart in search for it to no avail. Finally giving up, they decided to request new paperwork for Luke at the same time that they called in Bo's. The processing fee for replacement was ridiculous…. $200.00 plus another $25.00 to wire it from the Hazzard Back to Atlanta.
"Better slow down Uncle Jesse, you're about to cross over the county line. Don't want Mr. Claiborne to have any valid reason to put you in jail too."
"I ain't your Uncle Jesse!" Jesse muttered. Even so, he pushed the brakes…a little too hard….and crawled into Osage following the directions of the newly posted speed limit sign, which displayed a ridiculously slow 10 miles per hour.
"I'm sorry you're upset. I wish I could have went down and picked up that paperwork for you but Mr. Hogg insisted that the expense of using the car and the gas it took was out of the budget."
"What upset me worse was the fact that I couldn't pick up the paperwork myself."
"I can understand that. But the federal building it's coming out of is restricted to the public, and they have a lot of rules in place about who can come in to pick up paperwork. If a government employee can't make the pickup, and it can't be put in the mail, then rules say it can only be release to one of a handful of pre-approved couriers. The only way we were able to lay claim to Luke's paperwork so fast on Friday was because they were able to release it to Cletus, who was already in Atlanta and about to leave for home from official business."
Jesse shook his head. "Enos, I already know all this 'cause we've already went over the scenario three times! What I don't understand is why I had to shell out another $30.00 to pay that dang courier and he hasn't showed up with the delivery yet, especially since he was supposed to have left Atlanta over four hours ago!"
"Well I don't know about that either, but Daisy did say she would call us on the CB and bring it to the county line as soon as it showed up."
Jesse had planned to wait for the courier but since he was nearly three hours overdue, he just couldn't delay checking on his nephews any longer. Claiborne still had some authority….for now….and he had used that authority to prevent anyone from seeing Bo or Luke over the weekend. Jesse was anxious and worried concerning the well- being of his nephews and had simply exhausted his patience when it came to waiting on the delivery boy.
Minutes later Jesse found himself back in Claiborne's office, insisting on seeing the boys.
"I'll be glad to let you see the boys in a few minutes, right after you give me your answer concerning…..what we talked about on Friday."
It had been a long, stressful weekend for the elderly Duke. He peered Claiborne in the eye. The game's up, Cassius….It ain't gonna happen. Cause you see, you've got my boys in here illegally. As a matter of fact I've got me a courier coming up from Atlanta even as we speak with a letter stating that you're to let them go. And if you don't follow the directions on that letter, then it's gonna be you who's in a jail!"
The smile disappeared from Claiborne's face as he stared at Jesse for a few moments. "Well in that case," He began, "I suppose I'd better let you go ahead and see the prisoners."
As Claiborne summoned Marcus, he got up to walk with Jesse, who was hopeful yet cautious. With luck, Claiborne's display of having come to his senses wasn't merely an illusion.
Enos followed Jesse…who followed Claiborne and Marcus….down the corridor to the room in which Jesse had visited the boys on Friday evening. Once again, Enos was instructed to stay behind as the door was unlocked and Jesse was motioned inside.
Only this time he didn't enter alone. Claiborne and Marcus stepped in behind him as well.
Once the door was closed and the light was flipped on, Jesse's nephews were in there as before, only this time they were handcuffed to iron rings that extended from the walls.
"Uncle Jesse!" The exclaimed in unison.
"Jesse stepped forward, unable to resist giving each of them each a tight squeeze. But he cut it short, equally anxious to back up so he could get a good look at both of them.
He didn't know if it was just his imagination but they both looked thinner, and it was obvious that neither had enjoyed the luxury of even a cold shower since they had been there. He could also tell by their appearance that they were exhausted. The stains and dirt on their clothes didn't clearly state if their fatigue was a result of hard work or just bad treatment, but it was clear that they had experienced one or the other.
"This is almost over." Jesse assured the, patting their cheeks before he spotted a movement in the background.
Jesse looked toward that movement and saw a man sitting on the floor, handcuffed to a ring just as Bo and Luke were. Like most people who would end up in the Osage jail, the man looked like a decent person, who was wide eyed and probably bewildered on why he had even ended up there in the first place.
"So, you're expanding your prision population, Cassius?" Jesse snarled. "So what's the story with him? He forget to top off your fuel tank at the gas station, or didn't put out enough water for your dog?"
"It's interesting that you ask." Claiborne grinned. It turns out that he's in here for speeding. Seems he was trying to adhere to a quick-delivery guarantee on some paperwork out of Atlanta ….into Hazzard."
Jesse's eyes widened. "Are you telling me that's my courier you've got in the corner?"
"That might be what he's saying." Marcus replied, to which both officers chuckled.
"If you've ambushed this courier to keep my boys in here, so help me…..." Jesse yelled. Where's my paperwork Cassius?"
"Your paperwork, Jesse." Cassius laughed. "Is in ashes right under your feet."
You know if they ever get Claiborne back where he belongs, I'll bet Jesse 'ill do his best see that the whole place is reduced to ashes.
