Chapter 10: A Time to Stop Fighting

Kira had ended up sitting beside Daisy with some of the younger cousins at lunch since the guys were all eating with Judd. He had come in literally moments before lunch was put on the table.

Daisy shared with Kira the hazards of growing up as the only female in the house full of men. She told her of some of the various scrapes that the boys had gotten into that they always seemed to be able to get out of with one of Luke's hair-brained schemes, along with help from Jesse and Daisy. That included once when Jebb was there and posed as a crook's son to get a stolen civil war sword away from Boss.

Knowing just how slick Jebb could talk, she imagined that he'd had Boss's head spinning trying to keep up. There had been a time or two that he'd nearly out-slickered her, nearly. He definitely kept her on her toes though. In fact, if the Duke Men could sack and sell half of what came out of their mouths they would have never of needed to run moonshine. They'd make a killing on that alone.

Daisy had also filled her in on the fact that up until a couple years ago, they all had believed that Judd had died in a fire when he was a baby. Well, Kira thought, looks like we both have one thing in common. They both had returned to the Duke family from the dead. The main difference was that the nurse that had taken Judd in had cared for him.

Kira stopped her train of thought where it was. She was not going to go there. Not today. Kira was brought back to the present by one of the girls tugging on her sleeve. She was one of Pauline's daughters; one of the twins. In the back of her mind Kira wondered if she and her twin had a connection like she and Bo.

"They say you and Bo are twins, too."

"That's what they tell me, Sugar."

"Who's older?"

"I don't rightly know. I haven't asked." That earned her an odd looking face being made at her. "It didn't seem important."

"Of course it's important. See, I'm older." The girl pointed at her own chest. "It's always important."

Taking Kira by the hand, she proceeded to pull Kira over to the one person that everyone goes to when they have a question in this family that they consider to be important. Jesse. Daisy followed as her cousin was dragged to the next table.

"Uncle Jesse! Who's older? Kira says she doesn't know. Says it's not important. How can she say that something like that ain't important?"

Jesse smiled at his niece as he began to answer her question. Of course she'd find that detail to be the most important. She did after all hold it over her sister's head on a regular basis.

"Well I guess Kira thinks that since she's full grown, she don't need her big brother lookin' after her."

"So Bo's older?"

"Yep, by about five minutes."

That's when Daisy chimed in, "It figures, he always was in a hurry to go anywhere. Then not sure what to do once he got there. Honey, if you thought he was protective before, wait 'til he hears this. We Dukes have always been taught to look after the younger ones, no matter how little the age difference. Just ask Luke about that one."

"Do we have to let Bo know?" Kira half laughed, half groaned at what Daisy had said.

"Too late, there goes Emma to tell em now." Laughing, the two women headed back to their table to finish lunch.

When everyone was done, Kira went on ahead and helped cleared since she really couldn't see why she shouldn't, considering she hadn't helped with the cooking. A couple of times she took a longer route from the tables to the kitchen to avoid running into Pauline. After this morning, she made a promise to Bo that she'd try not to lose her tongue around their aunt anymore. The only way she knew to keep that promise was to stay as far away as possible.

It appeared though, that her silence seemed to annoy the elder Duke more than an all-out argument. Still, Kira figured that this was better than nothing. She didn't want to fight with Pauline; she just had made it hard to do anything but go head to head with her. Thinking back on her time here on the farm so far, Kira was beginning to see why some people tend to get drunk when they had to spend time with their family. Too bad the Duke family was out of the 'shine business.

After lunch, Kira headed upstairs to go over some more briefs for Monday. Bo was watching the first game of the day with Coy and Vance, since Kira said she would wait until the four o'clock game to start watching football. Luke was off with Judd and Jebb, so now was as good a time as any to sneak some time to herself.

Once in the attic, Kira had only read through a few sheets before her mind began to wander. Usually she never had any trouble concentrating on her work. Today was different. She didn't know why but her mind just wouldn't focus. Instead, she found herself looking through some of the old things that had been packed away here in the attic.

Some of the things appeared to have been stored since Jesse's own childhood. Other things, the items that drew her, obviously had been from the three Dukes that had most recently grown up in the old farmhouse. Kira found some dolls of Daisy's sitting in a cradle, Bo's old football gear, and it looked like some kind of old science project that had to have been Luke's. There were old clothes, toys, and photograph books.

It was the last that caught her attention. Kira grabbed the albums and went and sat on her makeshift bed. Most of the people in the snapshots she didn't have a clue as to who they were. But there were four that she'd quickly learned to identify.

There were pictures of birthdays, Christmases, summer-time fun pics and even pictures of snowball fights. There were pictures of the boys in grade school holding up a string of fish after a fishing trip and Daisy's first party dress. There were even pictures of Luke before he went off into the Marines and more of when he first got out. In nearly every single picture, everyone seemed to radiate pure happiness, with smiles that went all the way to their eyes.

Looking through the albums, Kira couldn't help but wonder at the could've beens. Well, you can't change the past can you?

Digging through her memory of hers and Bo's chats when they were growing up, she was able to pick out some of the various events that were captured in the pictures. Bo always did like to give nearly every detail to her when they were kids of whatever he had done that day. Flipping through, Kira found the pictures taken at Bo's ninth birthday where he was showing off his new bow he'd gotten that year. There he was, a cute kid with a mop of blond hair smiling like he'd just won the lotto.

That's where Kira was, still looking at the photos, when Jesse came up the stairs. He knocked on the wall once he got to the top of the landing. Looking up, Kira started to try to clear the albums away.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to go snooping. I came up to get some work done but my mind just wasn't on it."

"No need to apologize. There ain't no harm in looking at pictures." Jesse comes over to sit down beside Kira.

"You still say that? Seems to me I'm here because folks went looking through pictures a few days back."

"And look how well that turned out." Kira cocked her eyebrow at Jesse. Seems like with the way she and his sister-in-law had been feuding, Jesse just might have preferred that Kira hadn't come to the farm. "Let's see just what kind of pictures you've found. Well, Bo's ninth birthday." Jesse looked at the picture a moment. "We missed too many of them with you."

Kira remained silent a while before speaking up.

"That one wasn't too bad. I got a cake that year. I was staying with a couple in Glenwood. They were nice; the kind of couple who wanted kids but couldn't have any. I was only there for four months before they moved to Alabama for their work, though." Kira looked away, out the window.

"What about the others?" Jesse knew that sometimes, his kids needed a push when there was something to talk through. He reckoned Kira was the same way. After all, it was clear that whatever happened in the past had been going through her mind anyway while she was sitting up here all alone.

"They came, they went. Nothing special."

Kira kept looking out the window. She didn't really want anyone to know. They didn't need those images in their heads. If she could have, she would have taken back all that she had told Bo when they were growing up.

Jesse reasoned that maybe she needed a more direct push. He flipped the pages of the book, stopping on Bo's fifth birthday. "How about this one? How was this one?" Kira looked at the picture while subconsciously rubbing her right arm as she did so. "I really want to know, Kira."

"No, you don't."

Kira once again looked out the window. Outside she saw the Duke children playing with various adults. All laughing as they played. Screams of delight rose to where she was watching as she remembered screams of a different kind. Swallowing hard, Kira finally answered Jesse's question.

"That was the first time my arm was broke."

"The first time?" Jesse listened as his fears were confirmed. "How many times was it broke?"

"The right arm was twice, left arm once. Mama Selma, as she insisted everyone call her, was big on Discipline. Her favorite phrase was that she demanded either respect or fear. Which one didn't matter so long as she was obeyed."

Kira thought back to Selma. To the woman that had been one of her first foster parents. She had stayed with her the longest. Only removed after her fourth hospital stay.

Jesse flipped forward through the book, stopping on Bo's thirteenth birthday. "How about this one?"

Kira looked at the photograph trying to recall that birthday. That one she didn't have a clear cut memory of. She had run away again a few weeks prior to that one. The days all seemed to blur into one another after a while. Then there were pictures of other birthdays. All of which Jesse would ask where Kira had been, what she had done on that birthday. Some that she wouldn't talk about; Jesse was beginning to pick up on what wasn't said.

When he and Kira had been talking for a couple of hours, Kira suddenly looked at her watch. It was almost four. Kick off was at four-fifteen.

Looking up at Jesse, "I think Bo's wondering if I forgot about the game."

His nephew always did have rotten timing. Reaching out to stop Kira from getting up just yet, he reached over to grab the album that had been set aside that Kira had found the pictures of Luke in earlier.

"Just one more thing, Kira." Jesse opened the book up to a photograph of Luke just after he had gotten out of the Marines. "When Luke first got back home, he had a hard time re-adjustin'. Kept fightin' the war; even here in Hazzard. Went on night patrols, never could relax. Jumped every time a truck would backfire. But eventually, Luke had to leave the war behind and stop fightin'. You don't have to fight in your war anymore, either. It's time to come home, baby. It's time to stop fightin'."

"I don't know if I can." Kira looked down at her hands, not liking to admit that there was something she couldn't do.

"You probably can't by yourself. But you don't have to do it by yourself. Ya got family now. And we want to help. You remember that, okay? Now, I guess ya better get on down before Bo gets to worrin' about ya."

When Kira got downstairs, she headed on over to where Bo was sitting on the couch as he scooted over to make room for her. She noticed all the guys had glasses of a clear substance that she highly doubted was water. Redirecting her steps, Kira instead headed into the kitchen; looked in the cabinets quickly before finding what she wanted. Grabbing a glass of her own, she headed over to Luke, Jebb, and then to Bo as she dropped a few drops of liquid into each glass. The contents in each glass turned to yellow as they looked at her as if she had just lost her mind. Clearly, she owed them an explanation.

"If I get called before the Ethics Committee, Parole Board, or anything, I want to honestly say that it appeared you fellas were drinking lemonade. I don't plan to be the reason you're caught breaking probation. I know no evil, I see no evil, and I ain't plannin' on speakin' no evil. Besides, a little food color ain't gonna change the taste none."

Bo exchanged a look with Luke and Jebb. They hadn't thought about her being a lawyer and how it might make drinking the moonshine a touchy point with their probation. Kira took her seat and took a sip out of her glass. This stuff had a kick to it. Good, she could use that kind of kick right about now.

'You okay?' Bo had been ready to tease his sister about her nearly missing the kick-off until he saw her face as she sat down. She looked a bit upset.

'Fine, just lost track of time is all.' Kira didn't feel fine. But she wasn't going to say that. Seeing the look Bo was giving her, she blew out a breath before adding, 'Later, okay?'

"You sure you want to pull for the Cowboys? They ain't exactly been playin' their best this year."

"You kiddin'? I was gonna ask ya if you want to place a wager on the game. You think your Saints have a prayer?" Bo grinned as he and his sister began a friendly rivalry over the game as the teams ran out onto the field.

"First rule of gambling, Bo. Never bet what you can't afford to lose; especially when you're betting on the wrong team."

Everyone in the room started to discuss the teams and their own predictions of the outcome of the game. Judd had jump on board the Cowboys fan train with Bo, while Coy and Vance were with Kira pulling for the Saints. Luke and Jebb claimed that they weren't pulling for either team; that they were just there to enjoy the game regardless of who won.

For supper, left-overs had been left out to allow everyone to graze as they got hungry. Kira had offered to get food out of the kitchen for the fellas. Not because she was just being nice. Nope, each time she made a trip to the kitchen, she would chug a glass of water and grab a bit to eat; hoping to stave off some of the effects of the 'shine. All the while, watching the guys as they began to drink more whiskey.

They had even added the food coloring to the whole jug, and then laughed like fools when one of their uncles came in and blanched at the yellow liquid as it was poured in their cups. Then with each of them sporting a hefty buzz, they'd tried to explain why the moonshine had been colored when Uncle Jesse came in. Watching the antics of the half-drunk Dukes, Kira just had to ask a question that popped into her head.

"I've got to ask. Why is it that nearly every moonshiner always uses the same blasted jugs? It seems to me that if a 'shiner was a bit more creative he could probably avoid getting caught." Luke led the laughter as he heard his cousin who'd never ran 'shine a day in her life talk about being more creative. Shiners weren't anything if not creative when it came to running moonshine.

"Just what would you suggest in being more creative then?"

"I don't know. Anything other than the same old jugs. Shoot, you could've doctored up the 'shine to look like window cleaner. You've tasted yourself that the coloring don't hurt it none. You could even have an actual case of window cleaner there as a blind if'n you were stopped." Kira stopped talking when she noticed everyone had stopped laughing and was staring at her. "What?"

"Luke, you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Bo asked.

"What? How could a Duke know so little about running 'shine?" Kira poured herself another glass of the afore mentioned moonshine as Luke went to answer.

"You mean that if Kira'd been here a few years ago, we might not have ended up on probation? Kira, if that's what you can come up with without even tryin', you'd be dangerous if you actually put your mind to it."

Kira accepted the compliment as everyone broke out into laughter again.

"You'd of made one heck of a Ridge Runner!"

"Or a Revenuer." Bo had to laugh as Vance threw that suggestion out there.

"Oh, I'm sure that would have made me real popular with the rest of the family. Not to mention more than five generations of Dukes would've rolled over in their graves."

"I guess that is just the sort of thinkin' though that has it rumored that you'll make Prosecutor by this time next year," Jesse added.

"What are you talkin' about? What rumors?"

"You ain't the only one who can call in favors. I called an old friend of mine and he said that you are well on your way. That you were really something in the courtroom. That you're known for having fire in your eyes and ice in your veins when you're up in Atlanta."

"Someone's tryin' to shuck 'n jive ya, Jesse. I've got a couple years yet before I'd take those rumors seriously."

After a bit more kidding about Kira's 'shining potential, the conversation returned to the close game. By half-time, it was still a scoreless game. At which time, Jesse reminded the guys that the evening chores had yet to be done. In order to get them done as fast as possible, all the guys went on out to get started. With the six doing the work that usually two did, the chores were just getting finished up as the teams ran back out on to the field. So once again, the seven settled back into watching the game.

By the end of the game, no one had really been paying much attention to it. Finally the seven had been shooed out of the living room to allow those that had been assigned to sleep in there to turn in. As Kira was preparing for the night, she thought to herself that the fellas were all going to be sporting some mighty big hangovers in the morning. None of them had drank anything but moonshine in hours, nothing brought on a hangover worse than being dehydrated while getting a good buzz going. Kira had the sneaky suspicion that she wouldn't be the only one a bit grumpy when the sun found Hazzard back in its sights come the morning.

The next morning, Kira awoke trying to avoid the bright streak of light that began to filter in from the window. She had a mild headache, but she had expected worse considering that she wasn't used to drinking the nearly two hundred proof whiskey. Looking at her watch, she saw it was almost seven o'clock.

Surprised that she'd been allowed to sleep so long, Kira got dressed and headed on down to see if she could get some breakfast. Finding Daisy in the kitchen, Kira asked if she'd seen any of her partners in crime from the night before.

"Honey, Uncle Jesse got Bo and Luke up about a half an hour early for chores this morning then got the others up to help take down all the tables right after he forced them all to eat breakfast. Hard work has always been his way of punishment for having a hangover. They're all lucky that there ain't no fences that need mending right now. They're all outside now getting everything up."

"How'd I get lucky enough to avoid the wrath of Jesse? Course, I don't have a hangover, just a mild headache."

"You'd have to ask him I reckon. He's around here somewhere."

Kira headed outside and watched as the fellas were all busy taking the tables down and stacking the chairs. She felt sorry for the guys all out in the bright sunny morning, each with hangovers about the size of the whole state of Georgia. Walking over to Bo, she hands her sunglasses to him as she asks,

'Need some help?'

Bo glanced up looking like he just might get sick any moment before accepting the glasses.

"How come you don't seem too bad after last night?"

Kira started stacking some chairs near where Bo was taking down a table.

"Let's just say I learned more than just about the law in college."

Bo looked at her a bit confused. Not knowing just what she meant by that.

"I learned to make sure I drink a glass of water with each glass of liqueur. I kept snacking last night, too. In college, binge drinking is a favorite hobby of a lot of students."

Bo just shook his head slightly. His head hurt too badly to really think on what Kira just told him. Soon, both trucks were loaded up and were ready to take a load of tables and chairs back to the Ladies League from where the Dukes had borrowed them. While Bo, Luke, Coy, and Vance left out to unload them, Jebb, Judd, and Kira kept working on the ones that had yet to be taken down or stacked.

The morning progressed without the usual banter back and forth that Kira had learned to expect from them. But what really made her feel bad for the fellas was when Pauline came out to talk to Jebb and Judd. It seemed that Kira wasn't the only one that she'd decided needed advice on relationships, though she seemed to come down even harder on her son.

Pauline still had the girls at home yet she was already pushing Jebb to give her grandkids to spoil. Both guys were currently dodging questions about if they had found a suitable girl to settle down with. When they planned to settle down. And of course a lecture of the evils of getting drunk. Kira noticed how both men seemed to accept the intrusion and lecturing with little more than some light squirming.

Kira knew now why the others had found her responses to Pauline to be entertaining. She had just done what they couldn't bring themselves to do. Much to Kira's relief, Pauline didn't start in on her this morning. If she had, Kira highly doubted that she would have been as complacent as her blond and brunette cousins currently were to her needling.

Finally, after several loads, all the chairs and tables had been returned. As soon as the work was done, everyone with a hangover promptly went in search of a place to hide out for the rest of the morning. Meanwhile, the majority of the relatives were packing up and had begun to filter out of the Duke farm. Kira had found her way back behind the barn where the vehicles were parked. With nothing else to do, she grabbed some tools out of the barn and began to tune-up her bike. No sooner had she started before she was joined by Jebb.

"Hey, Jebb. What are you doing out here?"

"Probably the same thing as you. Hiding." Kira laughed as Jebb glanced behind him, looking to see if he'd been followed. "Mom was talking about introducing me to a new neighbor back home."

"Well at least I know that I'm not the only one she's been harassing. I swear if I hear one more word about that Earl what's his name that she's been going on about, I'll scream." Jebb laughed as he figured, that unlike most people who might would say that just to be dramatic, Kira just might actually do it.

"Well if you're done with your bike, how about I show ya to Rainbow Canyon where we can get some practice in while we're waiting for the crowd to clear?"

"You're on. It's got to be better than when I raced the others."

Jebb had heard about the other night, his cousins had made the mistake of assuming that Kira couldn't race. Sometimes, his cousins could be fools.

"Then let's hit it."

"Well, that about does it. We're all ready. I done said goodbye to everyone but Jebb and Kira. I ain't seen hide nor hair of either of them in hours." Pauline was guiding her daughters into the backseat of her car as her husband was putting the last suitcase into the trunk.

"Well, I saw both of them tear out of here on their bikes earlier. But with the way you were going on about them neighbors of yours, I kind've doubt they'll be back 'til after you're done and gone."

"Jesse, the only thing I was doing-"

"Was pushing every button you could on them kids. Same as you do every year. You know as well as I do that the more you push any of these youngens to do something, the more likely they'll do the exact opposite. And ya didn't even let Kira get her feet wet before ya started in on her too. Now Pauline you know I love ya to death but I've been waitin' for years to see just how long it would take for these youngens to spit back.

Now ordinarily, I don't hold for no sassin' back from these kids, but they've all got a fightin' streak a mile wide and you can only poke a dog for so long before he bites back. Now these youngens have all been taught to respect their elders, but that don't mean that you can take advantage of it."

Pauline looked at Jesse in total shock as he chastised her for the first time in years. She was about to answer back when she turned towards the sound of two motorcycles racing up the driveway. The yellow and green bikes were coming up the drive in a dead heat with one another. The two pulled up just short of where Jesse and Pauline were standing. Pulling off his helmet, Jebb jumped off to hug goodbye to his mom and dad before they left, promising to be home Sunday evening.

Kira headed on inside during the goodbyes, looking for Coy and Vance since they would be leaving out shortly as well. She may not miss Pauline, but she would admit that she will miss those two. She made sure to give them both her number to her apartment and her office and told them to give her a ring if they were ever in Atlanta.