Chapter 20: A Streakin' They Will Go

Bo turned and slammed the alarm clock to turn it off. Last night had been a complete wash. Sure he and Kim shared a bed but it had not turned out the way he had hoped. He hadn't gotten any action last night thanks to the twins' late night play fest that Mikey had started when he woke up. He turned back onto his side and pulled Kim up against him. At least he got to wake her up even if there wasn't enough time to do anything more than cuddle before he was expected to help Jesse with the chores. Jebb's farm hand would be taking care of the chores here at his farm. When Kim started to stir, Bo tilted Kim's head to give her a morning kiss.

"Mornin', Darlin'."

"Mornin'. What time is it?"

Bo turned back and looked at the clock. "Nearly five-thirty. I better get up and head over to give Jesse a hand back at the main farmhouse."

"Guess that means I need to get the boys. I think I just heard a toy drop again."

"Just Mikey. Leave Jay. He sleeps longer. I'll be back before it's time to get him up."

"How do you know-?"

"I asked. Something that Luke didn't do. Kira always gets Mikey ready for the day while Jay is sleeping. That way she only has one to deal with at a time in the morning."

Bo got up and started to hunt for his jeans then grabbed his boots and shirt before heading out to get to work. When he came back, Kim was just finishing up giving Mikey his breakfast and was cleaning up the blond little boy. Looking at the time, Bo took over so that Kim could go and get ready for work. He put Mikey in the playpen in the living room then headed up and got a very sleepy Jay out of the crib and brought him downstairs to get him some breakfast. It looked like the younger twin was paying a higher price for the late night play fest started by his brother. Jay could barely keep his eyes open at first. By the time Jay had finished his breakfast and had been put in the playpen with his brother, Kim came into the living room all dressed and ready to open the clinic.

"Are you ready for your day alone with the boys? Or do you just plan to put them back in the puddle out front and hope that they wear themselves out again?"

"Actually, I plan to head into town and help Cooter with some of his extra work. Figured that between the two of us we'll be able to watch the boys. Cooter promised to clean up the office so that the boys can play in there while we're workin'. I thought that I could pack some toys to keep em busy for a little while. Plus that way we'll get them out of the house. They are supposed to have their play date tomorrow but I just can't see myself sitting in the park with a bunch of moms. You sure that you can't ask your uncle to cover the clinic for that?"

"Sorry, he's out at the hospital tomorrow. Looks like you'll just have to suck it up and go play on the teeter totter after all."

"Gee, thanks. You could at least just tell Sue to call you on the CB if there was an emergency. Otherwise, you could play hooky."

"Maybe. I'll think about it. Well, swing by for lunch. We can go to the diner and get a few funny looks for bein' out together with the boys."

"I can do that," Bo said as he pulled Kim in close to him. "And I think that we'll have to see about making sure that the boys stay asleep tonight once they are put to bed. We have some time to make up for."

"Humm...Would it be bad for the sitters to get a sitter for a few hours?" Kim asked jokingly. Of course, Bo hadn't been the only one that had some expectations for the night before.

"Probably, though Daisy is off in two days. She might would agree if you ask her."

"I'll have to remember that."

~01~

Bo drove Jebb's blue twin to the General called the Stonewall on the way to town. The boys were in their car seats and enjoyed the ride. They seemed to be perfectly content to be out on the road. And even though Bo couldn't do any fancy driving with the kids in the car, he was enjoying the ride as well. When he pulled up at the garage he parked around to the back. Cooter came out to help Bo with the boys. Whenever the women were around he held back when he was greasy but Bo had promised that he'd dress the boys in stained clothes anyway so it wouldn't matter today. He reached in and grabbed the nearest twin and ruffled his hair as he unbuckled him from the car seat.

"Hey, Buddy Roo; how's it shakin'?"

"It could be better," Bo said trying not to sound grumpy.

"Them kids give ya a hard time already?"

"Nothin' like they did for Luke. But they did wake up last night and it took a while to get them back to bed."

Cooter chuckled, "Did you get to find out that kids know when the adults in the house are ready for a little bit of playtime of their own?"

"How is that anyway? Them boys were all the way up in the nursery sound asleep one minute and ready to play the next."

"Maybe you should ask your Uncle Jesse. I'm sure you were a source of frustration when you were that age for him and Lavinia. 'Course he also had to worry about Luke and Daisy, too."

"That is not an image I needed in my head, Coot," Bo said as he unloaded the toys that he'd brought with him and took them into the garage's office and got the boys settled in before he could help Cooter with his backed-up work. The boys were put in the somewhat cleaned up office and the lower half of the split door was shut while leaving the upper half opened so that Bo could listen for any trouble.

There, that's not that bad of a playpen if he does say so himself.

"Well, you could talk to Je-"

"Cooter! That's not any better."

Cooter laughed a bit harder while he teased Bo since everyone knew that he figured that anything dealing with his sister and cousin was more than he needed to know as far as their sex life was concerned. So of course Cooter used that discomfort as often as he could.

"Alright, though Jebb and Kira never seem as frustrated as you are right now. And they live with the little buggers," Cooter said as he turned to the car that he had in the bay. Both started to get to work on the car and started to joke around and enjoy themselves as they worked. Each time one of them got up to get a tool they peeked over the split door and checked on the twins.

While in the office, the boys had been playing with the noisy toys that a lot of the adults didn't like for them to play with when they watched the twins but their Uncle Bo had brought along to the garage. But then, with all of the noise their Uncle Bo was making with Uncle Cooter, their noise was hardly heard.

Mikey soon got tired of playing with the toys though and climbed to his feet. He peeked over the split-door's edge and watched as their Uncle Bo and Cooter played with the car. They looked sweaty just like he and his brother and Uncle Bo had already taken his shirt off. Mikey was getting hot, too, so he pulled his shirt and shorts off that Uncle Bo had put on him earlier. Once he had his clothes off his brother took his lead and stripped out of his clothes, too. Looking around, he was bored. Mikey looked at the other door that was on the other side of the office and went over to it and tried to open it. The door wouldn't budge.

Jay looked at his brother and went over to join him at the door. He started to fiddle with the lock and soon the door swung opened. Grinning to one another, both toddlers hurried out of the office and took off across the street. It was the slow time of the day so traffic was practically non-existent. The twins giggled and found a shady bush that felt nice after running around in the August heat. When Jay had a call of nature, his diaper felt too heavy and was uncomfortable so he wiggled out of it. Mikey thought that his brother had a good idea so he slipped his diaper off too. Now he felt a lot better. After both diapers had been shed, the Duke twins headed to a bigger group of bushes in front of the jail house. Now that they were in the new group of bushes, they curled up in the shade and drifted off to sleep.

The next thing that Mikey knew, he felt a cold nose nuzzling his arm. He looked up and saw a dog with big ears. He was the dog that he'd seen with the man with a big hat and shiny badge.

"Dawg!" Mikey said as he patted the dog's head.

"Flash, where'd you go, darlin'?" Mikey looked up as he heard a giggle so he giggled in return. Rosco heard the giggle and knew that there was no way that Flash could have been the one to giggle. "Flash? You got someone down there with you?" Rosco started to pull aside some brush and came to a stop with a start when he saw the two blond Dukes in the bushes wearing not a stitch. "Gjit! What are you two doin' down here?"

Rosco looked around to see if he could find any of the Duke vehicles around. Not seeing any, he figured that he'd better take them inside and see if he could find out how they had gotten to town.

Meanwhile, over at the garage, the men were just finishing up on the car that had taken up their morning and Cooter went to move it out of the bay to make room for the next car. Bo slipped over to the office to check on the boys since it was about their lunch time and saw the front entrance to the office was wide open.

"Cooter! I thought that door was locked to the office!"

"It is," Cooter said as he got back out of the car.

"It's not anymore! Jay! Mikey!" Cooter looked over at the office door and saw that the door was indeed open. "Cooter, the boys are gone!" Bo looked around in a panic as he tried to remember when the last time that he'd seen or heard the twins.

Rosco had taken the twins inside and was trying to keep an eye on them as he waited for Maybelle to connect him to Jebb Duke's farm. While he was still waiting, Boss came out of his office and was greeted by the sight of two bare butts of the Duke twins crawling around on Rosco's desk.

"What in the name of all that is holy are those two delinquents in training doing here in my courthouse?"

Rosco lost his grip on the phone and flipped it a couple of times before hanging it up. "Boss, I, uh, was just tryin' to call Jebb to find out that for myself. Flash and I found these two just as naked as two little jay birds in the bushes out front."

"Well, get them out of here. This ain't no place for kids."

"I'm tryin' Boss, but no one was home when I called and I didn't see any of the Dukes in town."

"Well then go get Cooter. He can watch after these mess pots until the Dukes come and get them. He's always doin' for them Dukes anyway. In fact, arrest Jebb Duke for lettin' them roam around town like this. There has to be some crime that you can charge him with for leavin' them here for us to take care of. Now go find Cooter."

"Uh, Boss, until I find Cooter or the Dukes, what am I supposed to do with the boys?"

"Do I have to think of everything for you? Put them in a cell. Then get out there," Boss said as he took a puff of his cigar.

"The cell? Oh, now, Boss. That don't seem right. I mean, they are just babies still."

"And when parents want to keep their kids safe, where do they put them?" Boss waited for Rosco to answer then added, "In a playpen you dim wit."

"Huh?"

"Look at the cell as a big playpen. One that they'll get to know real well as they get older. Now get movin'. I have work to do."

"Well, alright," Rosco sighed as he picked the twins up and walked over to the holding cell up here in the top of the jail. "I don't want to do this but the Boss said to. Still, I'd hate to leave ya alone. I know, Flash, darlin'. Come here, Velvet Ears." Rosco sat the twins down on the cot in the cell. "You keep an eye on the Little Duke Boys, okay? I'll be back as quick as I can." Rosco closed the door to the cell and headed out of the courthouse and headed across the street to find Cooter. Instead, he saw a Duke. Bo Duke to be precise. And he looked to be in a state of panic.

"Jay! Mikey!" Bo hollered before heading into Rhuebottom's to ask if they had wandered into the store next to the garage. Rosco headed over and met Bo as he came out of the store and stopped him.

"Did I hear you callin' for them boys that belong to your sister and Jebb?"

"Rosco, I ain't got time for you right now. The twins wandered off."

"So you're the one responsible for them right now?"

Bo gave Rosco a hard look for asking so many questions when the boys were missing. "Of course I am. Kira and Jebb are up in Carolina this week. Now would yo- Hey what are you doin'?" Bo stopped when Rosco slapped some cuffs on him.

"I'm arrestin' you on two counts of child neglect and two counts of endangerin' the welfare of a minor."

"Rosco! Dang it! This ain't funny! I have to find the kids!"

"I already found them kids. Butt naked like the day they were born out in front of the courthouse. Now come on," Rosco said as he puffed himself up slightly.

"How did they get over there naked?"

"Why are you askin' me? I'm not the one that was babysittin'."

"Well can I at least grab their stuff? Their bag is in the office of the garage."

~01~

"Sue, has Bo called? He's supposed to meet me with the twins for lunch."

"No, no one's called."

"I better call over to the garage. He and Cooter might have gotten so wrapped up that they won't even remember to stop to eat" Kim grabbed the phone and dialed the number to the garage and waited for Cooter to pick up. "Cooter, what happened, you and Bo forget to stop for lunch...What? He's where? ...The boys did what? ...Yeh, I'm on my way." Kim shook her head as she hung up the phone and grabbed her stuff. "Sue, CB me if anything happens and I need to come back. Otherwise I'm out for the rest of the day."

"Where are you goin'?" Sue asked quite curious like.

"Where else? Jail."

~01~

Jesse finished his sandwich and went to wash his plate when the phone rang. Jesse reached for the phone and answered as he rinsed the dish.

"Duke Farm, Jesse Duke speakin'."

"Jesse, I have three of your boys up here in my jail and I need you to come up here to the courthouse right away," Jesse heard Rosco's voice on the other line.

"Rosco, what are you talkin' about? You can't have all three of my boys up there. Luke and Jebb ain't even in Georgia."

"Them ain't part of the three that I'm talkin' about. I took Flash out for her walk and she found Jebb's boys out in the bushes out in front of the courthouse. Neither one of them had on a stitch, neither. I've brought Bo in on child neglect and child endangerment charges."

"What?"

"You heard me. Now, I'd appreciate it if you'd come and get the youngens. Bo's bail hasn't been set yet."

"Rosco! You know that Bo would never do anything to hurt them boys."

"Jesse, I have my orders. Just come down straight away and get these two boys. The jail ain't no place for them."

~01~

Kim parked her Jeep out in front of the courthouse and ran inside and made her way to where the holding cell had three blond Duke Boys inside. Bo was holding Jay who was whining a bit while Mikey was on the floor playing with Flash.

"Bo, how did this happen?"

Bo looked up but Rosco spoke before he could answer.

"Can I help you, Doc?"

"I'm here to get them three out. Why are they even in there?" Kim asked Rosco as she spun around to face him.

"Well, the boys were put in there to keep them out of trouble until Jesse can get here for them, him bein' a relative and all. Bo there will have to wait for his bail to be set before he goes anywhere. I'm chargin' him with neglect and child endangerment."

"Rosco! I told you that the boys just got away. I thought the boys couldn't get out of Cooter's office. We kept lookin' in on them!" Jay responded to Bo's frustration by screaming out which then caused Mikey to start whining as well. Bo looked pretty frustrated trying to calm the boys down. The fact that they were now tired and hungry didn't help.

"At least let me get the boys out of there. A jail cell ain't no place for them kids." Kim figured that none of the three Dukes were going to be able to calm down as long as they were all stuck in the cell together.

"No can do. I can only release them youngens to their family. And since I've been told that their parents are away, that leaves Jesse to come and get them."

At that moment, Jesse was pulling up outside in his pickup and was muttering under his breath about how it wasn't right having to come pick up his grand-nephews from the jail when they haven't even hit their second birthday yet. When he walked into the courthouse his ears were met by the sounds of three adults hollering at one another and two toddlers crying. Looking in the holding cell, Jesse saw Bo holding on to Jay as he held him against his chest while he was hollering at Rosco practically at the top of his lungs. Getting the drift as much as he could, he figured that it was time to put an end to the fussing right now.

"HOLD IT! NOW COULD SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT IN TARNATION IS GOIN' ON AROUND HERE?" The three adults turned around to face Jesse. Only seconds later did both Rosco and Bo both try to tell their stories to Jesse at the same time. "HOLD IT. ROSCO, I'VE ALREADY HEARD FROM YOU! BO, MAYBE YOU COULD TELL ME JUST HOW A DAY OF BABY-SITTIN' ENDED UP AT THE JAIL!"

"Well, I was helpin' Cooter out over at the garage. We locked the front door to the office and left the top half of the split door to the bay opened so we could watch the boys. Every time we got up for a new tool we checked in on them. Finally, we got up to check them and they were gone. They must have figured out how to work the lock and wandered out. I'd just started lookin' for them when Rosco cuffed me and threw me in here."

"Rosco let them boys out of there. All of them look plum wore out." Jesse said gruffly.

"I'll let the youngens out but like I told ya on the phone, Bo's bail ain't been set. It would help though if I could talk to the parents to make sure that they don't intend to press charges of their own." Rosco said while digging for the keys to the cell.

"Rosco, you ninny! You know dang well that Kira and Jebb won't press no charges against Bo!"

"Until I talk to them, I don't know nothin'," Rosco replied to Jesse.

Jesse gave Rosco a hard look but figured that the best he could do right now would be to get the children home. "I'll make sure they call you as soon as I get out to the farm house."

Jesse eyed Bo to let him know that he'd better talk to his sister fast so that she could call to straighten everything out. Bo wasn't really sure he was glad for his special link with his sister right now or not. She wasn't likely to take this turn of events too well. This wasn't exactly an event that is usually put in the baby book. Here was her boys' first time at being booked and tossed in a jail cell. Before they were even two!