"How could you!" I yelled. "How could you not tell me this!" "Daisy, I need you to calm down." My uncle Jesse said. "I will NOT calm down! You lied to me! How could you?" I shrieked, tears running down my face. "Daisy, I said calm down!" Uncle Jesse said sternly. "Now come here and sit down." He patted the couch beside him. "I won't sit down and talk to you! You lied to me! You lied!" "Daisy Mae Duke, don't make me take my belt to you, sit down NOW! " I tossed my long brown hair and stood there looking at him defiently. Uncle Jesse stood up angrily and pulled the belt off the nail on the wall. My older cousins Luke 21, and Bo 18, both walked in talking and laughing, when they saw what was going on they got quiet. "Daisy." Uncle Jesse said in a dangerously quiet voice. "C'mere." "Why?" I asked rudely. The boys gasped, they knew that I was pushin' the limit. "Because I'm about to tan yore hide." Uncle Jesse said barely holding his anger in. I threw back my head and laughed mirthlessly. I was so upset, everything was crazy, my mind was thinkin' about twenty diff'rent things at one time. I hated being like this to Uncle Jesse, but I couldn't stop myself. "Your not my father!" I said loudly. Uncle Jesse stopped dead in the middle of the livingroom floor. "In fact," I continued hating myself all the while. "Maybe yore not even my uncle, maybe you lied about that too!" I screamed. Uncle Jesse turned white and dropped the belt, but i couldn't stop. "Have their parents been alive all this time too?" I shrieked pointing at the boys. "Are we really all cousins? Is my real name Daisy? WHO AM I?" I stopped for a second to catch my breath. Then "I hate you." I whispered just loud enough for him to hear me. Then I ran out the back door and into the pouring rain.
I sat huddled up in a little shack out near Hazzard swamp. It was 'bout as small as an outhouse, and the roof leaked, so I had scooted over into the only corner that didn't have but one hole in it. It wasn't the Ritz, but at least I could be alone and think through what Uncle Jesse had told me. "Daisy." he had said holding my hand and looking at me intensely. "You know how I tol' ya that yore parents was dead?" I nodded. "Well, actually..." Uncle Jesse seemed to have trouble saying what he was trying to say. "actually yore momma was alive." I had just sat there frozen. For fifteen years I'd believed that my parents had died and now to find out that my mother ... wait. "Was? Whatdya mean was alive?" I asked, coming out of my reverie. Uncle Jesse sighed, and rubbed his forehead with his hand. "Lena was flying to a business meeting, and her plane crashed." "Why didn't you tell me she was alive?" I asked. "She...well, I didn't want you to worry about her." "Uncle Jesse, I can't believe this!"I said starting to get upset. "I could have had a mother for fifteen years, and instead you lied to me!" "She was a business woman with no time for kids." Uncle Jesse started. "I don't care! " I said my mind whirling. And that's when I had started yelling at him.I pushed my sopping hair back , pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I sat there for a long while crying and rocking back 'n 'forth. I cried for my mother whom I'd never know, cried for my father, cried for myself, sittin' in a little shack in the middle of nowhere, soppin' wet with nothin but the endless pounding of the rain to drown my sorrow in.
I was sittin' in a plane looking out over Hazzard county, I saw Uncle Jesse, Luke'n' Bo standing out in the yard of the farm, waving frantically as if to stop me. I looked away angrily. Uncle Jesse had lied to me. Then suddenly I felt us plunge downward, and everything went black. "NOOOOO" I yelled , then I woke up. "It was just a dream." I told myself. But the terror of the plane crash and the anger at Uncle Jesse stayed with me. I stood up and strectched the best I could without knocking the fragile shack over. Then I ducked out the door and walked out to the small pier . The sun was shining, so I laid there for awhile until my rain soaked clothes dried off. I heard the cars drive by on the Highway that led straight into Hazzard. The shack was a mile off the road though, so I wasn't worried about anyone finding me. I was so hungry, my stomach was growling, and I really needed to change clothes, but how? I wasn't going back to Uncle Jesse's, I would never go back! I'd go live with Alice, my best friend from school. At least she would never lie to me. Everytime I thought about it I got angrier. How could he lie to me for all these years? I could have met my mother, I'm sure she would have wanted me. Uncle Jesse just needed me. I was the only girl in the house after Aunt Martha died, he needed someone to cook, and clean. I heard something move in the woods toward the road. Suddenly, Luke and Bo came into view. I stood up and ran straight into the woods and headed toward town. "Daisy! Get back here!" Luke yelled. ""C'mon Daze!" Bo yelled. I heard them comin' after me, but I had to good of a headstart. I kept running, the bushes and branches slapping and scratching my bare legs and arms, but I kept goin' till i couldn't hear 'em yellin' at me no more.
I ran breathlessly up to the front door of Alice Blain's house and knocked on the door. Her mother opened the door. "Mrs. Blain, is Alice here?" I asked. "No she's not." Mrs. Blain said. "She left for school an hour ago!" I had forgotten about school! "Umm... We were supposed to go together, but I couldn't make it on time!" I lied quickly. "Oh well, It's ok, you can tell her at school. Do you need a ride?" She offered. "No that's ok." I said quickly. "I'll walk." "Alright," Mrs, Blaine said. "See you later. " "Bye." I said then I walked off in the direction of the school. As soon as I was out of eyeshot of the Blaines house, I turned down a side road. BIG MISTAKE! I saw Sheriff Rosco Coltrane parked across the street, him and Boss Hogg were always trying to get us Dukes in prison for somethin'. He spotted me so I turned around and took off runnin'. But it didn't take him long to catch up with me. "Whatdya think your doin' outa school little missy?" He said pulling up beside me and getting out of the car. "I don't have time for you Rosco!" I said taking off in the other direction. He ran after me and dragged me back to his squad car and stuffed me in the back. "Tee-hee."He giggled. "You cain't arrest me." I said angrily. "I ain't done nuthin' wrong!" "Yes ma'am you have!" He said giggling again. " You've skipped school, talked back to an officer of the law, ran away when I had you in my custody, and I'm betting Jesse's gonna have some choice words to say to ya, when he finds out. " "I don't care what Jesse says." I muttered. "Well you might just care what his belt has to say." Rosco giggled. He hauled me into the jailhouse and took me into his office.Then he picked up the phone and dialed the farm. "Jesse? This is Rosco! I got Daisy here in custody. Now , now calm down Jesse, I got her here cause she skipped school, and she ran away when I tried to talk to her, I was just callin' so you could come get'er. Yeah, just a sec." Rosco turned to me. "Jesse wants to talk to ya." He said holdin' out the phone. I made no move to grab it. "Didntja hear me girl? Jesse wants to talk to ya." "Well, I don't wanna talk to him!" I said. Then I got up and ran out of the room and into the lobby, I was fixin' to run out the door when somethin' caught my eye. It was a newspaper with a picture of a crashed plane on the front of it. "PLANE GOES DOWN IN NORTH CAROLINA!" the headlines screamed. I picked up the paper with shaking hands and read the article. The words No survivers stood out . 'more details on page six' It said. I opened it to page six, and there were pictures of people, the people who had died. I looked through them 'til I found Lena Duke. She looked like me, long wavy brown hair, bright blue eyes and freckles. I crumpled up the paper and ripped it in half, one phrase running through my brain 'it's Jesse's fault. It's Jesse's fault. ' I screamed and ripped the paper into tiny pieces. Then I picked up a lamp and threw it at the glass door. It shattered and glass went every where . Some hit me and opened up thin red lines on my legs. I screamed in pain and fury!. Rosco came running in. When he saw what happened he grabbed me, pushed me downstairs, and locked me in a cell. "Your Uncle Jesse's sendin' Luke ta getcha. " He said. "I won't go with'em!" I said angrily. "We'll see about that." Rosco said going back upstairs.
"She's down here Luke." I heard Rosco say. "Did she break the-" "Yep." Rosco said. "I think your gonna have one heckuva time gettin' her home. " "I don't think I'll have any trouble." Luke said. Boy was he wrong. Luke walked in with Rosco, Rosco opened the cell door and let'em in. Then he went back upstairs. "Daisy, your comin' home now." he said. I snorted ." Like hell I am!" Luke's eyes blazed. "You will come home, Uncle Jesse hasn't eaten or slept since you left, he's worried to death! "Let'em worry!"I shouted. "He's a liar, and he's no relation to me! I hate him!" Luke stood up angrily. "How could you say that?" He yelled back at me. "He's raised you, and loved you, and you've always had everything you ever needed. " "I don't care! I'm not gonna listen to this!" I said. I put my hands over my ears. " Well maybe you'll listen to this!" Luke said, unbuckling his belt and pullin' it outa his jeans. "You've got no right to touch me!" I said backing into the corner. "Whaddya mean no right?" He demanded. "I'm your cousin, practically your brother! And if anybody has a right, it's me!" He grabbed my wrist, sat down on the bed, and pulled me over his knee. "I can't believe!" Thwack. "You'd treat Jesse like this" Thwack. " After all he's done for you." Thwack. " he's raised you. "Thwack. "Put food on the table." Thwack. "and clothes on your back" Thwack. "I know you're hurtin' right now" Thwack." And maybe he shoulda told ya." Thwack. "But he's the closest thing to a father you've got, and you'd better remember it." I was cryin' by this time. I knew I'd been wrong. Luke was right, Uncle Jesse was the closest thing to a father I'd ever have. And I didn't hate him, I loved him, more then anything, and he loved me more than anybody else in the world loved me, 'cept maybe Bo and Luke. "Luke stop now." I sobbed. "I-I'm sorry." He hauled me up and looked at me straight in the eyes. "I ain't the one you should be apologizin' to." He said . "Then let's go." I sniffled. He gave me a little smile and hugged me. "I love you Luke." I said. "I love you too darlin'" He said. Then we got out and climbed into the boys racin' car the General Lee, and sped off toward home.
The closer we got to the farm, the more guilty I felt. "How could I do this to him?" I wailed. "It could've happened to anybody, " Luke said. " 'course, I'm not excusing it." He said giving me a stern look. " I noticed." I said rubbin' my sore behind. we pulled up into the yard, and I climbed out of the car and walked toward the house. I walked into the kitchen door and saw Uncle Jesse sittin' on the chair in the livin'room starin' out into space. I walked in slowly, and his eyes turned toward me. "My baby." he whispered. I ran to him and fell into his arms. "Uncle Jesse, I'm so sorry!" I sobbed into his chest. "I love you more then anything, and your better then any mom or dad ever could've been." "There, there." He said strokin' my hair. "It's alright. I sat up and faced him. "Uncle Jesse, it ain't alright! I treated you like trash, when you've raised me and fed me and taken care of me. I deserve way worse then I got. " "And what exactly did you get?" he asked. I told him everything from when I left the house, 'til now. "And you say Luke whipped ya?" He asked. "Yessir." I said. "And he sure inherited you're talent for it." I said , wincing. Uncle Jesse laughed, then he sobered up. "Listen Daisy, I should'ave told ya about your mom, but I didn't want you hurt." "I know." I whispered. "If she had wanted me, she would have contacted me." Uncle Jesse hugged me. "No matter what you do Daisy, I'll always love you." I buried my face in his shoulder. "I know Uncle Jesse"
Just then Bo and Luke came in. "Daisy!" Bo said. "I was so worried about you. " "I'm sorry to have worried you." I said getting up and givin' him a hug. "Ya'll are the best family ever!"