Suspicion
The next morning, exhausted after only two hours sleep, Bo could barely pull himself out of bed. Knowing he had chores to do Bo stumbled to the bathroom, after splashing cold water on his face he finally felt alert enough to face the day.
Reaching for his milk Bo fumbled the glass, spilling a little of his
milk on the table. Freezing for a moment, Bo waited for the yelling,
'God could he be any dumber?' A second later Daisy tossed him a towel
and he quickly cleaned up the mess.
Luke noticed the way Bo froze, he was surprised nobody else seemed
to though. He was even more surprised when Bo flinched, trying to figure
out what had caused that reaction Luke felt sick when it came to him.
Daisy had raised her hand to toss Bo the towel, that was when he flinched,
like a whipped dog. Luke had seen dogs that had been mistreated by
their masters react the same way, but he had never expected to see
someone in his family act like that. All through breakfast both boys
were quiet, Bo was just trying to stay awake, afraid he'd mess up again,
but Luke was busy thinking about all he'd noticed since he'd been home.
Bo's timidity and shyness, his fearfulness, then there was Uncle Jesse,
insisting that Bo was just growing up, maturing and settling down. He
hated to think it but what if Uncle Jesse was the one who had changed,
he was getting older maybe he couldn't handle a rambuctious teenager
anymore. What if he'd started letting his temper get the better of him,
what if he was hurting Bo. Lord he hated to even think it, but it made
sense, would explain Bo's behavior at breakfast. For that matter it
would explain his strange behavior ever since Luke had come home. He
hoped he was wrong, but he was sure somebody was treating Bo badly and
he couldn't imagine him letting anybody else get away with it.
Later as they worked at their chores, Luke decided to just take the bull by the horns.
"So Bo you gonna tell me what's wrong?"
"What are ya talking about Luke, ain't nothing wrong?" Bo asked obviously confused.
"This morning when you spilled your milk, you froze up Bo and then ya flinched when Daisy went to throw ya the towel. You want to tell me why?"
"No big deal Luke, I just didn't get enough sleep last night. Guess my reactions are a little off, that's all."
"Uh-huh, so what about since I been home? Bo you been real quiet and shy, I could just figure you changed in the last four years. Except you also act afraid a lot of the time, like this morning, Bo I'm worried about you cousin, has somebody been hurting you?" Luke asked, afraid of the answer.
"What?" Bo was shocked. "How could you think anything like that Luke?
Ain't nobody...no I just, well guess I'm just not sure how to act around
you anymore. I mean you been to war, been gone four years and you've
seen all kinds of things I never even thought about. Just don't want
to do something stupid around you, don't want you to think of me as a
little kid or be disappointed in me."
Realizing he wasn't going to get anything else out of Bo, he decided to drop it for now. "Alright Bo I hadn't thought of that, but you don't have to worry Bo. I could never think of you as stupid and I know you ain't a little kid. You're right I did see a lot of things while I was gone and most of them were ugly. Don't you ever forget this Bo, even the good things I saw don't have nothing on home and family. You could never disappoint me Bo, you're my little cousin and I love you. Okay?"
"Yeah...thanks Luke."
Later that week as they worked together on their engine Bo startled Luke when he suddenly threw down his wrench and started wiping his hands.
"Bo what's the matter with you?"
"I got to get ready Luke, I'm gonna be late picking Kathy Sue up for our date."
"What time do you got to be there?"
"Seven o'clock and I still have to get showered and changed."
"Dang boy, calm down you still got an hour, at the most you'll be a couple of minutes late. Heck she probably won't even be ready, you know how women are?"
Luke would have gone on and teased Bo but at that moment he saw his cousin's eyes, saw the panic lurking there.
"Go on Bo I'll put the tools away." Luke told him, beginning to get a bad feeling about this girl.
Bo raced inside, quickly picking out clean clothes he hurried to the
bathroom for a shower and shave. Arriving at Kathy Sue's house he groaned
when he saw that he was five minutes late. When Mr. Shelton answered
the door Bo swallowed his disappointment and asked to see Kathy Sue.
Sighing in relief at learning she wasn't ready yet, Bo stepped inside
to wait. Jumping to his feet when she came down the stairs, Bo hurried
to her side.
"You look beautiful Kathy Sue, you ready to go?"
"Of course I am Bo, the question is are you ready? You sure you don't have anything else to do, I wouldn't want our date to get in your way."
"I'm sorry babe, I didn't mean to be late. Luke and me was working on our engine and I just lost track of the time. There's nothing more important to me than you, believe me please?"
"Okay you're forgiven. Shall we?"
Later at the pond Bo was feeling really good, the evening had gone
really well. After the movie they went for burgers, again running into
some friends, but this time Bo had stayed quiet, behaving like an adult.
As he stood on the bank with his arm wrapped around Kathy Sue Bo was
happier than he'd been in days.
"I'd like to know what your problem is Bo?"
"I don't have a problem Kathy Sue, what are ya talking about?"
"Oh please, when we ran into everybody at the Tastee Freeze, I suppose you're going to tell me you weren't pouting?"
"Pouting? no Kathy Sue I was trying to be grown up. I just didn't want to embarass you like..."
"Bo Duke how dare you try to blame me for your behavior. You get
all quiet and make everybody think you're pouting and now it's my fault"
Kathy Sue screamed at him.
"That's not what I meant babe, I just..."
Before Bo could finish Kathy Sue curled her hand into a fist and hit him in the eye. Stumbling back in surprise, Bo stepped on some loose rocks and fell. Not giving him the chance to stand Kathy Sue began to kick him in the back as he curled into a fetal position. As she kicked him she kept screaming at him, telling him how worthless he was, that he was lucky she put up with him. It was a lead pipe cinch nobody else would ever put up with somebody as pathetic and worthless as him. Finally running out of steam, she stalked off to the truck and climbed in, slamming the door after her.
"Well, are you going to take me home now?" she snidely asked.
Pulling himself painfully to his feet, Bo made his way to the truck.
Driving in silence, Bo dropped Kathy Sue off at her house and headed
home. Getting dressed in his pajama bottoms Bo climbed into bed, laying
on his stomach and forgetting for the moment that Luke was again sharing
the room, Bo fell into an exhausted sleep.
TBC
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