A/N - Hey ya'll! How are you? Sorry it's taken longer than I thought to post some of these chapters, but I've gotten behind again. I'll try to do better.
Thanks again for the reviews. Remember, comments and suggestions always welcome. Many of them have already been used!
Disclaimer - I don't own the Dukes, and no infringements intended
POT SHOTS
CHAPTER 12
'I QUIT'
"I'm sorry Bo. I just don't know what else to do," Uncle Jesse said with sad eyes.
"It's ok...Uncle Jesse...I understand...I've cost you...a fortune...already. I swear I'll pay...you back,...someday."
"Oh Bo! I ain't worried about that. I'm just sorry I let you down, son. I wish I could provide better for my family," he said.
"You've always...provided just fine...for us...Right?" Bo asked his cousins.
"Yes, Uncle Jesse," they both said, almost as devastated by the news as their youngest cousin was, if not quite as affected by it.
When Sandy walked in, she could feel the tension immediately. It was so thick, you literally could cut it with a knife. She looked at the table, and saw four very long faces, something she hadn't seen even when she first arrived. This was the most loving and upbeat family she'd ever met. Something was terribly wrong.
"Morning," she greeted them. "What's the matter?"
"I need to talk to you," Uncle Jesse said.
"Okay," she replied, going for her morning cup of coffee then taking a seat. Not only did Uncle Jesse look like he was going to cry, but Daisy already was, and Bo and Luke weren't far behind. She was starting to feel very scared.
"We're not going to be able to use your services, anymore," Uncle Jesse informed her.
"Why? Have I done something wrong?" she asked, afraid that her mouth or methods had gotten her in trouble again.
"Oh my Lord, heavens no. We just love you so much, and can't even begin to thank you for everything," Jesse told her.
"Then, I'm afraid I don't understand."
"The agency just called here, and said that they wouldn't be able to allow you to continue with us."
"What? They had no right to do that. I don't work for them, and they don't select my clients. I'm registered with every major agency in the country. They present cases to me, but I select the clients. They just act as the middleman. I'm gonna give them a call right now, and straighten this out."
"You don't understand," he told her before she could reach the phone. "Please," he said, pointing back to her chair. "They do have some say so because, well, I've gotten behind on the bill, and I can't pay them what I owe them right now," he confessed, lowering his eyes. "But I will pay them back, every penny that I owe them and you've been worth every cent, don't ever think that this had anything to do with you. It's just I can't do it right now, with the hospital bills and all the doctors, so they said that they can't allow you to add any more to the total I owe them."
Sandy looked from one Duke to another. They were all doing a good job of pretending to be interested in the table cloth. She couldn't believe that this could be about money. "I can fix this right now," she said again, getting back up and reaching for the phone.
After asking to speak to someone specifically, she discussed the situation with them. "I quit," she said. "I don't actually work for your agency, I think you've forgetten that. So as of right now, I resign and all of our ties are severed." Nodding her head, she replied to something, "I'm fully aware of that, and I assure you, I understand you. Now you understand me." Turning away from the family, she spoke in a very low voice that no one could hear. "Good day," she said, and hung up the phone. "Okay, problem solved. Shall we get back to work?" she asked, looking at Bo, who looked from her to his uncle.
"No, you don't understand," Uncle Jesse said again. "I can't pay you, either, through the agency or directly."
"That's ok," she replied. "I wasn't planning on sending you a bill. If I did that, I would be in trouble."
"Huh?"
"Because I took your case through an agency, I couldn't resign but continue to work here and get paid. If I did that, they'd sue me, saying that I took their portion of the profit. However, if I'm not charging you anything, I'm not profiting and they aren't losing anything. In Texas, even a hundred percent of nothing is still nothing."
"I can't let you work for free," Uncle Jesse stated.
"If I don't mind, you shouldn't let it bother you."
"It ain't right!" he exclaimed.
"Sure it is. Lawyers do it all the time, they call it pro bono work. Judges actually order them to do it. Doctor's waive their fees, so do hospitals. I think every professional should be required do it. It's really no big deal."
"It is to me," he objected. "How do we expect you to be able to live, working for free?"
"Uncle Jesse, I don't do this for the money."
"No, I don't doubt that sweetheart, but you still got to eat."
"I eat quite well," she said patting her stomach. "Come to think of it, I eat here a lot, and I don't pay you for your food."
"Well that's different," the Duke patriarch proclaimed.
"No, it's not. Your agreement with the agency didn't require you to furnish meals, and I'm sure you work very hard, all of you, to put food on this table."
"We ask you to eat with us as part of the family."
"And now, I offer my services to you with the same intent," she said.
The kids stopped scrutinizing the checkered cloth on the table, looking back and forth as if they were watching a tennis ball bounce between courts. Uncle Jesse's word was law around there. He never lost a discussion, because no one really ever debated with him. He always played offense, but Sandy Maverick had forced him to play defense, and it was a sight they had only witnessed a few times when their aunt had still been alive. They kept looking at each other, trying to keep mental score. Her last statement had been a slam dunk.
"Uncle Jesse, I've been extremely fortunate. My family is..."
"Rich," Bo finished for her.
"I don't like that word, but they're secure. I work and except for my car, I spend very little, which means that I am not relying on a paycheck right now."
"It still don't feel right," he replied. "Whether you need it or not ain't the point. If you work, you should get paid."
"Homemakers would probably agree with that, too," she said, "but, that's a whole nother topic." Looking at Bo, she winked, then went to stand next to him. Scrunching up his face so that he looked like an adorable kid, she finalized her argument. "Uncle Jesse, look at this face. It's just adorable. I know that you're not comfortable with this, but Bo's what's important here. We've come too far to stop now, and besides that, it won't be too long before Bo doesn't need me anymore. Please, let me finish what we started."
"For Bo?" he sighed, knowing he'd lost. Sandy got Luke and Daisy to nod along with them. "I can't very well say no if it's for one of my young-ins."
Bo wrapped his arms around her waist, delighted that she'd got his uncle to agree, but upset that she had said he wouldn't need her anymore. Even if he didn't need her as a therapist, he needed her.
"Now, can we get started? The day's a wasting people."
"Yes ma'am," all three Duke kids said, saluting her.
Uncle Jesse suggested later that maybe she could stay with them. He thought that it was really unfair that she wasn't getting paid while still spending money on a room. She thanked him, but said she had all her stuff laid out so that she knew where it was, and it would take her a month to pack it. The real truth was that she just couldn't emotionally afford to move in full-time, and this time the little voice in the back of her head applauded her.
That night as she laid in bed, she thought about how hard that must have been for a proud man like Jesse Duke to admit to her that he couldn't pay the bill. The fact was, her family was rich, and she'd never had to worry about money in her life. Her fees weren't cheap, so most of her clients were fairly well off, though she did take on cases at no charge from time to time. Despite the fact that she knew how rich the Duke family really was in the area that counted most, she hated the idea of them not being able to afford something so necessary as health care and treatment. She hadn't been aware that there'd been a problem with the agency, but she had overheard a few phone conversations that Jesse had with the hospital. Sandy decided to see if there wasn't something she could do about it.
She was acquainted with the hospital administrator at Atlanta's Grady Memorial, and his reputation. He'd went to school with her oldest brother, Tommy, but he wasn't from Texas. Her brother didn't particularly like him, but he always said he'd make a good businessman; he had no heart. She was sure he was the one that was making the stink over the Dukes' debt and the absurd payments the family was making each month. She not only knew him, he was the reason she was in Georgia in the first place. She'd come there for a client after he had contacted her. The patient's father, a self-made millionaire, was a large donator to the hospital. The tycoon was extremely grateful to Sandy for what she had done, and had offered her many things to show his appreciation, which she had refused.
Leaving right after lunch a couple of days later, Sandy drove into Atlanta. Her first stop was Grady Memorial. She informed the hospital bureaucrat that she was prepared to ask his contributor not to give the money to the hospital that year, but to donate it to a family that really needed it instead. A family affected by a tragedy the same way his had been, and one that she had been working with. A family who was going to be denied the same opportunities his loved one had been given simply because they weren't wealthy. Sandy was positive that if she made the request as a personal favor to her, it would be granted. She also knew that if the hospital lost the donation, they'd be losing more that just the cost of the Duke's bill, and he knew it, too. He suddenly had a change of heart, saying that Bo's case qualified for extreme circumstance aide, and would be immediately taken care of. She asked for the letter before she left, not trusting him to follow through on his own.
Next, she went to the agency, and told them that if they didn't write off their own bill, she'd never work with them again. They had offices located throughout the country so this wasn't confined to just Georgia. She also threatened to turn in Bertha to the licensing division for abusing a patient if they didn't comply. A scandal like that would ensure that their phones wouldn't be too busy. By the time she was on her way back to Hazzard, she had two letters addressed to Jesse Duke.
The next morning, Sandy slipped both of them into the Duke mailbox, hoping that no one saw her. The last thing she wanted was to get arrested for tampering with the US Mail.
Uncle Jesse sat scratching his head, as he read both letters, not believing that all of Bo's bills had been taken care of in the same day by coincidence. As they sat down for lunch, he pointed at Sandy. "I know you had something to do with this," he accused, and the rest of the family wanted to know what he was talking about. Jesse handed the letters of forgiveness to Luke, who passed them to Daisy, then to Bo. They were all shocked.
"Now how could you think that little ole me could have anything to do with such a thing?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at him.
"Because I know you," he replied.
Having extended her stay, it was time to go forward so that it could reach its logical conclusion. Therapy comes in stages, just like grieving or cancer, and Bo was entering the final phases of his. The difference was that when a person reached the end of their rehabilitation, it was a beginning rather than an ending. Getting to that point was the entire goal, and should have been a cause for celebration, but as it became more a reality than a dream there was a therapist in Hazzard county that wasn't exactly overjoyed.
Bo was almost ready to graduate to crutches, and Sandy had no doubt that he'd master those as easily as he had the braces. His hands had benefited tremendously from manipulating the guitar, and Luke deserved as much credit there as she did. The only real physical obstacle left to overcome was getting Bo to be able to speak without the starts and stops, and only time would tell if that could be completely conquered. In some patients, it couldn't, and Sandy hoped that Bo wouldn't be one of them, but there didn't seem to be anything else she could do. When Bo spoke without thinking about it, he did fine. She kept working with him, but she knew she couldn't stay forever using that excuse. He was able to communicate, and that had been their goal.
Sandy's customized plans included something that no others did. It had nothing to do with physical or speech therapy, but was as much a part of a person's recovery as taking their first step or saying their first word. Most of her colleagues felt that it overstepped their bounds, but Sandy never backed down when she believed in something. She had no reason to now, she did it for everyone. The laughing voice in the back of her head conceded that fact, but teased her for not admitting that it was simply another way to prolong her own departure.
Telling the voice to 'get lost,' Sandy set about revising their schedule. For many long weeks, she and Bo had spent four hours a day, six days a week alternating from speech to feet to speech to hands, although not necessarily always in that order. They didn't need four hours to practice anymore, that's what homework was for, and Bo had a great tutor in Luke. It was time to change what they did with their time, and when Sandy announced that the new agenda included having some 'fun,' Bo didn't have to be coaxed into going along.
This was the only thing that she didn't openly share with a patient. It always felt dishonest, finding a way to explain it to their loved ones without telling them. The Dukes weren't any different, and she asked to speak to Uncle Jesse and Luke while Daisy kept Bo busy. She was confident that the men would fill her in later. She explained that there was a very real therapeutic purpose behind 'having fun' worked into their schedule, and padding their fees wasn't it, even though she wasn't getting paid. During a person's rehab, they were normally isolated from the rest of the world, either by their choice or because others were uncomfortable around them. No one was truly recovered until they were once again integrated back into the world, and that's what this phase was designed to do. They'd start slowly and progress forward, depending on how Bo reacted. If the patient was told that they were having fun, they often didn't think about the fact that they were really reconnecting with society, which could be pretty scary . Sandy knew that Bo's universe centered around his family, but she doubted that he never left the house before he'd been shot. Since then, the only time he ever left the sanctity of the farm was for medical reasons and the time Luke took him to Capitol City. It was time for Bo Duke to learn the final lesson she had to teach, how to live again.
The first few days, they just went for a drive. She'd asked him if he wanted a ride in her car, since he'd told her that it liked it, and when she offered to put the t-tops down, she didn't have to ask twice. She also didn't have to ask if enjoyed the ride. When she looked over and saw the wind racing through his hair, his eyes closed, and a wide smile on his face, she had her answer.
The next place she took him was to the Hazzard Pond. Sometime throughout her stay, she remembered either Bo or Luke mentioning how much they liked to fish. Inviting Luke to come along, she informed them that casting a rod in and out of the water was a form of therapy all its own. They both looked at her, saying 'yeah, right,' and she started laughing, but in fact, it was. She had no idea just how true her words would become, though it wasn't fishing that would provide the invaluable treatment.
Having brought both Luke's and Bo's guitars along, they ended up playing together the way they had a million times before Bo got hurt. She had been using the instrument in Bo's recovery since the first day she saw it sitting against the wall, and Luke used it at night, too. He learned to sit behind Bo, the same way she did, and they'd play for hours. Bo's hands improved significantly, and both boys received a sense of fullfillment and serenity.
"Love ya, Lukas...but Sandy...feels better," Bo had commented one night.
"If she didn't, I'd be real worried, cuz," Luke retorted.
Now that all three of them were together, Sandy could work with Bo, and Bo and Luke could play together. Of course as his body was recovering, so was his libido, and it was responding more to the sensations he was feeling. He knew he should, but he didn't care. He wanted to enjoy the experience, and deal with the consequences later.
When she asked what they wanted to play, they both said the same song. She knew it, so they were in luck, and unlike their instrumental versions, Luke was providing the vocals. Not even thinking about it, when they got to the chorus, Bo started singing along, and Sandy was shocked at how good he really was. She was even more shocked as she realized that he was singing as if nothing had ever happened to him. Like Mel Tillis, there was no stutter whatsoever. Luke picked up on it right away, too, looking at her, who encouraged him to keep going. By the time they got to the chorus again, she started singing along, and the three of them blended nicely. When they got done, she leaned forward.
"Do you know what just happened here, Bo?" she asked him.
"We...made...beau...ti...ful...music...together?" he joked.
"You're being a funny man again, huh? Well, yeah that did happen, but you sang almost that entire song and never missed a beat or a syllable."
Distracted by the way she felt against him, he hadn't noticed. His eyes got very big as he turned to look at her. Looking at Luke, he saw his cousin nodding in agreement.
"Let's try something else, and if you weren't thinking about it then, don't think about it now," Sandy instructed him.
After a couple more songs, it was very clear that Bo could sing without stumbling.
"That's the key, that is really the key. Luke, you keep practicing this with him," she said, and Luke said he would. "You, Mr. Bo, keep singing and your speech will improve, and when you're speaking, try putting your words to some type of music in your head, and see if you don't notice a big difference."
"Let's...try," he said.
"Okay, tell me anything," she invited.
"The General Lee is a...1969 Dodge Charger," he said, obviously surprising himself. He had strung several words together, pausing only once.
She was so happy for him, she wrapped her arms around him and he did the same to her. This time, he kissed the top of her head.
When Bo had been shot and hovered near death, every ounce of energy, thought, and prayer had been focussed on his survival and recovery. Now that their prayers had been answered, there was an area that lingered unresolved. The ones who did it had never been captured and made to pay for their crime.
Luke dreamed of killing both of them, slowly, with his bare hands, possibly holding them captive for a few weeks so that he could torture them the way Bo had been tortured. He'd dreamed of it, but his place had been at Bo's side during his recovery. Now that Bo was almost well, he knew he wasn't going to find them without looking. He wanted to do it for Bo, but he also wanted to do it for himself. He still carried around the guilt, knowing that if he hadn't chased them, none of this would have happened. He wondered if their deaths by his hands would ease that feeling.
Bo knew his cousin well enough to know what was going through his mind. In no way did he blame Luke, and he tried to tell him that, knowing that it would take a long time, if ever, for Luke to really believe it. Bo worried that his cousin would try to find them, and if he did, either get himself hurt or killed, or wind up in jail. He needed Luke, and none of those were scenarios he could live with. He made Luke promise him that he wouldn't go after them, but it hadn't been easy.
The entire community had been shocked when they'd heard what had happened to Bo. The Duke boys weren't the only ones who thought they were invincible. The town rallied behind them, helping where they could, praying for all of them, and wanting to see justice done. Even Rosco and Boss Hogg were determined that the shooters be caught and punished. Rosco and Enos worked with other law enforcement agencies for a while, and everyone else had been on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary, but nothing had ever turned up. After they fired those pot shots, the shooters had gotten out of Hazzard and disappeared into thin air.
The people of Hazzard weren't the only ones thinking about the shooters, they were thinking a lot about them, too, primarily the Duke boys. Bo's case had gotten a lot of publicity because of the severity of his injuries. They knew they were wanted for attempted murder, but they were also wanted for the robbery at the Boar's Nest. They hadn't worn masks or covered their faces, so everyone knew what they looked like who had been at the scene of the original crime. However, the only two that could identify them as Bo's shooters were Bo and Luke. Deciding that the penalty for armed robbery was a lot less severe than attempted murder, they reasoned that murder was the only answer. Plotting the demise of the Duke cousins, they headed back to the county where it had all began. They should have known better than to press their luck, but they weren't the brightest bulbs in the socket. If they had been, they would have stayed as far away from Hazzard as their legs could carry them.
