Chapter Nine

Bo lay in his bed thinking.

He knew that he had every right to say what he had said to Uncle Jesse, but still he kind of regreted them.

His bedroom door opened to admit Sarah, who carried in a glass of water and a pill.

"For your fever." She explained.

Bo took the pill and the glass and downed both before he laid back down.

"I am so very proud of you." She said kindly.

"Thanks." Bo said with a forced smile.

Sarah smiled, ruffled his hair and then left the room.

Bo sighed, put his hands behind his head and leaned back into the pillow.

He had missed this room alot. The pictures, the books, the letters..everything.

Bo and been born and had spent the first eleven years of his life in this very room.

The tears began to fall as the reality of what he had done began to finally sink in.

He had run away from his family...no, not his family, from his uncle and cousin.

"Mom, dad, I miss you so much. I should have been there. I should have been there with you. I should have died with you." Bo sobbed.

It was nights like these that he missed his parents the most.

A white light filled the room, and soon two comforting sets of arms hugged Bo tightly.

"Don't say that honey. You know that you don't wish that." A female voice said.

"Mom?" Bo whispered.

"Yes son. You're father and I are here." Bo's father said.

Bo didn't say anything, he just clung tightly to his father.

"It's ok Bo, we're not going anywhere." His father said.

"But ya already did. Ya already left me." Bo cried.

"Yes, your mother and I died, but we will always be with you." His father said.

Bo wiped his eyes and asked, "How?"

"We will be here with you, always." His father said, tapping Bo's heart.

Bo smiled and watched as his parents faded from view.

Glancing out the window, he was slightly suprised to see that it was already sun up.

Going to the window, Bo looked down the long drive to the street, and just knew that it was the day that Uncle Jesse would come.

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Luke glanced periodically at his Uncle, trying to judge his emotions, but Uncle Jesse's face remained as masked as ever.

Glancing down at the floor Luke saw Bo's car books that had been left in there ever since they had gone swimming.

Bending over, Luke grabbed the top one and flipped it open.

On the very first page, which was blank there was an inscription.

It said, To Bo,

Happy birthday son. love, your father.

Luke stared at the words that were written in blue ink for a second.

'No wonder he made such a fuss about gettin' these books wet.' Luke thought as he flipped to the next page.

Luke turned page after page until he came to one car that was circled, it was a 62' Dodge Charger.

Beside the picture were lists of accessories written in Bo's handwriting.

"Color: Orange, Decals: Rebal flag and white on black 01's." Luke read.

"What's that, Luke?" Jesse asked, hearing Luke muttering to himself.

Luke jumped and looked over at Jesse.

"Uh, just this picture." Luke said, showing Jesse the picture.

Jesse glanced at the Charger and nodded his head in understanding.

"Bo loves that car. Plans ta build one himself an' race it on th' NASCAR circuit." Jesse said.

Luke didn't say anything as he realized how simaliar he and Bo were.

They both liked their friends and family, they both liked fast cars and cool bikes...

'Wonder what else I've been missin?' Luke wondered as he thought about his cousin.

For the first time in his life, Luke Duke was sorry for his actions.

He had never known exactly how much what he did affected and hurt Bo.

If Luke had known how much Bo's father had been a part of Bo's life, would Luke still have acted like that? Maybe, maybe not.

"Do ya even know where yer goin'?" Luke asked.

"I have an idea. What Bo said 'bout bein' home, reminded me of the house in which he grew up." Jesse replied.

"Which house?" Luke asked.

"Remember the two story house I showed ya a picture of?" Jesse asked.

Luke recalled the beautiful two story house.

At first he had been mesmerized by its beauty, and a little jealous of whoever had lived there. Imagine his suprise when he found out that his cousin had lived there!

"And ya think Bo's there?" Luke asked.

"Yeah. It only makes sense that he'd head there after th' way we treated him." Jesse replied.

Luke nodded his head at the truth of Jesse's words.

That home was the only other place where Bo felt safe, so of course he would have gone there!

Flipping Bo's book closed, Luke cast his gaze out the window and watched the passing scenary as the truck left Georgia and entered Flordia.