Author's Note: Boys will be boys, I've heard that being said a time or two, especially accompanied by the sound of breaking glass….

There is however more to it than that, and there are many things that a boy goes through to become a man, this is one of them.

Big Thanks to JordynD

Warning: The warning is placed here for vinsmouse, who wanted a spew warning here, claiming it might be a bad idea to drink while reading the funnier parts. So please keep in mind that drinking any kind of beverage while reading this, might be hazzard'ous to the health of your screen.

Disclaimer: The Duke Boys are not mine, I don't own the Duke boys, nor the General Lee. I promise that once I'm through with them, there will be nothing broken that a trip to Cooter's garage can't fix….

Chapter 3: Boys Will Be Boys

"Bo." He looked up at the sound of his name, He was standing in a knee deep pit, one that was wider than his shovel was long. Daisy was standing at the rim with a glass of lemonade in her hand. "I don't think Uncle Jesse wanted it all this big." She pointed out softly.

"I don't remember how big he wanted it," Bo shook his head.

"Then stop digging." She held out the lemonade to him, and when he took it she noticed some blisters that had broken and bled in his palms, even though his hands were normally callused from the work on the farm.

"I'm not done yet." He drained the lemonade and passed the glass back to her shaking his head.

"Bo, you've already dug the hole twice the size Jesse wanted it." Daisy objected, standing there with the empty glass. "By this rate we'll have a new well before you are satisfied."

"Good, I need to cool off a bit." Bo dug furiously into the ground.

"This ain't the way to do it." Daisy shrugged as she walked off. Five minutes later Jesse came over. Daisy had told him, and he was quite concerned about what she had said about it.

"Ya, trying to dig a hole all the way to China?" He asked.

"I'm not all sure, Uncle Jesse," Bo sighed.

"Well, I can tell you one thing, and that is that I don't need that there hole to be any deeper than that," Jesse smiled. "Why don't you come up out of there. I'd say that you've earned ya self a break."

Bo climbed out of the hole reluctantly. "What do you want me to do instead Uncle Jesse?" he asked.

"I don't have any more chores for the day," Jesse looked around for inspiration. "Why don't you and Luke go fishing when he gets back here with them parts, I could make some nice fried fish for supper… don't that sound like something?"

Bo shook his head. "I'm too wound up to sit down fishing Uncle Jesse. Why don't I go and get working on the tractor instead, so that we can just finish it up when Luke gets back here with the new parts and all?"

"Okay, you do that then." Jesse patted his back, watching as he walked off with hunched shoulders. Soon he could hear the clanging of tools against metal that told him that Bo was working hard on the tractor. He was almost worried that when Luke got back Bo would have it all down into the tiniest parts. However what the boy was doing was taking one part at a time and cleaning each out throughly, even if he himself got far from clean doing it. Once more, when Luke came back, Bo sneaked off.

"I'm telling you, he's avoiding me," Luke told Daisy as he was working on exchanging the broken parts.

"He's miserable," Daisy pointed out. "Just look at the hole he went and dug."

"I know, I know," Luke groaned as he threw up his hands in a gesture of defeat. "What do you want me to do about it though? He's avoiding me… can't very well go and pin him down, can I?"

"Luke, we've got to talk with him. He really don't know what it is he's done," Daisy sighed. "I feel so sorry for him."

Later Jesse called to the boys to go and clean up, Daisy was already setting the table. Luke was first into the bathroom to wash his hands and when he was done Bo took his turn at it. Jesse looked up as he came back into the kitchen, the years spend raising the boys had made him develop the habit of always looking at their hands every time they had been sent to clean up. Even at this age, they sometimes rushed through it, now he could easily spot the dark stains on Bo's hands; he had definitely not done a proper job of cleaning.

"Bo, I want to see clean hands at this here'a table." He said softly.

"Sorry Uncle Jesse, but the soap was stinging so badly." Bo murmured.

Jesse frowned. It took a strong soap to wash away oil and grime, and it was not really a cake of soap either, it was a jar of some not quite liquid, but not quite anything else either. You scoped out a bit of it, and then it was coarse as if it contained sand: maybe it did. He didn't know, but there was nothing better for getting oil from your hands. Still, it didn't really sting. He took one of Bo's hands to inspect it and saw where the blisters from the shovel had burst into sores, and how they were darkened with oil and grime from the tractor, clearly cleaning them out with soap was what Bo had meant.

"It'll sting even more if ya get them sores infected," he pointed out. "We need to clean them up right and proper, and then when that's done, we'll have supper. And then, you me, Luke and Daisy are gonna sit down in the living room for a nice long chat and settle all this. How's that sound?"

"Okay Uncle Jesse," Bo agreed. He turned to go back into the bathroom, and when he came back Jesse inspected his hands again; they were all clean now. Apparently the mere promise of the talk they would have made him brighten up a little. He didn't eat with his normal appetite, which would have included seconds and thirds, but at least he cleared of most of his plate.

Daisy started clearing off the table once they were done, and Bo hung back ever so slightly, uncertain of the proceedings. His palms stung whenever something came against the sores, and it wasn't a pleasant feeling at all.

Jesse gave both boys a friendly pat on the shoulder as he led the way into the living room. Luke took a seat in his favorite chair, and Bo sank down on the sofa with Daisy beside him.

"Now I'd say it's time to find out what all this is about." Jesse said softly, "and let's take it from the start. What were y'all doing when ya started getting at odds with each others?"

"We were over at Cooter's place," Luke said helpfully, he didn't want to be at odds with Bo anymore than Bo wanted it. "We were giving him a hand with some ol' car he needed to fix up. Needed some fair deal of body work and wrenching so we were all helping out. Then when we was about to get going Bo was still joking about how we spend so much time in the General together that we get more and more alike, and I just don't think that's funny is all."

"I didn't mean it like that." Bo objected. "I was saying how Roscoe and Flash get more and more alike from spending all that time with each others, never said nothing bout us."

"Well, ya were talking about us before that." Luke insisted. "I heard ya chatting the ears of Cooter."

"Was just saying how we were gonna win that race next month." Bo straightened up a bit. "Then Roscoe and Flash came driving by, and you know how he is always going on with that dog, we just though it was funny."

"I thought it was the two of us ya were all yapping about." Luke insisted shaking his head.

"Well, it wasn't. None of it." Bo turned, giving a pleading look to his cousin.

Jesse held up a hand to halt the flow he knew would be coming if Bo was given half a chance to open his mouth. If it was possible to chat someone's ears off, Bo would be the one to do it. "Sounds to me like it's all a big misunderstanding," he said softly. "Bo was talking about one thing, and Luke thought he was talking about something else, I can guess the rest from there." He gave a soft smile to the bruise on Bo's cheek. For once Luke had beat him to throwing the first punch, whereas Bo was generally the one to act first and think later, it had been Luke this time. "Now, I suggest that you both shake hands, and make up."

"Sure thing Uncle Jesse," Bo leapt at the chance to settle things.

"Okay Uncle Jesse," Luke hesitated for half a heart beat, feeling a bit guilty over having struck his cousin for a silly misunderstanding. Feeling as if it was his fault, he made sure that he was the one who went over to Bo and held out his hand. "I'm really sorry, cousin, I should have given you the chance to explain what it was all about."

Bo took the offered hand, beaming broadly. "It don't matter none, long as ya ain't mad at me. I really hate that."

"Me too cousin." Luke sat down beside him and draped an arm around his shoulders. "I'm gonna make that up to ya," he promised brushing against the colorful bruise.

"There ain't no need Luke," Bo grinned. "Really Luke, it doesn't bother me the slightest. It was just that I couldn't figure out why y'all were angry at me."

"Come on then." Luke grinned. "Let's go outside. The General could use a good tune-up, and then we can take him for a spin… you drive."

"Yee-haw!" Bo shouted as he leapt to his feet.

Jesse and Daisy grinned as they watched them head out to where the General was standing outside. Bo sure had an unending supply of enthusiasm for these things, and once the misunderstanding between him and Luke was straightened out, all he needed was to spend a few hours with Luke and the General, and things was back to normal for him again. The promise of being allowed to drive was all he needed, and then Luke had made up for the punch. Bo wasn't one to carry a grudge… Jesse wasn't even sure he knew how to do that, though he suspected Luke would keep an extra eye on him for as long as the bruise showed on his cheek. It was the way he was, more inclined to feeling guilty, especially if it was about his baby cousin.

"You know," Jesse grinned to Daisy as he heard the General's engine roar to life outside, "boys will be boys, and there ain't no saying more true when it comes to them there boys outside."

The End