Chapter Eight: Where have all the Daisy's gone?

"I may return
If dissatisfied
With what I learned
From having died."

Robert Frost


Daisy woke on same-damn day, NUMBER NINETY, in a state of deep mourning. Three months with nothing resolved. For the last fifteen days, she and Enos had avoided each other. Bo and Luke always caught the real crooks and freed Enos without her having to endure any of the rest of it. How Lavinia allowed that she didn't know and didn't much care. Didn't much care about anything. He was leaving her again.

Would she even know if he had left? Was the real Enos Strate already in L.A.? Was what she perceived just a shadow of him, of everyone who had moved on without her? It boggled the mind - this time travel crap. And she was so done with it.

Abandoning her search for a cure or the cause, not seeing Enos in fifteen days had at least spared her the reminder that he had probably given himself hives to get out of marrying her.

"This is it, Aunt Lavinia! I'm done with whatever lesson you thought you were teaching me!" she shouted to the Universe, with no concern whatsoever that Uncle Jesse, or Luke, or Bo might hear.

There was no reaction from downstairs. Neither the Universe nor Lavinia answered.

She was alone.

So alone.


Per the drill, the song was blaring in Daisy's head, fully remembered on every damn one of the last fifteen re-dos. Dammit. Just this one day, couldn't she forget the words? She'd mashed her toe, same one, into everything in the house by then and was repeating the cycle. It had become a game of strategy to see which ones her aunt would choose to torture her with each morning.

Back in her room, the old double-bell alarm clock read 6:58—time for the draconian farce to begin anew. Donning the blue-grey dress, not because it was his favorite, but because it was part of the assigned play props, she couldn't bear to look at herself in the full-length mirror.

She went downstairs to face the doom and gloom and then made as hasty an exit from the farm as she could with the old lace and new heels. This time, she left Enos's wedding ring in the nightstand drawer where the no-damned-aspirin should have been.

The next hour passed as it had so many times before at the dry-cleaners…Until it was time to leave for Silvy's Salon, she'd thought she was ready for this.

"We all better get on over to the beauty parlor," Cindy reminded them. "Silvy's waitin' for us. She's openin' up on a Saturday 'specially for us. Said she wouldn't miss doin' your hair for this weddin' unless she fell down a well or somethin'."

Daisy stopped in the doorway of the dry-cleaning store, staring into space, and it was like deja vu all over again. Alice Jean Davenport was crossing the road. THAT was who she'd seen the first time.

Patsy snapped her fingers in front of Daisy since she seemed to be staring out into space. "Earth to Daisy? You sure you wanna go through with this, hon?"

Snapping back, Daisy declared, "Of course, I'm sure. Never been more sure of anything in my life. Gotta' be gorgeous for your own funeral."

"Me and Cindy were startin' to think maybe you really wanted to…You been drinkin' or somethin', Daisy?"

Reading the words on the back of the sidewalk bench, Daisy said, "Not yet."

'Be patient. Some things take time, and time takes some things away.' *

Patience was the one thing she'd run slap out of. "But, check back a little later."


It was about 11:30 am when Daisy, Patsy, and Cindy showed up at the Boar's Nest. Lulu caught her on the way to Boss's office and asked if they could talk a little before she got dressed for the ceremony.

"Sure Lulu, I'll just make sure Aunt Lavinia's dress gets hung up proper, and then I'll be right back out."

Daisy hurried off before Lulu could start on that road down memory lane. She wasn't in any mood to ruminate on how much Aunt Lavinia had wanted to be with her on this day or how radiant she'd looked standing next to Uncle Jesse when she first wore the wedding dress. And there was no question as to whether she was there in spirit or not.

Ducking into the office she was met with the sight of Patsy and Cindy in those pink dresses that shoulda' been yellow. Oddly enough, the color didn't matter to her anymore. They could have been chartreuse, and she wouldn't have cared.

"We'll help you get dressed for the ceremony, Daisy."

"No, it's okay. Ya'll go out and keep Bo and Luke company for a bit. I need some alone time."

"Sure, Daisy. Just call us when you're ready. Oh," she said, pulling a band of frilly satin out of her purse. "Here's your weddin' garter. You're supposed to put it just above your knee, but I'd aim higher since the groom is the one who's gonna take it off." She winked.

"Yeah, I'll take that under consideration. Thanks."

That did it.

As soon as the door closed behind Patsy and Cindy and their pink dresses, Daisy headed for the storeroom and pulled out a bottle of Wild Turkey 101, the fastest drunk available – a perfect storm of spirits. ** A few shots of the super-premium high-octane liquor and you forget how many you've had.

With the wedding dress slung over her left arm and the bottle of bourbon in her right hand, she ducked out of the office using Boss's super-secret escape door, the one he used when Lulu or some heavy from one of his schemes-gone-haywire was after him.

The Boar's Nest was merely a speck in her rearview mirror in a New York minute. Two hours and three sheets to the wind later, she showed up in downtown Hazzard on the doorstep of WHOGG.


References:

* Quote attributed to Lonewolf

** Wild Turkey 101 as described by a review on June 2, 2015 – author unverified