Since Chapter 5 was so short, I threw in Chapter 6 as well. Hope you like it!

Spittin' Image

Chapter 6

Meanwhile, back at the courthouse…

"Rosco! Get over here!" Boss Hogg loudly ordered his brother-in-law. The Sheriff stumbled and tripped his way over to the judge's podium, knocking over one of the tall stacks of paperwork that sat there onto the commissioner's pudgy hand. "Rosco, you idiot. Why don't you learn how to walk?"

"Well Boss, I do know how ta walk. I've been doin' it since I was a little kid," Rosco explained as he picked up the papers he knocked over.

"Well obviously you forgot how to," Boss answered as he shoved his cigar into his mouth and slapped the papers out of Rosco's hands. "Forget about that for now," he ordered as he handed the piece of paper that he signed over to Rosco. "I've got something more important for you to do. Here, take this."

"What's this?"

"This here piece of paper authorizes you to take Bo Duke over to the county jail so that they can lock him up and hold him for us."

Rosco glanced up from the paper and gave the commissioner a questioning look. "Uh, Boss, why don't ya want us ta hold Bo Duke? After all, our jail is just as good as theirs."

Boss scowled and removed the cigar from his mouth. "Because lame brain, our little itty bitty jail has been severely damaged and is in no shape to hold any prisoners."

"Well, that wasn't my fault, that was Cooter Davenport's fault."

"And there is no way that Cooter Davenport will be able to do the same thing to the county jail that he did to ours this morning," Boss growled back. "Plus with Bo Duke being watched by the state police, there's no way that Luke Duke or any other Duke will be able to break him out."

"Ooh, I love it, I love it!"

"Besides that, Bo saw me paying off Charlie this morning at the Boars Nest for all that electronic equipment, so I need to keep him out of the way until I can finish cutting the deal with the gentlemen that is gonna buy all that merchandise."

"You're right, can't have him blabbin' that ta the rest of his family. But what about his bail? Jesse could easily bail out Bo instead of breaking him out."

"Not if I set the fine at five thousand dollars," Boss chuckled with glee.

"Ooh, five thousand, ooh that's a good one, Boss, real good."

"Yeah, I knew you'd like it. I just need to keep him there long enough until I make this deal so that way he can't tell the rest of the Dukes what he saw, and then after his arraignment hearing where the judge will throw the book at him, he'll be out of our hair for quite a long time."

"That might not be very long with your little chrome dome shinin' like it is," Rosco giggled as he patted Boss on the top of his head.

"Rosco!" Boss yelled as he batted the sheriff's hand away. "Just get goin' before the rest of them Dukes find out that we have Bo in jail again."

"Yes sir, right away. I'll give Enos a call and have him meet me here so that he can help escort the prisoner, kew, kew," Rosco chuckled giving Boss a mock salute.

"Good, good, you do that," Boss smiled in agreement.

Both men jumped back from the podium when a fake fire hydrant suddenly appeared on top of it. Peering over the top, they saw Ms. Tizdale standing there glaring back at both of them. "Oh, Emma, it's you. You gave us quite a start," Boss said as he held his hand over his heart.

"I'll give ya more than that if'n ya don't keep Rosco and his fake hydrant away from my post office," Ms. Tizdale yelled back, shaking a finger at the chubby man.

"Now Emma, Rosco is only doin' his sworn, civic duty by giving those people tickets for being illegally parked in front of your store."

"JD, you know darn well that those spaces in front of my store are legitimate parking spaces and ya got no right ticketing anyone who's parked there. So help me, JD, if I find that fake hydrant in front of my store again, I'm gonna call the Post Master General and have him personally come down here and take care of both you and Rosco. Is that understood?"

Boss' eyes widened in fear knowing that Emma Tizdale meant every word she said. Nodding his head, he quickly caved in to her demands. "All right, all right, Rosco won't put that fire hydrant in front of your store anymore, but the next time you have problems with people blocking your front door, don't come cryin' to us. We was only tryin' to help you."

"I can do with out your kind of help, JD. Now, good day!" Ms. Tizdale stormed out of the courthouse, leaving two stunned officials in her wake. She quickly ran down the stairs and over to where her motorcycle was parked, picking up her CB. "This is Golden Eagle callin' Jesse Duke, ya got your ears on?"

Jesse, Luke, Cooter, and Jonathan all looked at each other when they heard Emma's voice calling for Uncle Jesse. The old Ridge runner quickly went over to his truck and grabbed the handset. "This is Jesse Duke. What can I do fer ya, Emma?"

"Oh Jesse, I just came out of from the courthouse where I overheard JD Hogg and Rosco makin' plans on movin' Bo ta the county jail sos that they can hold him there for his arraignment hearing."

"What?"

"That's right, Jesse, and I heard JD tellin' Rosco that he's gonna set Bo's bail at five thousand dollars."

"Five thousand? Why that fat meadow muffin…" Jesse ground out, quickly getting a hold of his temper since there was a lady somewhat present. "Now Emma, are ya absolutely sure?"

"Oh I'm positive, Jesse. I was right in front of the podium and neither one realized that I was there so I overheard the whole thing. I also heard JD tell Rosco that Bo had spotted him and another man with a truck load of electronic equipment and they didn't want Bo tellin' you and Luke all about it sos that ya wouldn't try and stop him like ya usually do."

The Dukes and Cooter turned to look at Jonathan and saw the look of surprise on the younger man's face.

The others all realized that they needed to get to town quickly and prove once and for all that Bo was Bo and Jonathan was Jonathan because if Bo got shipped out, there was no way for them to convince Boss and Rosco about their mistake. "All right, Emma. Thanks for lettin' me know."

"Call me if ya need any help, Jesse."

"I will and thanks again," Jesse answered before throwing the handset back into the truck.

Luke quickly turned to his cousin's double. "Alright, Jon, I need ya ta tell me what Ms. Tizdale is talkin' about?" Luke ordered.

"N…nothing, I swear," Jonathan stammered back. "I don't even know who this JD Hogg is."

"He's a short, little guy with a big belly and he wears a white suit and hat," Cooter happily filled in. Jonathan stood there shaking his head as he wracked his brain trying to think if he ever saw the man.

"Ya may have seen him when ya came inta town this morning," Jesse prodded.

Cooter snapped his fingers when a thought came to him. "Rosco stopped ya at speed trap number three so that means ya were drivin' down highway seventeen."

"Which goes right past the Boars Nest," Luke said, catching on to where Cooter was going with his line of thinking.

"The Boars Nest?" Jonathan asked as his face lit up in recognition. "That's right I did stop at a place called the Boars Nest. Needed to use the men's room and was told by the bartender that I needed to buy a drink because I used the facilities."

"That'd be the Boars Nest," Cooter chuckled back.

"Think Jon, did ya happen ta see Boss Hogg, the little guy in white there at all?" Luke pressed on, needing to know everything that had happened.

"Uh yeah, as I was leaving, I had to push my way around them so that I could get to my truck. In fact, he was standing there with another guy, handing him something, and the back of the truck was filled with boxes. I don't know what was in them but the truck was definitely filled. I just figured that it was some kind of shipment for the bar."

"Well, that explains why Bo's in so much trouble and why JD wants ta ship him out so badly," Jesse sighed. "That fat marshmella is gonna railroad Bo out of here just sos that he doesn't get himself caught."

"What are we going to do?" Jonathan asked, now truly upset that someone else might go to jail because of him.

"We go get him out of there is what we do," Cooter spoke up as he started to head for his truck.

"Wait, we can't just take Jon to see Boss and Rosco now," Luke exclaimed, causing everyone else to stop in his tracks.

"Why not?"

"If we bring Jon in ta prove that Bo is Bo, they're just gonna ship Jon here off under some other kind of trumped up charge since he's the one that actually saw Boss Hogg's money exchange."

"Well what do we do then?" Cooter asked as he saw the wheels in Luke's head spinning.

A small smile formed on Luke's face. "First we gotta get Bo back from Rosco and then we gotta find that electronics shipment."

This time it was Jesse that wanted to know what his nephew was thinking. "What fer?"

"If we can find the stuff and get rid of it or destroy it, then Boss has nothing ta hold against Jon or Bo for that matter because," Luke answered with a growing smile.

Cooter started chuckling, liking what he was hearing. "Let's do it, Buddyroe, let's do it!"

"First we need ta stop and get Daisy. With her help we'll box Rosco in so that we can grab Bo."

"Let's go," Jesse shouted as he and Cooter headed towards their respective truck.

"Come on Jon, you're with me," Luke ordered as he pushed the taller man over to the General.

Jonathan grabbed the door handle of the orange car and pulled himself chest first into the side of it. Standing back, he blinked in confusion before looking up at Luke. "What's wrong with the door?"

Luke couldn't help but chuckle, forgetting that that wasn't his cousin standing there. "Sorry. The General is a race car so the doors are welded shut."

Jonathan blinked again at the new information. "How do you get in?"

"Easy, like this," Luke answered as he swung his leg up, pulling the other along with it, and slid through the window. Leaning over so that he could see out the passenger side window, he grinned. "See, told ya it was easy."

Jonathan stared back at the grinning Duke boy and shook his head. Then, after Luke pulled himself back in, he lifted his leg and shoved it through the window, but slipped and ended up with one leg in and one leg out and his body stuck halfway through.

"No, ya gotta get your other leg in first," Luke instructed chuckling at the predicament his new friend was in.

Jonathan managed to push himself back out so that his foot was touching the ground and then swung that leg in through the window, sliding the rest of the way in. He released a big sigh of relief when he was finally sitting down. "Can't believe you have to do that just to get in this car," he grumbled, rubbing the new bruises that were forming on his back from his ungraceful adventure.

"Getting in is easy," Luke grinned as he started the engine. "Getting out can be a bit trickier."

"Great," Jonathan replied grabbing the door and dashboard as Luke took off.