Author's Note: There will always be the memories of those Golden Times.
Big thanks to Vinsmouse for beta work.
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…
Golden Times
Chapter 2: Those Golden Times
The news spreading around town didn't really draw that much attention. Even if Mrs. Penny had seen the General Lee on the side of the road near Eagles Point as she came home from visiting her sister over in the next county. The Duke boys didn't go one week without sending a patrol car in the pond or hitting the General against something solid.
When Cooter came pulling the General behind him on his tow truck no one really thought about it since it was just a natural part of Hazzard and the way life there was.
All of them knew that Cooter would have the old car fixed up faster than anyone would think possible and he always seemed to find that extra deal for his two best friends. While Cooter had to earn his living just like everyone else he never charged them too much for the parts and hardly anything for the work.
Half the time the Duke boys would be there working with him and with their friendship, the way the boys sent him half his business in wrecked patrol cars and generally helped him out whenever they were there it only stood to reason.
If it was bad the light would be shining in the garage all through the night and the sound of a hammer would occasionally wake someone up until Cooter went to sleep on an old backseat in the attic of the garage.
The next morning he would crawl out and search out the first edible breakfast he could find before continuing with his work of restoring the General Lee to his former glory and shine.
It was the life of Hazzard and no one could ever see it changing.
Yeah, with his boys it was racing all the way Jesse thought fondly. The two of them sitting still and easy, now that was more cause for alarm. The only times when his boys would be found still and content was in church or when they had gotten their precious car magazines.
At first neither boy had really been fond of church and thinking back Jesse remembered the same feeling from his own childhood. Bo was by far too restless and earned himself quite a few stern words as they excited the church. With Luke it was a bit different, he wanted to challenge the things he was told and not being allowed to confused him.
One Sunday dinner when they had the preacher over the old man had quietly explained a few things to Luke and while Jesse sometimes wondered in just what way the boy sought comfort from his lord he found peace with it.
Bo took his comfort from the almighty father who would forgive a wayward son and concluded that even though he was not as good as he could maybe be, it was probably enough for both of them.
After that they both seemed to find it slightly easier to keep still in church and didn't cause half as much trouble on a Sunday.
When they got their car magazines was also when it was hard to budge them as they poured over the pages. It was the boys that would sit and marvel over pictures of cars hour after hour but they did.
Johnny Cash playing on the old record player and a bowl of popcorn between them. With a car magazine each and a can of beer the two boys were more than content for a nice quiet evening on the floor in the living room. No matter how much Jesse would point out to them that the room was in fact equipped with plenty enough chairs.
It was the racing they loved, the speed and the low vibrating rumble of the engine. Both of them loved to feel that power all bundled up in steel, rubber and glass. To some it was a piece of machinery to be used while it worked and then forgotten somewhere in favor of a newer model.
It had never been that simple to the two cousins. Every set of bolts, lines and rust was a personality of its own and something to be treasured. When you added fuel and turned the ignition it was something alive.
One or two had passed on and was remembered by a license plate on the wall as memorial.
The boys loved the speed more than anything else and Jesse knew that without that V-8 roaring in front of them and the fuel pumping through the lines in a steady stream his boys just weren't happy.
He would look at them and wonder if they would ever be ready to settle down. A loud cowboy Yee-Haww from Bo as he slammed down the hood and the two of them was tearing down the back road and Jesse left pondering again. No, they were not ready yet for a long time.
They would not be happy with any other kind of life and it would only choke the life out of them slowly.
Shaking his head and tucking his smile away safely behind his beard Jesse would regard the cloud of dust that was even now disappearing and head inside to prepare the food for the supper.
"Hello Cooter," Jesse smiled as he put the feed bucket down having finished the feeding the chickens. "I was starting to wonder if ya wasn't showing for supper after all."
Cooter grinned as he closed the door to his tow truck. "Ain't no way I'd miss it Uncle Jesse, but I had to pull ol' Rosco out of the pond."
Jesse chuckled merrily at the familiar image of the police car of in the pond. There was times when he almost wondered if they had gotten all of the cars out of there or if there was a patrol car or two at the bottom.
"Well, the boys never did miss a chance to send him down there." He chuckled merrily.
"Never did, ya'd think ol' Rosco had learned to keep that there turn in mind now." Cooter grinned. "There are times I almost wonder if he keeps going in out of sheer habit."
"Might be, Cooter, it might be." Jesse nodded as they headed in for a nice family supper. "It would be them boys doing that."
"Yeah," Cooter pushed the grease stained cap he wore to the back of the head. "An' they'd be might proud too."
It was his boys that did that alright. It was his boys that had Enos near a professional driver only from chasing after them. Enos had written him from California and told Jesse happily that he had been congratulated on his high driving skills in a hot pursuit.
Knowing that he had the Duke boys to thank for his now appreciated skill Enos had wanted to let them know it and once more Jesse felt his old heart swell with pride over his two boys.
They had even given the young deputy lessons. Encouraged him, baited him, teased him and worked him over and over again and he did catch them on occasion. Jesse would scrape up the bail money and head down to the court house to get his boys back. Complaining and letting them know they had far better things to spend their money on than paying their bail.
Yet he was always so proud of them always there to give Enos and Cletus a hand. Even if it later would mean they might get arrested. Entering the courthouse and seeing the boys there behind the bars were no longer something that shook him up too bad. Not like the first time it had happened but they had been so young then.
Too young even for it to be a driving offence, and that was saying something about a Duke.
Standing where he was Jesse could never have been more proud as he beheld his nephews. One with dark curly hair and one with blond locks yet alike as two peas in a pod running around raising a ruckus and making his sunshine years so much more interesting then just sit watching the grass grow and the cars rust.
Not that the General would ever rust. The car was far too well cared for to let that happen. Not even when Jesse himself was laid in his grave would that happen and that was as sure as written in stone.
The boys were always together and nothing would ever change that. Nothing. Since the two of them came to live together it was clear it was the way they would remain.
Standing there taking in their features he was smiling at the same as a lone tear fell on the flowers by the headstone. Bo and Luke, cousins together forever now that they had been laid to rest forever.
He had never expected to outlive either of his kids but it had happened just the same the day the General was found near Eagle Point and while nothing was ever the same after he lost his two boys nothing ever seemed to change either.
Life in Hazzard carried on and the Duke boys had left their lasting impression everywhere in the town. In the General Lee in Cooter's Garage, in the town square where everyone had at least once looked up to see an Orange car chased by the Sheriff. Dents and scuff marks in the Boars Nest from their fists during a bar room brawl.
While Jesse had lost his two boys his life was filled with golden memories of them and no matter where he looked there was impressions left by his two boys and they just never seemed to be completely gone.
The head stone with the images of them set in stone and their names was where he went everyday with fresh flowers, but it was at his home and in the town of Hazzard that he saw something of them everyday.
The End
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