As some of you know, I am a proud Idahoan, and I was so extremely ecstatic about Boise State beating Oklahoma that I just felt like doing something for you nice people. Or my brain waves suddenly kicked in gear when I realized that nothing like that will ever happen to me. It's amazing how that works sometimes. Yeah, here I am beginning to write this six days after the game, and my dad is watching it for the third time. GO BRONCOS! And as for tonight goes, GO BUCKEYES!!!!!! If they win, the season will be perfect.
Note on the Martha/Lavinia conflict that seems to have been sparked around here. I think the writers just had a dumb moment and forgot what they named her so they came up with something else. No hidden meanings. It happens. So I just picked one. I picked whatever would be a good middle name for someone named Jessica Duke. Jessica Lavinia sounded better than Jessica Martha.
Note to HazzardHusker: Haha, this was written mostly on a day I had off school. But no, it wasn't because of a blizzard.
So I came up with something suitable, and if you want a hint for what's to come than let me just say special thanks to Sarah Kent-Duke for setting me up with half of the idea. I figured out how I'd get there, though. So read, and enjoy.
Chapter 17: New Beginnings
Six months later, it was just after Lois turned eight. Things had settled into a new routine at the Duke Farm. Bo and Luke now did half the work each, instead of the third they used to. Jesse was gone, but life had to go on for the rest of the Dukes. The children especially had worn their emotions on their sleeves, and the adults had calmed them as best they could. The passing of the Duke clan patriarch left a gaping hole in their hearts, but they patched them together as best they could.
Now, Lois was awaiting the beginning of third grade. It was an exceptionally hot July, it seemed. Never could the Dukes remember sweating like they did that year. It spelled bad news for the crops, as they weren't used to growing under such a hot sun. Bo and Luke knew it was going to be a bad year, and they tried to figure out some way to make extra money on the side. Bo suggested running shine, as it was Jesse who had made the deal with the government about their probation, not them. Besides, their probation sentence had been lifted long ago. Luke's rebuttal shot that down, saying they couldn't get on probation again if they got caught, they'd go straight to jail. Not to mention there was no way they could create a batch of shine half as good as their uncle's.
So there they were, back to square one. But the events of that July only made their situation worse.
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Shoving his pitchfork into the ground, Bo sighed as he wiped the sweat off his brow. He pulled off his glove, at the same time he searched for his shirt. He then remembered he had thrown it back inside at lunch, knowing he wouldn't need it as long as he was out there. Realizing he was now finished with the task of mucking the stalls, he set off to seek out Luke. Bo found him tinkering with the old tractor.
"So there you are, sittin' around, tinkerin' with some ol' tractor, an' I'm doin' all the work?" Bo complained. "That don't seem fair."
Luke looked up, rolling his eyes at his cousin. "Okay, in that case, while I'm out in the fields, I let you go into town an' get some feed at Ruebottom's. Better?"
"Only if I get ta take the General," Bo negotiated.
"All right, take the General," Luke conceded.
An hour later, Bo had thrown the feed into the trunk, and was once again speeding down the backroads of Hazzard, enjoying himself. He couldn't remember going for such a carefree ride in a long time, especially since Lois was still a little kid. He saw a "Bridge Out" sign up ahead, but the blonde just sped right up. He dug the General's wheels into a makeshift ramp and went soaring through the sky. Bo let out his classic rebel yell in midair, just before landing. His head bobbled a little bit with the landing, and he kept going once more.
Down the road a ways, Bo came to an intersection. He didn't bother to stop, remembering ten years ago cruising around with Luke, when there were never any cars at the intersection of Old Mill Road and Cottontail Lane. But now, there was. Bo took too long a stroll down Memory Lane, which caused him to swerve into a tree in attempt to avoid hitting the car.
Bo's vision began to grow fuzzy after a few seconds and all he felt was a sharp pain in his left knee. He vaguely heard someone asking if he was all right, presumably the driver of the other car. Suddenly, he fell unconscious from the pain.
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"Aw shit man, wake up," came the redundant cry from one Mr. Neil Baker. The young spiky-haired man prodded the blonde sitting in the most unusual orange car he'd ever seen. "Dude, you can't stay there forever, ya gotta wake up sometime. You know why? Cause I can feel your pulse. You ain't dead." No response. "Okay, good thing my sister's a nurse here. I think I'm a-gonna take you to the hospital here."
Neil was a college freshman at Georgia State University. As a New York native, he was easy to pick out of a crowd in Atlanta as not being from Georgia. All one had to do was hear him talk. He was down in Hazzard visiting his much older sister Mariah who was working as a nurse at Tri-County Hospital. For some reason unbeknownst to Neil, country life suited Mariah.
Doing the best he could for his small frame, Neil hoisted the older man out of the mangled Charger. He couldn't help but laugh at the sight of this well, unique vehicle. What interesting taste these country bumpkins had! The General Lee? It was truly insane to Neil.
Ten minutes later, Neil had a passenger in his simple blue Ford sedan. He sped quickly down the road, but careful not to further injure the other man. After a total of a half-hour, Neil had the man being wheeled away on a gurney by an orderly. Suddenly, Neil realized he had no idea who the man was who he had just helped. He had never looked for an ID of any kind.
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"Where is that blasted cousin o' mine?" an exasperated Luke asked Jamie. "I sent him out for that feed over two hours ago. He should have been home oh so long ago. If I find out he's out there having fun drivin' without me, I'm gonna - "
He was cut off by the sharp shrill of the telephone. Jamie reached over to answer, giving a polite greeting.
"Hello, Mrs. Duke, my name is Dr. Nolan Davis. I'm calling regarding a man brought in here, by the name of Bo Duke?"
Jamie's eyes went wide. "Y-yes, is he okay?"
"He was brought in by a young man who said Bo had swerved into a tree to avoid hitting him. We'd appreciate it if you could come down here to Tri-County as soon as you can."
"S-sure," Jamie stuttered. "We'll be right down. Thank you." She replaced the phone back on the receiver and turned towards her curious husband. "Luke, that was Tri-County Hospital. Looks like Bo's not here cause he was in an accident. They didn't say if he was okay, just that we have to get down there real soon."
Luke paled instantly at the news. He hopped up. "I'm going right now, would you take a separate car and get Daisy on yer way? Lois too, she's at Daisy's." Without waiting for a response, he hopped up from his place at the table and dashed out for Jesse's pickup, leaving Jamie's new, white minivan.
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After having sat in the emergency room waiting room for nearly an hour, Luke was about ready to jump out of his skin. Thankfully, his wife helped keep him in check, but she also had Ryan to worry about, along with her own extremely pregnant belly. Daisy cradled her newborn daughter, Jessica Lavinia Duke (named after Uncle Jesse and Aunt Lavinia) on her lap Lois played with Charlie on the floor. Enos was out somewhere on patrol. Lois was not told a whole lot about what was going on with her daddy, all she knew was that he had a really bad boo-boo.
Eventually Dr. Davis came out. After asking for the Duke family, he sat down. "I don't want any of you to worry, Bo's going to be just fine." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "The only injury he sustained was some torn tendons in his left knee, which we easily patched up in surgery. Now, if you'd like to see him, that'd be fine, but we can't allow any infants in. Bo's just come out of the anesthesia and is still pretty groggy."
Of course, everyone was ready to see Bo. Jamie stayed out with Ryan, Charlie, and Jessie. Everyone else followed the doctor to Bo's room.
