"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past"

F. Scott Fitzgerald

NEW MEMORIES FROM THE PAST?

The man, a smiling blonde cop, looked at little Enos, "Hey boy, what are you doin' here. It's dangerous, and you shouldn't be here all alone"

Enos, four years old, stared at the man, stopping his solitary play: throwing little stones into the pond. The man seemed so tall, and his smile made him feel at ease; his voice was gentle and Enos let fall down the stone in his hand.

"You should be at your farm", as he talked, he turned to Enos' farm, its roof visible in the distance, looking at it, thoughtful. After a long silence, he averted his eyes from Strates farm and he looked again at the little boy, "Enos Strate. It's your name, isn't it?"

Enos opened his eyes wide: how could that man know his name? In his uniform he looked like a super-hero with magic powers, as the super-heroes of the comics he liked to watch.

The magic cop walked near the little child, kneeling down and looking carefully at him.

Those blue eyes impressed Enos, sweet but at the same time sad. Magic eyes? Could that man read into his mind?

"Why are you here and not at your farm?"

Enos shrugged, "Mum and daddy are having a fight"

The man sighed, and, surprisingly, he took the child in his arms, "Anyway, it's not a reason to walk away. You're too little. What if you fall into the pond? I can't let a little child doin' something so dangerous"

In the cop's arms, Enos noticed any particular of his uniform, his little hand touched the metal badge (golden and blue) and it amazed him: it was a sort of magic symbol, for him, the symbol of the super-hero who could read into children's mind, reading their name and rescuing them form the bad ponds. It was the first time he could watch a uniform so clearly; his father didn't talk so well 'bout cops, and Enos now wondered why: that cop was so gentle, he had probably magic powers and that metal badge was so beautiful.

Finally inside the farm's fence, the cop let Enos free and he walked away, as the little child looked at him dreaming of adventures, magic symbols and super-heroes.

The white ceiling and the characteristic smell of that place recalled Enos he was at the Hospital, his eyes wide open in the middle of the night, trying to catch any particular of that dream. Was it real? Did it really happen or was it because of painkillers? A vivid dream, as the dream of that man burying his face against his mother chest: but, 'till then, he was the first time he recalled that man beside his "meeting" with his mother. How many times did he meet that man? How many hidden memories 'bout that man?

He still felt that metal badge under his fingers, and he remembered how happy and proud was the day he wore for the first time his uniform, his finger caressing HIS badge. Was it because of that badge lost in his memory? He wondered what exactly brought him to become a cop; he had always thought it was because of his desperate attempt to leave his uncle's farm applying to a honest job: being the son of a moonshiner, in a little county like Hazzard, with no money (and not much interest) to go to College, he had no much choices between becoming a moonshiner or farming, both possibilities incompatible with his willing to be independent from his uncle and aunt. At that time he thought of becoming a cop as his only chance. But now a new reason behind his decision, a so apparent natural decision, was surfacing to his mind.

His mind started to analyze everything, again, and another thought slapped him: was it possible that man knew he could be his natural father? He closed his eyes recalling that man's eyes staring at him: was he trying to find signs of his paternity? Or was he simply curious to see his lover's son, trying to find signs of Rose Strate's in that child? Was it just curiosity or something else? And when he, and few after his lover, left Hazzard, did he wonder what that little child was doing? Did he know 'bout Thomas Strate's death? Did he abandon him like his mother, even if he knew (or simple he suspected) he was his father?

He wanted to hate him, his only way to get rid of him: he was the lover of a married woman; he killed Bo's, Luke's and Daisy's parents; he was responsible of his mother's death. And, IF he was his real father, and IF he knew it, he abandoned him.

But he couldn't hate him: his mother had the same responsibilities (or even more) in that relationship; he was doing his duty chasing Bo's, Luke's and Daisy's parents, and he nearly died in that same car wreck (how many times did HE chase Bo and Luke, and Daisy, because of Boss's and Rosco's orders? For sure he didn't want to kill them as he chased them); he wasn't the responsible of his mother's death, but it was the contrary. And, moreover, how could he know for sure IF he was his real father? He had no choice that leaving Hazzard, hoping Thomas Strate could be a good father (and, maybe, he didn't even know 'bout Thomas Strate's death).

He couldn't hate him especially after that dream: that man (his real father?) was probably the reason why he decided to become a cop, and he couldn't deny that becoming a cop was his best idea, something he was proud of.

The more he tried to erase everything 'bout that past (his past, his mother's past and Andrew Salinger's past), the more the past assaulted him.

The fight between the desire to hate him (and to get him out of his mind, so destroying the desire to know more 'bout him) and the incapability to do it knocked him out. Somewhere, an alarm started to buzz as he gasped and he shivered, burning with fever.

He barely realized a nurse entered he room, and then a doctor who auscultated his lungs; he barely realized they were bringing him to the department of Radiology, an oxygen mask on his face; he barely understood Doc talking 'bout "pulmonary contusion, fortunately he was here under observation" and a nurse answering 'bout "observation is 'cause of such of these possibilities, after all".

He closed his eyes and he dreamt of Andrew Salinger taking him in his arms.

"Hey Daisy, wait", Luke and Bo came out the farm, Bo still wearing his jacket, a sandwich in his mouth, "There's no need to hurry up to go shopping. You know, even if we hurry up to go shopping and then we go to the Hospital, nurses won't let us visit him before visiting time"

Daisy turned to him "I can convince a nurse to let me see him before visit time, if I want to"

Luke shook his head, "Stubborn woman. Besides, he's goin' to come back home, today. So, what's the sense to go to the Hospital before time?"

Daisy shot him a questioning and surprised look.

"Love, cousin", Bo patted on Luke's back, smiling, while Luke sighed, still shaking his head.

Finally in town, after the shopping, they were heading to the General Lee as Cooter stopped them. He approached them, his hat on, greasy stains on his jeans, "Hey buddies", he pointed at their bags, "Shopping, I suppose… How's Enos?"

Bo smiled, "We're going to the Hospital to bring him home"

Cooter scratched his hat, "Good… I hope he's goin' to be fine, after everything he had to face"

"Yeah, he'll be fine", Daisy nodded, "I won't let anybody hurt him again".

"So, what are you planning to do with that woman?"

Daisy stared at him, "What are you talking 'bout, Cooter?"

"Well, it seems yesterday a woman arrived at Hazzard's Hotel, and she asked 'bout Enos. Her name is Erika… SALINGER!", Cooter opened his eyes wide, surprised his friends didn't know anything 'bout it, but, in effect, the evening before they stayed at the Hospital with Enos.

"WHAT?", Daisy nearly shouted. No, it was impossible: why did things seem so complicated?

Erika took on the phone's receiver, "Hello"

On the other side of the receiver, Josh.

"A box? In my father's locker?". She heard silently at Josh explaining her 'bout that box found in her father's locker at the Department. Erika wondered why Josh called her to talk 'bout a box found at the Department, for sure something 'bout her father's work.

She held her breath when Josh explained her it wasn't a box containing something 'bout work, as he and his colleagues thought when they opened it.

Pictures: pictures of that woman, pictures of his father and that woman; pictures (not close up pictures but from the distance) of a young man the day of his Police Academy's graduation and swearing-in-ceremony (and Erika, from Josh's description of the young man, perfectly understood who was); newspaper's cuttings: "Hazzard County Gazette: Local Deputy makes heroic capture" (a picture of a smiling deputy under the title, and the name of the Deputy under the picture: Enos Strate), "Los Angeles Tribune: Rookie cop captures syndicate hit man" (a picture of a serious and more mature cop under the title, and the name of the cop under the picture: Enos Strate).

Did his father know that deputy was his real son? Was it his secret? And those pictures of that woman: was it a proof that his father kept on meeting that woman even after he married her mother, or old pictures? His father knew her mother after the accident he had in that small County (a County he didn't talk too much, a wreck he avoided to talk about), when he was a patient and she was her nurse at the Hospital, then they married and Erika was born. Was his life with her mother only a farce? Did he keep on thinking of that woman and of that son? WHY?

When Erika came out the Hotel, shocked, in order to have a walk and to try to calm her down, she noticed a man, a hat on his head, greasy stains on his jeans, pointing at her, and the men and the woman in front of him turning to her: the woman and the men helping the deputy the day before.

She stopped and she looked surprised at the woman striding to her.