"I can see the sun, but even if I cannot see the sun, I know that it exists. And to know that the sun is there - that is living."
Fedor Dostoevskji
CLOSE CALL FOR DAISY
Uncle Jesse came out the kitchen as he heard the sound of tires stopping in front of the farm.
He looked at Enos and Daisy getting off their cars; he looked in particular at Enos: the weeks spent outside Hazzard were pretty visible on him, resulting in a weight loss and in a tired look. Uncle Jesse sighed, wondering how and when Enos would have started to show signs of recover after his mother's death.
Enos and Daisy walked to him, and uncle Jesse couldn't help but notice they were holding their hands, their fingers intertwined.
"Hi uncle Jesse. I'm … back", Enos smiled shyly and he lowered his head, showing his discomfort, and uncle Jesse's wisdom noticed not only discomfort in Enos' attitude but another indefinite emotion, a mix of fear and shame, and he wondered why: he could understand Enos felt ashamed because of his running away (his pride probably was torturing him 'cause running away meant, for him, showing his weakness), but he couldn't understand that shadow of fear.
"Enos, buddy, you're finally back".
Bo and Luke came out the farm, trying to ease that discomfort with their usual nonchalance, pretending not to notice his thinness.
"How's your wrist?", Bo patted on Enos' left shoulder.
Enos raised his left arm, his right hand still holding Daisy's hand, opening and closing his left hand for several times, to show his friend the regained function, "It's OK, thanks. I think I can come back to work, now. I'm totally operative".
"Well, there's no need to go back to work today", Luke circled Enos' shoulders with his arm, "we could use this afternoon for something more relaxing. What do you think to go fishing? Take it as your last day of convalescence. And for dinner, fish"
Enos smiled: it wasn't a secret to anybody he liked to go fishing. He fight against his sense of duty, but he needed some time with his friends before to go back to the Boarding House and to his job; he needed some time also to find a way to talk about the wedding: he and Daisy had to find a way to tell her family they were going to marry, as soon as possible, not explaining them the reason of their hurry.
On the back seat of the General Lee, his hand still in Daisy's one, Enos enjoyed the breeze of that early spring, trying to focus on the positive things of his life (Daisy and the baby, his friends) and trying to forget the rest. Every time he repeated in his mind the word "the baby" he felt relieved and happy, finally believing in a positive future, his hope to forget the past.
He closed his eyes and he fell asleep, awakening few after because of Daisy's gentle kiss on his cheek, on him Bo and Luke's worried eyes.
He decided to enjoy the fishing, he smiled and he got off the car, "OK, go fishing, if we want fish for dinner", he laughed and he patted on Luke's shoulder.
John Fitzroy couldn't believe in his eyes.
Enos Strate and Daisy Duke, along Bo and Luke Duke, were there, so near his hideout; he could see them, from the abandoned barn but they couldn't see him (Hazzard County had a lot of places perfect as hideout, and moonshiners knew it pretty well).
He spent the last weeks there to build a plan in order to achieve his revenge, a complex plan (starting with a kidnapping, Daisy Duke's kidnapping), and now they were there, so near.
His rational mind told him to stay hidden, working on his plan, but John Fitzroy's rationality wasn't his strongest characteristic; in effect, if he had been more rational, first, he wouldn't have attacked publicly Enos Strate, and second, after the fight, he'd have run away from Hazzard 'till he had the possibility to do it.
John Fitzroy's strongest characteristic was his animal instinct, an animal instinct awakening in the form of a burning and violent rage, so strong and without any control he forgot his prudence and his plan, deciding to kidnap Daisy right there, right then, as soon as he had the opportunity.
And the opportunity didn't let him wait: Daisy Duke walked to the General Lee, parked not so distant from the barn (he could even see the keys in the dashboard) but quite distant from the river's bank where her cousins and Enos Strate kept on fishing. Since the river was below the road's level, they couldn't see the car from the river' bank: a perfect chance to have Daisy Duke, using the General to run away (so Dukes and Enos Strate couldn't run after him), a great opportunity and an acceleration of his plan.
He knew where to go and how to use Daisy Duke in order to have his revenge on Enos Strate, but he had to kidnap her, before, and he decided to take advantage of that fantastic chance.
A fantastic chance despite the inherent risk: Dukes' and Enos Strate's presence.
His animal instinct and rage beat the rationality, so he walked out the barn, reaching and grabbing a surprised Daisy Duke.
A gentle shiver along his spine and a strange feeling, Enos stood up, looking around him to find the reason of that strange feeling, and he heard a sort of muffled scream.
Cop's instinct.
He got over the slope between the river's bank and the road, and he froze for few seconds as he saw John Fitzroy, his hand on Daisy's mouth, trying to push her inside the General and fighting her resistance with a punch in her stomach.
A rush of anger overwhelming him, Enos woke up from his paralyzing surprise and he ran to John and Daisy, shouting his anger, "DON'T HURT DAISY AND THE BABY!"
Bending forward after John's punch and gasping for air, a buzz in her ears, Daisy felt John's grasp leaving her.
She looked up, taking a deep breath, and she saw Enos grabbing John's shirt and moving him away from her.
They started a violent fight, a fight of violent punches and kicks given and received from both sides; they fell down and then they stood up again, in a sort of confused and violent dance.
She felt Bo and Luke's arm circling her, asking if she was OK.
She looked at John and Enos pushing each other to the river's bank in their frantic dance, falling along the short slope into the river, and keeping on fighting into the water.
From the bottom of the slope she looked, with her cousins, at Enos sitting astride John, punching him with all his strength, the water around them tinged of blood, a surprising and stunning violence from Enos.
"BO, LUKE, STOP THEM… STOP ENOS!"
Regained her breath, Daisy woke her cousins up from their surprise.
Bo and Luke reached Enos and John, they grabbed Enos and they moved him away from John.
As Bo helped John to stand up and to come out the river, Luke pushed Enos on his knees and then on his belly in the shallow water, he sat astride Enos' back and he took his arms, crossing them behind Enos' back, as he was arresting him, as Enos tried to free himself from his friend's grip: a surreal scene.
"ENOS, FOR GOD'S SAKE, STOP! DAISY IS FINE"
Waking up from that sort of trance thanks Luke's words, Enos stopped fighting against his friend's grip, "Ok, Ok, I'm calm, now. I'm sorry", he was gasping for air and Luke let him go.
Sitting in the shallow water, Luke looked at Enos, counting the fight's signs: blood dripping from a cut on his right eyebrow, his nose and a broken lip, added to several bruises.
Enos looked around him as he was trying to remember what's happened, his breath heavy.
"Bo, call Cletus, so he'll bring John to jail, and you, Enos, come on, you need to visit Doc Appleby", Luke's usual self-control.
In the General Lee, outside Doc Appleby's house, Bo and Luke were waiting for Enos and Daisy, silently.
The same silence inside the car on the way to the town, Daisy's wiping blood from Enos's face with her handkerchief, her only soft words being "Enos, I'm OK, don't worry, sugar", strange words to Bo and Luke, 'cause they'd have expected other kind of words, kind of "Enos, are you OK, sugar?"
"You heard what Enos shouted before to run to John, didn't you?", Luke started his analysis.
"Don't hurt Daisy…. and the baby. So, you too heard it, I thought I was wrong", a brief pause, then Bo turned to Luke, "what did he mean?", silly question due to his shock.
Luke stared at Bo, raising his eyebrows in a knowing look, "Since there was no baby around there, I suppose we have now a different explanation of Daisy's nausea and drowsiness".
Bo sighed, "Oh my God. How and how long do they want to hide something like that? Beside… ENOS? It's so … strange. OK, they are somehow engaged since his coming back from the Institute after his mother's death, and Daisy told clearly to uncle Jesse she REALLY loves Enos, but… it seems to me they are rushing things, don't you think?"
Luke shrugged, "If you think about Enos' crush on Daisy since the seventh grade and their nearly wedding months ago, it means they needed 20 years to come to this point, so, no it's not rushing things; it's not a fling. But if you think about how and when their official engagement started, yeah, they are rushing things. I bet uncle Jesse won't be happy to know the news, 'cause, obviously, they can't hide such a thing for so long"
They looked at Enos and Daisy walking to the car, smiling.
"The baby is OK", Bo glanced at Luke, a smile on his face.
Luke answered with a snort: thinking of the baby meant thinking of HOW it happened, and the thought of Daisy sleeping with a man (even if that man was his best friend) was something difficult to put up with, for Luke, being the older cousin, whereas Bo, being younger than Daisy, seemed more comfortable with that news, surprised, obviously, but somehow more comfortable.
"Everything's OK, Enos?", Bo turned to Enos, who smiled and nodded.
"Everything's OK but my broken nose, 4 stitches on my right eyebrow and several bruises"
Nobody talked any more of the fight, and of Enos' sort of trance, 'till they reached the farm.
"How many fishes did you…", his mouth open, uncle Jesse looked at his nephews, niece and Enos coming out the General Lee and walking to the farm, "… what's happened?"
"A pesky meeting with John Fitzroy", Luke's brief summary.
Uncle Jesse looked at Enos' face and at his wet clothes, more wet than Luke's ones, whereas Bo and Daisy seemed having avoided any contact with the water.
"Go change your clothes, boy".
As Enos walked to the farm with Daisy, hand in hand, uncle Jesse stared at his nephews, "What's happened, exactly? Something more than - a pesky meeting with John Fitzroy - please".
The Dukes' patriarch listened silently to Luke's words, and, again, his wisdom told him there was something more, "Luke, tell all"
Luke looked at Bo and Bo at Luke, and Luke finally told his uncle about Enos's words when he ran to John Fitzroy. It wasn't something they could hide to their uncle, after all, even if they'd have preferred uncle Jesse knew it in a different way, so avoiding that embarrassing talk.
"What BABY?", uncle Jesse's confusion despite his wisdom, and Bo and Luke stared at him, raising their eyebrows in a knowing look.
"WHAT?", shock, "And how and how long do they think to hide something like that, to ME?", rage.
With a perfect timing, Daisy came out the farm, walking to her uncle and cousins, a calm smile on her face, "Everything's OK?"
Looks between the three men before uncle Jesse's speaking, "Are you OK, Daisy? How's your … worrisome, now? I hope John Fitzroy didn't scare you too much"
Daisy shrugged, "I'm feeling better and better", then a bright smile lighted up her face, "and, since Enos is back, I'm goin' to become Mrs. Enos Strate! I can't and I don't want to wait any more. We've waited too much, and Enos just asked me to marry him!"
Other looks between the three men, knowing looks.
"Daisy, I have to talk to you… and to Enos", uncle Jesse walked past her, and Daisy followed him, surprised by his harsh tone.