Author's Note: This is a story I wrote about the Dukes and their first years at the farm. I tried to keep it with them from the point where they got to the farm, and carry on throughout a couple of years. It's a growing and learning experience for all of them. There are also notes at the end of each chapter, a credit of sorts to a father from his son.
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….
Learning To Love…
Chapter 7: …..The City of Hazzard
It wasn't the first time Luke was in Hazzard, but it was the first time he was there without his parents and he didn't care much for that part. If he was good and waited like a patient little boy while his parents did their shopping his father would buy him an ice cream, and often a few sweets as well. Because they weren't there very often and he said that a treat every once in a while never did any harm. He would give him a coin and allow him to pick out his own sweets in the store.
Luke loved that part, and then he would hand the coin over and get his paper cone with sweets.
He doubted that would happen today, Jesse had taken him with him because he had been too energetic as Martha put it. She said she wouldn't get anything done if Luke kept running around the house. He wasn't sure what that meant, but he was guessing that he had been a bad boy.
All he knew was that his legs wanted him to run, and his aunt didn't want him too.
The first thing Jesse did was to get feed for animals in the store, and Luke followed him inside, but it was boring when his uncle stood talking with all the other men there, and Luke just wasn't in a very patient mood. Rather than be very bad he tugged at his Uncle's pants leg and asked if he could be allowed to wait outside.
Jesse said he could and Luke went outside to make drawings in the dust with a stick he found. It was kinda boring too, but it was better than listening to the talk. At least it was until some older boys came over to him, they started being nasty and Luke tried to ignore them. Then once he just couldn't ignore them anymore he threw a punch at one of them and the fight was started.
The boys tumbling around was loud and it didn't take long before the men rushed out to separate the boys. The other ones running off while Jesse held Luke by a firm grip of his shirt sleeve.
"What was that about?" he demanded to know.
"They were being mean," Luke declared sniffing. He was dirty, he had a bruise on his cheek and his shirt hung open but otherwise he wasn't hurt. The fight had been interrupted to quickly.
One of the other men shrugged. "That Ledbetter boy has always been, an' will always be a trouble maker."
"I don't want ya to fight Luke, if they are mean, ya should just ignore them," Jesse told them.
"I was ignoring them, but then they started saying mean things about my mama an' my papa," Luke declared.
"Oh," Jesse started brushing him off. "Well, ya try not to fight no matter what they say." He couldn't really blame the boy for fighting if that was what they had said.
"I will Uncle Jesse," Luke gave a small nod, looking at the ground as his uncle got the sacks and loaded them in the back of the pickup truck.
"Lets head over to the General store now," Jesse declared hitching the boy up in the seat. "I ain't mad at ya fer fighting Luke, I don't want ya too, but I ain't mad cause ya did," he assured him.
Luke nodded and scrambled over to the passenger side as Jesse drove them over to the General store. Luke liked Mr. Rhuebottom and this time he followed inside not wanting to run into anyone else who'd be mean. There was one older boy already there, Luke thought he looked really kinda big, but he also looked friendly. He had dark hair and green eyes and he was smiling, his shirt and jeans was dirty but Luke didn't care about that.
"What happened to the youngin'?" an older man who stood next to the boy asked his uncle.
"The Ledbetter boy an' some others picked a fight wi' him." Jesse explained and Luke wondered what they would think. "He seemed to be doing pretty well there though, fer as little as he is."
"Oh, he is a Duke, he is a Duke," the man grinned. "Yer Luke, ain't ya son?"
"Yes sir," Luke nodded politely.
"I'm Mr. Davenport an' this here is my son Cooter," the man smiled at him holding out a big hand and Luke carefully took it to shake it. He wasn't used to adults treating him that way, but he liked him just the same, he was nice, he smiled.
"Cooter, why don't ya an' Luke here get to know each other?" he suggested putting an arm around his sons shoulders.
"Alright," the older boy declared enthusiastically. "Come on Luke, lets get outside."
Luke glanced at his Uncle who nodded. "Go on Luke," he encouraged him. Luke hadn't really met the Davenports before, but they were close friends to the family, Cooter could be a bit wild, or was very wild, and sometimes quite irresponsible but he was still a good boy. Luke would be in good hands as Jesse knew Cooter would never intentionally let him come to any harm.
Cooter steered him outside and Luke followed him.
"What do ya wanna do?" The older boy beamed shaking his bangs out of his eyes.
"I don't know," Luke looked at him, feeling a bit as if he was just a small kid. As tall as he was Cooter seemed to be close to an adult to him.
"Well, I don't reckon we should go to far, dunno that yer uncle is gonna be wanting to go running all over the town looking fer ya."
Luke shook his head, he didn't think so either.
"How about an ice cream cone then?" Cooter grinned.
Luke shook his head again, Uncle Jesse wouldn't give him money for that, he was sure of it.
"Don't ya like ice cream?" Cooter frowned, he couldn't imagine the existence of a kid who didn't like ice cream.
"I do, but I don't think I wanna ask Uncle Jesse for one," Luke explained to him.
"Shoot kid, I'll buy ya a cone," Cooter laughed heartily.
"I don't think Uncle Jesse would like that," Luke shook his head. "He told me to be good an' behave, an' he's always saying I shouldn't be greedy or nothing."
"Oh, I know that one," Cooter nodded. "Tell ya what Luke, what if ya help me wi' something I have to do, an' then I buy ya a cone fer helping me, do ya think he'd mind that?"
Luke pondered it, it didn't sound as if his uncle would mind it, but it was hard to know for sure.
"Anyway, my pa told me to take care of ya, so if ya don't let me, I ain't gonna be doing my job," Cooter grinned. "So if yer Uncle thinks it was wrong, it'll be me who did it, now what do ya say?"
Luke gave in, mostly because he liked the boy. Luke knew that in truth he was just a little boy, but Cooter didn't seem to treat him like one, and Luke really wanted to make friends with him. He followed Cooter a couple of blocks away to a pickup that was almost as dirty as his uncle's was. There was a lot of boxes in the back of it, and a folded tarp hanging over the side.
"See, my pa told me I had to get the tarp over it afore we headed off," Cooter explained.
Luke looked at the load, there was a lot of small boxes there, and he guessed that they could fall off.
"This is really good, cause it wouldn't be easy fer me," Cooter told him still grinning. "If I climbed over the boxes, I'd break all of it, but if I hand ya the tarp, ya can climb over them an' pull it to the other side."
"Okay," Luke nodded and Cooter grabbed him by the waist lifting him up and over to the truck bed where he stood on top of a crate. Then Cooter started to unfold the tarp before climbing up on the wheel and handing one corner to Luke. Taking it the small boy scrambled over the boxes and pulled it with him while Cooter walked around the truck. Next Luke grabbed the other corner and did the same thing.
"Stay put there now, cause I need to tie it down, so ya can help me with the rope." Cooter grabbed the rope from the cab, secured it and then handed it up to the boy to drop it down on the other side for him. Oh, he could have easily handled it himself, but he felt sorry for the kid. His pa had told him about how Jesse had lost three of his brothers, all of them leaving orphans behind. As dirty as Cooter often appeared, he had a bright golden heart shining under his dirty shirt and he wanted to be nice to the boy. Besides, he liked him.
"Come on now, jump down here an' we can go get that there ice cream," he beamed at him holding out his arms. Luke didn't hesitate jumping into his arms, giggling as Cooter caught him and spun him around. Grinning Cooter hoisted him into the air and put him down on his shoulders. Letting him ride there and holding on to his legs so that he wouldn't fall off. In a town like Hazzard Cooter often played with younger children.
He was used to helping his father in his business, his father selling all kind of farming machinery and repairing them as well. Cooter spent many hours a week helping his father, and so his father would pay him a few dollars for the work. He had intended to get himself an ice cream anyway, and buying the little curly haired kid one would just be fun.
He lifted him down from his shoulder outside the store though, if he knocked the kid senseless by walking him into a doorpost because he forgot to duck, then his pa would tan his hide for sure.
He ordered two cones and grinned at the boy as Luke looked amazed at the large scoop of ice cream. Cooter had him hold both cones while he paid for them, then he took them both from the boy.
"Come on, lets go sit down in the park an' eat them." The reason he carried them was because he didn't want the kid to trip and lose his.
Sitting down in the grass he handed Luke back his ice cream, and both boys started at them with equal enthusiasm. Cooter was a huge fan of ice cream, and Luke wasn't the only one who got ice cream smears on his cheeks.
"Cooter," Luke started thoughtfully halfway through his cone.
"Yeah," Cooter looked at him licking at a trickle of melted ice cream that was running down his hand.
"Was I really any help, or did ya just say that?" Luke wanted to know.
"How old are ya?" Cooter frowned.
"Five," Luke answered, thought he didn't know what that had to do with anything.
"Are ya really supposed to be that smart?" Cooter didn't think that his question might sound negative, but he wasn't used to kids seeing through scams like that. It would be just his luck to meet up with one that was smarter than he was.
"Was that bad?" Luke wondered worriedly.
"Nope, not at all." Cooter shook his head and patted him on the shoulder. "Okay, I'm gonna level with ya Luke. My pa told me to get the tarp on, an' I figured if I made ya help me ya'd let me buy ya the ice cream. Now, just cause I thought that, don't mean ya wasn't a big help, cause it was a lot easier for me now than it would have been without ya."
"Okay," Luke nodded thoughtfully as he started eating again.
"Sides, Luke, helping out a bit an' buying an ice cream is what buddies do fer each others." Cooter went on.
"Am I yer buddy?" Luke frowned again, there had been kids he played with before, but he didn't know if they were buddies.
"Sure," Cooter chuckled. "I need someone smart, pa says I ain't got half the sense the good lord promised a turkey."
"I ain't smart," Luke shook his head. "I can't even read, at least not much more than a few words."
"Ah shoot, yer plenty smart," Cooter patted him on the back as he swallowed the last of his cone, Luke doing the same thing. "I mean it, it's gonna be fun to be yer buddy."
"Thank you," Luke then did something that wasn't very typical for him. Grinning happily he gave Cooter a quick hug, and the way his eyes lit up had Cooter stuck. He more than liked the boy, he found himself thinking about him as a friend and not just a kid to play with now and again.
"Yer welcome," he grinned and pulled his shirt out of his jeans, using it to wipe the ice cream of the younger boy's face. "Better clean ya off before yer uncle sees ya," he explained. Then he wiped his mouth with his sleeve before tucking the shirt back in.
Luke looked up and jumped to his feet. "There is Uncle Jesse," he exclaimed pointing.
"Alright, better hand ya back then," Cooter grinned as he got up, grabbing the kid by his waist and carrying him over under his arm, setting him down in front of Jesse.
"Did ya have fun," Mr. Davenport asked and Luke nodded.
"Yes sir," he declared. "Cooter's my buddy now."
"What's that on yer face," Jesse frowned, spotting a speck of ice cream that Cooter had missed.
"Oh, ya see Mr. Duke, he helped me fixing up the tarp over the load, an' when I was gonna have an ice cream it didn't seem no fair to have one an' let the poor kid watch, so I gave him one too." Cooter explained grinning.
"Good for ya, or ya would have gotten a switching," Mr. Davenport agreed.
"So ya had fun with Cooter then?" Jesse asked noting that the boy looked more cheerful than he had before they headed into town.
"Yes Uncle Jesse," Luke nodded eagerly. "Thank ya fer the ice cream Cooter," he turned to him remembering he was supposed to be polite.
"Shoot, that was nothing, thanks fer the help," Cooter grinned ruffling his hair.
"Well, we've got to be heading back home, I reckon we're gonna see ya later," Jesse nodded towards them.
"Take care Jesse," Mr. Davenport nodded.
"See ya later Buddy," Cooter grinned.
"Yeah," Luke waved at him, beaming happily as he followed Jesse to the pick up.
In credit of the man who sometimes took me with him, letting me find whatever trouble or friends I could….
TBC
Please review, the Cricket is hungry…..