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 10 ……Fish
Martha started setting the table while Jesse went to get the kids. Daisy was pretty much over her cold, but she too had been napping. Luke had obviously been plumb worn out so he had to wake both kids.
The only one awake was Bo whom he found halfway under the couch. Apparently his latest attempt at crawling off had sent him backwards as he wound up pushing himself backwards with his hands rather than pulling himself forward.
Waking Daisy up he sent her off towards the kitchen while going to wake Luke up, carrying Bo on one arm. Seeing his older cousin the little boy started waving his arms and making the kind of baby noises typical of a tiny child copying the sounds he heard. Thinking the baby seemed to have missed his play partner Jesse set Bo down on the bed beside Luke. The little youngster immediately started trying to get his older cousin's attention.
By raising the volume of his odd noises and clapping his hands up and down on Luke's arm the tiny baby managed to wake his cousin.
"Supers ready son," Jesse smiled at him. "An' ya got someone here I reckon missed ya today."
"I thought he was too small to know who I was?" Luke frowned as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, before sitting up and hugging Bo.
"Nah' babies ain't never too small to know who loves em'," Jesse grinned again. "What he was doing there, was letting ya know he loves ya too."
Luke nodded as he scrambled out of bed and started to get dressed, Jesse waiting for him to get finished.
"Can I carry him?" Luke asked standing on tiptoe to reach up and pat Bo.
"Sure Luke," Jesse bent down to give Luke the baby, smiling as Bo gave a small baby laugh of delight. The baby started slapping his hands against Luke's cheek, and while it wasn't very pleasant Luke figured that if it was Bo's way of saying he loved him he didn't mind it all that much.
Jesse took the baby and put him in his chair while Luke scrambled up in his seat. He bowed his head when his uncle Jesse said the grace, then Jesse served him the little trout that he had caught. Before fish hadn't really been his favorite food, but now he ate it as eagerly as if it was pancakes.
"Can I have some more please?" he asked as his plate was clean.
"Of course Luke," Martha served him another fish, and picked out the bones before she gave him the plate back. She didn't want him to choke on a fish bone.
"Ya seem to really like that fish," Jesse stated.
Luke nodded eagerly over a mouthful.
"I like fishy too," Daisy declared where she was eating her own.
"An' ya know Luke caught some of that fish," Martha smiled at the little girl.
"Luke can catch fishy," Daisy nodded.
"Did ya like to go fishing with me?" Jesse asked, hoping the boy had enjoyed it.
"Yeah," Luke nodded. "I like it."
"Good, I'm sure we can go fishing again soon then." Jesse smiled as he saw that Luke was eating with a healthy appetite. He thought it would be a good idea to take the boy with him every now and again to do things. At least he seemed to really benefit from it, and Martha was more or less doing the same with Daisy every day.
Since the baby and Daisy needed more constant watching he was afraid that the boy would get overlooked at times. Maybe not too bad in itself, but for a boy who was used to being the only kid.
Luke was yet too young for it, but it would be good when he could take him hunting.
Luke himself was concentrating fully on finishing his fish. He was getting quite full but he wanted to finish the fish because it tasted so good. Martha had finished and was now feeding Bo, thought he didn't seem to want to be fed. He kept turning his head away from the bottle.
"I reckon the boy just ain't hungry," Jesse stated as she tried to make the baby eat.
"I wish he would eat now, I need to spend the evening sewing a new dress that Daisy can wear to church, and the kids all needs to be bathed. I don't really have the time to go away from that to feed him." Martha tried again but to no avail, Bo just turned his head aside not taking it.
"I can feed him later," Luke offered, wanting to help.
"Sounds good Luke, I'll warm it up when he starts to git hungry, an' then ya can feed him." Jesse stated, happy that Luke was taking more and more of an interest in the baby.
"Alright then, thank you." Martha stood up to get started on the dishes so she could start on the dress just as soon as she could.
Luke was sitting on the floor beside Bo and playing with his cars and Bo at the same time. Luke would run his car past Bo, and the baby tried to grab it, giggling happily. He also got on all fours and tried to crawl again, thought he didn't seem to be able to make up his mind whether to follow the cars or get over to Luke.
He did manage go catch the car one time, it past right in front of him and Bo more or less fell down on top of it. Luke thought he would start screaming but apparently the baby didn't think it hurt. He just let Luke lift him off the car and blew a spit bubble as he put him down again.
Luke kept it up until the boy started getting fussy, when Bo looked like he was ready to start screaming any second Luke went to his uncle to ask him to warm up the food. Once his uncle gave him the bottle back Luke settled down with Bo to feed him. Bo was curled up content in his arms as Luke held the bottle. Reaching up with his small hands and grabbing at the bottle.
Then when he finished Luke made him burp and Bo slid himself down his shoulder to rest his head against his chest. Luke put the bottle down on the floor and wrapped his arms around the tiny body in his lap.
It was hard to describe how that little baby made him feel, but he supposed that love was a pretty good word for it. He knew that he didn't want to give Bo up. He had never thought that he would feel that way about a baby, but he did. He really loved the way Bo would cuddle up to him occasionally, grabbing a fist full of his shirt to hold on to.
When Martha was done with the dress she took Bo to give him his bath while Luke went outside to help his uncle with the farm work. There wasn't very much left, but he carried a few armfuls full of hay to Maudine the Mule.
Once Bo had had his bath she was gonna be bathing Daisy so Luke might as well be outside until it was his turn. He didn't really want to take a bath but had long ago learnt that there wasn't no use in objecting. Adults didn't care if you wanted to or not, but if you objected and was naughty they gave you a spanking.
Merely taking a bath was far better then both getting bathed and getting spanked on top of it. Okay, that was his parents, but somehow he doubted that Uncle Jesse and Aunt Martha would let him get away with it when his parents didn't. Uncle Jesse could be really strict, that much he knew.
Still, when Jesse was standing over by the fence Luke climbed up to sit on it so he would reach higher against his uncle.
"Uncle Jesse, why do we always have to take baths?" He asked, at least his uncle would not get mad at him for asking, not as long as he was polite.
"Well Luke, it's just one of those things that ya have to do," Jesse told him. He had seen the boy's reluctance towards the baths the earlier times too.
"But why Uncle Jesse, I ain't dirty," Luke objected.
Jesse just chuckled, pulling the boy's shirt sleeve up to reveal a dirty stain.
"That ain't nothing much, it'll come off," Luke defended himself.
"Of course it will, it'll come off when ya take that bath," Jesse smiled at him.
"Mama let me have my boat to play with when I did," Luke turned his baby blue eyes to his uncle pleadingly and Jesse sighed.
"Luke, yer getting too old to need ya boat to take a bath. Yer a big boy, big enough to know that sometimes ya have to do them things ya don't really want to do." There were times when Jesse thought that girl had spoilt the boy. She had been an only child, with parents that used to indulge her, then when the baby was lost both parents had sort of spoilt Luke at times. Not so that the boy was impossible, he was far from it. It had all been done with the best of intentions as well. Trying to keep a brokenhearted little boy from getting too sad. He didn't know that he would have done any different, yet a five year old boy should be able to take a bath even if he didn't get to play with his boat as he did it.
The boy pouted as he climbed back down from the fence. He hadn't really thought his uncle would agree to that. Even his mama had told him he was getting to old for it, but that she would let him a little longer.
"Luke, why don't ya grab one of them apples," Jesse suggested. "Maudine the Mule has earned a treat I reckon." It would also cheer Luke up just a little even if he didn't know that was what was happening. That was the best way to deal with it. Indulge the boy without letting him figure out that was what you were doing.
"Okay," Luke went into the barn and took an apple from the sack there, walking into Maudine's stall and feeding it to her.
Nothing made the term 'stubborn mule' more true than Maudine the Mule did. If there was something she didn't want to do, it was all Jesse could do to make her. She was fairly young as well. Not yet broken in fully to the hard farm life. Jesse had gotten her because even in a world where most work was now done by tractors, Jesse preferred to rein up a mule when he could. He had grown up with horses and mules for the farm work, and it was what he wanted to use.
Luke climbed up to sit on the wall in the stall so he came up to be level with her head. He didn't think it was really fair that he was always the biggest these days. Both Daisy and Bo was younger than him.
Jesse came into the barn and picked him up, carrying him inside. "Luke, I know this is hard for ya, with everything that has happened, but yer gonna have to learn how to make the best of what ya have."
Luke looked at him with big eyes, trying to understand what his Uncle was telling him but not understanding all of it.
At least when he was bathed and all, Uncle Jesse put him to bed and read him a bed time story.
In credit of the man who taught me the best way to kill a fish, and how to always repeat the same joke as we ate them.
TBC
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