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 11 ….Girls
"Luke!" Martha stood in the kitchen door to call the young boy in from the barn. "Luke!"
"Here I am," Luke came running up to her, from the opposite direction and she sighed, that boy was a chore to keep track off. He had taken to wandering around the farm. They told him to not go to far away, but sometimes the boy still strayed more than they liked.
"I want ya to keep really close now Luke, Daisy wanted to go outside and play too, and I don't have the time to watch her, so I want you to keep an eye on her."
"But I wanna go play by the creek," Luke objected.
"Ya can do that later Luke," She told him.
"But I made a boat," Luke showed her the boat he had made out of some bark, with a paper sail.
"Luke, ya can do that later, or play in the puddle behind the barn, but Daisy wants to be outside an' I want ya to keep an eye on her."
"Promise I can go down to the creek later?" Luke wanted to be sure before he agreed to it.
"Yes you can Luke, but only if ya behave an' be a good boy, ya know that."
"Okay," Luke nodded as Daisy came running from behind Martha.
"Now, play nice ya two," Martha smiled at them.
Daisy laughed and Luke nodded, he didn't want to play with her, but he was starting learn that those things wasn't something he could negotiate.
"What do ya wanna play?" Daisy asked skipping beside him.
"I don't wanna play wi' ya," he told her.
"Why?" Daisy whined.
"Cause I wanna play wi' my boat down by the creek," he explained.
"I can play there too," she offered wanting to play with him really bad.
"No ya can't, Aunt Martha won't let ya, so now I can't either," he pouted.
"I's sorry Luke," Daisy wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Please play wi' me Luke, I wanna play wi' ya."
"Okay, but then we play by that puddle behind the barn," Luke told her. Since their aunt had suggested it he didn't think she could complain if they got wet or dirty. The puddle wasn't so bad, there was some rocks and branches there.
"Okay," Daisy hugged him again before running over to behind the barn, the two of them started building bridges and docks with the things they found there. Daisy was using sticks and mud to make houses next to it, and they pretended that it was a huge lake. Luke put down a flat stone in the middle and Daisy built a house on it to make it an island.
They were both pretty much soaked to the skin, but it wasn't nothing either of them cared about at all. They were having far too much fun. Luke found a splinter of a tree branch and broke it into piece to make more boats.
Giggling happily Daisy darted off and found a handful of small pebbles that she dropped into the water to make it fishes.
She was making the small things like that as Luke started to build a bridge. He was putting the bigger stones from the edges and out into the water, and then he would do the same on the other side, until they almost met, when he put some branches across between them, it would be a great bridge and he would even be able to drive his cars over it, and still the boats could go under it.
Daisy was making a farm there, and had started to try and make a mule out of the clay.
Luke crawled out into the puddle on his knees with a stone in his hands, he needed the bridge to be higher. Well, it didn't have to be, but he wanted it to be higher because that would be looking so much better if it was. Putting it in place he put his hands down in front of it and leaned forward over it. Wanting to make sure that it looked good before he started on the other side.
It looked really good, but it was too unstable. The stones didn't stack up good. The last one he had put on was to flat, and the one beneath it was to round. So the top one fell down and right on his hand.
Luke was really too surprised to scream, he just bit his lip and pushed the stone off his hand. The clay bottom of the puddle was fairly soft but it still hurt and he sat down where he was, tears streaming silently down his cheeks as he clutched his hand close.
"Luke?" Daisy crawled out to sit beside him. "Luke," she shook his arm gently, and then she wrapped her arms around him. "Ouchie?"
Luke didn't answer, he was just sitting where he was crying. Seeing her cousin in tears Daisy didn't know what to do, she hugged him and sat with her arms around him for some time. She tried to kiss it better, but she couldn't see where it was so she just kissed his arm, and when it didn't help she tried to talk to him again.
"Luke, don't cry Luke, please." Daisy was starting to cry herself, juts because he was crying. Then when that didn't help either, she got to her feet and ran back inside.
"Aunt Martha, Aunt Martha, Luke's crying," she burst inside and threw herself into her aunts arms.
"Daisy, what is wrong child?" Martha looked at her and her own tear stained cheeks.
"Luke got ouchie, he's crying?" She started wailing again as she explained.
"Where is he?" Martha frowned as she opened the door.
"By the lake," Daisy hid her face against her shoulder.
"Daisy, child, there ain't no lake here," Martha frowned.
"Is too, behind the barn, Luke's in the lake." Daisy wailed.
Martha assumed she meant the puddle there, though she couldn't fathom why Daisy would call it a lake. She was soaking wet though, so it had to be the puddle. Sure enough, coming around the barn she saw Luke sitting in the middle of the puddle. Daisy hadn't been wrong, he was crying and Martha had to put her down to pick the boy up.
"What happened Luke?" she asked concerned.
"Was making a bridge," Luke pointed to the stone that had fallen and Martha looked around. For two kids, they had built a rather impressive landscape there, she had to admit that.
"Where did ya get hurt?" she asked and Luke held up his hand.
"Oh, we had better get inside an' look at that, come on Daisy." Martha carried Luke inside and Daisy trudged after her.
Martha put him down on the kitchen counter and made him put his hand in a small bowl of cold water. His hands were so dirty she couldn't see if he was really hurt or not. She gently washed his hand off in the water while Daisy stood on tiptoe and held on to his foot, looking up to see what was going on.
Thinking that it might comfort Luke, she lifted Daisy up to sit beside him instead, and Daisy immediately threw her arms around Luke and buried her head against him sniffing.
Martha cleaned the hand off and noted that at least there was nothing broken. His knuckles was scraped and the top of it covered in bruises, his hand was a little swollen, but it wasn't anything bad.
"It's gonna be okay Luke," she soothed him. "Come now, we need to get the two of you out of those wet clothes. You first Luke, an' Daisy' don't sit down anywhere getting mud all over the place."
She took Luke to the bathroom and undressed him, drying him off and putting clean dry clothes on him instead. Leading him out to the living room and sitting him down on the couch before she got a few bits of ice from the ice box and wrapped them in a kitchen towel. Taking it to him and telling him to hold it to his hand. Luke sniffed and nodded.
Taking Daisy and getting her too changed in dry clothes she told her that they would have to stay indoors instead.
"Why don't ya see if ya can make Luke feel any better?" she suggested brushing a few strands of hair away from Luke's forehead.
"Okay," Daisy nodded, standing up in the couch and putting her arms around Luke's neck, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Better?"
"Little," Luke admitted.
"Here children, this should dry up them tears," Martha came with a cookie for them each.
Daisy was eating her happily and Luke sat nibbling on his, then he had to smile as he looked where Bo was. He was still attempting his crawling, and was having some luck for once. He was actually moving forward, rather than winding up pushing himself backwards.
However this time Bo had encountered a new problem, one called furniture. There was an armchair in the way but Bo didn't know to go around it, he bumped into it, and he just didn't know how to take it from there. Having his head and shoulder against it he just tried to continue crawling before he gave up and sat down on his behind, giving the armchair a peculiar look.
"Bo wants Cookie to," Daisy decided, breaking of a bit of hers and sliding down to give it to him.
"No," Luke immediately slid of the couch himself. "He can't, he's too small." Grabbing Bo he had to take the piece of cookie from his mouth, something he considered decidedly disgusting, and something that started Bo wailing.
"What's happening in here?" Martha came rushing in worried that it was the next kid who had tipped something down. They had been talking about getting a playpen for Bo since he had started to crawl around so much.
"Bo wanted a cookie too," Daisy explained. "But Luke took it from him."
"Does Bo have it?" Martha asked worriedly picking the boy up.
Luke shook his head and held it out, holding as little of it as possible and Martha took it from him. "That's good of ya Luke," she smiled at him, bouncing Bo on her arm hoping to quiet him.
"Daisy darling, Bo can't eat anything like that. It can be really bad for him," she tried to explain.
"But he wanted a cookie," Daisy insisted. "Why can't he eat cookies?"
"Daisy, Bo has no teeth yet, he can't eat cookies. You must never give Bo any cookies, or anything that we don't tell ya that ya can give him."
"Why don't he have any teeth?" Daisy frowned, she thought everyone had teeth.
"He don't need any yet, babies don't have teeth when they's born. They grow out later, but right now, ya must never give Bo something unless me or yer Uncle tells ya that it's okay, do ya understand that Daisy?" Bo had finally quieted and she put him down on the floor again.
"Okay," Daisy nodded given her agreement though Martha was worried she didn't fully understand it.
"Luke, I'm proud of ya, you did the right thing," she encouraged the little boy. He was starting to show some protective instincts towards his baby cousin.
Since his hand didn't hurt as much anymore but Martha wanted them to play indoors Luke started a quiet game with Daisy. Mainly they were pet keepers and Bo was their pet. Luke got a blanket and bunched it up on the floor to make a nest that he put Bo in, something that had the baby satisfied enough, though he kept trying to crawl out every now and again.
Sometimes he would giggle as he did it, but other times he was so quiet Luke wasn't aware of it before the baby bumped into him.
In credit of the man who made me see that a puddle and some big rocks were all the toys you needed….
TBC
Please review, the Cricket is hungry…..