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 12 …..Play Pens
Since Bo was most certainly crawling around to places he shouldn't Jesse had built a play pen for him to stay in. They had put a blanket in it, and one side was latched and on hinges so that Luke and Daisy could open it if they needed to get Bo out of there. Like if Martha wanted them to fetch him for her.
Daisy thought the play pen was funny though she claimed that it looked like a cage. She liked to sit on the outside and stick her hands in through the bars to Bo. While he would be crawling around in there he couldn't get out so Martha was able to leave him a bit more.
Occasionally Daisy would want to go in there as well, because she thought it was fun to pretend she was a baby too. Luke would go in there occasionally because he wanted to play with Bo.
Luke had learnt one thing, there were times when Bo started to look really sleepy like, an' then Luke would go in there, and if he put Bo in his lap the baby would curl up and cuddle with him. He loved that, Bo was so cute when he curled up a bit, and Luke didn't know how anyone could ever resist that.
Now thought he gently put Bo down again before getting out of the play pen, being very careful with the latch. Daisy wasn't allowed to go in there on her own, but Martha trusted him to make sure the latch was closed good.
The reason he left was because he heard a car pull up and he was curious who it was. Climbing up in the armchair by the window he looked out and saw Mr. Davenports pickup pull up outside. He grinned as he saw Cooter clamber out from it and jumped down from the armchair running outside.
He had developed a habit when he saw Cooter, he would run towards him as fast as he could and throw himself at him. Cooter would always catch him and spin him around.
Martha came out after Luke, wiping her hands on her apron and smiling at her friends.
"What can I do for you today Josh?" she asked smiling.
"Well, Rita was fixing to be baking but she didn't have no eggs, was wondering if ya had a dozen or so?" he smiled back at her while Cooter turned Luke upside down. "Cooter, mind Luke now, don't drop him on his head," he cautioned.
"I ain't going to Pa," Cooter grinned.
"Well, come on in Josh, an' I'll find ya some eggs." The Davenports usually got their eggs from the Duke farm. They bought a dozen anytime they needed it and the Dukes had more eggs than they needed anyway.
Luke pulled Cooter inside to introduce him more fully to Bo, since Cooter had only seen him briefly before.
"Ya know Luke, he's mighty small," Cooter smiled.
"Yeah, but when he does that, he's really cute," Luke explained. "He likes to curl up when he's tired like that."
"Can I hold him?" Cooter had never held a baby before, and Luke had opened the play pen while they were both sitting on the floor.
"Sure," Luke took his cousin and carefully transferred him into Cooter's arms instead. The baby looked up blinking as he was in the arms of someone he had not really met before.
"Hey there," Cooter grinned, carefully holding him. While he would toss Luke around a bit he was extremely careful with the baby.
Bo gave him a peculiar look before reaching up a hand and slapping him in the face.
"Hey, he's fighting," Cooter frowned.
"Not really, he just does that anyway," Luke explained. He reached over and shifted Bo a bit in Cooter's arms. Turing him over a little so he was on his side and had his face against Cooter's stomach, that Bo liked.
Smiling he nuzzled his face against Cooter's shirt, and grabbed a fistful of it before falling asleep.
"Hey, look at him now," Cooter beamed.
"He's sleeping," Luke beamed.
"He's cute, like a puppy," Cooter nodded. "How long does he sleep for?"
Luke shrugged, "Dunno, sometimes he just naps for a few minutes, but he can sleep for hours, except when ya want him to."
"Cooter, are ya ready to git back home?" Josh asked from the doorway. "Oh, I see ya've introduced him to the baby, Luke."
"Yes sir," Luke nodded. "Bo don't want Cooter to go yet, he's holding his shirt so he can't go while he sleeps."
"Well Luke, I'm sure Josh wants to take Cooter wi' him, so ya just help him lose," Martha instructed them.
"Couldn't I stay just a little, please Papa, Mrs. Duke?" Cooter pleaded.
"Well, it's fine by me, but I don't know if ya want the boy around here?" Josh stated.
"Oh, I don't mind having him here either," Martha smiled.
"Well, then I reckon ya can Cooter, I'm gonna head into town later today anyway, so I'll just pick ya up then."
"Thanks Papa, thank ya Mrs. Duke," Cooter grinned at them.
"Just ya be sure to behave yerself," Josh nodded. "I'll see ya later then Martha."
"Bye Mr. Davenport," Luke smiled as he scooted closer to Cooter.
Bo had obviously only wanted a short nap, because he woke up after just about fifteen minutes. Looking up and seeing Cooter grinning at him he pulled himself up a bit by the grip he still had on his shirt. Cooter bent down as the baby pulled at his shirt, and Bo reached up with his other hand to grab a handful of his hair.
"Ow, he's pulling on my hair," Cooter complained and Luke giggled, then he scooted over and gently opened Bo's hand to free Cooter.
"He's dangerous," Cooter stated rubbing his head as Luke reached forward and took Bo from his lap.
"Nah, not really, but after he naps like that he always moves around a lot more," Luke explained as Bo tried to squeeze his way out from under his arm. Kicking him in the stomach as he worked on it.
"So what do we do with him now?" Cooter frowned, reaching out his hand to pet him gently. Bo's cheeks were incredible soft and he liked it.
"Hey, go into my room an' fetch the green car that is on the floor by the bed," Luke instructed him with a grin as Cooter nodded and went to get the car. Luke put Bo down on the floor and grinned as he took the car from Cooter.
"Watch this," he grinned as he pushed the car and made it run right past Bo. With a laugh Bo leaned forward and slapped the top of the car with his little hand. Then he swatted at it and sent it back in the general direction of Luke and Cooter.
"Hey, he already knows how to play with cars," Cooter grinned. "Can I try it?"
"Okay," Luke handed it to him and Bo did the exact same thing again as the car came close to him.
"Luke, put Bo back into the playpen," Martha told them from the doorway, worried that the two boys would get too caught up in their own games and forget that the baby was there to.
"Okay," Luke picked Bo up and carried him into the playpen, gently putting him down in there before he latched the side carefully.
"Why don't you boys go play outside?" Martha suggested to them.
"Okay," Luke agreed again, having learnt by experience and a few misunderstandings that when they asked a question that way, it really was an order. He paused a bit thinking, there had to be advantages to having older boys around. "Aunt Martha, can Cooter an' me go down to the waterfall in the creek an' have a picnic so we can play wi' my boat?" He asked hopefully. While he was allowed to go to the creek, they didn't want him to go to the small waterfall alone. The creek was fairly deep where it came down, deep enough that he wouldn't reach the bottom if he fell in. Luke though, was mighty curious to how it would be to put the rough boat he had made in at the top, and watch it go down all the way.
"Alright," Martha agreed after having taken a look at the time and seeing that it would be some time yet before Josh was likely to come back for Cooter. "Picnic I suppose means that you want something to eat with you."
Luke grinned at her and Cooter gave a hopeful smile as well.
Soon they were headed for the creek with a few sandwiches and a bottle of lemonade in a paper bag while Luke carried his boat. The first thing the boys did was to put the paper bag down and run up to the top of the waterfall so that Luke could lean out over the water and put the boat in. Cooter, proving that he could be responsible enough to look out for others grabbed a hold of the lining of his jeans so that he wouldn't fall in.
"Look at it!" Luke cried excitedly as the boat plummeted down into the tiny pond below.
"I wonder if a car could do that?" Cooter pondered thoughtfully before they climbed down again. Grabbing a tree branch to rein in the boat back to shore so that they could climb back up and repeat it over again.
They watched it several times before sitting down on a rock and eating the packed sandwiches. It had been a good thing to, because all the running around had made them both rather hungry.
Luke didn't really have any idea of how much time they had left, but they played for a bit more before Cooter decided they should probably go back. He wasn't to sure either, but he was pretty sure they couldn't stay much longer.
In credit of the man who let me make my toys as I pleased, and with whoever was also with their father…
TBC
Please review, the Cricket is hungry…..