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 18: ...Bicycle trips
"I can ride the bike now," Luke declared the following week when Cooter came over.
"Alright," Cooter beamed having rode his own red bike over to the Duke farm. He had hoped that Luke would have learnt enough for them to at least go around the yard some so that Luke could practice more.
"Uhu, I even learned how to make the turns," Luke declared happily. "That was pretty hard, ya know."
"Yeah, but the more ya do it, the easier it gets," Cooter stated. "Hey, why don't ya ask if we can go fer a ride on the bikes around the neighbor hood?"
"Okay," Luke ran inside, coming running back outside almost instantly. "Aunt Martha said we could, but we can't go too far away," he stated. "I'll get the bike."
Cooter grin as Luke ran over to the barn and came back with the bike. He wasn't all that good yet, so he pushed it over to Cooter before swinging his leg over and putting his foot on the pedal.
"Where are we going?" he asked eagerly.
"Oh, just around," Cooter stated. "Come on, I ain't gonna lose ya."
"Good, I don't wanna be lost," Luke nodded as he got started, going alongside Cooter.
The two boys went down the road and Cooter praised Luke for having learnt it that well. They didn't go to fast, not as fast as Cooter could go, only so that Luke had no trouble keeping up with him.
Cooter was slightly surprised by the speed Luke picked up as they went down a hill, the boy was still pushing the pedals even where Cooter had stopped and just rode it down.
"Hey, Luke, don't ya go so fast," he called out.
"The bike is going so fast," Luke claimed a bit worried by the speed himself.
"Well use the brake then," Cooter peddled harder so he kept himself alongside Luke.
"They's got brakes?" Luke asked surprised.
"Push the pedals down backwards," Cooter explained to him.
Luke bit his lip before doing as he was told, pushing down backwards instead of forward, it helped, the speed decreased steadily and Luke who wasn't really prepared for how the bike was going to act slid down into the ditch as he overbalanced.
"Luke, are ya okay?" Cooter asked as he jumped off his own bike and ran over to the younger boy.
"Yeah," Luke nodded as he untangled himself from the bike and climbed back to his feet. "I'm getting really good at falling off," he exclaimed proudly.
"I can see that buddy," Cooter chuckled. "When the bike goes too fast, ya can break it by pushing the pedals backwards."
"Okay," Luke nodded as Cooter helped him to get it back up out of the ditch. "I didn't know they had brakes, I kinda just fall over when I wanna stop."
"They got brakes, and then, if ya go down hill, ya don't have to push the pedals, ya just sit in the saddle an' rest yer feet on them, an' the bike won't go so fast, then ya can just press gently backwards."
"Cooter, there is a lot o' things to learn to ride a bike," Luke told him thoughtfully.
"I know," Cooter chuckled. "But it's a lot of fun once ya learned it." Truth to be told he had always thought it was simple things that came natural to him, on the other hand, he had started with the tricycle, and he was aware that it was harder to learn when you were older.
"It's fun already, but falling off hurts," Luke told him. Straightening the bike out he got up again and they continued, while they went down the hill Luke tried to think about what Cooter had said. He pressed down gently backwards on the pedals and it worked, he didn't even fall over as he did it, so the rest of the trip, it wasn't a problem. He even learned how to brake that way when he wanted to stop the bike and get off.
"Did you have fun?" Martha asked as they got back.
"Yeah, Cooter taught me they had brakes," Luke beamed. "Did ya know that Aunt Martha?"
"Ya didn't know that Luke, dear Lord, I thought fer sure ya knew how to stop," Martha exclaimed.
"I know now," Luke beamed. "It's a lot easier that way," he added.
"Cooter, before the two of ya go out again, will ya please make sure Luke knows all he has to know?" Martha asked the older boy.
"I'll try," Cooter promised. "But it's kinda hard to know what he does know an' don't know."
"Why don't ya stay here on the farm them, an' find out?" Martha suggested.
"Okay," Cooter grinned. "Come on Luke, I'll race ya with the bikes around the barn."
"Yeah, race!" Luke shouted. Grabbing up the bike and taking off as fast as he could.
Martha smiled to herself as she watched them, the boys were sure enthusiastic. Luke was striving really hard to win, and he wasn't doing too bad either, not for as little as he was.
The children was growing and there was no mistaking it. She soon found how she was putting Luke's clothes away for Bo, and sewing new ones for Luke and Daisy, while Bo was now running around the place every chance he got. Having learned how to walk, Bo wasn't slow in running, especially not if he spotted Luke. He favored his cousin. He'd run over to Luke and grab a hold of his clothes. All he could to get his attention.
Once when he pulled lose from Martha outside and ran over to Luke, he nearly hit him with the bike. Bo wasn't terribly upset by the incident, but Luke was. Jesse found him hours later in the hayloft, not wanting to come down. Deep down Luke still feared that he might lose Bo, and if he had hit him, it would have been his fault.
Jesse coaxed him down from where he was and took him over to the porch swing where he put the boy on his lap and talked softly to him. Explaining that he knew Luke wouldn't hurt his cousin on purpose. He might have to be careful and watch Bo, but Jesse didn't doubt that the little tyke would be fine. Luke slowly allowed himself to be comforted where he sat, trying to pretend that he wasn't a little boy because of it.
Jesse was learning just how much Luke hated to be seen as a little boy, Daisy had called him a big baby the other day, and Luke had thrown her doll all the way across the yard in his anger. Jesse had to punish him for it, but Martha made sure to talk to Daisy and tell her she shouldn't be calling Luke names.
"Luke," Bo came running through the half open door and grabbed hold of the only part of Luke he could reach where he sat. "Luke," he repeated, holding on to Luke's foot and trying to climb up to him.
"Hey there, Bo baby," Jesse grinned as he picked him up and sat him on his other knee, but Bo didn't want to sit on his lap. He wanted to sit in Luke's lap and scrambled over towards it.
"Don't do that Bo," Luke told him trying to move away out of reach.
"Easy Luke, ya ain't gonna hurt him," Jesse assured him.
"But what if he falls?" Luke asked, still remembering how close it had been before.
"Then he'd have fallen even if he was sitting in my lap," Jesse assured him.
"Play?" Bo asked, laughing happily and slapping his palm against Luke's leg. He could say a few words by now,
"No Bo, I don't wanna play," Luke told him.
"Why not Luke, there's a few more minutes before supper," Jesse pointed out.
"I don't want to play," Luke insisted.
"Esse, play," Bo repeated, bouncing up and down.
"Maybe if ya give Luke a hug, an' ask him real nice he'll play with ya," Jesse suggested. Bo understood what that meant, he could both hug and kiss people. He threw his little arms around Luke's neck and started pressing wet kisses to his cheek. "Play," he declared again, followed by several more kisses.
"Alright," Luke gave in. "I'll play with ya," sliding down onto the floor he reached up to take his cousin from his uncle's arm and carried him inside. He hadn't yet made up his mind what to play, and Bo never really had any ideas about what he wanted to play anyway.
"Wanna play cars?" he asked as he sat Bo down on the floor.
"Cars," Bo declared though he was mostly just repeating what Luke said.
"Okay, lets get the cars," Luke declared as he got up and led Bo to their bedroom where he kept his cars in a toy chest. He gave Bo a wooden one since he knew Bo wasn't very careful with them, and he didn't want his baby cousin to do any damage to his cars. Bo just put his hand on the car and started running it over the floor. He was making car noises the best as he could and Luke smiled. He himself played a slightly more complicated game, but it was fun to have Bo there as well with him.
Bo played in funny ways, he ran the car under the bed, then over it. Running it up the leg of the bed he sent it flying over the covers to land on the other side with a squeal, then he jumped up and down, laughing and clapping his hands. Falling to the floor he crawled in under the bed to retrieve the car, and then attempted to take the same way back. However he rose too early and clipped his head on the bottom of the bed. Sitting down on his bottom he started to cry and Luke hurried over.
Sitting down on the floor he scooped Bo into his lap, cradling him up and cuddling him, blowing softly on the top of his head to sooth the hurt. When it eased off a little Bo threw his tiny arms around Luke's neck, still crying softly. Luke tried to rub his head to sooth it but Bo obviously didn't want him to do that. Instead Luke got up and carried him over to his bed, grabbing his teddy bear and giving it to Bo.
His baby cousin didn't want to play anymore though, so Luke talked him into building a tent out of a blanket so that he wouldn't have Bo around his neck the whole time. When they curled up on another blanket inside the tent Bo just curled up beside him with his head in his lap and Luke sat singing to him softly. He didn't sing very often, because he didn't want people to laugh at him, but Bo liked it. He had his thumb in his mouth and wasn't crying anymore, though his nose was runny, so Luke used a corner of his shirt to wipe it off with.
Even as young as he was he was starting to understand that Bo was growing up, and he did things that he would stop doing as he grew up. Therefore, Luke tried to get the most out of some of it. He wasn't always in the mood to just sit and cuddle Bo, and sometimes he wanted to play by himself, or with Cooter, and not with Bo. He just thought that since he was with Bo right now, he might as well enjoy it while Bo was still doing it.
Bo was mighty cute when he fell asleep. He slept in that way that made him really hard to pick up and carry because his body didn't seem to hold together but just fell away, so Luke carried him as much as he dragged him over to his bed, and then climbed up on it to pull Bo up after him. Once Bo was up he started to undress him so he could put him to bed. Pulling off his little boots, jeans and shirt, he dropped it all on the floor, only leaving his under shorts before pulling the cover over him, and putting his teddy bear in his arms. Bo turned to his side, hugging the bear and putting his thumb back in his mouth, Smiling softly Luke curled up at the foot of the bed to keep an eye on him, and when Martha went to look for them, both boys were sound asleep.
In credit of the man who when I declared I could ride my orange bicycle took me out for a ride on the highway, not bothering to check I knew everything there was to know first….
TBC
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