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 19 …… Cowboys and Indians

"Luke, can I play with ya?" Bo asked as he came over to where Luke was out in the farmyard.

"Not right now Bo," Luke told him shaking his head.

"Why?" Bo asked pouting a little.

"Because I ain't got time," Luke explained.

"What ya gonna do?" Bo asked stepping closer to him and looking up at him with pleading eyes. "I wanna play with ya Luke, ain't played all day."

"I's been in school all day, I ain't had time to do anything at all," Luke explained to him.

"Why do ya always go to school Luke?" Bo frowned.

"Because I have to," Luke sighed, Bo wasn't gonna leave him alone it seemed.

"If I go with ya, can ya play with me there then?" Bo asked shining up.

"No, I can't, I don't get to do anything fun in school," Luke explained. "I have to sit still all the time, an' I can't say anything really, I just need to do a lot of hard an' boring stuff."

"But why do ya go there then?" Bo asked as he tried to understand it

"Because they make me," Luke explained. "I wouldn't if I didn't have to, that's fer sure."

Bo pondered it for a moment before hurrying over to their uncle. "Uncle Jesse, Luke can't go to school tomorrow," he declared.

"An' why's that?" Jesse asked, wondering if Luke had put his cousin up to something.

"He's gotta play wi' me, an' he says he can't, cause he has to go to school," Bo explained.

"That's right sprout, Luke has to go to school," Jesse nodded.

"But why?" Bo complained.

"Because he has to go there an' learn things," Jesse explained. He had a feeling Bo wasn't going to appreciate it when he got a little older and had to go there himself.

"I can teach him," Bo shone up. "Then he don't have to."

"Bo, how high can ya count?" Jesse asked the little boy.

"Can count to ten," Bo told him with a proud smile.

"An' who taught ya how to do that?" Jesse asked.

"Luke," Bo shone up again.

"But Luke has to learn to count a lot higher than that, can ya teach him to count a lot higher?" Jesse asked softly.

"Uhu, just need to learn first," Bo declared nodding his head.

"An' who's gonna teach ya sprout?" Jesse asked smiling.

"Luke," Bo declared with a moon pie grin.

"It's kinda hard to argue with that logic," Jesse nodded with a smile. "Sorry Bo, but Luke still has to go to school tomorrow."

"Can I go with him then?" Bo tried, thinking maybe that would work.

"Sorry Bo, not yet, but I tell ya what, why don't ya come with me fer a bit, an' let Luke stay by himself, then I bet he'll play with ya," Jesse suggested. He wasn't really surprised that Luke wanted some time alone.

"Okay," Bo agreed. He stayed with his uncle for an hour and then when he went back to his cousin he agreed to play with him.

Jesse smiled as he watched them, Luke and Cooter had built another soapbox racer, and it had Luke's name painted on the side, and a number on the front. It was Luke's car, and he didn't let his cousins play with it unless he said so. He could be a little possessive but since he shared a room with Bo, Jesse supposed he could understand it, and Daisy still sometimes had a habit of getting any of his toys she wanted whenever she wanted. Bo was actually better at leaving Luke's things alone, the only ones he really took was Luke's Teddy bear and his stuffed goat, and that was when he was sad. Then he'd curl up somewhere with them. Luke had long ago given him permission to do that, Daisy though could sometimes take his things so as not to dirty her own, and that made Luke mad. That was what Jesse could understand.

Luke had tied a rope to the soapbox racer, and he was pulling it along after himself while Bo pretended to be some famous race car driver, and he loved it. His whole face lit up in a smile, and Luke ran around the yard pulling the racer after himself until he collapsed in a heap panting, having exhausted himself.

"Thanks Luke," Bo giggled as he climbed out of the racer, and went over to where Luke lay sprawled on the ground, kneeling down and hugging him. "I love ya Luke," he declared, kissing his cheek.

Then Jesse looked up wandering what he was up to when the little boy took of running across the yard, leaving Luke where he was and heading for the kitchen, but he chuckled when he saw Bo emerge again. The little tyke was pretty thoughtful, he was carrying a half full glass of lemonade in his hands, walking very slowly and carefully with his eyes on the glass.

"Luke," he giggled squatting down beside him.

"Thanks Bo," Luke pushed himself up to sit, and took the glass from him.

"I love playing racer, yer nice Luke," Bo declared as he hauled out a cookie from his pocket and handed it to his cousin. He had been in the kitchen begging them for his cousin, and since Martha had seen them she had let him have it right away. "I love ya, Luke," he told him again, climbing up to sit in his lap as Luke first drained half the lemonade, then put the glass on the ground and broke off a bit of the cookie, handing it to Bo.

"What do ya wanna play now?" Bo asked as he sat munching on his half of the cookie and Luke finished the lemonade.

"We can play cowboys an' Indians, I guess," Luke told him. He was still tired, but if he was the Indian he could hide and make Bo find him.

"Yee Haw!" Bo cried out excitedly. "What can I be Luke?"

"Ya can be the cowboy, an' I'll be an Indian, so ya have to catch me," Luke explained.

"Cowboy!" Bo hollered. "I's gonna be cowboy!"

"Yeah, can ya carry the glass back inside?" Luke asked him and Bo bobbed his head up and down so his blonde curls danced.

"Good, then take it back inside, an' ya can borrow my cap gun an' my hat, then when ya get back out, yer gonna have to try an' find me, okay?"

"Yes!" Bo shouted, so happy that he got to borrow Luke's hat and gun that he threw himself around his cousins neck again, nearly knocking him over. Still, he walked carefully as long as he had the glass, then he ran inside their bedroom and got Luke's gun from the toy chest, and his hat from on top of the drawer. The hat was newer as they had gotten it for him last Christmas. Bo was thrilled whenever Luke let him borrow those things.

Luke had picked up a stick for himself, pretending that it was a tomahawk, and tucked it into his belt, he also got some chicken feathers from the ground and stuck them in his hair. Then he started to look around for a good hiding place, in the end he laid down next to the stack of hay, and pulled down some over him, leaving a hole where he could look out.

Jesse grinned as he watched the boys, he knew what game they were playing as soon as he saw Luke get the feathers. It was true that Luke sometimes didn't want to play with Bo right off, but once they started he usually had a lot of fun and didn't really want to stop.

Bo came out running across the yard with the cap gun in a tight grip, throwing himself to the ground and looking around in every direction.

"Uncle Jesse, did ya see that dirty ol' injun'?" he asked, taking after the language from some of the cowboy movies the two had watched.

"Sorry Bo, did he git away from ya?" Jesse chuckled as Bo nodded, getting back to his feet with a very serious expression.

"Uhu, but I's gonna git him, an' then I's gonna put him six feet under," Bo declared. "Don't know what he's gonna do there, but I's gonna do it." He pointed the cap gun towards the fence just for good measure. "Bang!" he shouted as loud as he could pulling the trigger at the same time, the thing wasn't loaded so Bo made the noises himself.

"Do ya reckon he was hiding behind the fence?" Jesse asked trying not to laugh."

"I's never did trust that fence," Bo declared seriously, while the hay stack giggled quietly. "He's had them beady little eyes ya see," he went on lisping slightly.

"I reckon he did," Jesse agreed, it was mighty cute the way Bo was repeating things from those movies. "So where do ya reckon that Indian of yers is hiding?"

"I dunno," Bo told him, squatting down and bending over to look on the other side of the goat. "I's gonna fin' him though, that dirty ole' rat can't hide from me."

"I'm sure he can't," Jesse mused.

"Uhu, he can't, cause I's got the hat," Bo stated as he trotted off, shooting random objects as he went, just to be on the safe side. Luke had taught him another thing, Bo wasn't the best count, but Luke always stopped to act like he reloaded after six shots, and so did Bo, after roughly six shoots.

Jesse kept an eye on them, grinning as Luke tossed tiny pebbles towards Bo as he had his back turned. Bo turned around and seemed to have spotted something, because with an ear hurting battle cry he ran towards the haystack and threw himself at it, and Jesse heard a grunt as he landed at least partly on Luke.

"I found ya, ya dirty ol' polecat fer an' injun'," Bo shouted, jamming the gun into Luke's chest. "Bang!"

Screaming himself, Luke toppled over grabbing at his chest.

"I got 'im, I got 'im!" Bo cried jumping up and down. "I wanna play again," he then declared as Luke climbed to his feet.

"Okay," Luke agreed. "Go an' hug Maudine the mule, an' then ya can come hunt me down." When Bo headed over to the mule Luke hurried out onto the yard, and as he spotted his uncles jacket close to him, he grabbed it and threw it over himself as he curled up. Jesse chuckled to himself as he watched, the boy was inventive, he had to give him that.

Bo acted much the same way, he shot the outhouse to pieces, looked behind the pig, asked Jesse, and then when he walked close to Luke's hiding place the boy acted. With a terrible scream he jumped up, throwing himself over Bo who screamed himself in fright. Luke had his stick tomahawk drawn, and Bo struck out in a combination of fear and self defense, hitting Luke on the arm with the cap gun. Then the two boys tumbled to the ground, Bo on top of Luke.

"Ha, got ya paleface," Luke declared.

"Bad injun'," Bo declared, slapping him on the arm. "I's scared."

"But I got ya," Luke insisted.

"Yeah, are ya gonna take my scalp now?" Bo asked.

"Uhu, I sure am," Luke nodding, pulling the hat off his younger cousins head he grabbed hold of a single strand of hair and pulled it out, thereby he had taken his scalp, according to tradition he was supposed to hang it from his belt, and since he couldn't attach it to his belt, he simply put it in his pocket. When he was the cowboy, if the Indian won, Bo got to do the same.

Bo rubbed the top of his head, but he knew the rules of the game, and he wasn't complaining. In a way he even liked to be scared.

"Can I ride now, Luke?" he begged.

"Ya wanna ride piggyback?" Luke asked.

"Can I?" Bo pleaded.

"Okay," Luke nodded. He knelt down so that Bo could climb up on his back, then straightened up carefully while Bo wrapped his arms around his neck. He loved it when he got to ride on Luke's back, and Luke would run at a trot, and even jumping over small things.

Bo was still being a cowboy though, and hollering and yelling at the cows he assumed they were bring in, and Luke was making the best horse sounds he could.

"Hey cowboy," Jesse called after sometime. "Ya gotta get inside an' wash up fer supper now, an' best bring yer horse to, so it can git some water."

"Okay Uncle Jesse," Bo called back, lightly kicking his heels against Luke to urge him on, steering him towards the house, and riding all the way up the porch and into the kitchen.

"Did you boys have fun?" Aunt Martha asked them as they entered the kitchen.

"Lots an' lots an' lots o' fun," Bo declared, hanging forward to press another wet kiss on Luke's cheek. "Luke's the best horse ever, he's more best than Trigger."

"That is a good horse," Martha agreed. "But ya need to wash yer hands now, an' yer horse has to wash his hoofs before ya sit down to supper."

"Okay, good horsie," Bo giggled as he slipped down onto the floor. Climbing up on a chair he waited until Martha looked away before stealing a pinch of sugar from the sugar bowl, that he then proceeded to feed his horse. Luke eating it from his palm and nipping at his fingers while Bo shrieked with laughter.

She smiled to herself as they headed towards the bathroom to wash their hands. Them children gave her more happiness than anything else could.

In credit of the man who taught me how to use my own imagination as a toy….

TBC

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