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 28 …..Dressing Up

Having seen both the oldest children off to school on the Monday Jesse started going through the boxes. There really wasn't anything for Daisy, but plenty for the boys. Bo was absolutely thrilled, he really took to the fact he was getting something from Cooter, and dug into the boxes.

There was some that was his size, some that was Luke's and some that was to big for either one of them.

Bo seemed to figure it was a treasure, he was playing dress up to Jesse's amusement. Bo had found a shirt that went past his knees, and a baseball cap, beaming at Jesse while the cap kept falling down over his eyes.

When he found a garment that seemed even more fun he pulled on that instead, grabbing a fistful of jeans to keep them from falling down, as he giggled and laughed. When he grabbed a denim jacket and pulled it on, he lost the jeans so that they pooled around his ankles and he tripped and fell as he tried to walk.

"Ow," Bo whimpered as he rubbed his elbow. "Uncle Jesse, hurts," he declared.

"Ya be careful there Bo," Jesse cautioned him.

Bo tried to rid himself of the jeans, but the sleeves of the jacket was so long he couldn't get his hands out to pull them off.

"Uncle Jesse, help?" he pleaded.

"Take of the jacket first Bo," Jesse suggested to him.

Bo shrugged out of it, then pulled of the jeans and passed them to his uncle. Putting them to the side Jesse handed something to Bo that he suspected Bo could, and would start wearing right away. It was a cotton pajamas, and the pattern was horses, lassoes, cowboy hats, boots, and some cactuses and other western associated things.

Bo shrieked with delight as he saw it, rushing forward to try and grab it.

"Ya like that, don't ya?" Jesse grinned. "I reckon we'd better hang it out so that it can air out, ain't no way I'm gonna make ya wear yer ol' pajamas tonight I reckon. Taking it out on the porch to air out, Jesse started having Bo try on several of the garments, to check the fit. He could do a pretty good estimation, but there was a few things he thought might be a mite to big for him yet. Luke would get to do the same thing when he got home. A lot of it, he took outside to air out with the pajama. Then going inside he grinned as he saw what Bo was doing. The little boy had tipped over a box sideways and crawled inside it.

"What have ya got there Bo?" he asked.

"Is a house," Bo explained to him.

"So ya gonna live in there from now on?" Jesse asked him smiling, for reply Bo showed that he had already made himself quite at home. He had his favorite car and Luke's teddy bear in there with him.

"Well Bo, it does look like a mighty nice house," Jesse stated.

"Very nice, wanna live in my house wi' me Uncle Jesse?" Bo beamed innocently.

Jesse considered his size for a brief moment. "I don't think I'd fit in there Bo," he stated.

"Big house," Bo stated.

"I'm sure it is Bo," Jesse agreed. "But even if the house is big, I'm a little bigger."

"Uncle Jesse's big," Bo giggled.

"Think that's funny, do ya?" Jesse teased, of course Bo did, he thought pretty much anything was funny, especially chasing the chickens around the yard, no matter how many times he was told not to.

It was a good thing that Luke seemed to be too old for it, or there would've been no way to make him stop. Now at least Luke told him to stop when he did it.

"Maybe Luke will play in there with ya when he gets home," Jesse suggested to him, that, Luke hadn't grown out off, he liked to play in boxes. Especially with Bo, but he'd do it himself at times if he had half a chance.

"Can Luke an' I play picnic when he comes?" Bo asked, creeping out of the box.

"I don't know Bo, I don't have any picnic food for ya," Jesse explained. The boy couldn't get used to getting that every time. Bo was a healthy eater for most parts, and given half the chance, he'd be eating snacks all the time.

"Play car then," Bo stated.

"Do ya want me to turn it over for ya?" Jesse asked, thinking he'd want it upright.

"Yes please," Bo nodded. He was laughing loudly as Jesse grabbed the box and tipped it upright with Bo still inside it, jostling him around a bit in there.

"Again!" Bo hollered as Jesse put the box down.

"Think that's funny don't ya?" Jesse grinned

"Yeah, very funny. Again!" Bo agreed, standing up in the box as he waited for Jesse to do it again.

"Alright, one more time," Jesse nodded as he picked the box up again, shaking it and rattling it a little. Bo hollered like a regular little cowboy the whole time. Laughing so hard Jesse couldn't tell for sure if he was breathing properly or just laughing.

"Okay, that's enough," Jesse decided setting it down. "I shake ya around anymore, I don't reckon it's gonna be a good idea.

"Please!" Bo stood up in the box, jumping up and down in the box.

"No Bo, it's enough," Jesse insisted. "Wasn't ya gonna play car anyway?"

"More fun," Bo declared. "Please…"

"Maybe later Bo," Jesse repeated. "Go on now, play some so I can hang up these here clothes outside to air out."

"Why they have to air out?" Bo asked him curiously.

"Because they have been in boxes real long Bo," Jesse explained to him grabbing an armful.

"I's in the box, do I have to air out?" Bo asked a little worriedly.

"No Bo, ya don't," Jesse assured him. "Just the clothes."

"I wear clothes," Bo pointed out. "They's in the box to, cause they's on me."

"Still don't," Jesse smiled. "Can ya sit there an' play nice while I go outside fer a bit?"

"Do I have to?" Bo wanted to know.

"Yes Bo," Jesse nodded.

"Okay then," Bo agreed.

Jesse ruffled his hair, taking the clothes and hanging them outside. A lot of it wouldn't be used for some time, but there was nothing wrong with airing them out before he put them aside for the boys to grow into them.

When he got back inside he looked around because he couldn't spot Bo around. The box was overturned, but Bo was no where in sight. He was just gonna go look for him when he heard a giggle from under the box. That let him know where the boy was.

"Ought to put something heavy on top, an' then I ain't gonna have to wonder where ya are," Jesse mused to himself. "Thing is, I ain't sure it'd keep ya, yer a handful Bo, yer a handful," he smiled as he picked up another armful and took them outside. "Yer just like yer cousin, ya know that Bo?"

He doubted that Bo was even listening to him, he was to busy with whatever it was he was doing, and Bo didn't have much patience for 'adult talk' anyway. He wanted it to be easy to understand and aimed right at him. Sometimes, he didn't even care then.

"Uncle Jesse, why didn't I get any clothes, from Cooter?" Daisy asked pouting when she got back from school. Luke was still there, which was probably a good thing. When it came to 'because it's for boys, or girls' Daisy and Luke could get quite heated in their arguments. Daisy wanted to do what the boys did, and Luke didn't want to get his boy things invaded. Daisy, didn't want to be left out, and she liked to show off trying to be better than her older cousin.

That had sure been proved with the bike and the tricycle, Daisy kept insisting she was better because she didn't fall over, and Luke would wind up raging at her. Jesse could understand that, it was no fun for the boy to slowly master something, and then have Daisy come say he was bad at it, and that she was better.

The two of them had been at each others just last week, because Luke had made a simple oversight in his math homework. He had written down the wrong figure, and then he couldn't solve it, since Daisy could do the original equation she started to really brag.

While Jesse was strongly against arguments and fights in the family, he could understand that Luke got mad. Daisy could be a bit of a show off, wanted to show herself best. Jesse had let it be, when Daisy started bragging about being better Luke had started snapping, and it ended with him throwing his math book into the wall. He went out and cooled off, and when he got back inside the problem was over. If it hadn't, he'd have had a talk with both the kids, but by then Daisy was busy playing with her dolls, and Luke was had gone back to his homework.

"Don't worry Daisy, ya'll be getting some new cloths soon as well," Jesse assured her.

"Looks fun," Daisy pointed out.

"Is fun," Bo stated, jumping up and down again.

"Then why can't I?" Daisy repeated.

"Well, they's boy's clothes, an' ya need girl clothes," Jesse sated. "It's just the way things are, Daisy."

"Why can't they be another way?" Daisy asked.

"Don't worry about it baby," Jesse smiled. "Yer gonna get to do girls things that the boys don't get to do."

"When?" Daisy wanted to know.

"Don't k know, but yer gonna know when it happens, because Luke's gonna get real jealous," Jesse stated.

"Good," Daisy grinned.

"Ya like to make Luke jealous?" Jesse asked.

"Uhu, cause he always gets all the fun, Daisy stated. "He gets to do everything, an' I never do."

"Oh yes ya do little miss there," Jesse told her firmly. "Ya just don't think about it, because then yer the one doing the fun. An' before ya say Luke gets to do all the fun, ya might wanna think about who didn't go away to play, but stayed home watching ya an' Bo when ya didn't wanna go along with me."

"It ain't the same thing," Daisy told him seriously.

"Maybe not, but close enough, so ya be nice to the boys now ya hear," he cautioned her. "Even if ya think ya'd have wanted some of the clothes yerself, ya be nice to them, understood?"

"Okay," Daisy nodded.

"Good, then ya can go an' have a cookie," Jesse told her, watching her skip away towards the cookie jar. He hoped that she would grow out of that kind of jealousy of the boys, but he wasn't sure she would.

In credit of the man who made me feel like superman when I got his old clothes, because it made me more like him.

TBC

Please Review, the Cricket is hungry,