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….

Chapter 35 …Missing Cousins

Bo was kind of bored since his Uncle was busy, he was working on something Bo was too small for, like he often was, and it was a bad Bo day. Bad Bo day meant bad for Bo. For some weird reason, when he was bored and lonely he always got in trouble. He got caught trying to steal sugar an' cookies, his uncle spotted him climbing over the back of the couch. Whatever he did, it was wrong and he got caught.

"Uncle Jesse, when's Luke coming home?" he asked his uncle.

"Bo, ya's asked me that ten times already, I don't wanna hear it again," Jesse sighed.

"But Uncle Jesse, I's bored," Bo told him.

Jesse sighed, looking up from the fence he was mending. Bo just wasn't leaving him alone today. He couldn't really get any work done either with the boy constantly tugging at his sleeve, asking questions and begging for attention.

"Bo, I need to work," he sighed. "Can't ya play by yerself?"

"I dunno wanna play wi' meself," Bo complained, kicking at a pebble. "I wanna play wi' someone, I wanna play wi' Luke."

"Bo, mind how yer acting," Jesse told him sternly. "Now find something to do."

Pouting miserably Bo shuffled away, trying to decide what he should do. If his uncle didn't care about him, and Luke wasn't home, there was only one thing to do, go find Luke.

Having made his decision Bo started walking down the road towards town where he knew Luke was. He'd find his cousin an' Luke would be happy to see him, he was sure of that.

It was a long way to town though, and Bo had never walked it before, but he was stubborn, really stubborn. He recognized the road, but it just took him so long, when they went in the car, they went right from the old barn to the fallen tree. In the car, Bo could only count to ten in between they passed them, but now it was a lot longer. He tried to run to make it go faster, but then he only got tired.

His feet hurt to, a lot, but Bo still had his stubbornness to keep him going. He was hungry too, but he'd rather find Luke then to go back to eat.

Then he spotted the town, and once more started running. Hurrying down the streets until he saw the school, shouting happily when he saw all the kids out in the schoolyard.

He was running around looking for Luke when someone grabbed him. "Bo, what are ya doing here?" Cooter davenport demanded.

"I's gonna go play with Luke, cause Uncle Jesse's too busy," Bo beamed, hugging him.

"Does Uncle Jesse know yer here?" Cooter asked. "Is he here in town."

Bo shook his head. "Uncle Jesse's at home, but he won't play with me, so I'm gonna find Luke."

"Alright, come on," Cooter pulled Bo along by the hand, knowing what amount of trouble all of them was in if Bo was spotted by a teacher. He knew where Luke was, the younger boy would just be starting his lunch.

"Luke!" Bo cried out when he spotted him, pulling lose from Cooter and running to Luke, throwing his arms around him.

"Bo, what are ya doing here?" Luke demanded.

"Come to play with ya, walked all the way, an' my feet hurt an' I'm hungry," Bo declared.

"Bo, don't tell me ya ran away from the farm," Luke pleaded.

"Sounds like he did, an' ya know what that means," Cooter stated.

"Oh yeah," Luke nodded.

"Luke, I's hungry," Bo pleaded, tugging at his sleeve.

"Here," Luke handed him his two sandwiches. "Bo, slip in under the table, okay?" he asked as there was teachers outside.

"Okay," Bo was hungry enough to obey without questioning. He slipped down to sit on the ground leaning against Luke's legs.

"Look, if Uncle Jesse knew, he'd have called here," Luke pointed out thoughtfully. "But old Miss Higgins is guarding the yard today, if she finds Bo here, she's gonna whup him."

"I know," Cooter agreed. "We gotta get him out of here without letting her know.

"Luke, I wanna stay," Bo whined, tugging at his jeans.

"Bo, there's a nasty ole teacher here would spank ya a lot if she found ya," Luke pointed out.

"No spanking, please," Bo pleaded, near choking on his sandwich.

"I'm not gonna let her," Luke promised. "Cooter, do ya have yer bike here?"

"Yeah, it's over by the maple tree," Cooter nodded.

"I'm gonna borrow it," Luke glanced to see that Bo had stopped eating and was looking kind of scared. "Get Brody, an' start a ruckus, not much, not enough to get ya into trouble, but keep her busy, okay?"

"Ya got it," Cooter grinned.

"Ya can explain to him after, he won't mind," Luke decided. "I'm gonna have to take ya home Bo, I'm sorry, but I have to."

"Are ya mad at me Luke?" Bo asked tearfully.

"No I ain't, but Uncle Jesse's gonna be worried." Luke told him, pulling him out from under the table as he threw the remains of his lunch into his bag. "Come here," he pulled him into a hug.

"Just didn't want to be alone," Bo mumbled trying to hold back the tears.

"I know Bo, come on now," Luke pulled him along while Cooter went into Brody, bumped into him and the two boys started arguing.

Luke hurried to make Bo settle up on the handle bars of Cooter's bike before he took off from the school and headed back towards the farm. About halfway there Bo started crying and Luke had to stop before he fell off. The little boy was clinging to him with tears streaming, terrified of going back to the farm.

"Bo, it's gonna be okay," Luke soothed him.

"Uncle Jesse's gonna be mad," Bo wailed.

"I reckon he is, but I'm with ya Bo, it's gonna be okay." Neither one of them heard the car pulling up, nor realized that it stopped.

"Thank God ya found him Luke," Jesse suddenly said, picking Bo up.

"Uncle Jesse," Luke mumbled startled.

"Didn't notice he was missing at first, I was mending the fence," Jesse explained. "Where'd ya find him Luke?"

"He came to school," Luke admitted.

"I wanted to go to Luke an' play," Bo whined.

"Did ya walk all the way to town?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah, my feet hurt Uncle Jesse," Bo complained.

"Ya know ya ain't supposed to go no further than that I can hear ya, an' ya can hear me," Jesse scolded him.

"Wanted to go to Luke," Bo repeated tearfully.

"Why didn't ya have them call me at the farm Luke?" Jesse suddenly asked.

"Cause Miss Higgins was watching the playground, an' she'd have took him an' whooped him." Luke explained. "She does that, an' I didn't want her to do that to Bo."

"I know," Jesse nodded. "Ya always do all that ya can fer that boy, but ya know I'm gonna have to punish him fer this."

"I know Uncle Jesse but better you than her, she's mean," Luke insisted.

"I guess so, so ya took off from there to save Bo's hide," Jesse stated, hiding a small smile behind his beard.

"I reckon so," Luke nodded.

"Ain't much point in making ya go back there today either, that Cooter's bike ain't it?" Jesse asked him, carrying a still crying Bo.

"Yeah, he let me borrow it, didn't wanna walk Bo all the way home," Luke nodded.

"Alright Luke, put the bike in the back of the pickup, we's gonna take it back to Cooter later."

"Okay," Luke leaned the bike against the pickup before climbing up in the truck bed and lifting it up.

Jesse had Bo climb up in the cab and sit on the seat, giving him a handkerchief while Luke got in as well.

"Bo, we're gonna talk about this when we get back home, but first I need to call the school an' let them know where Luke is."

"I wanna be with Luke," Bo complained loudly.

"I know that Bo, but ya can't go running off like that," Jesse told him sternly. "Do ya have any idea how worried ya made me?"

"Uncle Jesse," Bo whined latching on to him.

"When they reached the farm Luke carried Bo inside while Jesse rang up the school to let them know why Luke had suddenly taken off. Then he had to take care of disciplining Bo, a task he hated. Luke was in the house while Jesse dealt with him, and while Jesse held Bo's hand on the way back to the house, Bo ran to their room as soon as he was inside the house. Throwing himself on Luke's bed he started crying again, and Luke did his best to comfort him.

"Luke, are ya mad at me?" he asked as Luke gave him his teddy bear.

"No Bo, but Uncle Jesse's right, ya shouldn't have run off like ya did," Luke told him. "Bo, ya could've got hurt."

"Uncle Jesse's to busy," Bo cried. "Always too busy, I just wanted to find ya."

"I know Bo," Luke nodded. "But ya still can't do it. Bo, I know it's hard, but ya can't run off from Uncle Jesse like that."

"I won't again," Bo promised. "I won't Luke, I promise."

"Bo, if ya feel that lonely when Uncle Jesse's working, ya should tell him so. He has to work, he has to work so he can take care of us, but he ain't so busy he don't have any time for ya," Luke explained.

"Don't feel that way," Bo mumbled. "Luke, can ya tell Uncle Jesse that for me?"

"Why don't ya do it yerself?" Luke asked him.

"Cause yer bigger, Uncle Jesse listen to ya," Bo stated.

Luke had never considered that his uncle would listen to him, but Bo wasn't always the best at explaining what he wanted.

Maybe it wasn't a bad idea if he tried to talk with him for him. He knew how Jesse had used to take him with him when he worked, and let him help a lot of the time. Bo should be able to do that as well, even if he was younger than Luke had been. If Jesse let him do that, Bo might be mostly in the way at first, but he'd be getting better and better at it.

In credit of the man who often got me for tag-along…..

TBC

Please Review, the Cricket is hungry...