CHAPTER 19
Uncle Jesse's truck, The General Lee and Enos' patrol car stopped in front of the Hazzard County's Orphanage, a yellow building surrounded by high pines, its white fence and its tidy garden tracing a clear border between the orphanage and Georgia's Nature.
Clara, who was waiting on the porch, walked to the cars.
"Did Lucy come back?" Miss Smith got out uncle Jesse's truck.
Clara shook her head, "No."
"OK, wherever she is, she can't be much distant," uncle Jesse stared at everybody around him, "so, we should look for her all 'round here. Miss Smith and I are goin' to follow the street to the town."
Miss Smith nodded, and so Bo, Luke, Daisy and Enos when uncle Jesse assigned to everybody their area of search.
"And we're goin' to warn folks too 'bout Lucy. Maybe someone saw her."
Again, everybody nodded after uncle Jesse's words.
Finally, they reached their cars and they left the orphanage.
Inside the patrol car, Daisy stared outside the window, trying to find any sign of the little girl.
"Wait Enos! Stop!" Daisy got out the car and ran to a near bush, "this is Lucy's hat, isn't it?" A small hat in her hands, Daisy turned to Enos, "I recall this hat, she usually wears it when…" she looked around her, "… when Miss Smith and Clara have a picnic with children. I went with them, several times."
"Lake Chickamahony!" Enos walked closer Daisy, "You're right. It isn't very distant from the orphanage and children can reach it on foot. Miss Smith, Clara and children usually walk along the road before to enter the wood, here, and walk to the lake. Lucy knows it! She's walking to a place she knows and she likes."
Daisy smiled, "We're goin' to find her. Come on!" She grabbed Enos' hand and they entered the wood, leaving the road and the patrol car.
A thunder exploded in the distance.
Uncle Jesse glanced at Miss Smith, "We're goin' to find her, Anne, don't worry."
"Oh Jesse, I'm so scared. If something's happened to that little girl, I won't forgive me for it. And if she's safe and sound, I'll tan her hide!"
Uncle Jesse smiled.
"These children are like sons and daughters to me. I love them as a mother loves her children."
"I know, Anne, I know," uncle Jesse nodded and stared at the road, trying to find any sign of Lucy, "Lavinia and I have always admired you, and it's why we've always tried to help you with the orphanage," his mind went to his young days, "not only 'cause we admired you, but also 'cause…," he shook his head, "… I still regret what happened. I didn't keep my word."
"Jesse, it isn't true. You and Lavinia have always helped the orphanage's children, and you have taught your nephews and niece to be like you; you are so loving and caring to children with no family. Thanks."
"Do you remember when Daisy ran away after aunt Lavinia scolded her because she cut her hair in order to look like a boy?"
Bo laughed at Luke's memory, "I don't remember it very well. I was 5 year old and Daisy 7. But I remember aunt Lavinia talking about it, again and again, teasing Daisy because she was a tomboy."
"Thinking of Daisy now and thinking of her when she was a child…" Luke shook his head and smiled, "it's like talking of two different persons."
Bo glanced at Luke and grinned, "Daisy can be a tomboy even now; sometimes she acts like a boy despite her pretty look."
"It's 'cause she grew up with us, doing everything we did."
"We grew up together: me, you, Daisy and Enos, while our fathers and uncle Jesse ran moonshine. Ol' times," Luke had a deep sigh, "I miss those times," he shook his head, "OK, stop thinking of it, now. We have to find that little girl."
A new thunder exploded.
"It's goin' to rain," Enos looked at the cloudy sky, "we have to hurry up and find Lucy."
They walked along a small path surrounded by high pines, a path everybody knew in Hazzard, a path ending in a wide glade, and, in the middle of the glade, Lake Chickamahony.
Enos and Daisy walked in the glade, looking around.
"LUCY!"
The name of the little girl echoed through the glade when Daisy and Enos called her, their voices alternating in their hopeful call.
"Daisy!" Enos grabbed Daisy's arm, "Near the lake!"
They ran to the lake's bank.
"Lucy's shoes," Enos knelt down and took the small shoes near the lake, "children like to enter the lake, but Miss Smith and Clara always watch them." He looked at Daisy and then at the water reflecting the cloudy sky, a gray and metallic surface transmitting him a cold feeling.
Daisy read Enos' fear in his eyes, she covered her mouth with her hands and she followed his eyes on that gray surface, "Oh no! I can't believe…" She stared at Enos getting his gun-belt off and walking inside the lake, looking around him.
"LUCY!" he shouted the little girl's name entering the lake, the water up to his waist. He was ready to dive and to look for Lucy underwater, facing the most scaring possibility, when…
"HI Enos! HI Daisy!"
Daisy turned to the little voice, her eyes and mouth wide open: Lucy was staring at her, smiling. She looked at the little girl's bare foot, "Lucy! Oh my God, Lucy! Everybody is looking for you! Miss Smith is really worried."
Lucy folded her arms around her waist, frowning, "Miss Smith is bad. She doesn't like me and she wants to give me to a man and a woman who are goin' to bring me away from Hazzard. I want to stay at the orphanage!"
Daisy had a deep sigh, she smiled sweetly and she knelt by Lucy's side, "Miss Smith just wants you to have a mommy and a daddy… a family, Lucy. Having a family is important, you know. You want to have a family, don't you?"
Lucy shook her head, her arms still folded, "No. I want to stay in Hazzard."
The first drops started to hit the lake's surface, water against water in its characteristic and relaxing sound.
"Boss' fishing cabin," Enos walked out the lake, he bent over and took Lucy's shoes and his gun-belt, "it's nearby and we can take refuge in it 'til it stops raining. The car is too much distant, now, and it isn't safe to walk in the wood because of lightning."
Daisy nodded and took Lucy in her arms, "Come on, little lady. We're goin' to talk 'bout it later."
Lucy wrapped her arms around Daisy's neck and shouted amused, "The cabin! The cabin!" then she pointed at a bush, "My knapsack!"
Enos walked to the bush and took Lucy's knapsack, he glanced at Daisy and she glanced at him, they had a deep breath and smiled.
FLASHBACK
Daisy took the baby from Mary Lou arms, resting him on her chest and holding him close: the baby she found inside The General Lee, the baby she took care of along the last days, the baby she saved from flames risking her own life.
Now, she had to part from that baby.
She inhaled his scent, a mix of soap, talcum powder and milk.
"Hey Daisy! He isn't your baby! You can't keep him!" Around her, her family smiled and lovingly teased her.
"Oh, I want a baby on my own!" her eyes sparkled when she confessed them her motherly instinct.
"And we're goin' to become his uncles," Bo and Luke laughed and looked at each other.
Behind her, Boss, Rosco and Enos too enjoyed the scene; in effect, Boss and Rosco were enjoying the money Mr. Craig gave them to repay Hazzard County for the fire's damages.
When Daisy glanced at the men behind her, Enos was looking at her and the baby in her arms with his dreamy smile, and Daisy guessed what he was thinking of: if Bo and Luke were going to become her future baby's uncles, who were Enos going to become?
For the first time in her life, Daisy thought of being a mother, realistically, and of the man who could become the father of her baby. For the first time in her life, even if just for a moment, she thought of Enos as possible father and husband. Even if just for a moment, that idea sparked in her mind and then faded, moving from her mind to her heart, settling down and silently growing up.
Sitting at the cabin's small table, Enos and Daisy relaxed while Lucy ran all around enjoying the new and unexpected situation.
"Lucy, your shoes!"
Lucy ran to Enos and sat on his lap.
Daisy smiled at Enos' efforts to put the small shoes on Lucy while the girl seemed unable to remain still.
"I'm hungry!" her shoes finally on, Lucy took her knapsack from the table and she gave it to Enos.
"Hungry?" Enos opened the knapsack and gently took a pot, "Strawberry jam?" he glanced at Lucy then he focused again on the knapsack, "and… bread? Lucy, did you run away from the orphanage after stealing jam and bread?"
Lucy shrugged, "I wanted something to eat after coming here. Picnic."
Enos shook his head and took a knife from the knapsack; he stared at the knife and then at Lucy, "Now, little lady, you should know you can't use knives," his look serious, "promise me you won't ever use a knife 'til you'll be older."
Lucy looked down at her feet, "It's for cutting bread."
"You can't cut bread on your own, Lucy. You're just a little girl. Promise me you won't use it."
The girl nodded, her eyes still down, "OK."
Enos grinned, "Well, and now, bread and jam! But… now, go to Daisy. My trousers are wet because of the lake," he gently passed Daisy the little girl.
Lucy finally in her arms, Daisy burst out laughing, looking at the serious and fatherly man turning into a child, cutting bread and spreading jam on it with a wide smile on his face.
They ate their slices of bread silently, just the rain pelting outside the cabin.
Daisy caressed Lucy's hair, "So, you like very much Hazzard."
Her mouth still dirty of jam, Lucy stared at Daisy and nodded, "I don't want to leave Hazzard. I don't want to have a mommy and a daddy but stay at the orphanage."
"And… what 'bout having mommy and daddy in Hazzard?" Enos looked outside the cabin, hiding his face both to Lucy and Daisy, his voice low and thoughtful.
Daisy held her breath.
Lucy buried her face against Daisy's chest, "I want mommy and daddy to bring me to meet Miss Smith, Clara and my friends, and uncle Jesse, and Bo, Luke… and you. Otherwise I don't want any mommy and daddy."
Enos turned to Daisy.
They looked at each other, silent and meaningful talk through their eyes.
Lake Chickamahony and Boss' fishing cabin is from the episode "People's choice", 2nd series.
The flashback is from "A baby for the Dukes", 6th series.