Thanks to those who are reading and especially those who review. Also, Bethie88 was able to help in the first part of this chapter, her comments are bold-ed, BL Davenport assisted me later in the chapter and her comments are reading and let us know how you like it. My thanks to them both for getting me over a bump or two.
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Jesse and Bo had completed all the major chores while Daisy had cooked a quick breakfast. Both Daisy and Bo were working harder and quicker than normal in order to get things done so they could go with Jesse to town. Jesse and Bo washed up and joined Daisy at the table for breakfast but no one seemed particularly hungry. Bo was actually wishing one of the dogs had been able to sneak inside so he could have fed it his breakfast like he did when he was five.
Jesse finished the last of his coffee after managing to clean his plate. He wiped his mouth and put down the napkin. He knew as well as he knew his name what was coming his way.
"You ready to go, Uncle Jesse?" Bo asked, standing up for the table and crossing the room in quick strides to grab his keys to the truck.
Daisy stood up behind him, quickly clearing the table.
"You ain't goin' nowhere without me, Bo Duke!" she insisted.
Jesse took his red cap off the back of the high backed chair, "Kids." Jesse said lowly then paused getting their attention before continuing, "Neither of you are going to town this morning."
Bo stiffened at the word 'kids'. "Uncle Jesse, I don't mean no harm... But we ain't hardly kids no more..." Daisy's face had a stubborn set to it, but she said nothing. The blonde looked his uncle in the eye. "Now I aim to go with ya and make sure Luke's all right... Me and Luke's good as brothers... ain't nothin' that'd keep me from goin'..."
Jesse held in the sigh. He knew this day would come with Luke. He had seen him 'testing' the waters with Jesse and Rosco. Jesse also knew that Bo had been trying to follow Luke in this and getting much too big for his britches lately. Jesse shot Bo a hard look before he spoke.
Daisy seen the look and decided now may be a good time to do the breakfast dishes.
Jesse said sternly, "Beauregard I'll remind you that neither you nor your fool cousin are too big that I won't put you over my knee. Luke is fine." He was determined to give Bo every bit of attention he was asking for if he continued to 'buck' him which he knew would only take more time to get to Luke that Bo claimed to be so 'worried' about.
Bo stood his ground. "Uncle Jesse, I know you can whoop me... And probably will... But I aim to go to town whether its in the truck or the runner..."
Daisy turned and looked at Bo wide eyed. She had never heard him talk to their Uncle Jesse like that.
Jesse nodded slowly. "Bo, ... You are pushing son. Now, I suggest you turn right around and head to your room until I get back with Luke and after I finish with him I expect I can come up with you a punishment for your sass." He seen Bo ready to shoot off his mouth to him again, "Or, you can start walking to the woodshed now." It had been several years since Jesse had been given no other choice in dealing with the boys. As of late, since they were nice strong young men he'd decided to let them work off their temper and punishments by using those very muscles, but today that didn't seem like the 'attention' Bo needed.
Bo stood straight up. "Uncle Jesse..."
Daisy shot her cousin a pleading look, really not wanting Bo to get a whipping on top of what was going on with Luke.
Bo caught the look out of the corner of his eye, and looked at his Uncle. The older man was still well within his abilities to deliver a blistering like no other, and Bo didn't want that. On the other hand, he also felt the need to prove that he was an adult by not backing down like a kid.
"Uncle Jesse..." he said, looking his uncle in the eye, this time pleading instead of demanding. "I need to see Luke."
"I know you do Son, but the more attention I'm forced to give you now, ... the longer it will take me to get back with Luke." Jesse said sternly.
Bo lowered his head. "Yes, sir." he said.
Daisy wanted to sigh with relief but knew none of this was over yet.
"Get on to your room and I'll be back with Luke as soon as the Judge gets there. It will likely be after nine before the Judge gets there, but I want to hear Luke's side to all this first." Jesse said while obviously waiting to see if Bo had decided to mind him. Jesse saw the lowered head, but the rest of his body language didn't seem he was ready to give up that easily. "Bo, I'm takin' the pick up and I know that ain't the only vehicle on the farm you could take to town but don't 'buck' me on this ..." He let the rest of the 'promise' hang unsaid, 'Or you will be sorry.'
Daisy 'heard' the rest of Jesse's thought and only hoped Bo would listen to him. She wanted to go get Luke too but wasn't about to jump into this stand off.
Bo sighed and turned back toward his room looking much like a young pup with his tail between his legs.
Jesse waited until he heard Bo's bedroom door shut. He took some money out of the cookie tin and said, "I'll be back directly. Keep an eye on him, huh?"
Daisy looked at Jesse nearly in tears from being torn between also wanting to go with Jesse to get Luke and Jesse needing her to watch over Bo. She also knew Bo needed her right now more than he'd admit at the moment.
Bo heard the pickup pull out just as Daisy knocked on the bedroom door.
"Bo?" Daisy called.
Bo sighed. He knew she would at the very least delay his plans. "It's open."
Daisy pretty well knew the door would be unlocked. Any door on the farm was rarely locked as everyone respected everyone else's privacy and space. She found Bo setting on his bed starring at Luke's unmade bed. "Sugar, I wanted to go to town too, but Jesse has got to have his reasons for not wanting us too."
Bo had originally not planned to tell Daisy what he had planned but found his mouth in motion, "I am going to town Daisy."
"BO! You can't! Come on, be reasonable, besides Uncle Jesse don't need all that with everything Luke is going through." Daisy pleaded.
"If Luke is gonna go through something I 'need' to be there. I should have been with him last night, but he was the one that insisted I go to that end of the year party with Enos." Bo insisted.
Daisy tried to be gentle, "Well, you know Enos would not have went with out someone going with him, besides, Bo, ... Luke is a Senior this year and needs his own space at times."
Bo looked at his younger cousin, "Daisy, he's had a bunch of time to himself. Well, that is when he and Robin are doing their thing or when he stays the night with her brother, Mark. But, with everything that went on the other day I figured that wouldn't be an issue for awhile..."
"Went on? Bo what are you talking about?" Daisy asked.
"You didn't hear? Luke walked. Robin was giving him grief and he walked." Bo said. No matter how much he wanted Luke happy he couldn't help nearly rejoicing at the news. Yes it was selfish, but it also meant Luke would have more time for him. With summer vacation coming up that meant fun or trouble depending on how ya looked at it. Bo looked at it as fun, though Jesse usually seen most of this as trouble.
Daisy sighed, "Bo you know they will work it out. I surely wouldn't be surprised if Luke don't marry her and have half a dozen kids in the next few years."
"I would have agreed with you right up until the other day. It seems she told Luke if he couldn't promise to marry her in the next two years then she had plans to marry someone else a lot sooner." Bo said.
Daisy gasped at that news. "What?"
"Yeah and Luke said that he kissed her and wished her happiness and walked." Bo finished.
Daisy replied, "Oh, no! He didn't!" She had a lot of questions about Robin and just who she was figuring on marrying if it wasn't Luke. Sure they had been an 'on again / off again' thing for years but always worked it it to get back together.
"Yeah he did." Bo replied. "Jesse didn't say who he was fighting with or why, but I'd about bet that it had something to do with that. So I plan to go find out who and why he was fighting to begin with."
"Bo, can't you just wait and find out when they get home?" Daisy asked.
"No. Cause if someone is causing Luke grief they can deal with me too." Bo said.
Daisy sighed, "Nothing I can say or do to stop you?" Daisy hadn't heard any thing about Robin until now but figured those questions could wait. Right now Bo was her main worry. Besides she knew if Bo went to town, she would go with him which would give the cousins plenty of time to talk while they were all grounded.
"No." Bo replied stubbornly.
Daisy nodded, "Then, I'm going with you."
Bo replied, "I can live with that. Let's go."
Daisy shook her head, sighed and followed Bo out to the car. She knew this day wasn't going end any better than it started.
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Luke had been taught from an early age not to waste food and he was trying his best to stomach the food put before him but he wasn't real sure how long it would stay down. He could hear the knocking on the upstairs door just as Rosco was finishing his breakfast. The voice, nor tone, could be mistaken.
"Rosco! Get up here and open this here door. It's after eight and public offices open at eight." Jesse could be heard even through the door a floor away.
"Oh, good grief." Rosco grumbled. "A man's a couple minutes late finishing his breakfast and it's a 'federal case'. " he unlocked the bottom gate and hurried to re lock it as Jesse was still knocking upstairs. "I'm comin' already. Just settle down there Jesse."
Jesse came through the now opened door and was surprised to see someone other than Luke in the cell upstairs. "Where's Luke?"
"Downstairs, Jesse. Just give me a second for heavens sake." Rosco said.
"I don't have a second." Jesse said.
Luke sighed. He had more than a second to wait. He really dreaded this as he heard Jesse and Rosco heading down the steps. Luke's eyes met Jesse's even before he came through the bottom gate. Luke promptly dropped his eyes to the floor.
Jesse seen the look in Luke's eyes just before he dropped his gaze to his feet. That told Jesse a lot of what he wanted to know. "Can I have a few minutes alone with Luke?"
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Rosco said, "I'll just be over at my desk, Jesse."
Jesse figured this was as good as he'd get so he nodded his 'ok'. Once Rosco was out of immediate hearing distance, Jesse said, "Want to tell me exactly what happened?"
No, Luke didn't, but figured that he'd better if he had any intentions of going home. Taking a deep breath, Luke began still only barely looking at Jesse, "We were all up at the lake and had been racing for some time, when Ralph Green showed up wanting to race me. I'd been waiting awhile for him to get 'froggy' enough to challenge me, so..."
Jesse interrupted by asking very seriously, "Were you drinking?"
Luke looked up in surprise, "No."
"Nothing?" Jesse asked.
Luke thought back, "Well, I had a beer at the Boar's Nest earlier. ... Way earlier."
Jesse asked, "What is early?"
"Like about 5. It was before we came in for dinner and all." Luke said.
Jesse nodded, "Ok, go on."
"We were over half way to the finish line when Ralph seen he'd never be able to pass me. He either lost control of his car or tried to put me in the ditch. Either way, we traded paint, he took a nose dive in the ditch. I finished the race. I seen he'd went in the ditch and went back. He'd did a number on getting stuck. It took jacking it up, pulling with the wrecker and me finally steering it out of the ditch while hooked to the wrecker and on two or three jacks." Luke explained.
"Rosco said you were drinking. Were you?" Jesse said.
Luke thought before answering. "After the race, while we were all working to get the car out of the ditch I was sippin' on a couple, three beers. No one else was racing, I didn't plan to race again and I hadn't planned to go anywhere for awhile."
"So let me get this straight. When Rosco got the call about racing, you were racin'. When he got there and saw you fighting, you were. But when he told me he charged you with drinking and driving you hadn't been. You had raced then drank, then ended up in a fight?" Jesse asked.
Luke looked at his Uncle in the eye, "Drinking and Driving? No, no way." He knew exactly what sort of problems a charge like that could cause and he didn't' just mean with Rosco. He added that Jesse had gotten the situation correct, "Exactly. Then, Rosco showed up."
Jesse didn't like what he heard but it was sight better than the way Rosco told it.
Luke was catching on, "Wait a second. What exactly are the charges Rosco?"
Jesse waved Rosco back to his desk, "I was told last night you was being charged with fighting, ..."
"I'll admit that." Luke said, then added, "Since Rosco showed up in the middle of it."
Jesse frowned then said, "Racing, ..."
Luke grimaced, "Not likely I could deny that even if we we not caught doing it. Ralph shot off his mouth and I likely confirmed it."
Jesse shook his head. He had thought he had taught the boys not to admit to anything. Then he got to what was causin' his big toe to hurt, "And Driving Under the Influence."
Luke shook his head, "Oh, but no. I admit by the time Rosco got there I was drinking but I had not been drinking and driving."
Jesse nodded, "Ok, we'll figure that all out at the house. When the Judge gets here and sets the bond I'll post it saying you will be in court."
Luke nodded but before he could reply a loud commotion was heard upstairs.
It started with Bo calling for Rosco as he and Daisy entered into the booking area of the courthouse. It was soon followed by the distinct voice of one Bo Duke bellowing, "RALPH! Where is LUKE? FIGURED it would be YOU to START THIS!" Bo was at the bars and getting louder.
Ralph was on his feet and backing up to the far side of the cell but that didn't stop him from talking a good game, "You're cheatin' cousin that did THIS, ..." indicating the swollen purple and blue side of his face, "Is locked up downstairs where he BELONGS!"
"Oh, yeah, well we'll just SEE about THAT!" Bo bellowed back reaching through the bars after Ralph.
Rosco frowned hearing the commotion, "Jesse you're gonna have to come with me. I need to see what in tar-nation is goin' on up THERE and I can't leave ya down here." Rosco was nervously fishing for his keys to unlock the gate.
Jesse gave Luke 'a look' and replied, "I think I need to go with ya too Rosco."
As Rosco locked the gate back, Luke sighed and swore at the same time. He was glad to be, at the moment off the hook with Jesse, but finding out he was being charged with Driving Under the Influence, which could not only cause him to spend time right here where he was but also loose his drivers license which would indeed make Rosco and all the local law rejoice, but make working for Jesse impossible at best. Yes, loosin' his drivers was ALL he needed to come out of a simple race and fight. Luke had NOT planned on all that at all.
Daisy was trying to get Bo away from the bars when Rosco and Jesse topped the stairs together. "Beauregard Duke" Jesse bellowed just a split second before Rosco yelled, "BO! Stop that!"
Daisy looked up, her hands still on Bo's shoulder. She wore a 'deer in the head light look' as she stepped back from Bo ever so slightly as she saw Jesse and Rosco heading his way.
Bo didn't even hear Jesse as he still trying to get to Ralph, until Jesse's hand landed on his shoulder spinning him around. "What in tar-nation are you doing here? Your both supposed to be at home!"
Bo resembled a fish out of water trying to get air as his mouth tried to form the words he's practiced for this moment all the way to town. He failed miserably.
Jesse said, "You two are so intent on seeing Luke, ... " Jesse paused, "If Rosco don't insist that you join him I suggest you two take a seat right there until the Judge gets here. We'll finish this at home."
Bo felt a sweat break out at Jesse's words. The part about Rosco making him join Luke downstairs didn't phase him, what concerned Bo was the 'finishing this at home' part."
Judge Hardcastle said behind them, "Well, I'm here. I take it my services are needed this morning Sheriff?"
Rosco decided to let Jesse handle the two young'uns, he had not one but two older ones to 'deal' with the Judge about. "Yes. Yes, Sir! I gotcha two to see this morning." Rosco beamed with pride.
Judge Hardcastle knew the type of 'crime' in this part of the state. This likely wasn't anythig really serious and he would be on his way well before lunch especially if the two arrested had family already here. He frowned at the Sheriffs eagerness, "Well, if I can have the paperwork we can get started in a few minutes."
Rosco beamed, "On your desk."
"Go on and open the Courtroom so Jesse and his family have more room." Judge Hardcastle a long time fishing buddy of Jesse's said. "Jesse I'll look over the paperwork and we'll get stated soon."
Jesse replied, "Appreciate that Judge."
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Please review the next chapter promises to be a bit unnerving for our three favorite teens.