Chapter 17

Bo had been setting on the porch swing since just after Jesse and Luke left. He called himself setting there where he could see Jesse's pick up as it turned into the driveway, but he was actually still pouting because he didn't get to go.

Daisy had started washing clothes and had just hung the second load on the clothes line. Instead of going in the back door as usual, Daisy came around to the side of the big porch. She seen Bo still setting in the same spot. "Are you just going to set there all day"

"No." Bo answered, then after a long pause added, "Only until Luke gets back."

Daisy came over and took a seat in Jesse's rocker, "Bo you know that, ..."

Bo jumped up off the swing and started pacing the porch, "I know that I don't want to talk about it."

Daisy ignored his out burst.

"I'm sorry, Daisy. It's just they have been gone so long." Bo said.

"Maybe that is good?" Daisy tried to reason. "You know the old saying, 'No news is good news.' "

Bo looked inside at the clock as he came back to the swing, "It's almost eleven o'clock, Daisy. Luke had to be there at 9 am. What could take that long?"

Daisy shook her head, "I don't know, but setting here ain't gonna get them home any quicker or get any work done." She picked up the clothes basket and headed to the front door.

Bo sighed, "Daisy you have been spending way too much time with Luke." He got up from the swing and half heartily headed to the barn to try to find something that made him look busy.

Heading to the barn, he picked up a pitchfork to pitch some hay to the cow. His nerves were driving him half mad, and he couldn't stand the thoughts of what Luke was going through. He thought it over, trying to figure out how they'd do without his cousin if he went to jail. Nobody could pull Luke's weight around the farm. He was an irreplaceable part of everything that went on. And Bo sure couldn't do without him.

"Bo!" he heard, Daisy's voice breaking into his thoughts. "Sugar, you've got to calm down. Look what ya did to poor Bessie!"

Bo looked down to see what Daisy was talking about, and sighed. "I'm sorry, Bessie," he said, to the Jersey cow who was now wearing a rather thick layer of hay.

01~~~~~~~~~~~01

Jesse said to Luke and the boys, "Come on fellas let's walk out to the hall awhile."

Cooter was the first to speak in the hallway, "What do you think?" He had addressed the question to Luke and / or Jesse.

Jesse responded first, "Well, Cooter I just don't know. It is a good thing the other charge was dropped, but, ..."

"That just means he can hammer me on the other two charges." Luke said as he leaned against wide window seal in the hallway.

The group fell into silence. A silence that make Cooter more edgy than he was to begin with, "Say Luke did you hear about Rosco takin' a nose dive into Hazzard pond the other night?"

Luke hadn't heard and really wasn't interested at the moment. He answered, "No, I ain't."

Cooter began, "Well, ya see, it was like this, ... Seems like some moonrunner had him a load, and Rosco knew it..." He kept his tone low, or at least as low as he could, trying to be careful about who knew how much he knew about moonshine running.

Luke tried to look interested in Cooter's story, but just couldn't focus on anything but the way he knew he'd feel after a few nights in jail.

"And Rosco was runnin' him a good race... You know Ol' Rosco's drivin' better these days..."

NARRATOR: Rosco? Drivin' better? Me and ol' Cooter must not know the same Rosco.

Cooter continued. "They was headed up around Hazzard Lake, and Rosco had the hammer down, and he said somebody came up from behind him and pushed him. Said he fought it, but they finally got him in the lake. Musta been rough, cuz the car looked bad..." he paused. "Rosco said he tried to shoot out the tires, but his gun wouldn't fire with it bein' wet like that."

Mark shook his head, "It wasn't nothing like that." Pausing for effect. "Rosco happened up behind that runner out on Rt. 7. I heard he got too close and the driver hit the brakes. Rosco swerved and took a swim."

Luke and Jesse looked at each other for a moment, both of them smiling just a little.

Cooter looked at them, then at Mark, but still felt like he was the only one left out of an inside joke. A few minutes later, it hit him, and a huge grin spread across his face. "Oh, I reckon I see what you mean." he said, trying not to laugh and draw undue attention.

Luke shrugged his shoulders at Cooter and Mark, "I love hearing stories like that about old Rosco." Especially when they had just as much got Mark to confess that he was driving that moonrunner.

Even Jesse had to smirk at the young men, "Just remember, he is a good law man and besides all that, .. he does get lucky occassionally."

"Yeah, tell me about THAT!" Luke sighed, being a recent victim of Rosco's 'getting lucky'.

Before anyone could say anything else Rosco came out of the court room, "Two minutes."

Jesse looked at Mark and Cooter, "Let's go boys." Then he seen Luke as he had visibly tensed at Rosco's words. With Mark and Cooter now moving toward the courtroom Jesse put his hand on Luke's shoulder. Luke was comforted by his Uncle's presence.

He looked up at the older man, and saw in his eyes a great deal of pain and worry. "It'll be all right, Uncle Jesse," he said. Luke wasn't sure who he was trying to convience more, Jesse or himself.

With Jesse's hand still on his shoulder guiding him back into the courtroom, Luke again tried to prepare himself for the worst, to be sentenced to jail for a year or better. It seemed as if his shirt collar got tighter as he walked closer to his seat up front in the courtroom.

Judge Hardcastle took the bench and the court was called to order. "Lucas Duke you have plead guilty to Racing and Fighting. We shall proceed with your sentencing. Please stand."

Luke looked at Jesse as he found his feet to stand.

"Lucas Duke, you have plead guilty to Racing and Fighting. I am sentencing you in accordance with the laws of this County and our State. On the charge of Racing I am fining you $50 and your drivers license will be revoked 15 days."

Luke bit his tounge at the judges words. He knew that Rosco would make 'double da- sure' that he wasn't even driving a nail for those 15 days.

"On the charge of Fighting," Judge Hardcastle continued, "You are hereby sentenced to 10 days in the County jail. Your drivers license revocation will start the day that you are released from jail. Lucas Duke you are hereby ordered into the custody of the Hazzard County Sheriff to carry out your sentence."

There it was. It had been said. Luke still felt his breath caught somewhere between his throat and his lungs. He couldn't take in a deep breath at the words the judge had just said because he had to some extent been holding a deep breath that he had taken in preparation for this moment, yet he couldn't let out the breath he'd been holding in relief either. He felt for a long moment that no air was being exchanged by his body at all. In fact he felt like a 'fish out of water'. He looked over to see Jesse moving closer to him as was Cooter and Mark. All three appeared to be a bit surprised by the judge's words. In truth, Luke as well as the others were surprised, but it was hard to determine if they were surprised that Luke had indeed been sentenced to jail or the fact that the judge had deviated from his normal procedure of sentencing more toward the maximum end of the sentencing range. Rosco was also gleefully moving toward the younger Duke with cuffs already in his hand.

Judge Hardcastle tapped his gavel to get their attention, "One other thing, ... Mr. Duke as you know I have given you somewhat of a break. I understand that you and Mr. Green have a, ... shall we say 'history'. I suggest to you as I will to him that you two work out your differences. I may not be so understanding the next time around. Also, I'll remind you that once you are released your drivers license will be revoked for 15 days. Should you be caught driving during that time, you will go to jail from 30 days to up to six months."

Rosco looked as if someone had just been given his first Red Ryder wagon and BB gun, along with the biggest juicest steak a man could want all at one time. His eyes were dancing and his mouth watering.

Luke nodded to Judge Hardcastle as he struggled to get his voice to work. Finally he managed to get out, "Yes, Sir."

Rosco stated, "Put your hands in front of you."

"You don't need those Rosco." Luke said.

"Git, git, git, procedure." Rosco stated.

Luke knew exactly what he wanted to do with Rosco's procedures, but done as told. Once Rosco had placed the handcuffs on Luke's wrists in front of him, he instructed, as he handed Luke his copy of the sentencing order. "Alright let's go get your paperwork started, jit, jit, jit."

Once downstairs, Rosco locked the gate at the bottom of the stairs and directed Luke to take a seat at the booking desk. Rosco picked up the white booking card that he had set out in hopes of this. "Last name..."

For a split second Luke looked at Rosco like he had lost his mind, then he crossed his arms, well wrists, as best that he could while wearing the silver braclets and looked at the ceiling. Finally he said, "You have all this information. Can't you just use the paperwork from last time?"

"No." Rosco chuckled, "If you were booked in here three times in one day, we'd have to do new paperwork each time."

"Great." Luke said.

Rosco looked down and started to write, "Ok, Mr. Great, first name."

"You know my last name is Duke." Luke said.

"Ooh, ooh, so it is." Rosco said. "And your first name?"

Seeing that this could take all day, not that he really had anything else better to do, Luke replied, "Lucas."

Just as Rosco was stacking the bunch of papers together after finally finishing them Peggy Mitchell came down the stairs. She was the wife of a State Trooper and lived close to Hazzard County. Peggy was one of the few Tri-Counties correctional officers that didn't mind overtime and often helped Rosco out. She was carrying two styrofoam containers, directing her statement to the young man setting in front of Rosco, she said, "I hope you like chipped beef. It was today's 'special'."

Rosco added, "It's always the special. Git, git, git."

Luke gave a slight shrug of his shoulders and replied, "It'll do. Can't say that I'm all that hungry."

Peggy asked Rosco as she stood at the locked gate, "Are you done?"

"Just got to get Lucas here changed into a jumpsuit." Rosco said.

Luke couldn't stop the glare that he sent Rosco first for the use of his given name and secondly at the idea of the jumpsuit."

She knew that most of the time that Rosco's prisoners wore their own clothes so this took Peggy a bit by surprise. She tried not to look surprised as she replied, "Well, alright. I'll just be upstairs until you are done." She turned and headed back up the stairs to let Rosco finish with the young man that she had seen around town but hadn't had any dealings with before.

At the top of the stairs, Jesse, Cooter and Mark were waiting to talk to Rosco.

"Can I help you Mr. Duke?" Peggy asked.

Seeing the Tri-Counties uniform, Jesse said, "Well, you can tell me what that nephew of mine might have for the next ten days and when I could see him." He was trying to hold back his annoyance at Luke's situation.

"Nephew?" Peggy asked puzzled that any nephew of the kind older man would find himself in trouble with the law at least enough to be in jail for ten days. "The young man downstiars is your nephew?"

"I'm afraid so." Jesse replied.

Peggy nodded then said, "Well, as far as clothes, he can have underwear and socks. A couple magazines at a time would be alright." she looked at the two young men with Mr. Duke and cautioned, "As long as they are not pornographic."

Any one who knew Cooter and Mark would not have missed the mischievous look they had given each other turn to one of disappointment just before they tried to look innocent. Jesse nor Peggy missed it either.

Peggy made a mental note to keep an eye on those two if they came to visit before continueing, "As for visiting, I think it would be better if you held off until at least after dinner time. Rosco has another hearing in a few minutes and there is a possibility of another committment. That would give him time to get them processed."

Jesse nodded, "Thanks Peggy."

Cooter looked at Mark and said, "Another hearing? I wonder ..."

He never got the sentence finished as Ralph Green came through the double doors and turned into the courtroom.