Chapter 20
Cooter looked up to see the Dukes coming out of the Courthouse. He spotted the sling on Bo's arm as he motioned the Dukes toward him as he headed their way, "What on Earth happened to you?"
Bo frowned and dropped his head.
Jesse shrugged and coxed Bo, "Bo..."
Bo sighed, "I thought that Luke, ... " He couldn't even bring himself to say the rest.
"He was lucky for sure with the way the Judge normally does things." Cooter finished.
"Yeah, wished I was as lucky. He got ten days, I got six weeks." Bo pouted.
Cooter replied, "Well, if it makes ya feel better I'd say ol' Luke there would trade ya places if he could."
Jesse nodded in agreement with Cooter and said, "We best be headin' out, next to nothing has been done at the farm today."
Cooter volunteered, "I'll be done here around five and can drop by to help. With Luke not home and Bo not a hundred percent maybe I can help."
Jesse replied, "I obliged, but don't go out of your way."
"It's no trouble at all." Cooter replied. "I'll see ya'll then."
Daisy replied, "And I'll fix us up a mess of fried chicken."
"It's a deal for sure now!" Cooter said.
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Back at the farm, Bo tried to do what he could but with only his left arm there wasn't a lot he could do.
Jesse indeed missed Luke with Bo being basically out of commission.
Daisy made herself busy fixing a big dinner in thanks to Cooter for coming to help out.
Bo felt about useless as even simple tasks were not at all simple without both hands and arms.
Between Jesse and Cooter all the mandatory chores were out of the way as they set down for a good home cooked meal. As grace was said by Jesse and Luke remembered in them everyone appetite suddenly left as each wondered what Luke would be eating tonight. All were sure that it was nothing that could compare to Daisy's fried chicken.
01~~~~~~~~~~ 01
After Peggy's scolding and put down, both Luke and Ralph had managed to stretch out on the hard bunks and ignore each other.
Deputy Petticord came downstairs with three containers and said to Peggy, "The bottom one is yours and I'll be by in a couple hours to relieve you."
Peggy opened the gate and replied, "Great. Thanks." She took the containers and checked them before handing them into the two young men in her care.
Luke opened the container and sighed at the sight of meatloaf. Not one of his favorites but he could eat it occasionally. Taking a cautious bite he had to wonder where the meat was and what was the 'loaf'. The mashed potatoes, obviously instant, tasted like the cardboard they came out of and he was sure the roll was at least a week old.
Luke glanced up to see Peggy adding dressing to her salad that she had previously ordered. Even though he was a meat and potatoes person, he'd gladly have settled for a good salad, but not being one to waste food he began the slow process of getting the food in himself.
Ralph took one look at the contents and closed the container. Leaving it in the bars he turned his back to Luke and hoped the night would end sooner if he was asleep.
Luke knew his night wouldn't end soon as sleep would not find him easily, but was glad to to see Ralph hopefully out of his hair. He managed to get his meal in him, placed the empty container on the shelf and set back on the bunk. He thought of all the things he should have been doing on the farm and all those that Bo could not currently do. For the first time Luke realized how much his irresponsibility would effect his family, and mainly his Uncle, that was more of a father to him than some fathers he knew.
Ralph appeared asleep while Luke remained wide awake. He quietly made his way to the barred window, looked out at the quiet town. The cells were still far warmer than comfortable with no breeze in sight. Luke looked at the coveralls, that indeed covered all. He thought, 'What he would give for his own jeans, shirt and boots.' Even with the soring temperatures the cement and steel of the cell still held a chill that sank in bone deep for Luke. He shoved his hands into his pockets, gritted his teeth, squared his chin, and let out a loud sigh, 'It was going to be a LONG ten days.'
Ralph heard him and said without opening his eyes, "What Duke? Miss yer little girlfriend?"
Luke knew what Ralph implied, gritted his teeth, and said in a no nonsense low voice, "If you know what's good for you, you'll drop that line now."
Ralph seen that his comment annoyed Luke. That was good to know, but even with three quarters of an inch bars between them Ralph did not like the deadly look he was getting from Luke. He shrugged his shoulders and turned toward the wall.
Peggy had looked up. There was an 'exchange' between the two but both had kept their voices too low for her to hear them.
Luke did not like feeling as if he were living under a microscope at all. He had only managed to sigh when Ralph had tried to get a reaction from him. 'Ralph had gotten a reaction, true enough, but it just wasn't the one he had expected.'Luke thought. Between his anger at Ralph and the situation itself, Luke felt as if he could pace a hole right through the thick cement floor of the cell. Luke resisted the desire to start pacing because he knew that it would only give Ralph more ammunition that he could use against him. He sat down on the bunk, got out the two magazines Bo and Daisy had brought him. He tried to get interested in the Mopar book which was by far his book of choice. After reading, re-reading, and again re-reading the first few sentences of the article ***** Max Wedge Engine Sixteen Pack Cross Ram Manifold.The picture of the four-carb Max Wedge induction system had peeked his interest but Luke soon found that he was not going to be able to concentrate enough to find out just how that monster worked. He flipped through the rest of the magazine and nothing really caught his attention enough to hold it long enough to read a whole article. He put that book down and reached for the word search that Daisy had brought him. Luke knew that if he hadn't done any of them that it would hrut Daisy's feelings so he began to look for the words of the first puzzle in the book. It took little effort or concentration to complete the first few puzzles. It has also not taken up much time. Luke looked at the front of the book seeing that the book also contained harder puzzles. He found a word search that was thirty by thirty letters where the words could go horizontally, vertically and diagonally in all eight directions. This particular on was on dogs and had everything from 'Beagle and Pointer' to 'Drentsche Patrijshond and Welsh Springer Spaniel'. After taking a decent amount of time to complete the puzzle Luke looked farther in the book and found a few word scrambles. He found they made him think but didn't require a lot of concentration. Much to his relief it appeared Ralph had actually went to sleep earlier. He thought about the next set of jumbled letters as Deputy Petticord came downstairs to relieve Peggy. Luke figured that it had to at least be near midnight. He knew that he should be tired with the little bit of sleep that he had gotten last night, but he really didn't think that he'd get much sleep as he layed down.
01~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~01
Bo looked at the ceiling. His window was open and the night air gave some relief to the day's heat. He knew it was well past midnight and he should have been asleep hours ago, but he was feeling his heartbeat in his wrist. Doc had told him to keep it elevated above his heart at least for a few days but how was he supposed to do anything with his hand held to his shoulder by a sling. Uncle Jesse had began by fussing at him and finally conceded to let the stubborn one learn the hard way. 'Might be the reason why he couldn't bend any of his fingers for the past few hours.' Bo thought. He looked at the white monster that covered his arm from below his fingers to just above his elbow. Bo considered himself pretty strong and tried to straighten his elbow out. Nothing. Nothing at all happened. He knocked on the plaster and could feel the vibration but his injured arm felt nothing, absolutely NOTHING. He turned over on his right side placed the pillow over his cast and tried to get comfortable but found that his pillow was much harder on the cast than normal. Turning to the other side wasn't much better, with his elbow not bending Bo could not find a comfortable way to lay.
His thoughts drifted to Luke who was locked inside a 'cage'. Luke had always been a 'free spirit' that had always drifted to and fro, even in the middle of the night. Many times, even as a young teen, Luke had made his way to the barn when he had something on his mind. But now, he likely had somethings on his mind but couldn't wander his way through them. Bo turned onto his back, looked at the cast on his right arm again trying to move his arm inside, no luck. He looked over at Luke's empty bed. Bo could nearly count the times Luke's bed had been empty since they began sharing the room. It was usually when Luke had spent the night with a friend or had spent the night with a relative to get an early start with whatever chore he had went to help with. Bo had never felt as alone as he did now when Luke was gone before. He turned back over. If this was any indication it was going to be a long ten days and a long six weeks.
01~~~~~~~~~~~01
Daisy could hear Bo tossing and turning through the thin walls of the old house. She knew he wouldn't get much sleep with Luke gone. She wasn't sure who she was more concerned about. Her heart went out to both her cousins. Neither was quiet whole without the other.
Then, she thought about Ralph Green. She knew who he was through Luke but hadn't had any dealings with him herself. The looks he had given her had made her skin crawl. It actually felt as if he was undressing her with his eyes. Daisy knew that Luke and Ralph had never seen eye to eye and under the circumstances she hoped that Luke hadn't seen the looks that Ralph was giving her. Something told her that Uncle Jesse had seen something the way he suddenly sent her and Bo upstairs, but he hadn't mentioned anything to her. One thing Daisy knew for sure was that she planned on wearing considerably more clothes the next time she went to see Luke.
01~~~~~~~~~~~~01
In the room across the hallway Jesse closed his Bible, put his reading glasses on the table and turned out the bedside lamp. He had known for years that youth was wasted on the young and both his nephews were proving that fact. Both their tempers had gotten them into a hole that there just wasn't any easy way out.
Jesse thought back to the visit earlier with Luke and how uncomfortable Daisy seemed. He'd never seen her act like that before and thought at first it may have been just seeing Luke behind bars, but the more he studied the situation the more he thought that Ralph Green may have done something to her that he had missed. In his worry for Bo, he'd certainly missed her outfit. He had thought about talking to her about it after supper but held off. Jesse didn't want to make a mountain out of a mole hill and certainly didn't want to stir anymore hard feelings with his boys and the Green boy. Jesse decided to pay closer attention today and just see what happened.
01~~~~~~~~~~~~01
Luke had been right. Sleep wasn't anywhere close by even though he had stretched out a couple hours ago and the Deputy had turned the lights down. Luke gave up and set up quietly. He saw Deputy Petticord look up from his magazine, then turn his attention back to the book in front of him. Luke wiped his face with his hand and tried to rub a crick out of his neck, then stood and walked to the small barred window behind him. The summer nights temperatures, the orange jumpsuit along with the situation itself combined to make Luke as cross as a wounded momma bear, but he only had himself to blame for it and that made matters worse. Before he knew it he was pacing the small cell deep in thought and kicking himself for putting him in this situation. His thoughts went first to Robin who had been the love of his life at one point spending the rest of her life with the, ... the, ... well at the moment he couldn't think of a word that actually fit Ralph. Just the thoughts of him touching her ran Luke's blood cold, then he remembered how stand offish Daisy had been to him and finally Ralph's ill directed comment to him about Daisy. He glared at the sleeping Ralph. Luke really wanted to have a heart to fist talk with him but knew it would only make matters worse IF he could have gotten to Ralph. He looked at the thick bars that separated the two cells and seen that the 'getting to Ralph' was not an option at the moment. He'd bide his time and wait. Even though Luke's temper was smoking, he'd wait. He might not like it but he'd wait. He paced more as he thought.
Dawn found Luke looking out the barred window across what little part of Hazzard Square that he could see. He saw Mr. Peters delivering the milk to various places in town. He felt bone weary as he heard Rosco's familiar giggle as he approached the gate.
"Git, Git, Git, Morning, morning, morning." Rosco greeted Deputy Petticord.
The deputy unlocked the gate for the sheriff. "Morning Sheriff."
"Here's the 'prisoner's' breakfast and Josie sent you your regular." Sheriff Rosco said.
The deputy had the good graces to act a bit embarrassed that the regular waitress knew what he'd want for breakfast. The containers were sorted out and he brought two toward the cells. Setting one in the bars of Luke's cell and one in the bars of Ralph's he said, "Breakfast fellas. I'll grab ya'll some coffee."
Luke hadn't noticed the deputy putting on a fresh pot but now smelled the fresh brew. He knew it wouldn't be Jesse's but the warm liquid would surely be welcomed this morning.
Ralph finally stirred at the deputies voice. He took one look at Luke and said, "Duke you look worse than normal. Don't look like jail life agrees with you."
Luke took his coffee and replied just loud enough for Ralph to hear, "It's not the jail. It's the company."
"Nothing like the company of that sweet thang that came to see ya yesterday?" Ralph tossed out.
It took everything in Luke not to make Ralph wear the coffee in his hand. Luke gritted his teeth, counted ten and opened his mouth to reply...
Foot steps were heard coming down the stairs which was unusual this time of the morning. Luke held his reply. The commanding voice of the judge was heard, "Sheriff Coltrane." The Judge waited for the gate to be open. Immediately he turned his attention to the cells. Ralph wore a smug look. Luke's anger showed. The thick tension was felt in the air, "Is something going on here?"
Ralph immediately replied, "No."
Luke was seeing red but replied, "Just working out our differences."
01~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~01
****** .com/techarticles/engine/mopp_1005_max_wedge_mopp_1005_max_wedge_sixteen_pack_cross_ram_ is the website for the article Max Wedge Engine Sixteen Pack Cross Ram Manifold that Luke was trying to read.
NOTE: This is a short chapter but wanted to post while I could. Internet is down and won't be back until about Tuesday. Also have to work 12 hours shifts next week, so posting may remain slow until I can get through next week. Thanks for your patience and reviews.