Chapter 56
After a tense breakfast at the Duke farm, John as promised drove a very reluctant Danny home.
Danny's parents had just gotten up and had coffee on when they heard the pickup coming up the drive. Mr. Stone when out the front door to see who was showing up at such an early hour. As soon as the pickup stopped he saw his son, who was supposed to still be grounded, on the passenger side of the vehicle that he didn't recognize. It was only after John Duke stepped out of the vehicle did Mr. Stone recognize him as one of the fathers of one of the kids that Danny had played ball with.
"Mr. Duke." Mr. Stone greeted. He wasn't sure how else to proceed at this point since he son should have still been upstairs asleep.
"Mr. Stone as you can see I brought your son home and hoped to have a few words alone with you." John said.
Danny's father nodded, "Yes, of course, but wouldn't you prefer to come inside? Coffee should be done by now."
"No, thank you. We've been up for sometime now and have already had breakfast, thanks in part to your son here. Isn't that right Danny?" John said.
Danny replied, "Yes, Sir."
Mr. Stone raised his eyebrows. He had never heard his son call anyone including him 'Sir'. "Alright, Mr. Duke what can I do for you?" He asked as he walked off the porch toward their visitor.
John was trying to maintain a calm that he did not feel. "As you know, your son was out at the lake awhile back with a group of friends when they had a run in with the law. It seems that your son's 'date' that night was my daughter. Last night they all figured they weren't in enough trouble, so they snuck out and went who knows where, but I'm pretty sure I do know what they were doing. Don't I Danny?"
Danny watched the toe of his boot digging into the ground with fascination, before he looked up, "Yes, Sir."
There was that word again, Mr. Stone thought.
John Duke looked Mr. Stone in the eye, "Now, I was young once and I'm not an unreasonable man. I can't have my daughter slipping out a second story window, not to mention the chances that she could have gotten pregnant."
Mr. Stone shot his son a look.
"It's not like that, Dad, we used protection." Danny defended.
"As I was saying, my daughter is grounded and won't be dating at least until I find out if we are going to be relatives. Now, I've told your boy here that I'll expect that same from and I will be keeping an eye and ear out on him. He is also expected, if it is alright with you, to be over at our place for Sunday dinner. If I may be getting a son-in-law, I'd like to get to know him when I haven't woke up to find my daughter missing." John said.
Mr. Stone looked from the man to his son. All in all he felt the man was being more fair than most fathers he knew, "He'll be there."
Danny's head shot up in total surprise.
John replied, "We'll set and extra plate. Dinner is just after church. Good day to ya both."
01~~~~~~~~~~01
The boys continued to talk and Jeb explained that he had found out Karen was grounded. After doing a bit of snooping it seemed that she had been arrested for Underage Drinking and Indecent Exposure. "Karen told me she was grounded, so I called around and found out why. It seems that my 'perfect sister' spent the night in jail.
Bo exclaimed, "No way!"
"That is what I thought too." Jeb responded. "But I confirmed it with more that a couple friends."
"For WHAT?" Luke asked.
"Well, with me here, it seems Karen picked this time to go out with a guy I played ball with. The way the story goes, he got here pretty drunk and then put the 'moves' on her." Jeb held up his hand to stop his older cousins, "I'll deal with him when I get home, when he least expects it."
Luke grinned. At least one of his younger cousins were learning something about not rushing into a situation without thinking about it first.
01~~~~~~~~~~01
Jesse Duke made his way out to the mail box Saturday morning. As soon as he glanced at the envelopes he knew exactly what one of them was: John's court date for the fight with Mr. Campbell. Jesse hoped that the conversation that he'd been able to have with Judge Hardcastle would do some good. At least he had tried to help his brother out. That is when he had found out about his niece's arrest in Placid the same night that her father had been arrested.
Jesse hadn't talked to John to find out if Pauline was indeed pregnant again. He knew John would get around to telling him sooner or later, but either way he knew that taking care of the twins alone wouldn't be easy for Pauline. Jesse sighed as he thought to himself, 'Maybe one of these days that boy will learn.'
He layed the unopened envelope on the table until he could call John later.
Daisy looked at the envelope addressed to her Uncle John from the Hazzard County Courts. "Is that what I think it is?"
Jesse nodded when he saw the look on her face, "Yes, it is. We all knew it would get here sooner or later."
"I know, ... it's just that, ... What do you think will happen?" Daisy asked.
Jesse replied, "With any luck he'll get a fine and a good talkin' too. I've talked to him since he was your age though and this is still happening, so I'm not sure how much good a talkin' to will do."
"Uncle Jesse you saw how Pauline was about Luke, what if he don't just get a fine?" Daisy asked.
Jesse reassured his niece, "They'll be alright, Daisy girl, they've been through worse."
01~~~~~~~~~~~~~~01
Saturday evening as John pulled into his driveway he stopped at the mailbox for the mail. As he thumbed through the mail he saw the unmistakable envelope from Placid County Courts addressed to Karen. He sighed. John had hoped that there were certain Duke traits that his kids would not inherit, but if Karen was any indication he be as grey as Jesse before he got all four of his kids out of the house. The envelope was also a reminder to himself that he should be getting his own 'invitation' to Hazzard any day now.
John came in the kitchen and hugged Pauline who was at the stove.
Karen had just in from the living room and seen her father hugging her mother. "Gross!" She said under her breath thinking that she had not been heard.
Pauline started to say something but seen John give her a warning look.
John turned to Karen, "You have mail."
"Mail? What sort of mail do I have? I never get mail." Karen said.
John layed the official looking envelope on the table in front of his daughter.
Pauline's eyes went wide. She just couldn't believe they were actually going to make her daughter go back to court on this.
Karen reached for the envelope and turned to leave the room.
"Karen Ann Duke!" Pauline called, "You get right back here this instance."
Karen stopped where she was, but actually considered going on up to her room.
John said in a more normal tone of voice than his wife had used, "Karen it doesn't work that way. Come on back here and open your court date so we can make plans to be there for you."
Karen wasn't really sure that she wanted her parents to be there, well at least not her mother.
Pauline's eyes flew wide at John's statement. Surely he didn't expect her to go to court and be looked at by half the town did he? She had never went with him, that had always been Jesse's role not hers.
Why couldn't Emily and Emma pick now to wake up, Karen wondered as she turned back toward the kitchen. She leaned against the door facing and began to open the envelope. She wanted this to be all over with but wasn't sure if she wanted the court date to be sooner or later as she was unsure exactly what would happen when she went back to court. Karen opened the envelope and pulled out the official looking paper. She noted that it was actually an official summons to appear in Judge Hardcastle's court at the Placid County Courthouse this Friday at 4 pm. 'Well, at least I don't have to get up early.' she thought as she looked up to see her parents waiting. "It's Friday at 4 o'clock, OK? Can I go to my room now?"
John nodded, "That will be fine. Dinner will be soon though."
Karen quickly headed for her room. Right now she wasn't so sure that her stomach could tolerate food the way it was flip flopping.
Pauline turned to John, "John David, surely you can't expect me to go to Courthouse again over this can you?"
"She's our daughter, Pauline. We need to be there for her." John said
"But, half the town will be there." Pauline replied.
John shrugged, "The ones that will be there will have their own problems, Pauline. They don't just show up at the Courthouse to watch cases because they don't have anything else to do like they do in the big cities. So get a sitter unless you want to take the twins. I'll make arrangements with the men to leave early Friday. Now I'll get cleaned up." He said as he walked toward the bathroom.
01~~~~~~~~~~~~~~01
After what was a very quiet dinner, Karen was washing the dishes, John was drinking his coffee and playing with Emily and Pauline had Emma. Other than the everyone but the twin infants, everyone seemed a bit quieter this evening than normal.
Karen nearly jumped out of her skin when the phone rang.
Pauline started to get up to answer the phone when John said, "Karen can you get the phone please?"
She was grounded from the phone, but was also closer to it. "Sure, Daddy. Duke Farm, this is Karen."
"Well, hello there! How's my girl?" The voice on the other end asked.
"I'm fine Uncle Jesse, but I'm grounded from the phone. Do you need to speak to Dad?" Karen asked.
Jesse replied, "Yes, please."
Karen handed the phone to her father and took Emily who was not happy about loosing her playmate. "It's Uncle Jesse."
"Jesse, John here." John said.
Jesse could hear Emily fussing, "Did I make someone mad?"
"Karen took Emily so I could talk to you. She must not have had enough time on her old man's lap." John replied.
"If you acted half as old as you let on to be I wouldn't be calling you right now." Jesse said. He looked up to see John's son who was nearly old enough to give his father the grief that John had been giving Jesse himself for years.
John grimaced. He knew his brother's tone and he wasn't happy about something. "So why are you calling?"
"I have an envelope here addressed to you." Jesse said.
John swore inwardly. "When?"
"I haven't opened it yet. It's addressed to you." Jesse said.
"Go ahead and open it. We both know what it is." John hoped that it was not the same day as Karen's court date.
Jesse looked up at the four sets of eyes on him as he opened the enveloped addressed to his brother, then took out the Summons to Appear. He scanned the paper and replied, "This Monday, 9 am."
"Alright, thanks Jesse. I'll call you back and let you know when I'll be there." John said.
Jesse replied, "You know you are welcome anytime. So are the others."
"Thanks. I'll likely let you know my plans by tomorrow if not later this evening." John said, then added, "I'll talk to you soon."