Thanks to all who are following and especially those who take the time to review. I hope you enjoy this chapter! A lot of things will be gettin 'patched up' here. Maybe it is something you want to see patched up.
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Chapter 64
As Daisy and Karen talked they were now heading back in the general direction of the house since it would be getting dark soon. Daisy asked, "Karen there still seems to be something bothering you."
Karen shrugged but nodded, 'yes'. "It's the whole thing about Court on Friday."
"You never did say what exactly they charged you with." Daisy said.
Karen looked down at her feet, "No, I didn't. Remember, I did tell you I did somethings I'm not real proud of. We were all charged with Underage Drinking and," Karen paused to let that sink in then added, "And, ... Indecent Exposure."
Daisy said, "That doesn't sound like it could be all that bad."
"The 'drinking' can be up to seventy two hours, but the other is up to twelve months." Karen explained.
"No. Surely they are just doing you all like they did Luke." Daisy said confidently.
Karen reminded, "And like you said the Judge tried to teach him a lesson with the ten days. I for one think I learned mine in a few hours."
Daisy tried to sound optimistic, "Maybe the Judge will think so too."
"Yeah." Karen nodded as they approached the farm house where Jesse, John and Pauline were still sitting on the porch enjoying the evening.
Pauline asked the girls as they came on the porch, "Would you two like to join us for a glass of tea?"
That was the last thing Karen wanted to do right now as she promptly rolled her eyes.
Daisy was more polite about the situation, "Not right now Aunt Pauline, I have some stuff I want to show Karen in my room."
Before Pauline could reply, John spoke up, "The girls are asleep in there. Would you two mind keeping an eye out on them and give Pauline a break this evening?"
Daisy eagerly replied, "Not at all Uncle John. We'll take really good care of them."
Karen wasn't really happy but replied, "Sure, Dad. We got them."
"I appreciate both of you." John said to the young girls as they went off to continue their girl talk.
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Jeb looked at Bo, "How do we explain coming in looking like this?"
"We were racing." Bo stated. For once he wished Luke had been with them to figure out just how to get out of the trouble that both boys were just now realizing that they would be in when they got to the house.
Both teens knew that Bo's idea was the truth, but it was far from the whole truth. It seemed the closer to the farm house they got the slower that they managed to walk.
Jeb noticed that Bo was even beginning to limp a bit. "Are you sure you are alright Bo?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" Bo asked.
"Well, if you keep limping like that Mom will be sure to call Doc out here." Jeb said as they were about to come around the barn.
Bo frowned. "I've seen enough of Doc for awhile. Hey, maybe we can go in the kitchen door and get cleaned up before they notice."
"I like that idea." Jeb agreed.
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As Bill watched the 'kids', he wanted to just come out and tell Luke and Robin that if they would just stop playing 'cat and mouse' that both them would likely be a lot more happy, but he'd seen them like this before. It was their business. He and Jesse Duke had long ago decided to stay out of their relationship. One thing that he did plan on doing was to have a nice long talk with that young man that just left with his daughter about how to call on his only daughter. He knew that his neighbors didn't care for the kids loud cars coming and going 'at all hours' and they certainly would not approve of just how the guy had left the street.
Cooter slide out from under the dash, "It really needs to go to the shop, but I can fix it for you to get to work and back tomorrow."
That sounded alright to Bill, "Alright."
"It may not look pretty under here, but it should work." Cooter warned.
"Do what you got to do. I'd rather not have to take the Firebird to work." Bill said looking at his oldest.
Mark cringed at the thought of his father driving his car to work.
"Luke can you grab the wire connectors and black tape?" Cooter asked as he pulled out his pocket knife to begin striping the wires that he'd have to splice together.
"Sure." Luke said as he went to the wrecker.
In no time at all Cooter had managed to splice the broken wires and tape up the ones that had been nicked or skinned. He was right all that tape didn't look pretty at all, but it should work. He then set to replacing all the fuses in the fuse box. "Alright, I think I've got it." Cooter said as he stood up from the truck. Cooter turned the key and the truck came to life, then he began checking the lights, the tape player and other items. "Alright, it looks like you are in business."
"Thanks, Cooter. How much do I owe you and Luke for all your trouble?" Bill asked.
Luke replied, "You don't owe me anything. I just came over to see if I could help."
"Don't worry about it right now. Just bring it in the shop and let me do it right and until then don't let anyone look at that mess under there. At least don't tell anyone the I did it!" Cooter smiled widely.
Bill extended his hand, "That I can live with. Thank you both."
Cooter and Luke returned the hand shake. Luke added, "I need to be heading out ya'll."
"You don't have to rush off. I was going to see if you both wanted to come in for something cold to drink." Bill said.
Cooter knew Bill's idea of something cold to drink and he pretty much had another idea in mind right about now. "Appreciate it but I need head on out. See you tomorrow when you get off."
Luke gave a slight grin, "There's at least a couple reasons I need to head on out too. I'd say the biggest is that Jeb's parents are over. I'm lucky to have been able to come over at all with company at the farm."
"Alright, then, tell John and Pauline I said 'Hello.' and I'm sorry that I called you away from company. I wouldn't have called if I knew you had company." Bill said.
Luke grinned again, "Don't worry about. Everyone needs a break from Aunt Pauline at times. I didn't mind a bit."
"You should be ashamed of yourself, Luke. Your Aunt Pauline is a good lady." Bill said while trying to hide his own smile.
"You are right on both accounts. She is a good lady and I likely should be ashamed, ... but I'm really not." Luke said.
All the men had a good laugh. Bill remembered Pauline from when John was dating her. Cooter and Mark had heard about her from the boys and Jeb.
"I got to go. Cooter if I can help do anything when you start working on that thing, give me a yell." Luke said as he headed to his car and Cooter headed to the wrecker.
Cooter replied, "I'll do it."
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Bo and Jeb took the long way around to get to the back door from the barn so as to not be seen by the adults on the front porch. Both tip toed up the wooden steps to the kitchen door. Bo knew that the screen door squeaked, so he held his breath as he slowly and gently opened the door just enough for both boys to enter the kitchen. Each was careful to step softly onto the linoleum floor to keep their boots quiet.
NARRATOR: "Have YOU ever tried to walk softly in boots? Did it ever really work out well for you?"
Bo stepped extra long to avoid the board in the kitchen that always squeaked. Jeb wasn't as familiar with the old farm house and stepped dead on it.
Pauline heard the board squeak all the way on the porch even over the adults conversation there. "Boys is that you?"
Both grimaced. Jeb even swore to himself as he automatically replied, "Yes, Mom."
Bo added, "We'll be out in a minute."
"Alright, Dear. Bring you a glass if you want. The tea is out here." Pauline added.
Letting out a held breath, Jeb replied, "Alright, thanks."
Bo gave him a 'that was close' look as they headed to the boys room. Bo had just put his hand on the door to open it.
Daisy opened the door to her room across the hall to go get the twins a bottle when she took in the sight of her cousins. The first thing she noticed was the blood on Jeb's shirt. "Oh MY God! WHAT happened to you?"
Bo turned quickly and intended to try to hush Daisy but it was too late.
Karen was now at the door. "What happened to you two?"
Jeb had also motioned wildly for them to hush.
Pauline heard the girls and was up and through the front door before John or Jesse even realized that there was a problem. Seeing the torn clothes then the blood on her son's shirt Pauline was into full 'Mommy mode'. She gasped, then said, "John, Jesse! Boys! Are you alright? Come in here where I can see where you are bleeding from."
Hearing Pauline's tone when she called them, both men were up and moving. Both heard the word 'bleeding' at the same time.
Jeb looked down at the blood on his shirt, then his arm, "I'm NOT bleeding. I might have been awhile ago, but I'm not now."
"Come in here and let me look at you BOTH!" Pauline said leaving no room for discussion.
Once they were in the kitchen and John and Jesse got a good look at the boys they saw reason for the womens concern for the boys. They both looked like they had been on the wrong side of a dog fight or better yet what the cat might have drug in the morning after the night before. "What on Earth have you two been into?" Jesse asked.
Bo sighed, "We're really fine Uncle Jesse."
"That didn't answer my question." Jesse reminded.
'No.' Bo knew he hadn't answered his uncle's question, but he'd hoped that his answer to his next unspoken question would have bought him sometime. Seeing that his planned was now failing miserably, Bo fell back on his original plan then made up the rest. "We were just racing. Up around the river bed, ... and fell on the rocks." They had been racing. Had been up around the river bed when they raced to the mine and had fallen on to the rocks of the mines jumping out of the carts. "Owe!" Bo added as Pauline was looking beyond his torn jeans.
Jesse gave John a look at hearing Bo's explanation, but before he could say anything Pauline spoke up, "Never-mind all that right now. Jesse get me some Ivory soap and a brush. John David go get me some of that shine I know you two have stashed around here."
Hearing his Aunt tell Jesse to 'never-mind' the explanation sounded good, real good to Bo. The next part about the Ivory soap and brush didn't sound good. Not at all, especially being followed by the shine part. He was pretty sure that Aunt Pauline had no intention of him drinking any of it.
Jeb, however, heard the 'right now' part to his mother's sentence loud and clear. He also knew just why she wanted the Ivory, brush and shine. Things were about to get down right painful.
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Let me know what you thought. Thanks again for reading! By the way, the part about the Ivory soap and scrub brush is dedicated to my Aunt Nellie. I still hold the memory of a tricycle wreck followed by my Aunt Nellie, who was an RN, making real sure all the coal dirt was out of my knees!