SMELL OF ROSES

SOMEWHERE, IN THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS

Daisy kissed Enos, a soft but long kiss. When she parted from him, he was looking at her with a grateful smile.

He stood up and stirred, walking to the couch, "I am happy to have finally gotten it off my chest. I have never talked 'bout it with anybody. My aunt's death hit my family like a twister, especially my mother." He stopped on his way to the couch, he stiffened and turned to Daisy, "Oh, gosh! My mother! She doesn't live in Hazzard any more and she doesn't know what's happening, but what if someone – "

Daisy walked to him, "Don't worry. Before Gus, you and I left Hazzard, uncle Jesse told me he was planning to tell everybody he was going to warn your mother about your death. He knew that if he had proposed to carry the weight of telling the bad news to your mother, nobody else would have called her, 'cause nobody likes to be the one who gives so terrific news. And, just in case someone decided to call your mother for their … ehm … condolences, uncle Jesse was going to send your mother and your aunt Minnie a letter, explaining you are alive, somewhere away from Hazzard, no matter possible strange news coming to Valdosta, and asking them to pretend those news were real if someone called them. Anyway, I don't think someone called your mother; she just knows that you are alive but you have to stay away from Hazzard for a while; she trusts uncle Jesse, and she is wise enough to avoid to come to Hazzard or to call uncle Jesse in order to know more 'bout it, 'cause she knows it could be dangerous for you."

Enos had a deep sigh and sank into the couch, "Uncle Jesse thinks of everything. Fortunately." He shook his head, "My mother doesn't need a new shock."

Daisy sat by his side and grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently and looking at him, his eyes lost in his memories. She listened to him; she listened to what she already knew but Enos usually didn't talk about.

"After my dad died because of a heart attack, my mother fell apart. Being both her younger sister and her husband gone, she had nobody else but me in Hazzard. You know, she was born in Valdosta and she moved to Hazzard when she married my father; she met my father during her visiting aunt Iris and uncle James; aunt Iris was the first one to move from Valdosta to Hazzard, after her wedding with uncle James. My mother's family is in Valdosta, and I know that, after my father's death, she wanted to go back to her town and to her older sister Minnie; she decided to stay in Hazzard just for me, knowing that if we had moved, I would have lost good and caring friends, beside my father," he glanced at Daisy and had a brief and sweet smile. "So, my mother endured her staying in Hazzard, even if everything recalled her of aunt Iris and of my dad, hurting her. When I grew old and decided to become a police officer, she finally left Hazzard and reached her older sister in Valdosta. Since I was a man, then, there was no need so stay in Hazzard any more."

Daisy nodded, "Your mother is a sweet woman, Enos. Aunt Lavinia and your mother were close friends. You know, from time to time she calls uncle Jesse and talks a lot with him." She winked, "About you."

Enos blushed, "About me? With uncle Jesse?"

Daisy squeezed his hand in hers, "Before to leave Hazzard, your mother put you into uncle Jesse's hands. She asked uncle Jesse to keep an eye on you. And from time to time she asks uncle Jesse about you."

"Do you think uncle Jesse told her 'bout what really happened to me? About my staying in Hospital?" He stared at her, "In the letter he was planning to send to my mother, was he planning to talk 'bout my injuries?"

Daisy half closed her eyes, thoughtfully, then she shook her head, "No. I don't think so. You're right, your mother doesn't need a new shock, and uncle Jesse doesn't want to upset her if it isn't necessary. I think he simply told her 'bout your stayin' away from Hazzard for a while and 'bout people believing you are dead. I think he avoided everything 'bout your bein' injured and your stayin' in Hospital: it isn't necessary, now, 'cause you are OK. Even when you were missing, and then when we found out you were in Hospital, uncle Jesse didn't warn your mother: when you were missing, it was too-early (we didn't know what to think of your missing); and when we found out you were at the Atlanta Medical Center, it wasn't necessary any more ('cause we knew you were alive and you were goin' to heal). So, unless someone calls your mother and tells her everything happened, but it's pretty improbable, she won't know anything. Your mother left Hazzard years ago, she comes to Hazzard very seldom (or she sends your aunt Minnie for reconnaissance), and uncle Jesse is the only person in Hazzard, beside you, she still calls, from time to time."

Enos sighed in relief, "I don't want to hurt her, so I avoid to talk to her 'bout anything of me that could upset her: this is my only dispensation from my no-lies rule. I didn't call her when I was in Hospital, neither I talked about it when she called me, last month."

Daisy nodded, "Neither uncle Jesse. He knows 'bout your bein' so protective to your mother and 'bout your sparing her any worrisome." She kissed his cheek and stared at him, "But… you know, Enos… you should stop to keep everything for yourself in order to protect people around you. You should open up, from time to time, as now."

He averted his eyes and looked away.

Daisy let his hand go and observed him. She knew everything of him, almost everything (she couldn't deny that his confession about his aunt Iris and about his reason to become a police officer surprised her). She stretched her arm out and she reached his nape, caressing him.

He rested his head on her lap and cuddled up next to her while she kept on caressing his nape, "You, uncle Jesse and the boys are my only family, in Hazzard."

"We have always thought of you as part of our family, Enos."

He had a deep sigh, "I can't say the same of my father's brothers and sisters, and of their families. Don't misunderstand me, Daisy. I am not sayin' they are cold to me; they are polite, instead. But, when I decided to become a police officer, I moved in the enemy camp; it's their way to see it. My father was a moonshiner, as his brothers and their sons; they don't accept, yet, to have a cop in their family. I am the black sheep. I know they still have some affection for me, just 'cause I am the son of my father, not because I am myself. Do you understand what I mean?"

Daisy's hand moved from his nape down to his shoulder.

He yawned, "I should stop talking 'bout it. It's sad… and pathetic." He closed his eyes, "Sorry."

Her hand on his shoulder, Daisy stared at him falling asleep.

Her white arms were lighted up by the sunlight while, knelt down in front of her rose garden, she was trimming the wild shrubs.

Enos walked to her and smiled, his badge sparking in the sun, "Hi aunt Iris."

Iris stood up and gently removed the soil from her knees. She turned to Enos and smiled; her smile and her freckles gave her a carefree look, while the sun gave her long brown hair a honey nuance.

Enos stared at her walking to him and his smile faded, "What's happened to your arms?"

Iris rolled down her shirt's sleeves, covering the bruises, "Nothing. Don't worry, Enos."

Enos frowned, "It's uncle James's fault, isn't it? Please, aunt Iris, tell me what's goin' on. I can protect you, now." He pointed at his badge, golden star on his chest, "I am a cop, you can talk to me. I'm goin' to protect you."

Iris looked down at the ground, "It's late, Enos. You are late. I am dead, I died years ago, and you can't help me any more. You can't help ME." The knife in her hand, the knife she was using to trim her roses, sparked in the sunlight and turned into a giant thorn.

Enos stared at that thorn.

It left Iris's hand and flied to Enos like a bullet, sort of vegetable bullet.

It reached him and ripped his belly.

He fell down, the pain so excruciating he wasn't even able to shout, even able to breathe. He clasped his hands on his belly, moaning and trying to stop the bleeding.

Around him, smell of roses.

His hands trying to stop the red, warm, sticky, smelling sickly-sweet fluid (and life) flowing out his belly, he closed his eyes and told himself it was just a nightmare.

The sickly-sweet smell of the roses fused with the smell of his blood.

He fought back his gastric juices and blood reaching his mouth.

"I'm Doctor Hunt. This is the Atlanta Medical Center's I.C.U."

He opened his eyes and looked at the man with a short and brown beard who was looking at him.

FLASHBACK

Enos looked at the ceiling while his bed was transferred from the I.C.U. to a different room.

Neon lights and three faces on him. Finally, a cream colored room.

"Now, look at my finger and follow it with your eyes, just with your eyes." Doc Hunt placed a finger in front of Enos's face and moved it, up – down – right – left. "Can you follow it? Do you see just one finger?"

Enos nodded. Of course, he saw just one finger; how many fingers the doctor wanted him to see if there was just one finger?

"Can you move both arms and legs?"

Enos nodded again, moving both arms and legs, slow and small move but move.

The doctor kept on his strange examination, "What's your name?"

Enos forced his voice out his dry throat, "Enos Strate, from Hazzard County."

"Birth date?"

Enos sighed, "August 28, 1952. I am 33 year old."

The nurse with a long blond pigtail lowered the sheet covering him while the older nurse kept on writing on what looked a nursing record.

Enos blushed, his unspoken thoughts running in his head, "Hey, HEY! Madam, I'm NAKED!" For his sake, the sheet's descending stopped at a decent level, just his chest and belly exposed. He stared at the ceiling, avoiding any eye contact with the man and women around him, and avoiding to look at his own body too.

Doc Hunt placed his stethoscope on Enos' chest, "Breathe in and breathe out."

The metallic ring around the stethoscope's diaphragm made Enos shiver; he closed his eyes and followed Doc Hunt's orders. Breathe in – breathe out – breathe in – breathe out.

The stethoscope moved on his chest. Breathe in – breathe out – breathe in – breathe out.

The feeling of the metallic object moving on his chest was replaced by the feeling of a hand on his belly. He didn't like it. He has always been shy about physical touch, no matter if it was a doctor seeing a patience, and if he was the patient. Was he the patient? Even worse.

"Tell me if it hurts."

Doc Hunt gently increased the pressure on his belly.

It hurt. He moaned.

Gunshot wound: was Doc Hunt talking about a gunshot wound when he woke up in the I.C.U.? Well, now he knew which part of his body was affected.

Not satisfied of Enos' soft moaning, Doc Hunt kept on his examination, "Tell me where it hurts the most."

He didn't like it. When the pressure reached a given point, few inches at his bellybutton's right side, the soft moan turned into a choked shout. Enos fought against some gastric juices reaching his mouth; he swallowed back that sour liquid.

Finally, satisfied of his examination, Doc Hunt forgot of Enos' body and talked to his nurses, rattling off a list of medications and schedules.

Finally, remembering his exposed and miserable body, the nurses covered him.

Where the Dukes were?

"Enos? Are you OK?"

Sitting on the couch, his hands covering his face, Enos tried to calm down.

Breathe in – breathe out.

Daisy caressed his damp hair, her worried eyes on him, "Enos, you are drenched in cold sweat. You were moaning during sleep. Another nightmare?"

At the other side of the foggy screen of his subconscious, he tried to catch his nightmare's splinters: his aunt Iris, her roses (she liked roses), the bruises on her arms (he didn't remember bruises on her arms, ever), and the thorn ripping his belly.

He placed his right hand on his belly, involuntary reflex.

Doc Hunt, nurse Emily and nurse Dolly: not a nightmare but his memory entering his nightmare.

Bellyache, sour liquid to his mouth and smell of roses.

At the other side of the foggy screen…

"Enos! Please, talk to me. You are scaring me!"

Daisy's voice dispersed the screen.

He turned to her, "Just a nightmare, about my aunt and about the Hospital. It's because of our talk and because of the Atlanta Medical Center. Too many pesky memories. Sorry." He smiled, pitiful smile.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and she held him tight.

He buried his face against her shoulder, letting her lavender' scent disperse the roses' smell.

SOMEWHERE, IN ATLANTA

Ellen looked at Jo's lost look as she stared at some flowers into the pot at the center of the living room's table. She had a deep breath and walked to her friend, "Hey Jo. Guess who I met today at the Hospital!" When Jo looked at her, finally back from her thoughts, she grinned, "John Doe. Dolly met John Doe at the E.R. He was fine, and he was there for a friend. His girlfriend was with him. Dolly is right, he is really cute."

Jo laughed, "And he has a girlfriend. So, you and your friend Dolly should stop lusting on him. Beside, has he a name? I mean, a real name?"

Ellen shrugged, "We aren't lusting. And yeah, of course he has a real name, but Dolly talks of him just as John Doe. She was so excited about his unknown identity when he arrived at the I.C.U. that she keeps on calling him John Doe, at least with me and her friends, 'cause I suppose she uses his real name when she talks to him. And since she didn't introduce me to him, today, I don't know his name."

Jo sighed and smiled, "A name is just a name. Whatever is the name of John Doe, it doesn't matter. In effect, Dolly is right. The exciting thing was his being John Doe." She rested her chin on the palm of her right hand and looked at the flowers, "You know, I was planning to send a message to my old town."

Ellen frowned, "A message to Nick? No way, or he'll know where you are."

Jo glanced at Ellen and focused again on the flowers, "I'm not talking of Nick. I know I have to forget of him. I was talking of the deputy I talked to you about, some time ago. I still feel ashamed of my lies to him, and I want him to know what was really going on."

Ellen shook her head, "Forget 'bout it too. If you send a message to someone in your old town, Nick will know it. It's a small town, isn't it? The kind of town where rumors spread like fire on straw."

Jo nodded, "You're right."

Ellen sighed in relief, pointing at the pot and at the purple flowers, "What kind of flower is it?"

Jo smiled, "Iris. It means message."

There's no much about Enos' past and family in the TV show, so you can create what you want about his past. Some things, anyway, stood out:

- his father was a moonshiner, friend of uncle Jesse, and Enos grew old with the Dukes (from the pilot episode)

- his mother and his aunt Minnie stay at his apartment at the Boarding House, from time to time (from "Close call for Daisy" episode. I have always found Boss' lines about Enos' mommy and his aunt Minnie really interesting. You can read them in various way, anyway).

- Enos' absence in some episodes is explained as "he is away to visit some relatives"

- He has a lot of relatives in Hazzard, too (from "Find Loretta Lynn" episode), one of them is named uncle Opie, though no relative of him is ever shown.

About the meaning of flowers and the idea of use it, it's from the book "The language of flowers", by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.

Hope you are enjoying it :-)