| Blind Man's Bluff |
| When the Dukes hadn't withdrawn from the race by Wednesday morning, Boss Hogg knew he'd have to make good on his threat. Not only because he'd said he would, but because if they weren't going to withdraw, at least 'outing' them as gay would make the rest of the race crowd a bit less inclined to play nice with them. And he knew just how to do it. It was a rare sight to see Boss Hogg wandering down the streets of Hazzard; usually he pretty much kept to his office, or the Boar's Nest. But this morning, he sauntered down the street to the Drug Store, where Annabelle Franklin worked as a cashier. It was a slow morning; there was nobody else in the store. "Miss Annabelle! How lovely to see you! And how are you this fine day?" Annabelle looked at him suspiciously; Boss Hogg didn't just come around offering pleasantries. She wondered what he was up to. "I've been better, Mr. Hogg." Boss nodded, smiling. "I bet you have, my dear. I saw how those Duke boys treated you last Friday night. Shocking, isn't it?" // Oh, so that's what this is about � // She remembered Luke saying that Rosco had seen them doin' something disgusting � just thinking about it sent a chill up her spine. "You could say that," was her answer. "You know, I think it's about time this sleepy little village of ours heard the truth about them. Everybody thinks the Dukes are so good, so pure � but we know it ain't so, don't we, Annabelle?" Boss was practically purring at her. Now, Annabelle was no fool. She knew Boss had no love lost for the Dukes, but there had to be a reason he wanted the word spread NOW. She thought about it and realized it had to be the big race this Saturday. The past couple of days everybody had been talkin' about how Bo had got his sight back just in time to meet the racing commission's deadline to qualify for the race. Boss must have some action on the race, so he didn't want the competition. Annabelle turned on her best seduction smile. "We do, Mr. Hogg, we do." She reached out and ran her fingers down his face. "May I call you J.D.?" Boss blushed furiously at the attention being paid to him by this beautiful young woman. "Oh, um, yes, of course, my dear �" Annabelle laughed, a deep throaty sound that hit Boss right where it counted. "Now, JD, darling, just what's in it for me if I keep Bo out of that race this Saturday, hmm?" Boss was just a bit too distracted by the fingernail tracing across his cheek to pay attention to what he was sayin'. "Whatever you want, my dear �" "When I'm done maligning his character, Bo Duke won't dare show his face in this town ever again, JD. And even if he has the balls to show up for that race Saturday, well, those boys don't take too kindly to sissies in their midst. They'll tear him to pieces before the race ever starts � Her words were music to Boss's ears, which combined with the smell of her perfume as she leaned in oh so close to him, and the touch of her hand was enough to make him agree to just about anything. Even � "Five Thousand Dollars." Now, there's one thing that will ALWAYS get Boss's attention, and that's money. He suddenly woke up and backed away from her. "Five Thousand Dollars? Woman, are you crazy?" Annabelle just smiled at him. "JD, everybody in this town knows you hate the Dukes. If you were to start this goin' around, everybody would believe it was just another scheme of yours to get even with them. But I'm Luke's last known girlfriend; some folks think we're still together, and Friday night didn't hurt that. If it comes from me, people will believe it. You need me, JD. Five Thousand. Up front; no matter who wins the race." Boss scowled. The woman drove a hard bargain, but she was right. And if he won his bet, it would be pocket change. "You win, Annabelle. We've got a deal." Annabelle smiled. "I'll be over to the Boar's Nest at lunchtime to pick up my money. Once I have it, their reputations will be so tarnished they'll never trouble you again." Boss sighed. "You'd better be right, Annabelle �" "Oh, I am, JD. I'm ALWAYS right." She leaned over and kissed him, much as it disgusted her. If it got her $5000, she'd play the part. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That night, the boys were over at Cooter's givin' the General a pre-race tune-up. Cooter had some bad news for them. "It's startin', fellas. I had half a dozen folks stop by today askin' if I'd heard the rumors about you two." Bo looked at Luke, a hint of fear showing in his eyes. Luke took his hand. "What did you tell them, Cooter?" "I didn't want to outright lie, Luke. I just said it wasn't none of my business, and suggested they treat it the same way." "They accept that?" Cooter shrugged. "I figure most of them know that if I didn't deny it, it was probably true. Pastor Banks looked real unhappy about it. So did a couple of the other racers in town for this weekend. But Miz Tisdale just grinned and said it was about time you stopped wastin' time with that Annabelle Franklin, Luke!" They had to laugh at that; it broke the tension surrounding them all. But Cooter had more to tell. "Speakin' of Annabelle � Charlie Goodson told me he heard it from Ben Twist, who got it from his wife who got it from her girlfriend Emma Mae, who got it from the source �" Emma Mae was Annabelle's best friend. "Annabelle," Luke finished for him. Cooter nodded. "You suppose she's workin' with Boss, or trumped him on her own?" Luke sighed. "She was pretty mad Friday night." "Aimee must be beside herself. Her own sister �" Luke slipped his arm around Bo's waist. "You want to go over and see if she's ok?" Bo just looked at him. "And risk running into Annabelle? Heck no!" Cooter jumped in. "How's about I call over there and ask for Aimee. Then you can talk to her in peace." Bo nodded. "Thanks, Cooter." Cooter wiped his hands off and reached for the phone. "Mabel? Get me the Franklin place, will ya?" He waited a few moments for the connection to go through, and was relieved when Aimee's voice answered, "Franklin residence." He handed the phone to Bo. "Aimee? It's Bo." "Bo! Oh, honey, are you ok? I been hearin' the rumors goin' around all afternoon �" "We're fine, for now. What about you? We figured you was pretty upset." "Well, of course I'm upset! Boss had no right to do this. I just don't know why people even believe it comin' from him!" Bo was startin' to realize she didn't know the whole truth. "Aimee? Boss didn't start it; Annabelle did." The line was silent for about 10 seconds. "That bitch �" Aimee's voice was cold as ice. Bo couldn't believe her language; Aimee was always so sweet and innocent. But he had a feeling Annabelle was in for a rude homecoming tonight. "Aimee, don't do nothin' stupid. We'll take care of it, ok?" Aimee sighed. "I won't, Bo. But only because you got enough to worry about without worrin' about me right now." Bo grinned. "That's my girl! Listen, we got to get going. Daisiy's workin' over at the Boar's Nest tonight; I want to make sure nobody's giving her grief over us. You take care, and we'll be in touch soon, ok?" "OK, Bo. You take care too, sweetie." Bo hung up the phone and looked at Luke. "We better go check on Daisy." Luke nodded. "Cooter? You comin?" The mechanic put down his tools and nodded. He had a feeling they was going to need some backup tonight. The three of them piled into the General and headed out toward the Boars' Nest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now, Daisy was having a right bad night. As soon as she got there, she was hammered with questions about Bo and Luke and the rumors going around. They'd talked about it when Boss had made the threat, and decided that they weren't even going to try to deny the rumors. She tried to put up a good front, supporting the boys in their decision. But there were so many people who didn't take kindly to the news that she was getting scared. And, there were a lot of strangers in town for the County Fair. A lot of the racing crowd was there tonight, and they tended to be some of the most unaccepting of the lot, especially when they heard Bo was the favored driver in the race. They were getting drunk, and ugly, and she was really hoping that Bo and Luke would stay safe at Cooter's tonight. She was having a real rough time with one of the drunken racers when a hush fell over the bar. Her heart sank when she saw them making their way through the crowd. Bo walked right up to the asshole who was giving her grief. "You got a problem, pal? You take it out on me and Luke; you leave Daisy out of it. She ain't got nothin' to do with this." Daisy watched, horrified. It was like looking at twins. The racer had wild blond hair, and a dark beard, just like the one Bo had just shaved off. He grinned at Bo, just spoiling for a fight. "You think you can take me, nancy-boy? Here OR on the racetrack?" Before Bo could answer, Luke came between them. He spoke up for the whole crowd to hear. "We don't want no trouble, friend. Now I know some of you don't like the choice we've made. I ain't denyin' the rumors; you all know we Dukes don't lie. And tell the truth, I'm glad y'all know now; I'm tired of havin' to hide how I feel about Bo. We ain't gonna rub it in your faces. We just want to live our lives the way that works for us. Is that too much to ask?" The drunk driver stared at him. "Jesus Christ on a mini-bike! You sure talk purty, nancy-boy! Let's see how you talk when I bust out your teeth!" His fist followed his words and Luke barely had time to duck. Even so, the blow caught his head, hard. Blood flowed down his face from the scalp wound, but that didn't slow Luke down one bit. All of a sudden, he and Bo and Cooter found themselves surrounded by a bunch of drunken rednecks, determined to put the 'sissy-boys' in their place. Daisy tried to help, without coming out from behind the bar, dropping pitchers over people's heads, but it was overwhelming. The commotion brought Boss and Rosco out from the back room, shouting for everybody to stop. When nobody even heard, Rosco fired one shot into the ceiling. That got everybody's attention. Boss spoke up. "That's better! Now see here, look who's in the middle of all this mess. The Duke boys and Cooter. Why am I not surprised? Rosco, arrest those three for inciting a riot." Daisy turned on her boss. "Boss? You know they didn't start it! That idiot over there was giving me a hard time, they was just defending my honor! He threw the first punch!" Boss gave her a sour look. "Oh, yeah, like I'm gonna believe that. I've heard the rumors going around today about those two. How you can still defend them is beyond me! In fact, I don't need YOU here causing trouble over them. You're fired!" Daisy stared at Boss in shock as Rosco slapped handcuffs onto Bo and Luke and herded them at gunpoint out of the bar. Finally, she snapped out of it and ran out of the place, crying. She had to get home and tell Uncle Jesse � ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The prisoners all climbed into the back seat of Rosco's police car, as the Sheriff laughed. "I guess you boys won't be mindin' bein' a little bit close back there, now, will ya! He he he!!!" Cooter just gave them a sideways look; seems he'd been lumped in with them as a matter of course. The fact that it was true made it no less amusing. Or annoying. As they drove to the jail, Rosco got on the radio. "Enos, you got your ears on?" After a few moments delay, the deputy answered. "Right here, Sheriff." "Good. Now listen, Enos. I need you to come down to the jail and guard a bunch of prisoners tonight." "Prisoners? We got prisoners?" Rosco cackled. "Them Duke boys started a riot at the Boars Nest �" "But Rosco, they wouldn't do that!" His deputy's innocence and good heart sometimes got on Rosco's nerves. "Enos, ain't you heard what's been goin' around town today? They got plenty of people mad at 'em." "You mean it's true?" "Of course it's true, you dipstick! Now just get down to the jail and plan to stay there the night." "Yessir." When they got to the jail, Rosco made sure he didn't put Bo and Luke in the same cell; he didn't want them to have the comfort of being together. Or the chance to do anything � ugh. He threw Cooter in with Luke. At least he took the handcuffs off first. A few minutes later, Enos arrived. Rosco gave him his instructions. "Now listen here, Enos. Under no circumstances are you to let Bo and Luke get together in the same cell. Just make sure as everybody is still here where I left 'em when Boss gets in tomorrow, you got that?" Wide-eyed, the deputy nodded. "Yes sir, Sheriff. Where they are. Got it." "And don't let them talk you into anything. ANTYHING, you hear me?" "Yessir." Enos was looking decidedly uncomfortable. But unless Rosco was going to be stuck here the entire night guarding them himself, he had no choice but to leave them with Enos. Fussing, he turned and headed out. Once Rosco was gone, Bo called out. "Enos? Luke got hurt in the fight. Can you at least get me some damp tissues or somethin' so I can clean up that cut so it don't get infected?" Bo's voice startled the deputy, who had been starin' at his friends and tryin' to figure out how he felt about the news. It definitely left him unsettled. "Bo, you heard the Sheriff �" he hedged. That just irritated Bo. "Now listen here, Enos. You've always been a friend to us. I ain't tryin' to distract you so's we can escape, I swear it. Luke's hurt. Don't you have a duty to make sure prisoners are treated fair?" Enos sighed. He knew Bo was right. If they were tryin' to flummox him, they never would have said anything about it. "Ok, Bo � now you all stay put." The deputy returned a minute later with some damp tissues from the men's room, and handed them to Bo, who smiled at him. "Thanks, Enos." "You're welcome, Bo." Bo walked over to the edge of his cell that bordered with Luke's. "Come here, cousin. Let me clean that up." Luke gave a heavy sigh and got up from where he'd been sitting on the bench. That first punch really had rung his bell a bit. As he came close to the bars separating them, he was surprised by how much he wanted Bo to touch him, to comfort him. And then Bo's big hands were reaching through the bars, holding his face, cleaning away the blood, caressing and reassuring him. He sighed again and leaned his head against the bars, letting Bo take care of him. When Bo was finished, he tossed the tissues away before returning to caress Luke's face, bending to place a kiss against the cheek pressed between the bars. "You ok, Luke?" Luke lifted his head. "Yeah. Was just a bit dizzy there at first." Bo's hand slipped into his hair as he eyed Luke worriedly. Luke turned his head to kiss that hand. "Don't worry, Bo, I'm ok." Bo had all but forgotten where they were in his concern over Luke's injuries, and was just about to pull Luke into a kiss between the bars when Cooter coughed to get his attention and nodded toward Enos. The deputy looked like he was about to have a stroke, seein' them all lovey-dovey like that. The reality of the situation came back to them, and they separated. Bo turned toward Enos. "Sorry about that, Enos. I got a bit carried away there �" Enos just didn't know how to process this. "It really is true then? You two are �" "In love. Yeah, it's true." Bo just left it at that, no apology, no request for acceptance. Luke came over to the front of the cell. "Enos, we're still us. We haven't changed." The deputy just shook his head. "I just don't know what to think." He turned around and went to sit down at his desk. Bo and Luke sat down on either side of the bars separating them, leaning against each other. Cooter took the cot in his and Luke's cell, looking at them a bit enviously. // They've really got somethin' special. // He just hoped the good people of Hazzard would see that and get past their preconceived notions. He'd hate to see the boys have to leave town. It'd be awful lonely around here without them. After a while, Enos came around and handed out some blankets, then shut off the lights. Even with the bars separating them, Bo's arms snaked out and wrapped around Luke. In the dim light of night, Enos looked at the two of them, desperately tryin' to understand why this was supposed to be so wrong. Bo and Luke had always been the best of friends, closer than brothers. They'd always loved each other. What was it about bein' 'in love' that made it different? He sat up half the night trying to puzzle that one out, not getting anywhere. Continue on to Chapter 8 Send me some feedback Back to the Other Fandoms Index Back to Jade Palace Home Disclaimer: I don't own them, just borrowing them for fun, not profit. |
| Ch 7 |