Part 2

"You boys are the best thing that ever happened to me." Jesse said softly, stroking Bo's head. Bo smiled
"Same here, Uncle Jesse. I hope Luke gets back soon, I'm feeling a little worse every time I take a breath."
"You just keep taking those breaths. You're gonna make it, Bo, he'll get here in time."
"I'm cold." Bo replied, and Jesse looked towards his truck.
He had a blanket behind the seat, but he was scared to move his nephew. Bo began to tremble, and Jesse eased the boy carefully onto the ground.
"I'll get a blanket. Hold on." Jesse said, and ran to the truck. He grabbed the flannel blanket and shook the dust from it.
"Here you go, this might warm you up some. Hang tight, Bo." Jesse said, covering him with the blanket.
"He'll be here. He's always shown up when I've needed him." Bo said softly, thinking back. . ."

************************************

"Hey, plowboy!"
The words came with a ruff shove that knocked Bo off his feet and itno a mud puddle. He tried to get to his feet, but a big boot planted itself onto his chest and held him down.
"Hey look boys, I found Duke here a proper home. In the mud where he belongs." The big boy laughed, and Bo squirmed.
"Let me up, you jackass!" He shouted, vastly outweighed by Vinnie 'the crusher' Kreigbaum, who weighed in at two-sixty ans was six feet, four inches tall. He grinned down at Bo with the arrogance of one who's brawn outweighed their brains.
"Make me, Duke. C'mon get up and make me!" Vinnie laughed, kicking mud in Bo's face.
"Let me up and I'll make you sorry you said that!" Bo yelled, and wondered if anyone could tell if he was about to cry. He wasn't scared, but he was ashamed and embarrassed at the thought of his classmates standing around watching this.
"This little stick couldn't make the football team!" Vinnie laughed, and smeared mud in Bo's hair with his other foot.
"Damn, boy, you got legs like pipe cleaners! Did your momma marry a stork?" Vinnie asked, and laughed harder.
The jab at his parents clouded Bo's mind with rage, and he nearly knocked Vinnie down as he pushed himself up. At fifteen, Bo was tall and lanky, but lacked the muscular build of other big farm boys his age. Vinnie, who was Luke's age, especially loved to beat Bo up whenever he got the chance. If Luke was nearby, Vinnie didn't bother him. Luke was the captain of the high school football team and was built as big as Vinnie. However, Luke was as smart as he was strong, and twice as gentle. That is, until someone started getting rough with his younger cousin.
Bo was nearly on his feet and wiping mud from his eyes when two of Vinnie's friends tackled him from behind. They held him down, and Vinnie grinned at him.
"You're dead, stick." He said seriously, but suddenly he was pulled backwards.
Bo looked up to see his cousin give Vinnie a tremendous shove that knocked the big boy off his feet.
"Pick on someone your own size. Like me." Luke told him, and balled his fists.
"I wasn't doing nothing, Luke! He hit me first!" Vinnie said, pointing to Bo, who was sitting up and wiping mud from his face.
"Yeah, sure he did, Vinnie. I saw you ranking Bo out at the football tryouts today. Take a hike, all of you." Luke said to the crowd of kids standing around. The drifted away, and Luke reached down to give his cousin a hand up.
Bo shook his head and got to his feet. "That stupid ox, I'm gonna kick his teeth in!" he said angrily, watching Vinnie and his friends head towards the parking lot.
Luke clapped his cousin on the shoulder. "C'mon cousin, forget it. Let's go home and get you cleaned up."
Bo nodded and they headed for Luke's old pickup truck. Luke started the engine, and glanced at Bo.
"Listen Bo, don't take it so hard. Vinnie doesn't have a brain in his head." Luke said, handing Bo a handkerchief.
Bo wiped some of the mud from his face, fighting tears of humiliation. "Why'd you do that?" He asked, and Luke glanced at him.
"What do you mean?"
"Why'd you have to butt in like that? I could've taken him." Bo said.
"Listen cousin, all I saw was you laying facedown in the mud. I was only trying to help, they were ganging up on you!" Luke said.
"Everyone thinks I'm a coward, Luke, 'cos you're always stepping in on my fights."
"I don't want you to get hurt, Bo. You don't know how to fight." Luke said not unkindly.
"Uncle Jesse says I'll fill ou in about a year or so. He says that dad was the same way when he was my age." Bo said as they pulled into the yard of the farm.
Jesse looked up from the front porch. When he saw Bo, he jumped to his feet.
"What in blazes happened to you?" He asked.
"I got into a fight." Bo replied, pulling off his muddy shirt.
"Fighting? Again? What've I told you about that, Bo? I've said time and time again that only common hicks go around brawling like animals!" Jesse yelled, and Bo stormed in the house cutting Jesse off.
"You ain't too big for me to take you over my knee!" Jesse called after him, and Luke came up behind his uncle.
"Go easy on him Uncle Jesse, he's having a rough time. There's some really big fellas at school that have been hassling him everday. He's feeling small, and sort of in my shadow, I guess." Luke sighed, and headed for the house.
Jesse stopped him, shaking his head. "It's me he needs, then." Jesse said, and Luke nodded.
Jesse went inot the house, and knocked on the boys' bedroom door.
"Bo, can I come in?"
"It's open." Bo said, drying his thick blond hair with a towel, ridding himself of the last of the mud.
Jesse came in and looked reaproachfully at his nephew. "Look, Luke told me what happened, and I'm sorry I yelled at you. It wasn't you who started the fight."
"It doesn't matter." Bo said shortly, pulling on a clean shirt.
"How come?" Jesse asked, and Bo looked up at him.
"Because I'm not going back to school. I'm dropping out."
"Like heck you are, Bo Duke! We Dukes aren't quitters, you know that!"
"I'm not getting beat up and knocked in the mud anymore! I'm sick of it! Look Uncle Jesse, I ain't big like those other guys. I'm built like a fence post!" Bo said, looking at his reflection in the wall mirror with disgust.
"Oh, Cooper used to say the same thing. Bo, you're just not as thick through the chest and arms as LUke and the other boys. You'll fill out just fine, trust me." Jesse said, and Bo shook his head
"Oh really? When? In a year or two? Until then I should just wait quietly and get beat up everyday? No way. I'm quitting school!"
"There's no way I'm letting you quit, you know that, don't you?" Jesse asked, and Bo shoved past him angrily. Jesse grabbed his nephew's arm and pulled him to a stop.
"Don't get too big for your britches, boy." He said firmly, and Bo shook him loose.
"So now you're gonna hit me too? Well go ahead, join the club!" Bo shouted, and Jesse held his temper.
He took a deep breath and spoke quietly. "Take a walk, Bo. Go on, go out in the barn or something until you cool off." He said, and Bo stood there for a moment, his blue eyes blazing. Then he swung around and was gone.
Jesse let loose the breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. He loved Bo like he was his own, and hated to quarrel with any of the family. He understood Bo's problem, but there was no way he was letting the boy drop out of school. An education was too important.
"I guess the question now is who has the harder head." Jesse said to himself.
Outside int he barn, Bo sat up in the hayloft doing a slow burn. He was angry at everyone, including himself.
"Hey Bo, can I come up and talk to you?" Luke called from the doorway, and Bo sighed.
"Leave me be." He called back.
"Oh c'mon Bo, don't be mad at me. We'll talk, okay?"
"About what?"
Luke climbed the hayloft ladder and sat beside his cousin.Bo set his chin on his drawn-up knees and glanced at Luke.
"I ain't angry at you, Luke. It's just that I'm sick of getting pushed around."
"Well, maybe I can help out with that." Luke said, and patted Bo's shoulder.
"What? How?"
"Well, I thought maybe I could teach you how to fight. You know, how to throw a punch, maybe how to use your height as an advantage." Luke said.
"You really think it'd work?" Bo asked, and Luke nodded.
"Well, it's worth a try. It's either that, or spending the rest of high school face down in the mud, cousin." Luke replied, and Bo laughed, suddenly feeling guilty about the way he'd treated his family today.
"Okay, but first I have to go aplogize to Uncle Jesse." Bo said, and grabbed the rope that he and Luke had tied to a beam on the roof many summers ago. He lept off the hayloft with a rebel yell and swung to the barn floor. He swung the rope back to Luke, who came down yelling like Tarzan. Bo smiled at him.
"Thanks, Luke. I know you were only trying to help back at the schoolyard."
"It's okay, that Vinnie is such a jackass, it was my pleasure to give him the clouting he deserved."
Bo laughed and slung an arm around Luke as they headed for the house.
Jesse was in the kitchen, chopping up vegatables for a soup for that night's dinner. When he saw the two boys coming, he smiled. It looked to him like Luke had managed to talk some sense into his young cousin.
"Luke, will you please set the table?" jesse asked as the two boys came in, and Luke nodded.
Bo looked at his uncle and gave him a little half-smile that was so reminiscent of Cooper that Jesse's heart hurt.
"I'm sorry I was so stubborn, Uncle Jesse. I was way out of line." Bo said and lowered his head, awaiting his punishment.
Jesse chuckled, and Bo looked up, surprised.
"I wasn't exactly being understanding myself." Jesse replied, and squeezed Bo's shoulder. "It's not easy being fifteen, is it?"
"No sir. Luke has an idea, how to keep me out of the mud, though."
"Out of the mud and still in school, you mean?" Jesse asked, and Bo nodded.
"I thought if I taught Bo how to defend himself, the guys at school wouldn't be so quick to gang up on him." Luke explained as he took plates and glasses down from the cupboard.
"Well. . ." Jesse pondered, looking into the eager face of his nephew, "I can't say that I approve of fighting, Luke, but if you think it'll keep Bo out of the mud, and keep him in school, then go ahead." Jesse said, and Luke grinned.
"Great! We'll start after supper."
Later that evening, Luke piled up some hay to act as a padding in the barn. He then turned to bo and assumed a defensive positon.
"Okay Bo, come at me!" he said, and Bo hesitated.
"Come on, stick, what are you waiting for?" Luke grinned, and Bo shrugged.
He rushed Luke, who tipped him up and flipped him into the hay.
"Okay cousin, no more mister nice guy!" Bo said, and rushed Luke again.
Luke flipped him again, and Bo gasped as the wind was knocked out of him. He sat up, and Luke looked down at him.
"You're rushing blindly, Bo. You have to have a strategy. Okay, you come at me again and this time, know what you're gonna do before you do it."
Bo ran at him again, meaning to tackle him. Luke shoved him down, and this time Bo got up angry.
"Dang it, Luke! What am I doing wrong?" He asked, getting up.
"Okay, look. I'll come at you this time, and you defend yourself." Luke said and rushed his cousin.
Bo raised his fists, and Luke blocked a punch with his forearm, jabbing at Bo's chin with a pulled punch.
"See? You have to anticipate your opponent. Think fast!" Luke said, and threw a punch.
Bo blocked it with a movement so quick and graceful that it took Luke by complete surprise.
"Good, Bo! Yes!" Luke shouted, and gave his cousin an enthusiastic shove.
Bo shoved him back, and the two boys fell into the pile of hay, laughing and wrestling.
Over the next month, Luke taught Bo how to throw and block a punch, how to use his height to his advantage, and most importantly, when to walk away.
The last day of school before spring break was hot and dry. Bo was eating his lunch on the football bleachers when a football struck him in the back of the head. He turned to see Vinnie Kreigbaum standing a few yards away, grinnin like a hyena.
"Hey, Duke, gimmie my football!" He yelled, and came towards him.
Bo stood up and threw the ball back to Vinnie, who grinned.
"You throw like a girl, Duke."
"And you walk like one, Vinnie." Bo replied, and Vinnie frowned.
"You're gonna end up in the mud again if you ain't careful."
"And you're going to be in high school forever, since you got the IQ of a potato." Bo said, and Vinnie advanced on him.
"Luke ain't around to protect you, stick. Now I'm gonna pound on you." Vinnie said and rushed Bo.
Bo grabbed Vinnie the way Luke had taught him, and shifted his weight. Vinnie became amazingly light as Bo threw him over his shoulder. The big boy hit the ground with a resounding thud. A group of kids watching nearby made a collective sound of disbelief.
"If you ever touch me again, I'll kill you." Bo said to Vinnie, who was sitting up, bleeding from his nose.
"You-you-" Vinnie stuttered, and came at Bo again.
Bo threw his arm in front of him to block a punch, then punched Vinnie in the nose, feeling bones crunch beneath his fist. I just broke his nose, Bo thought with a kind of satisfaction, and suddenly Luke was at his side.
"That's enough, Bo." he said quietly, and Bo nodded.
He put a hand on Luke's shoulder "Thanks, cousin."
"Anytime."

***************************************

"Anytime." Bo said, his voice weakening.
Jesse stroked his head. "What's that, son?"
"He's always been there, anytime I've needed him, Uncle Jesse. He's- always-" Bo began to gasp, and Jesse became alarmed.
"Bo? Bo, what's wrong?"
"Can't-breathe-" Bo gasped, and began to shudder.
Jesse held him, knowing that if he lost Bo as well as Cooper, his heart would shrivel and die.
"Stay with me Bo, just hang on a little long." Jesse whispered to him, hearing his nephew's lungs rattle as blood seeped into them.
In the distance, Jesse caught the sound of the General's powerful motor coming towards them.
"Hear that, Bo?" Luke and the doc, here they come!" Jesse said gleefully, and Bo smiled faintly.
"I told you he'd be here." Bo whispered, and then the world went black.

Doctor Amos Petticord was one of Jesse's oldest and dearest friends. He remembered vividly the day Jesse had brought Bo to Hazzard when he was just a boy. The doc couldn't believe that the same boy he saw twice a year, and who was now a young man, was laying in the hospital bed before him. The doctor had been able to stablize him for the trip here, but there wasn't much he could do after that. He and two other doctor's were able to dig the bullet from Bo's chest, but he had lost massive amounts of blood, and now was bleeding internally. Doc Petticord knew what he had to do. He went to the waiting room to see his friend.
Jesse and Luke jumped from their chairs when the doc approached.
"How's my boy, Amos?" Jesse asked, and the doctor steeled himself.
"Jesse, will you please come into my office?"
"Why Amos, is he dead?" Jesse asked, going pale.
"Just come with me." Amos replied, and Luke stepped forward.
"I'm coming to."
"Luke, I know how close you and Bo are, but I need to talk to your Uncle Jesse alone first, son. Just wait here a spell, okay?"
Jesse turned to Luke and hugged him, feeling him tremble.
"I'll be right back, it's okay, just wait here."
Luke pulled away and nodded. Jesse followed Amos down to his office and sat down as his friend shut the door.
"Is he gone, Amos?" Jesse asked without pretense.
"No, he's alive, but. . . I don't think he'll make it until morning. There was massive blood loss and trauma, and. . . oh Jeese, I'm sorry." Amos said, rubbing his eyes.
Jesse hung his head. "I can't lose him, Amos. Not him and Cooper both." He said, his eyes filling with tears. "You have to help him, Amos."
"There's nothing I can do, Jesse. I hate to bring this up now, but Bo is suffering, and there's no reason for us to prolong that suffering with so little a chance of survival. I have to tell you, as Bo's doctor, that you have the option of unhooking his respirator and letting him pass quietly." Amos said, putting a hand on Jesse's shoulder.
"We Dukes aren't quitters." Jesse said firmly, remebering saying those very same words to Bo when his nephew had wanted to quit school a few years back.
"It isn't a matter of quitting, Jesse. Bo won't last the night, and it's wrong that he should be made tol lie there and suffer." Amos said firmly.
"I have to talk this over with the family, Amos. Let me go talk with Luke, all right?"
Amos nodded, and Jesse stood to face his friend.
"I can appreciate what you're saying, Amos, but I can't do this without talking to Luke first. He feels like this whole thing is his fault. If Bo dies, Luke will never forgive himself." Jesse said, and went to talk to his nephew.
Luke was sitting in the waiting room with his head in his hands. Jesse put a gentle hand on Luke's shoulder, and he looked up.
"How is he?" Luke asked brokenly, and Jesse shook his head.
"Amos said he won't last the night, and that we should sign the papers ordering to the hospital to unhook Bo's respirator." Jesse said quietly, and Luke's eyes grew wide.
"You can't do that! You have to wait and see, Uncle Jesse! Bo's tough, he'll pull through. I mean, he's a Duke, ain't he?" Luke asked, wiping his eyes with a single viscious gesture.
"He's tough, Luke, but Amos says that there's internal bleeding and trauma." jesse said, sitting down and putting an arm around Luke's shoulders.
"He's not going to die!" Luke shouted suddenly, and Jesse was taken aback.
"Don't shout, Luke. I know you feel at fault for all of this, but you had no way of knowing those men were armed, you were just curious, that's all."
"Curiosity killed the cat." Luke said, and looked up at his uncle. "Can I go see him, Uncle Jesse? If you're going to do what the doc wants you to do, I have to see him first."
"You'll have to ask Amos." Jesse replied.
"Come on Luke, it's okay." Dr. Petticord said from the doorway.
Luke got up and followed the doctor down the hallway.
"Uncle Jesse says Bo si going to die." Luke said, and Amos sighed.
"Yes, I'm afraid there's little or no chance for him, Luke. I'm sorry, I know how close you two are."
"Yeah. . . I don't know what I'd do without him." Luke admitted as Amos opened the door to Bo's room.
"He can't talk with the tub in his throat, but I'm sure he'll be able to understand you just fine." Amos said as Luke sat next to the bed.
Luke reached out and stroked Bo's head gently. Bo's eyes fluttered open, and his face lit up as he saw Luke leaning over him. There was a breathing tube down Bo's throat that was attached to the respirator, and he made a brief choking sound when he tried to talk. Luke put a finger to his lips, and Bo nodded.
"You're gonna be fine, cousin. You hear me?"
Bo reached out and took Luke's hand, and Luke tried very hard not to cry.
"I know." Luke said softly.
Bo raised his other hand and made a brief gesture with it. Luke nodded.
"Uncle Jesse is okay. You know, he's worried and all, but he's okay. He'll be in to see you real soon." Luke said.
Bo nodded, but Luke could see the pain in his eyes. He looked up at Luke again, and Dr. Petticord saw something so deep pass between the two young men that he back away a step, ashamed to witness something so personal.
"I'm sorry." Luke said, and Bo shook his head, speaking with his eyes.
"It was my fault." Luke insisted, and Bo squeezed his hand.
"Okay cousin, I won't argue with you." Luke said and Bo tried to smile.
"Why don't you get some rest." Luke said, unable to swallow the huge lump in his throat.
Bo gripped Luke's hand harder and pulled him towards a nearby chair.
"You want me to stay with you?" Luke asked, and Bo nodded.
Luke glanced at Amos, who gave him permission with a nod of his head. Bo sighed and closed his eyes, never letting go of Luke's hand.
The night passed slowly. Luke stayed with his cousin, holding his hand and comforting him when Bo woke twice during the night, shivering and crying with fever and pain. Luke sat and watched the sun rise, praying over and over for his cousin to live. Bo's skin burned with fever due to infection, and the pain medications made him delerious. Jesse came to see his boys an hour after the sun rose, and when he put a hand on Luke's shoulder, the young man finally broke down and sobbed into his hands. Jesse held him.

Part 3