Title: Bo's Story

Author: Sam

Series: Halloween in Hazzard: 1 of 10

Rating: PG-15: Sexual Innuendo, Language, Minor-Violence

Characters so far: Bo, Daisy, Luke, Jesse, Enos, Cooter, Balladeer

Summary: A few scary stories set the Duke cousins up for a night most would rather not have.

Spoiler: Basically, random episodes from the series, though I have purposely set this before Bo and Luke switch out to the racing circuit.

Category: Comedy, Paranormal

Setting: Hazzard County

Disclaimer: Dukes of Hazzard is a trademark of Warner Brothers. I am in no way connected with these people, and I do not claim ownership to these characters, lands, or names. I have borrowed them to share a story... and most likely not a story any of them would have written had they had the time or no. I am making no money from this, and it is just for my entertainment, and that of free entertainment to a select group of friends. Thank You.

Distribution: Please ask first?

Note: These ghost stories are based on real events that happened to me, my friends, and my family. Though I have set them in the world of the Dukes of Hazzard and only used characters from the show (no Mary Sues here). This first one happened to me and my roommate Merrianna. Please enjoy.

Second Note: I do not set a particular time line for my stories, however, by the characters introduced you may be able to figure where it can fit it on your own. Enjoy, without getting too hard on my placement?

Feedback: Yes, please? Especially constructive.

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Balladeer: On a dirt road, with a wide swath of torn up, beat down, mud stained gravel, stands a white washed building resembling nothing more than a good ole country pit stop; which is what it is. This here's the Boar's Nest, and it's the classiest joint in the whole of Hazzard County. And, as you can see, it's hopping most every day of the week, even Sundays, which is when folks need the most hopping to get a good jump on the coming week. Those little kitty cats and pumpkins all over the windows don't mean it's a playground, neither. No, the Boar's Nest is where anyone who's anyone goes for good beer, good tunes, and some good ole fashion dirty dealing, cause that man there in the white suit is Boss Hogg, and he owns the Boar's Nest and just about everything a man has a right to own in one county, and then some. He does business in the backroom while the party goes on in the front, all neat and tidy like. And, if'n you ain't figured it out by them little cardboard cutouts pasted everywhere, it's Halloween, and they's throwing a party. And what's a Halloween party without a scary story or two. Sounds like fun, don't it? Well, that's what them Duke Boys thought, too, when they was invited over to join the shindig. Ah, them there's the Duke Boys. The tall blond one's Bo Duke, and the stocky brunet is Luke Duke. They's cousins and with their sassy cousin Daisy, she's the one in the shorts... and I mean short... and their Uncle Jesse, over there drinking a brew at the bar, they fight any injustice that comes their way. And in Hazzard County, fighting injustice means fighting the police, the city hall, and most everyone else in power or money, which means Boss Hogg, who, as I said before, owns the county. Now ain't that 'nough to give you a dizzy spell? And that brings us back to the party, and them scary stories I mentioned.

"Whoee girl, I sure do like your costume." Bo raised a glass to grinning lips, eyeing his cousin Daisy as she sashayed past.

She wore a pair of black short shorts with a long cat's tail in the rear, a black tank top, and a headband with black furry cat ears sewn on. With a playful grin, she flipped her hair and stopped by a table, bending low to serve drinks over the table of costumed farmers. The sight of her derriere thrust out was enough to make many a man need a quick cold shower, but it merely pulled a loud laugh from her hot-blooded cousin, Bo.

Luke backhanding Bo's chest drew the young man's attention away from the show of feminine sensuality and back to the circle of chairs gathered 'round the middle of the Boar's Nest floor. There was only one table in the center of the ring, and on it was a bowl of water set in the middle of a dark lavender cloth. In the bowl was a piece of cork fastened by hot wax to a long steel hatpin. At the moment, it was bobbing peacefully, the sharp end pointed directly at the laughing Bo Duke.

"Your turn, Cous. Give us a story." Luke was dressed in red slacks with a red flannel shirt to match, with a long tail and pointed horns, courtesy of Daisy's clever sewing. Next to his chair rested an old fiddle that had belonged to Daisy's father, gilded gold just for the occasion.

Luke sipped at the beer in his hand, coaxing it to last. One of the rules of this particular backwoods game was that the first person with an empty glass had to fill them all from his own wallet. Luke didn't intend to be the one out the fee of fifteen or more beers. Another rule was that the poor sucker the compass pointed at was the one who had to tell a story. And that was what Bo was now required to do.

With a shrug, Bo tipped his chair back and cocked his cowboy hat back while taking a drink. He looked thoughtful, one hand on the big rodeo belt bucket he'd dug out of his closet. He was dressed as a bronc buster, using some of his father's long discarded extras, and so far it had been a hit at the party, mostly because Hazzard County didn't get a lot of the rodeo circuit around there. Finally, setting his chair back on all four legs, Bo leaned forward and spoke in an excited voice.

"Well, it begun when me and my cousins were little. We'd been out walking the Black Holler road round 'bout two in the mornin'. It were late fall and the moon was so full you could see over the fields plum to Uncle Jesse's still. There weren't a soul round but me and Luke and Enos. You 'member that, Enos?"

Balladeer: That there's Enos Straight, the most honest lawman in these parts, and that's saying somethin'. His daddy used to run moonshine with Bo's daddy and Luke's daddy, back before they'd all grown up and Enos joined the law and the Duke cousins got on probation. Now the Duke's aren't allowed to run shine, or anything else, without landing in Federal prison, and Enos works for Boss Hogg trying to catch the Duke's at one thing or another so as to keep them out of his illegal business affairs. At least, Boss Hogg wants to catch the Duke boys and throw away the key. Enos just wants to uphold the law without breaking old loyalties. And that there's the bind for ole Enos most of the time, ain't it?

Enos, dressed in a white suit and hat, nodded with a grin. His costume was noticeably that of Boss Hogg, for which he'd gotten a lot of static at the beginning of the night. Now that everyone had grown accustomed to seeing him in it, though, he could relax and enjoy the games they were playing. "Yeah, I remember, Bo. That was the night..."

"Hey, who's telling this story, Enos? You or me?" Bo frowned at his long time friend.

With a sheepish nod, Enos settled back in his chair. "Sorry, Bo. I got excited. I ain't remembered that all these year until now."

Bo's sunny smile flashed on again. Bo Duke wasn't one to stay mad for long. He took a swig, his mug almost empty, and nodded. "Well, as I was saying, it were just us three around as far as the eye could see. And that ole hound dog of Jesse's, o' course. 'Member that ole dog, Luke?"

"Yup," Luke settled his own chair back on two legs, crossing his ankles and stretching so that his red shirt rucked up and exposed his lean belly. "But I ain't tellin' the story, Bo."

With a laugh, Bo turned back to the men in the circle, ignoring Daisy's approach. "Well, we was walkin' down that road when Luke done noticed the hound weren't with us no more. He'd up and taken off. We started lookin' for the hound when this gut low growling started up from where we'd come from. It was real low and mean, sound like it come from somewhere deep in the belly of the earth. Ain't no sound I heard before, or after... ain't something I wanna hear again, neither."

The crowd was looking a bit disappointed with Bo's ghost story, but they quit grumbling as the young man leaned even further forward and continued. "Now, that growling was enough to make any man turn tail, and we was just bitty kids, so we done what any boy'd do..." His eyes met Uncle Jesse's across the room, and Bo's smile widened, knowing the clan patriarch hadn't yet heard of this little adventure. "We called the damn dog and went looking for what was making the racket."

Jesse, dressed in a worn fisherman's gear, complete with bait hat and rod, moseyed over to listen better. He stood right next to the riveted Daisy, sipping his own mug and watching the boys he'd helped raise jawing with the locals. Bo's voice, normally merry and quite self-pleased, was low with a sense of anticipation.

"Well, wouldn't you know it, we get right up to that growling noise, and the closer we get, the more it trembles in the guts. That stupid hound weren't nowhere to be found, and we was beginning to think that were a good idea. Before we could take one more step, though, Luke said something that put the fear into us so bad I never forget it. He said, 'Bo, Enos, there ain't nothing growling'."

Sounds were muted around the Boar's Nest as everyone listened intently.

In a low voice, Bo continued, "We looked 'round, and wouldn't ya know he was dead right? Like I said 'fore, we could see plum into Atlanta just 'bout, and there weren't nothing 'round. See, the light was so bright, and it being so late in the season that the plants and such were died off from frost, there weren't nowhere anything could hide bigger'n a rabbit. And a rabbit don't growl like he just come up from outta a pit, neither. We could hear that growling coming from the road right in front of us, but... there... weren't... nothing... there..."

Daisy shuddered and pressed into Jesse, who slipped a comforting arm around his niece. He didn't say a word to interrupt, waiting for Bo's ending before breaking in. After all, right or wrong, it made a damn fine telling.

Bo leaned back in his chair. "Well, we high tailed it back down that road, hoping to all that's Holy that something weren't gonna leap outta thin air to attack us. Once we passed that spot, the growling started followin' us down that Black Holler Road a long spell afore it seemed to give up and just stop. Didn't fade off or run on, it just plain stopped. And that's when Jesse's ole hound joined back up with us, coming out of the ditch as if he'd been told to sit and wait right there the whole time. I ain't never forget that noise to this day, neither."

With that, Bo's chair legs snapped back onto the floor with a sound akin to thunder in the hushed room. Daisy let out a scream and buried her face in Jesse's shoulder and most everyone there looked like they'd been shot or something. Luke broke out into a loud belly laugh, reaching down to help his cousin off the floor. Relief was evident as everyone settled to a deep drink and a good laugh over the story and fall.

Balladeer: Well, Jesse got Daisy calmed down while Enos went to fetch Bo a new chair. One of them farmer's reached over to spin the compass again, eager for another scarey story. Cooter showed up dressed real dapper like and got ready to join the games, along with Jesse and Daisy, once she stopped being mad at Bo for scaring half her life away. And it was Bo that had to pay for drinks, seeing as his mug got emptied first, on account of spilling when his chair broke out from under him. So, don't you head to the fridge now, hear?

To Be Continued in: Jesse's Story (Chapter Two)