Dukes of Hazzard
Only What We Can Handle
Part 10: Home Again
Jesse scanned the young men getting off the Bus in Atlanta. They were all wearing green uniforms and carrying large duffle bags. Jesse searched for Luke as he held onto Daisy's hand and Bo's shoulder. "There!" Bo pointed, Luke had stepped off the Bus . Daisy and Bo broke from Jesse's grasp and Ran to there cousin. It had been a year since they'd seen him. Jesse hurried along after them.
Luke stepped off the bus in Atlanta and scanned the swarming crowd of people for familiar faces. He wore his dress uniform and tried not to notice when people passing looked his way. He held the duffle he had slung over his shoulder tightly as the people bustled around him. He stood at the sidewalk as the bus doors closed with a hiss and the large vehicle trudged on up the road.
He took his hat off and looked around again trying to see over the heads and threw the shoulders of the human traffic. Not knowing what more he could do he chose to make his way over to a bench to wait it was then that he heard it. What he'd been waiting for. What he'd been dreaming of. It rose over the people milling around the street like a song. Cut threw the noise of cars and the city right to his ears as a reflex he instantly made himself as tall as he could and strained his senses for his next command when it hit him or rather she hit him or rather Daisy practically tackled him as she threw herself into a big bear hug.
"WELCOME HOME LUKE!" She squeezed him tight. Luke shut his eyes and hugged her tightly back. When they finally came apart Bo was standing at Luke's side.
"Hey." Luke Greeted them.
"Hey." Bo said evenly as he bounced on back and forth on the balls of his feet.
Luke looked the younger man up and down. "You've grown." He said surprised. In his head he had been coming home to the same Hazzard this was the first sign that time hadn't stood still while he was away.
Bo nodded shyly. Something about Luke in his uniform made him seem older, and not like the boy he'd been best friends with.
Luke smiled at Bo and hugged him. It was a quick hug but it conveyed what both boys meant to say.
When Jesse finally caught up with his child Daisy had unconsciously laced her fingers with Luke's and had no intentions of letting go and Jesse stood before the three of them. "Luke."
"Hold this for me Bo would ya." Luke slipped the duffle off his shoulder and handled it to Bo. "Sure thing Luke." Bo took it and lugged it onto his own shoulder, surprised at how much it weighed.
Luke looked the older man in the eyes and smiled wide and untangled himself from his cousins. "Uncle Jesse!" Luke shook the older mans hand and Jesse pulled the boy to him into a hug.
Jesse took off his red cap and they hugged. "I'm glad you come home to us boy."
"Me too Uncle Jesse."
The car ride back to Hazzard Luke sat in the front seat quietly smiling as his cousins told him everything he'd missed while he'd been gone. Jesse drove stealing side long glances at the passengers seat. There had been times over the past year where he was certain he would never see Luke again, but there he was alive and well and back where he belonged.
"Welcome home Luke." Daisy kissed his check once they'd all piled out of the car in front of the old farm house. Jesse patted him on the back and Bo grabbed his duffle from the trunk. Luke just stood there caught up in his emotions. The farm looked just as it did when he left. "Don't just stand there cos, come on." Bo didn't know why Luke was standing outside looking at the farm like he'd never seen it before. All Bo knew was that he was hungry and Jesse and Daisy were getting the roast beef out of the oven.
Inside the house smelled wonderful. The roast had been in the oven all day with potatoes and carrots. Uncle Jesse put some Ice on the table and Daisy grabbed some plates. "Have a seat Luke, relax." Daisy set the plates out on the table. Luke left his duffle bag in the sitting room and sat down at the kitchen table. Bo sat down across from him. "What was it like?" He asked curiously. Luke looked his cousin in the eyes. "What was what like?"
"You know, fighten." Jesse watched the exchange he knew Bo idealized his cousin. Luke's expression which had been calm and content, turned very stern. Jesse knew that look he'd seen in other veteran's eyes. "Bo would you get some glasses." Bo was waiting for an answer from Luke. "Bo the glasses." Bo grudgingly got up.
That night Luke took off his uniform and hung it in the closet. He put on his shorts and a t shirt and got into the bed he'd slept in since he was a child. Bo slept in the bed next to him like he always had. It felt good at first to be in his own bed, it felt like home. As he fell asleep though a feeling of dread crept into the back of his mind. the wariness of the battlefield refused to let go, Luke tried to relax to put everything behind him. He tried to focus on Bo snoring softly three feet from him, but then other noises caught his attention. In the back of his mind Luke knew they were the old house settling, He knew that it was the trees outside blowing in the wind but he couldn't help but be concerned. After two long hours Luke finally got up. He went into the kitchen and got a glass of water and then went out to the living room and sat on the couch.
He focused on a family picture that sat on the mantle above the fireplace. He forced the thoughts of enemies and fighting and fear to the back of his mind and tried to focus on the happy times he had here in this house with his family. In the picture Uncle Jesse and Aunt Martha stood behind him and his cousins. Luke remembered the day well he had been fourteen and all he had been interested in was fishing. He was down by the crick just about every free moment he had. Bob usually came too. That particular day Aunt Martha had them put on their good Sunday close even though they weren't going to church. she'd told them that they were going into town to the photographer, so they shouldn't go running off because they would be leaving soon. But the boys couldn't just sit there all day and wait while their Aunt and Daisy did their hair and fused with their makeup. They'd grabbed their fishing poles and snuck off. Bo kept complaining that his shoes were hurting him so he took them off and left them under a tree for save keeping. Once they were at the crick it had gotten so hot that Luke took his jacket off and laid in on a rock. The fish had been biting that day, Luke had gotten a particularly big one that wanted to put up a fight. As he tried to reel it in he heard Uncle Jesse calling threw the woods for him and Bo. Luke then in him hurry to get the fish reeled in stepped back onto the rock and his coat which he slipped on. He had fallen back, his feet flying out from under him, his coat slid into the crick. Luke remember that when they'd been thoroughly lectured and returned to the house by Uncle Jesse, Aunt Martha had laughed at them. Luke in his wet coat and bruised butt and Bo shoe less because he couldn't find the tree he'd left them under. They'd were grounded for three weeks after that but they were still smiling in the picture.
"Are you alright Luke?" A voice came from behind him and made him jump. He turned and saw Uncle Jesse standing in the dim light.
"Yeah Uncle Jesse I'm alright, I'm sorry if I woke you." Jesse looked threw squinted eyes at the boy.
"Alright, don't stay up too late, there's work to be done tomorrow." Jesse turned and headed back to his room. Luke laid his head on the back of the sofa and smiled sadly as he turned over his Uncle's words in him mind. There was work to be done, That's what he would have to focus on the work, that would keep his mind off of the unpleasant things he'd seen.
Luke fell asleep on the couch dreaming of car engines and 2 by 4s.
He'd been on a mission since the day after he got back. that morning Luke went and got dressed he's old pants were too big and his old shirts were too small. He'd definitely gotten broader in the shoulders. So he borrowed some of Bo's old pants and one of Uncle Jesse's old shirts. With his hair cut short like it was and how he'd slimmed down Jesse was amazed at how like his brother Luke looked.
Luke walked every inch of the Duke property in the next two days, and kept mostly to himself. Settling on building a new roof for their old chicken coop so they could use it .
Bo had offered to help but Luke mad it clear he wanted to do it himself. Bo had then sulked around half the day before Uncle Jesse caught up with him and gave him a job. "I need you to take the truck, go into town and get get me a can of white paint, and why don't you see if your cousin needs anything."
Bo kinda grumbled. "What was that?" Uncle Jesse asked.
"Nothing, well Luke hasn't said nearly two words to me since he's been back. I don't get it Uncle Jesse I thought it'd be different than this." Jesse understood, Bo had grown up in the two years and was ready to be friends with Luke but Luke wasn't ready to be real social yet. "You give it time Bo, just give it some time, Now go ask your cousin."
Bo went and found Luke. "Hey cos I'm going into town do you need anything?"
Luke looked up slowly from what he was doing. "I could use some more of those long four inch wood nails." Luke said and then went back to what he was doing.
"Wood nails yeah ok." Bo started to go, but then had a thought. "Why don't you come with me." Luke creased his eyebrows obviously thinking about Bo's proposal. "The chicken coop can wait and you could look for a new shirt." Bo suggested.
Luke thought about it and looked up at Bo. He thought maybe it wasn't such a bad idea going into town with his cousin. "Yeah alright." Luke agreed and put his tools back in the tool box. "Great." Bo's expression completely change and he grinned from ear to ear.