DaisyMaeDuke

Daisy sighed. "He's so sad all the time...not depressed...just..." she began, not quite knowing how to express herself.

"I'm worried for him Bo..." admitted Daisy softly. Luke meanwhile wasn't stacking the hay. Instead he was sitting on a haybale, his head leaning against the wall, his lip quivering softly.

Daisy's face softened. "Then it was worth it," she said quietly leaning into Bo's shoulder.

Daisy looked towards the barn. "He was smiling?" she asked softly. It had been a long time since she saw her older cousin smile.

"Yeah well I think Mr. Luke better hang onto his shorts, cuz he's gonna walk mighty stiff for a few days...." returned Daisy.

"That....was...LUKE?! I'll kill him...." she declared.

"Me immature?! You're the one stuck crickets in my bed last week!" exclaimed Daisy.

"Don't mean you do it right..." smirked Daisy. "Besides...I have other methods..."

Daisy smirked. "It is wash day you know..."

Daisy chased after him, scattering chickens everywhere as he scampered up the tree. "You gotta come down sometime!" she reminded him thumping the pan into her hand.

"You better run Bo Duke!" she screamed grabbing a sudsy frying pan from the water and taking off after him. "Don't slam...the door," added Jesse as the screen door slammed shut. He shook his head with a chuckle, not bothering to intervene, knowing Daisy could more than hold her own with a barroom full of men. She could certainly handle Bo.

"It's a rational fear...I can't help it..." said Luke over his shoulder as he walked out the door. "Now where's he off to?" asked Daisy looking out the window as he retreated back to the barn. "Ah ah..." she said shooting Bo a glare, his hand full of soap bubbles. "You do and you'll be sorry...I'm having a good hair day and I wanna keep it that way!"

Luke smiled a little. "True, but Daisy feeds me...you don't..." Daisy giggled at that.

Luke soon finished his plate, picking it up and carrying it to the sink. "That was real good Dais," he said sinking his dishes into the sudsy water, giving Bo a playful scuff on the head for sticking his tongue out at Daisy after she had been reprimanded by Jesse. Daisy giggled. "Thank ya...for the compliment and the back-up." "Anytime," said Luke getting his jacket preparing to go back out to the barn and restack the hay, the flier somehow having disappeared.

Luke nodded in response, the thoughtful look on his face again as he read the flier once more. He supposed it was the right thing to do. He had time after all... he might just as well make use of it.

Luke bit his lip. "I guess...if they need help...what would I hafta do?" he asked looking again to the flier.

Luke bit his lip as he looked at the flyer. "Volunteer at an orphanage..." he said softly before shaking his head. "I don't think they'd want two fellas on probation hanging around the kids, do you?"

Luke's breath caught in his throat as if he had been watching a scary movie and someone just grabbed his shoulder. He let out his breath softly when he realized it was his uncle and that he must have zoned-out again. "Sorry Uncle Jesse...did you say somethin'?"

Luke didn't look up, or give any indication that he heard Jesse at all. He just stared fixidly at his plate. He was eating, but the food all tasted the same to him.

Daisy smiled sweetly at him as she gathered her plate and Bo's. "You're welcome honey." Luke ate quietly, not really paying any attention to them.

It wasn't long until Luke emerged from the bedroom, freshly clothed, his hair still damp from the shower. "Any left?" he asked meekly. Daisy smiled. "In the drawer waitin' for ya sugar." Luke nodded, as he went to the stove, opening the drawer and taking out the plate inside.

Daisy swallowed looking in the direction of the bathroom before fixing Luke a plate and putting it in the heating drawer of the stove to keep warm. "What if he doesn't sort through it Uncle Jesse?" Luke closed his eyes as he leaned on the solid wall, tears mixing gently with the water. He looked forward to his shower every day...it was the one time he could allow the unshed tears to fall while at the same time fooling himself into thinking it was merely the warm spray hitting him and nothing more.

"Sorry," Luke murmured. "M'just gonna clean up a bit." With that he went to the bathroom, soon becoming lost in thought as the warm shower spray hit against his bare chest. Daisy bit her lip. "He ain't actin' right...he's too quiet...even for Luke."

Luke eventually snapped out of his daze, looked around and frowned, realizing that Bo wasn't there. He frowned deeper when he realized that the sun was much higher in the sky than it normally was when he finished his chores. Shaking his head softly, he rubbed the back of his neck looking around the floor as he bit his lip. Scarcely a strand of hay was left in the loft, the majority having been unconsciously thrown to the barn floor. With a sigh, Luke softly made his way down the ladder, grabbing his shirt from where he hung it over Maudine's stall door. Looking again at the hay now adorning the barn floor, he shook his head thinking how he would never hear the end of this from Bo. Sighing, he left the barn and went inside, daring to hope he hadn't missed breakfast, not wanting to try to explain why he was late.

Daisy shot him a playful glare. "Since when does my cookin' not taste good Bo Duke?!" She shook her head at his retreating figure, muttering "men" under her breath as she continued about getting breakfast ready.