To Keep A Promise

Disclaimer: I don't own the Dukes of Hazzard, not making any money, just cheap thrills.


Warnings: Angst, Disturbing Themes


Rating: FRT


Italics and/or * indicates thoughts


To Keep A Promise
Chapter 3


"You sure we should be doing this Dale?" Roy Perkins whispered.


"Look if you don't want to be here, you can just leave!" Dale snapped, creeping into the Duke's barn.


"I just don't see why we're doing this and if old man Duke catches us he'll fill us full of buckshot."


"Then leave, but I'm gonna make sure Bo pays for what he did."


"Yeah, okay," Roy nervously agreed, recognizing by Dale's tone that to argue would be dangerous.


"Then come on," Dale growled, moving further into the structure, towards the ladder to the loft. Climbing up the ladder, he dragged his burden behind him, followed closely by Roy. Reaching the loft, he began to arrange his surprise for Bo.


"Hey Dale, um, what if Bo ain't the first one out here?"


"He will be," Dale assured him.


"But what if he's not?"


"Look, I've been watching the place for a few weeks, Bo is always the first one into this part of the barn. His uncle goes to the front of the barn and milks the goats, while Bo comes back here to gather the eggs and Luke is on the side, getting the feed for the animals. Now would ya quit worrying and help me get this set up, they'll be awake soon."


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The knock on the bedroom door woke Luke, who then moved to wake his younger cousin. He was still worried about the younger boy and hated to wake him, but Bo had made it clear that he didn't want to be coddled. So in spite of the nightmares that woke his cousin, in spite of the dark cicles under Bo's eyes, he woke him for chores. For the past three days, he'd tried everything he could think of to get his cousin to talk to him with no luck. Shaking off his worries, he reached down to wake Bo, "Time to get up cousin."


"I'm up," Bo mumbled, turning over and pulling the cover up to his shoulder.


"Don't think so," Luke disputed, shaking his cousin's shoulder again.


"Alright, I'm up already," Bo grumbled, throwing back the covers and sitting up. Running a hand through his hair, he reluctantly reached for his clothes.


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"Morning Uncle Jesse," Bo greeted his uncle, who was already busy milking the goats.


"Morning Bo," Jesse returned the greeting with a smile. He hid his concern at the evidence of another night of bad dreams which he could see on his nephew's face.


Bo walked towards the back of the barn, his mind on how to keep his cousin out of town today. As he stepped towards the chicken coop, he froze in his tracks at the sight in front of him. Staring at the horrific thing, he began to tremble, a scream caught in his throat.


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"Uncle Jesse, you seen Bo?" Daisy called from the kitchen door.


"Saw him a while ago, he was going to gather the eggs. Ain't he brought them in yet?"


"No sir."


"I'll go see what's keeping him," Jesse said, sitting the milk pail on the chopping block.


"I'll do it Jesse," Luke offered, coming from feeding Maudine.


"Uncle Jesse!" came a panicked cry from his oldest a few seconds later. Dropping the milk bucket, Jesse turned and ran for the barn.


"What is it Luke?" he asked as he hurried into the old structure. For a moment he stood in shock, he wasn't sure what he'd expected, but it hadn't been this.


"Bo? Come on cousin, look at me," Luke called, trying to get his cousin's attention away from the thing hanging from the loft.


"Bo! Look at me!" Jesse gruffly ordered, grabbing his youngest by the shoulders and forcibly turning him away from the sight.


"Uncle Jesse?" Bo quietly asked, coming out of his shock now that he could no longer see it. "I didn't mean for it to happen, I didn't, please believe me," he begged.


"Shhh now," Jesse soothed, wrapping his arms around the boy and running gentle hands down Bo's back. "It wasn't your fault, nobody blames you."


"Somebody does and you know who, why else would he do this?" Bo protested, trying to turn towards the loft.


"He's the only one who does, and he's wrong, I promise ya that sprout."


Luke watched, listening to his cousin talking to his uncle, and still, he didn't know what had happened. He wanted to help Bo, but with no knowledge of what events had taken place in his absence, he didn't know how. Suddenly, he realized there was one thing he could do. Quickly climbing the ladder to the loft, he grabbed the rope and pulled the dummy up. Taking in the sight, he couldn't believe somebody would do something like this. Dressed in a suit, the dummy was obviously meant to be a man, though it was impossible to tell the age of the man. Whoever had set this up, had done a good job, even taking the time to tie a hangman's noose around the dummy's neck. The face of the store dummy had been blackened, and a piece of raw liver hung from it's mouth, giving the appearance of a swollen tongue. Shivering at the realism of it, Luke wondered again why anybody would do this to his family? He wanted nothing more than to take the dummy outside and burn it, but he knew it might be needed for evidence. Reluctantly, he left it where it lay on the floor of the loft, and climbed back down the ladder.


"Uncle Jesse?" he called, waiting for his uncle to look his way. "I took care of it," he told him, motioning towards the loft with his head.


"Thank you Luke," Jesse acknowledged. "Come on Bo, let's go inside." Taking his nephew's arm, he gently steered the boy towards the house. "Luke, could you get the eggs?"


"Sure Uncle Jesse."


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"You sit down right here Bo," Jesse said, leading his nephew to the couch. Ignoring Daisy's concerned gasp, he motioned her to his chair.


"Uncle Jesse, what happened?" she quietly asked.


"I'll explain later Daisy, first there's something I got to do."


"What are ya doing?" Bo asked, sounding panicked when Jesse picked up the phone.


"Gonna call Rosco," Jesse replied, starting to dial the number.


"Do you have to?"


"You think we should let him get away with it?"


"I just don't want to get everybody talking again, besides it ain't like we can prove it was him."


"Maybe, maybe not, won't really know until Rosco gets here. You're not really worried about people talking are ya?"


"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" Bo asked, keeping his eyes on the pillow in his lap, as he nervously plucked at the edges of it.


"I think maybe it's more that you're worried about Luke hearing something," Jesse kindly suggested. Hanging up the phone in mid-dial, he moved back to Bo's side and sat beside him.


"So why don't ya just tell me?" Luke asked, stepping into the room from the kitchen.


"I cccccan't," Bo stuttered.


"I thought you trusted me," Luke quietly said, taking a seat on Bo's other side.


"I do trust you Luke, I just don't want you to know."


"Why not?" Luke asked. "Bo?" he prompted when his cousin had been silent for several minutes.


"I'm afraid," he finally admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.


"Afraid of what?"


"Afraid you'll blame me, that you'll say it's my fault."


"Is it?"


"I don't know," he replied miserably. "Most people don't seem to think so, and I keep telling myself that they're right, but..."


"But?"


"There's some that say I'm to blame, and I'm scared you'll agree with them."


"Bo, does Uncle Jesse or Daisy blame ya?"


"Nnnnno," Bo admitted.


"Then I can't imagine that I would. So why don't you tell me what happened?" Luke kindly suggested.


Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Bo nodded his head. "It started back in Febuary...."


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Febuary:


"Hey Bo did ya hear the news?" Randy Clark asked, leaning against the locker next to Bo's.


"No, what news?" he asked, shutting his locker and beginning to walk towards his homeroom.


"Last night, Mrs. Lewis had a heart attack."


"You're kidding! Is she dead?"


"Nah, but she's not gonna be back, I heard she's going to retire."


"Any idea who they're gonna get to replace her?"


"I heard they hired some guy from Atlanta, but I ain't sure."


All morning, all anybody had talked about was Mrs. Lewis. Some expressing concern for the popular english teacher, and some only wondering who her replacement would be. By the time Bo had english that afternoon, he knew that for the rest of the week they would have a substitute. There hadn't been any word yet on who the new teacher would be, only that he would start on Monday.


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The next morning during homeroom, the principal made an announcement over the p.a. system. "Attention students. As you know Mrs. Lewis suffered a mild heart attack two days ago, and as a result, she will not be returning as your teacher. Ms. Winters, the current substitute will complete the week, and beginning Monday, your new teacher will begin his duties. Jonas Wyndham is an excellent teacher who will be coming to us from Atlanta. I expect all of you students to treat him with the same respect you gave to Mrs. Lewis. Thank you."


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Monday morning the school was buzzing with excitement as the students who had english during first period began to report on the new teacher. All of the girls were crazy about him; he was "soooo cute" in their words. Normally, that would've had every boy in the school hating the teacher. It wasn't just that he so obviously ignored the attention from the girls, that kept them from hating him. More than that, it was that he spoke to the boys as though he were speaking to equals, treating them with respect, unlike any other teacher before him.


When Bo walked into his english class that afternoon, he was nearly expecting to see a cross between a movie star and a good ol' boy. He was surprised to see that the man at the front of the room wasn't really anything out of the ordinary. In his early thirties, he was a couple of inches shorter than Bo, his brown hair worn a little long was surprising. Other than that though, he didn't seem to be any different than any other teacher.


"Good afternoon class, my name is Jonas Wyndham and I will be your new english teacher. I understand that Mrs. Lewis was a well liked teacher, and I certainly understand that you will all miss her. The only thing I ask, is that you give me a fair chance, just as I intend to give you. Now before we do anything, I'd like to put names to faces, so when I call your name please stand up and acknowledge your presence. Allen Blake..."


When Bo heard his name called, he quickly stood up, "Here." Waiting for Mr. Wyndham to give him permission to sit back down, Bo could feel himself blushing as he heard the first snickers from his fellow students.


"Oh, I'm sorry Bo, I guess I was distracted. You may sit down," Mr. Wyndham finally said. Shaking his head slightly, the teacher looked back at his list and continued calling names.


"What was that all about?" Randy asked when they left the classroom.


"What?" Bo asked, hoping his friend would ignore it.


"You know what Bo, him leaving you standing there like that, staring at ya like he didn't even know where he was anymore."


"How should I know? Maybe he has some kind of fits or something," Bo suggested, feeling uneasy.


"Fits? I ain't never heard of no fit that makes ya just stare like that," Randy argued.


"You better get to class, you know Mr. Potter will get mad if you're late again," Bo said, turning down a side corridor towards study hall.


"Yeah, you're right," Randy agreed, knowing Bo was right about the math teacher.


Leaving his friend behind, Bo quickly walked to study hall. Sliding into his seat, he sat thinking about what had happened in english. He felt a shiver run down his spine as he remembered the way Mr. Wyndham had stared at him, leaving him feeling uneasy and nervous. Telling himself he was being silly, the man was probably just distracted by something, he shook off the discomfort. Pulling out his math book, he opened it to the right page and began to do his homework.


TBC


I know, I still haven't told y'all the secret, but Bo's just got to tell this at his own pace. Hope you liked it, please review and let me know what you think.