How Jumper Came to Be
Chapter 8
It was dark by the time dinner was over, so everyone turned in, hoping for an early start and the chance to clear themselves.
The following morning Hilery was the first one up. She grabbed two pots and walked down to the stream while everyone else was still sleeping. Once there, she filled them with icy cold water and walked back. Gently she woke up Cooter by nudging him.
“Hey cuz, wanna help me with something?” Cooter eyed the two small pots in her hands warily. He took his time shaking his head. No way was he gonna help her get even with the boys. Hilery just shrugged. She walked over to where Bo and Luke were sleeping and stood between them. Before her cousin, who was now fully awake, could stop her, she dumped the bone-chilling water on them.
The boys, who weren’t expecting such a rude awakening, let alone a cold shower of water hitting them so early in the morning, woke up with a start.
“AHHH, THAT’S COLD” both of them yelled at almost the same time, only not quite. Their yelling in turn woke everyone else up. Hilery had jumped back, anticipating their reactions, and was now sitting on the floor because she was laughing so hard that she’d collapsed.
“G’mornin’,” she yelled. Bo and Luke both looked at her in disgust.
“What in holy heck did you do that for Hilery?” Her blue eyes twinkled with laughter at their anger. They deserved what they got.
“Ain’t revenge sweet? I just got back at you two for makin’ fun of me last night!” Jesse and Daisy got up and started fixin’ breakfast. They weren’t gonna say a thing.
“Luke, Bo, I tried to stop her, honest!”
“Well, considering your boots are still off, I think we can believe you,” Luke said. He wasn’t in a good mood. Then again, neither was Bo for that matter.
“Boys, cool it,” Jesse’s voice came from the kitchen area of the cabin. “For once you weren’t the last ones up today!” Everyone had a laugh.
After the first meal of the day everyone was ready to work on catching the bad guys. First things first though, the General Lee had to be fixed. Hilery and Cooter put their coveralls back on and walked down to Jumper with Bo and Luke in tow. Daisy took the Road Runner while Jesse took his pickup truck.
Jumper sped down the back roads, avoiding speed traps and such while heading back toward Ridge Road where the General was. They got there without incident. Hilery parked the Mustang and the four of them waltzed toward the orange Charger. Bo climbed into the driver’s seat and turned the engine over. The mighty engine came to life, sounding sick. Hilery and Cooter looked at each other. Cooter motioned to him to cut the engine.
“Well, what do you think it is?”
“Luke, what you have on your hands is one sick car.” Cooter said, rather unhelpfully. “Pop the hood.” When it was open he told Bo to start the engine again.
“Hey Cooter, sounds like someone left something stray in the engine, and ‘sides, I think I saw smoke when we picked them up yesterday.” The dark-haired Duke boy looked speechlessly at the green clad woman who had her visor up. “Sounds like it’s something in the carburetor.” Cooter leaned closer and Bo once again shut the engine down.
“Luke, hand me a rag.” He did as he was told. Hilery moved toward him and leaned over his shoulder. He slowly removed the top part and looked below. Sure enough, someone had left a rag and several screws in there. The rag was half burnt. The brunet cousin turned a bright shade of red. He had been working on the General just before lunch the day before. The only reason the bright orange automobile hadn’t quit during its first run from the law was because it hadn’t been a very long ride. As the Davenport cousins started cleaning the engine together, Bo and Luke looked at each other, realizing something. Cooter was letting Hilery help him without a fight!
“Hold on a second Cooter, since when do you let her help you work on a car!?”
“Well Bo, since she showed me what she could do when we were restoring that Mustang of hers. We had a slight deal on it.”
“Yup. If he let me help, I would get a job workin’ for Mr. Cranston. There, that should do it. Bo, try him now.” The blond Duke boy looked at her and smiled. He climbed into the driver’s seat once again and started the engine. It roared into life, now sounding healthy and fixed.
“Yeehaw! Cooter you’re the best!”
“Hello, aren’t you forgetting someone here!?” Bo looked at his dark blonde haired friend and apologized. Then they climbed into their respective vehicles and headed off in the same direction.
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