Chapter 8
Jesse had just poured himself some coffee when he heard a commotion outside and then the sound of several loud voices. The back door flew open and Jeb stood there. “Uncle Jesse, you best come quick!” Jeb said anxiously “Bo's going crazy! He's trying to smash up the General!”
“What?” Jesse exclaimed, sitting his cup down on the table and running outside behind Jeb. In the barnyard, he saw Cooter, Coy and B.B. standing between the General Lee and Bo. Bo had a tire iron clutched in his hand and was yelling at the others to get out of his way.
“BO DUKE! YOU DROP THAT RIGHT NOW!” Jesse yelled in his most authoritative voice. Bo turned to glare at Jesse, his blue eyes filled with a combination of anger and pain. Instinctively, he obeyed Jesse and let the tire iron fall to the ground. Jesse cautiously approached his youngest nephew taking care not to appear angry or threatening.
“What's wrong, Bo?” Jesse asked quietly “Why are you trying to tear up the General?” When he was close enough, he kicked the tire iron to one side.
“Because I don't want the General around no more!” Bo cried in an agitated voice “Every time I look at it all I can think about is Luke!”
“But that's no reason to smash up the General Lee.” Jesse told him calmly “The General's family.”
“I don't care! I don't wanna ever see General Lee again!” Bo said, suddenly bursting into tears. Jesse quickly closed the distance between them and pulled his youngest nephew into his arms, holding him tightly. “Please Uncle Jesse….” He cried “Just let me smash it…..I need to smash something……” he buried his face against his Uncle's shoulder crying uncontrollably.
“Hey, Uncle Jesse,” Cooter said quietly stepping forward “Why don't I take the General over to my place and store him in the barn for ya for now? At least till Bo's ready to drive him again…..”
Jesse nodded in agreement. “I think that might be a good idea, Coot.” He said wearily. He'd been afraid of Bo breaking down like this. If getting rid of the General Lee for now was something that Bo needed to have done then Jesse would do it.
“I'll go get my truck .....” Cooters said “And take the General over there right now.” As Cooter went to find L.B. to have him drive Cooter over to get his tow truck, Jesse gently began leading Bo towards the house. Bo went with him obediently, almost docile. But Jesse knew that Bo was still teetering on the edge of hysteria and it wouldn't take much to send him spiraling over the edge. Once they got into the house, Jesse took Bo upstairs to his bedroom and ordered him to lay down for awhile. Then Jesse went back downstairs to get a little shot of shine to help steady his ragged nerves.
Jesse was standing by the kitchen window when Cooter came back with his tow truck. With a deep sadness and regret in his eyes, he watched as Cooter hooked the General Lee up to the back of his truck. Jesse found himself remembering how excited the boys had been when they were building the General Lee. That had always been their dream to own a car as powerful as the General. It had taken them almost a year to complete it but when they did, the General was a sight to behold. And it wasn't long before the General was well on its way to becoming a Hazzard County legend. The boys had loved that car but Jesse also understood how painful it must be for Bo to even look at The General Lee right now. Jesse had to choke back the lump that rose in his throat as he watched Cooter's truck pull out of the driveway towing the General Lee behind him. It was almost like watching another member of his family die.
Jesse knew that the age old traditions surrounding death, the wake, sitting up with the dead, and even the funeral itself, were all rituals designed for the living to help them deal with their grief and their loss. And he knew that in time the pain would become more bearable even if it never completely went away but at that moment the only thing Jesse wanted to do was scream and keep on screaming until he couldn't scream anymore.
Jesse walked over to the phone and picked up the receiver calling Doc Applebee. Quickly he explained the situation with Bo to Doc. He told Jesse that he would bring out some sedatives to help get Bo through the next few days. Like everyone else in Hazzard, Doc knew how close Bo and Luke had been and as a medical professional he wasn't surprised by Bo's breakdown. Sometimes two people can be too close and when one of them loses the other, they lose such a part of themselves that they fall apart completely and he knew that was exactly what was happening with the youngest Duke cousin.
He arrived at the Duke farm within the hour and gave Jesse the small bottle of sedatives he had brought with him for Bo. Without Jesse's realizing it, Doc was also assessing Jesse's condition. He was obviously grief stricken and needed some sleep but he seemed to be holding up so far. Doc stayed around for awhile to pay his respect to the family and to make sure no one else in the family needed his immediate attention. Daisy was depressed and kept crying but Enos seemed to be doing a good job of consoling her, so Doc figured she'd be okay too. He visited with some of the Duke family members he hadn't seem in years before finally saying his goodbyes and heading back to town satisfied that the only family member who really needed his attention had been Bo.
Early that evening, Boss Hogg and his wife, LuLu came by the farm to express their sympathy to the family. Now there may not have been any love lost between Boss Hogg and the Dukes but at one time, he had been close friends with Jesse. And like any other good citizen of Hazzard at times like this, old grievances were forgotten and replaced with sympathy for the family of the deceased. Some of the other Duke family members weren't that happy to see Boss Hogg (although most everybody liked LuLu) but they were well mannered enough not to let their real feelings show. Boss Hogg paused briefly beside the casket and offered his condolences to Jesse and Daisy, then disappeared back into the kitchen where he began helping himself to the food laid out on the table.
Miss LuLu genuinely liked the Duke boys. She knew that they were nice, polite young men and she was quite upset about Luke's passing. She started crying as she hugged Daisy and Jesse fiercely.
“I'm so sorry, Jesse.” She said “He was such a good boy and so young….I'm gonna miss him. I liked him so much…”
“Luke liked you too, Miss LuLu.” Daisy told her, gently patting the older woman's hand offering her what comfort she could even though her own heart was breaking.
“That's right, LuLu. The boys thought the world of you” Jesse told her “And we wanna thank you for coming. We appreciate it.”
“Well, you make sure and let me know if you need anything. Anything at all….ya hear?”
“Yes, ma'am.” Daisy and Jesse answered in unison. With one final hug, she joined Boss in the kitchen to help herself to some of the food.
Later that night, after all the friends and neighbors had left and nobody was left in the house but family, Jesse asked everyone for a few minutes alone with Luke. This would be Luke's last night in the house, Earl would be there tomorrow afternoon to move the casket to the church for the service and Jesse needed to spend just a little more time alone with his oldest child. Walking over to the casket, he gently and lovingly ran his hand along the length of the casket. Looking at the photograph, he began talking to Luke:
“I'm gonna miss you, boy….you have no idea how much I'm gonna miss you. I was supposed to go first, not you….and Bo….I don't know what I'm gonna do with him….he's already falling apart without you…my family will never be the same again. I love you, Lucas….and I always will.” Jesse bowed his head for a few minutes of silent prayer asking his heavenly father to look after Luke now.
Chapter 9
Jesse watched as Bo picked at the plate of food that Daisy had made for him. He hadn't eaten more than a few bites in the last hour. Anyone who knew how Bo could eat knew how unusual that was but then none of them had been eating much in the past four days since the accident. Bo looked terrible. His eyes were red and swollen and he had such a lost look on his face that it broke anyone's heart who looked at him. Jesse was seriously concerned about him. He was not taking Luke's passing well at all and Jesse found himself wondering if Bo would ever be the same again. Some of the life had gone out of his eyes and his spirit had been broken. And Jesse didn't think that time was going to help much when it came to Bo.
Earl and his assistants arrived around three o'clock that afternoon to pick up the casket to take it to the church. Most of the friends and family members discreetly went into the other rooms or outside, leaving Jesse, Daisy and Bo alone in the living room as they watched Luke leave the house for the last time. As the door closed behind Earl, Bo lost it. He suddenly started throwing and breaking anything within reach, including a living room window when he threw a vase through it. Daisy was crying hysterically as she watched Bo's rampage and Jesse was trying to stop him but he was no match for his younger nephew whose anger was being fueled by his grief.
Attracted by the noise, Cooter, L.B. and Jeb came running into the room and quickly subdued Bo who suddenly started screaming as he collapsed to his knees. Deep heart rendering screams that made everyone who heard them shudder. They all knew that the youngest Duke cousin had finally given in to his pain and grief. Daisy ran to her room slamming the door behind her. Jesse gently knelt beside Bo and pulled him close his own tears falling heavily as he tried to quiet his nephew. Suddenly, Coy appeared at Jesse's side with a pint jar full of shine that he handed to Jesse, who in turn made Bo drink most of it. Coy helped Jesse to his feet, while Cooter and L.B. lifted Bo to his feet and took him upstairs to lie down for awhile.
Jesse knew the worst was yet to come. Tomorrow would be the service at the church and then the burial in the family cemetery. He wasn't sure how Bo was going to handle that or if he even could. Jesse decided that it might be best to make sure Bo took some of the sedatives doc had left before the service. Jesse wished there was some way to just bypass all of that but unfortunately there wasn't. Cooter, Enos and Bo has all decided they wanted say something at the service. Jesse was worried about Bo giving a eulogy. He wasn't sure if Bo would be able to get through it or not but he also knew how much it meant to Bo to be able to say some words about how he had felt about Luke. Jesse turned in early that night but didn't get much sleep. He wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to get a good night's sleep again.
The next morning Maxine and Jeannie fixed breakfast for the ones who wanted to eat and then did up the dishes and wrapped all the left over food. Food that hadn't been used was stored in the old freezer in the barn since the refrigerator in the kitchen was already jammed full. Around noon , Jesse went to his room and dressed in his good black suit that he only wore at funerals or at weddings.
All too soon it was time to leave for the church. Daisy and Bo were both dressed in black too. They were riding to the church with Cooter and would be riding back to the farm in the funeral car provided by Earl as part of the service. The old Baptist church was almost too small to hold all the people who turned out for the service. Some people had to stand in the back of the room because so many people showed up. The three remaining Duke family members were escorted to the spot in the front row reserved for the immediate family.
The service started with Pauline singing Amazing Grace. Like the most of the Duke clan she had a beautiful voice that rang loud and true as she sang the old gospel tune even as the tears rolled down her cheeks. When she had finished, Pastor Jennings took over the service. He read the twenty-third psalm and then spent forty five minutes talking about Luke's life and how well liked he was in the community and how many people would miss him. When he had finished, the eulogy's began with Enos going first.
The young deputy stepped up to the front of the congregation and cleared his throat nervously. Then he started “Luke was friend every since second grade and he was always there when I needed somebody to talk to. He never judged me or anybody else or treated me any different. I always knew I could count him no matter what and I'm gonna miss not having him around to talk to. I always remember that smile and that look he'd get in his eye sometimes when he was thinking about doing something ornery. I don't wanna say goodbye to him…it's way too soon for that.” Unable to go on, Enos took his seat and Cooter went next.
“Luke was my best friend and had been since we were kids. We hung out together, we drank together, we chased women together and we worked on the General Lee together. He was more than my friend, he was like my brother and I can't imagine going on with my life without him in it. This ain't right…it ain't right at all that he's gone……” Cooter took a deep shuddering breath and then continued “I want him back right here where he should be and if I could take his place I would…..” he glanced at the closed casket and said “Keep it between the ditches, buddyroo…..ten four over and out.”
Cooter wiped the tears from his eyes as he returned to his seat. And then it was Bo's turn.
He rose to his feet unsteadily, both from the sedatives Jesse had made him take before leaving the house and pure exhaustion, both physically and emotionally. He walked to the front of the church and stood right beside Luke's casket, talking directly to Luke instead of to the crowd “You broke your promise, Luke…..you said you wouldn't leave me. You said you'd always be there to look out for me and keep me out of trouble. You were my big brother, my hero, even when we was kids. I wanted to grow to be just like you.” Bo started crying but struggled to finish what he had to say “I don't wanna let you go…..it's not fair that I can't go with you…..I love you, Luke and I can't believe that I'll never see you again…..at least not in this life….It's no fair and it'll never be fair! And I will never forgive god for taking you away from me!” Unable to continue, he broke down completely. Jesse, Cooter and Jeb all rushed forward to grab him before he collapsed and to help him back to his seat. There weren't any dry eyes in the crowd after that.
Pauline got up to sing the final hymn I'll Fly Away but she was crying so hard she couldn't get through the number. Her husband came forward to help her back to her seat. Everybody in the room seemed to be falling apart. Pastor Jennings quickly wrapped up the service and the crowd began to filer out of the church. The family was shown to the family car, which was parked on the side of the church where they wouldn't be able to see the casket being loaded in the hearse. The pallbearers Cooter, Enos, Jeb, Coy, Vance and Rosco carried the casket out of the church and placed it in the back of the hearse.
Rosco and Enos went to their patrol cars and climbed inside to lead the funeral possession out of town and to the farm where Luke would be laid to rest in the family plot on the hill behind the barn. The family car took its place in line behind the hearse and the cars belonging to the other family members and friends fell in place as the caravan began following Luke on his last ride through the countryside of Hazzard County .
When they reached the farm, the hearse drove across the field and up the hill to the family plot, followed by the other cars. After the pall bearers had carried the casket through the gates and over to the freshly dug grave beside Luke's parents, the mourners climbed out of their vehicles and slowly crowded into the family cemetery. Pastor Jennings gave a brief sermon and then led the mourners in a final prayer. To conclude the service each of the remaining family members was handed a red rose. They watched, crying openly as the casket was slowly lowered into the open grave. Then one by one, led by Jesse and ending with Bo, they stepped forward and threw their rose into the open grave to rest on top of the casket. Jesse and Daisy put their arms around Bo and surrounded by the rest of their family, they slowly walked out of the cemetery and down the hill to the farmhouse. A few friends stayed around for awhile after the service but thankfully not very long.
Most of the family members were leaving for their own homes that afternoon, except for Pauline and her family and Jeb who were all staying at the farm for the another week. The worst part of their ordeal was over but it would take a long time for the healing to begin and the pain would linger on for weeks to come.
Chapter 10
Bo knelt on the ground beside the grave. He came here every day and he had since the day they put Luke in the ground. He missed his cousin so much and at least here he still felt close to him. He spent hours here, just sitting and talking to Luke in his mind. He knew that Uncle Jesse and Daisy were worried about him but he couldn't help himself. He didn't want to go on without Luke. It had been almost 3 months since the funeral but the pain was still as fresh as if it had only been yesterday. He could no longer sleep in his own room, not without Luke in the bed next to him, so he spent most of his nights on the couch. And even then, his sleep (when he slept at all) was haunted by dreams, dreams in which Luke was still alive and there with him. They were so real and then he'd wake up and have to deal with the reality all over again that they were just dreams. That Luke was gone forever and he was never coming back.
Cooter still had the General stored at his place in the barn. Bo didn't care. He had meant what he told Jesse. He never wanted to see or drive the General Lee again. All it did was remind him of Luke and he knew that if he ever got behind the wheel, he'd see Luke sitting in the seat beside him and lose it completely. And secretly, he was afraid that he just might drive the General over a cliff and put them both out of their misery. Bo often found himself wondering just how much longer it would before he finally decided to put an end to the pain the only way he knew how. He already had a plan all he needed was the guts to carry it out. The sun was sitting low in the sky when Bo finally shoved himself to his feet and started back down the hill to the farmhouse.
Daisy was putting supper on the table and Jesse was standing staring out of the kitchen window. He breathed a sigh of relief when he finally saw Bo coming across the barnyard. He was always afraid that someday Bo might not come back from the cemetery at all. Bo's grief over losing Luke was so overwhelming that Bo was shutting out everyone around him and refusing to let them help comfort him. Jesse knew that wasn't a healthy reaction to Luke's passing but he didn't know how to help Bo when Bo wouldn't let him.
Daisy and Jesse were still dealing with their own grief in their own way. Daisy was working a lot of extra shifts at the Boars Nest and Jesse spent his time doing extra work around the farm, keeping busy so he wouldn't have to think so much about the past.
Bo still did his chores (and Luke's too) and helped Jesse in the fields but he seemed to have lost interest in everything else.
Cooter had gone over the car that Luke had been driving that day piece by piece and he had finally reported back to Jesse that it appeared that a cotter pin had come out of the steering column and that had caused Luke to lose control when he made the jump. That didn't ease the pain much but it was good to know exactly how and why the accident had happened.
Bo came into the house and washed up for supper. The family sat down at the table and bowed their heads to say grace. Before Luke's death, meals had always been a time to talk, laugh, and plan but since Luke had died meals were an unusually quiet affair without much conversation. Jesse wondered just what was happening to his family and what he could do to fix it.
The next morning Daisy left just after breakfast to go to work at the Boars Nest and Bo left the house too. Jesse watched out the kitchen window as Bo walked towards the barn. He knew that Bo was heading for the cemetery again. Jesse was just pouring himself a cup of coffee when there was a knock at the back door. He opened it to find Enos standing there. Since it was his day off, he was dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt.
“Uncle Jesse, sir,” he said in an excited voice “I need to talk to you. It's real important.”
“What is it, Enos?” Jesse asked, gesturing for the young deputy to come into the house. Enos stepped into the kitchen. “Sit down” Jesse told him “I'll get us some coffee.”
Jesse finished pouring his coffee and then poured a second cup for Enos. He sat both cups of coffee on the table and sat down himself, waiting to see what Enos wanted that was so important.
“Yesterday I was going through a bunch of flyers and wanted posters we got from the state…” Enos told him “We get a whole pile of them about once every 4 months…” he reached into his jacket pocket and took out a carefully folded piece of paper. “There's a little bit of everything in there…wanted posters, flyers about missing persons, official bulletins….anyway I found this…” He opened up the folded piece of paper and handed it to Jesse, carefully watching his reaction.
Jesse's heart pounded in his chest and he suddenly found it hard to breathe as he looked at the flyer that read: DO YOU KNOW THIS PERSON and found himself staring at a picture of Luke.
Chapter 11
“ Uncle Jesse,” Enos said anxiously, immediately concerned for Jesse's welfare. He had been worried about showing Jesse the flyer he'd found because he didn't want to shock him so badly that he had a heart attack. “Are you alright?”
“What…how….…” Jesse spluttered trying to form a coherent sentence and not doing a very good job at it as his mind struggled to make sense of the paper in his hand. Finally, he found his voice “This is impossible! Luke's dead! We buried him!”
“Well, I know we buried somebody…” Enos said “But unless he's got a twin brother out there somewhere that nobody knows about….that's a picture of Luke!”
“Brother….” Jesse said, his face suddenly turning white and scaring the daylights out of Enos again. “Birthmark….”
“Uncle Jesse? ....” Enos said “Are you sure you're okay?”
“Earl….medical examiner…..” Jesse said, still not making any sense to Enos who couldn't figure out what the heck Jesse was talking about.
“Uncle Jesse, could you put that all together so I can jump on your train of thought with ya?”
Jesse looked at Enos and said in a more coherent voice “Earl….he asked about Luke's birthmark…....”
“Yes, Sir?” Enos said still struggling to follow Jesse's train of thought.
“Luke's birthmark….Judd…. same birthmark… in the exact same place…..”
“Uncle Jesse,” Enos said in a shocked voice finally catching on “Are you trying to say that we buried Judd instead of Luke?”
“I don't know who in tarnation we buried but I aim to find out!” Jesse growled. He jumped his feet feeling sprier than he'd felt in almost 3 months. “Well, are you coming or not?”
“Yes, sir…..” Enos said jumping to his feet and quickly following Jesse outside. “Uh…where are we going?”
“To Atlanta . That's where the paper says John Doe is…” Jesse said as if Enos should have figured that out by himself “We'll take your car.”
“Yes, sir…” Enos said, as they climbed into his patrol car. (Even though it was his day off, Enos was driving his cruiser since his regular car was in the garage) As he slid underneath the wheel, he looked at Jesse and asked “What about Daisy and Bo?”
Jesse shook his head firmly “I don't want them knowing nothing about this until I know for sure.” He said “I ain't getting their hopes up if I'm wrong and it's not really Luke after all……”
“Yes, sir.” Enos said as he backed out of the driveway. He started to get as excited as Uncle Jesse at the possibility that by some miracle Luke just might still be alive.
Two hours later, Enos pulled into the huge parking lot outside of the Atlanta Medical Center , a major hospital that was housed in a building that took up almost three city blocks. Enos and Jesse climbed out of the Hazzard County police cruiser and walked into the massive building. Making their way to an information desk just inside the main entrance, Enos told the woman on duty,
“Howdy, ma'am. I'm Deputy Enos Strate from Hazzard County . We'd like to talk to somebody about this here flyer…” he showed her the flyer that had been put out by the hospital on the John Doe. The woman glanced at the flyer, made a couple of notes and then handed the flyer back to Enos.
“If you'll have a seat over there, I'll have someone talk to you as soon as they can.”
Jesse and Enos made their way to the comfortable waiting area and sat down on a plush sofa that stood in front of the huge plate glass windows overlooked the parking lot. They waited almost an hour before a well dressed woman in her mid thirties came over to them and said, “Are you the gentlemen who were inquiring about the flyer on our John Doe?”
“Yes, ma'am” Enos told her, introducing himself and then Uncle Jesse and explaining their suspicions about the picture on the poster.
“Why don't we step into my office so we can talk? I'm Dr. Mandrell and I'm the head of the psychiatric unit here at the hospital.” She led the two of them down a long hall to a tastefully decorated corner office. She closed the door behind them as they stepped inside and gestured for them to sit down.
After they were comfortable, she sat down at her desk and said, “Alright…first of all…let me give you a little information on our John Doe…at least as much as we know which isn't much. He was found in a police raid on a drug house three weeks ago. He was tied up in a back room so he obviously wasn't there voluntarily. He had no ID on him so we had no idea who he was and he was in no condition to tell us anything. Since then, he's been here on the mental health unit in a semi-catatonic state.”
“What's that mean?” Jesse asked with a puzzled frown having never heard the term before.
“Basically, it means that he is not responding in any way to any external stimuli. He won't talk, he doesn't seem to be aware of his surroundings, he doesn't respond to questions….. but he will respond to simple commands, like stand up, sit down, things like that…..”
“What would cause something like that?” Jesse asked
“Well…he did have a lot of drugs in his system.”
“My nephew would never take drugs….” Jesse growled, his voice raising angrily “No way….no how…”
“I don't think he took the drugs voluntarily. I think someone gave them to him to keep him quiet and under control. Some of them were pretty heavy duty stuff….at least one of the drugs in his system has been known to cause the same condition that he has right now.”
“But you got the drugs out of his system, right?” Enos asked
“Yes….but some of them have a cumulative effect which means that even after they're flushed out of his system, traces of those drugs still remain in certain organs and can continue to cause some serious side effects. And professionally, I think that's what's wrong with him now.”
“Will he come out of it?” Jesse asked in a suddenly concerned voice
“Hopefully…..but there's no way of knowing how soon. It could be weeks or even months yet before he shows any improvement.”
“Can we see him?” Jesse asked, anxious to find out if the patient was actually Luke or not.
“Of course….obviously we would like to have him identified so his family can be notified that he's here.”
She led them out of her office and to a bank of elevators. They all stepped into one and she pushed the button for the sixth floor. As the doors slid open, they stepped out into a long hallway. Dr Mandrell led the way to a set of double doors with a keypad mounted on the wall beside entrance to the mental health unit. “This is a secured unit,” she explained as she punched a series of numbers into the keypad “For the protection of the patients.” She waited until a buzzing sound signaled that she could open the door. Pushing it open, the three of them stepped into the mental health unit.
She led the way down the hall to a large open room where several patients were sitting in chairs or just wandering around the room. She led the way over to a wheelchair by the window where a patient was sitting, just staring out the glass. He was dressed in a blue denim shirt and jeans and had the same color hair as Luke but that was all that Jesse could tell from the back.
Slowly, almost cautiously, with his heart in his mouth, Jesse walked around in front of the patient so that he could see his face. He found himself looking into a pair of sapphire blue eyes that were staring blankly ahead with a dull glazed look. Enos rushed forward as Jesse fell to his knees and reached out for the young man in the wheelchair. Enos felt the tears gathering in his eyes as he knelt beside Jesse with one arm around his shoulders and found himself staring into the face of Luke Duke.
Chapter 12
Jesse reached out and gently took Luke's hand which hung limply over the arm of the wheelchair. “Luke, son….it's Uncle Jesse.” Jesse said in a ragged voice that betrayed his emotional state. “Luke, if you can hear me…give me some kinda sign.” Luke continued to stare blankly not responding in any way to Jesse's voice or to his touch. Jesse stared at his nephew's face still trying to allow himself to believe that Luke was really alive and not buried back home in the family cemetery like everyone believed. It broke his heart to see Luke in this condition and for him not to respond to Jesse but at same time Jesse's heart was bursting with joy and happiness. Luke was alive and breathing even if he was trapped somewhere in the darkness of his own mind.
“So this is your nephew.” Dr Mandrell said with a relieved smile as she watched the old man's obvious joy at seeing the young man. And she was overjoyed that she had finally been able to identify their mysterious John Doe. In spite of his condition, he was a favorite of everyone on the ward especially the younger aides. “His name's Luke, right?” she had heard the older man call him by that name.
“Yes, ma'am” Enos told her “Luke Duke from over in Hazzard County .”
“Well, I'm glad that we finally have him identified. I knew he had to have family out there somewhere.”
“He's alright….physically I mean…” Jesse said, glancing up at the Doctor questioningly..
“Yes…..physically there's nothing wrong with him.”
“Then can I take him home?”
“Uncle Jesse” Enos said in surprise “Are you sure you wanna do that right now?”
“Mr. Duke, I'd strongly advise against that.” Doctor Mandrell told him “He still needs a lot of assistance and prompting just to take care of himself.”
“I'm taking him home with me…where he belongs.” Jesse said in a stubbornly determined voice “That's where he needs to be to get better….home with his family.”
“I can't stop you from taking him out of here, Mr. Duke….but I am telling you that it's going to be against medical advice and you'll have to accept full responsibility if anything happens.”
“I'll do that….but either way, I ain't leaving here without him.” Jesse said firmly, his mind made up. For almost three months he had lived with the grief of believing that he had lost Luke, that he was dead and buried. Now that he knew that wasn't true, he wasn't about to let Luke out of his sight.
“Alright, I'll get the paperwork ready to release him.” Dr Mandrell told him in a resigned tone. There was obviously no use arguing with the old man. As she walked away, Jesse turned his complete attention back to his oldest nephew.
“Luke…we're gonna take you home.” Jesse said, gently reaching out to touch Luke's cheek, even though Luke still showed no sign of even knowing that Uncle Jesse was there.
“Uncle Jesse, you're gonna scare the daylights out of Bo and Daisy when you walk in with Luke.” Enos said “They're gonna think they done seen a ghost.”
“I know that, Enos.” Jesse spluttered “But I ain't leaving my boy in this place no longer he's coming home with me where he belongs….and then we'll figure out how to sort this thing out.”
The doctor returned shortly. She still wasn't happy with the idea of Jesse taking Luke out of the hospital but she had no legal right to stop him. And Jesse continued to be adamant about taking his oldest nephew home and god help anyone who tried to stop Jesse from doing just that. Luke was coming home with him even if he had to forcibly remove him from the hospital and fight anyone who tried to stand in his way.
Chapter 13
When they arrived back at the farm, Enos helped Jesse get Luke into the house and they made sure he was settled comfortably on the couch. It was unsettling to see Luke just sitting there with a blank look on his face, staring at nothing. Jesse fussed over his nephew, talking to him normally and touching him frequently, almost as if he were still reassuring himself that Luke was real and not just an illusion. Enos still couldn't believe himself. Seeing Luke sitting there was like seeing a ghost come back to life. It was definitely an eerie feeling that made the hair on the back of Enos' neck stand on end.
Neither one of them heard the back door open until a startled scream and a thud caught their attention, almost scaring both of them out of their skin. They turned quickly to find Daisy lying on the kitchen floor where she had fallen after fainting. Enos and Jesse both ran to her side and Enos gently gathered her into his arms, whispering her name “Daisy….Daisy? Honey, its okay…wake up.”
Slowly Daisy opened her eyes and looked at Enos and then other his shoulder at her Uncle. “Uncle Jesse…Enos….” She said in a broken voice “I thought I saw Luke…..”
“Honey,” Jesse said quietly, trying to break the news to her as gently as possible “Baby…now just try to stay calm….you did see Luke….”
“What?” Daisy exclaimed, her eyes opening wide with shock as she struggled out of Enos' arms and pulled herself to her feet. Enos bounced to his feet, reaching out to grab her as she almost fainted again when she looked into the living room and saw Luke sitting on the sofa. Gently, he eased her down into one of the kitchen chairs. “How….how….” she stammered, looking at Enos and her Uncle for some answers. “Luke…”
“Baby, we don't know exactly what happened yet….but we found Luke at a hospital in Atlanta .” Jesse tried to explain
“Hospital? Is he alright?” Daisy asked, her voice still stunned and disbelieving.
“Physically yes.” Jesse assured her “But right now….he isn't responding to anybody….”
“I don't understand….” Daisy said, shaking her head from side to side. “Luke's dead…..we buried him…..”
“Honey, we buried somebody….but obviously it wasn't Luke.” Enos said gently
“Then who was it?” she demanded still struggling to make sense out of all of this.
“We don't know that yet….” Jesse told her calmly “But I think it could have been Judd.”
“Judd?” Daisy exclaimed “How could Judd have ended up in that car instead of Luke?”
“I don't know, honey…..I guess we're just gonna have wait until Luke's able to tell us himself what the hell happened.” Jesse told her
“Luke's alive….” She repeated again, stealing another glance at her oldest cousin who was still sitting on the sofa, staring blankly with no noticeable expression on his face. Daisy looked at her uncle with tear filled eyes. “Is he going to be okay?” she asked in a frightened voice
“I hope so, baby….I hope so.” Jesse told her “That's why I brought him home….so he can be with his family…..and we can help him find his way back to us…..”
“Bo!” Daisy said her eyes widening again as she looked at Jesse in alarm “Bo doesn't know yet, does he?”
“No, not yet.” Jesse admitted “We just got back a little bit ago….” Suddenly, almost as if on cue, the back door opened and Bo stepped into the kitchen. He looked at Daisy, his Uncle and Enos and knew immediately from the expressions on their faces that something was going on.
“What's up?' he asked flatly in a disinterested voice. Without saying a word, the others simply stepped aside so that Bo could see into the living room where Luke was sitting on the coach. The color drained from Bo's face and for a moment Jesse thought he was going to pass out the same way that Daisy had. Instead, Bo let a whoop that almost busted everyone's eardrums and ran into the living room, sinking down on the sofa beside his cousin and pulling him into a fierce hug. He buried his face against Luke's shoulder, Bo's shoulders shaking with sobs. It took him several minutes to realize that Luke was not responding or hugging him back. He wasn't doing anything.
Startled, Bo raised his head and looked in Luke's face seeing for the first time the blank unseeing eyes and expressionless face. Bo looked at his uncle, his eyes flashing with a cold deadly rage “What's wrong with him? What's wrong with Luke?” He kept his arms wrapped around his oldest cousin protectively while demanding some answers from his Uncle.
“We're not really sure….” Jesse told him slowly, He explained to Bo and Daisy about the flyer Enos had found with Luke's picture on it and about their trip to the hospital in Atlanta where they found Luke. The two younger cousins listened as Jesse told them what he had learned from the Doctor at the hospital.
“Drugs? Who'd wanna do something like that to Luke?” Bo demanded still trying to put the pieces together and make sense of this new turn of events “And who did we bury in his grave?”
“I think that it might have been Judd…...” Jesse told him in a frustrated voice as the stress of the day started to take its toll on him. “But don't ask me how he ended up in that car….” He sighed and looked at Luke “Luke's the only one who might be able to tell us what in tarnation is going on…..if we ever get him back so he can tell us…”
“We'll get him back….” Bo said in a fiercely determined voice “I'll make sure of that…..”
“In the meantime, Jesse….” Enos said slowly “Maybe it'd be best to not let a whole lot of people know that Luke's come from the dead….at least till we figure out what's going on here….for all we know there could be somebody out there after him.”
“Ain't nobody gonna hurt Luke….” Bo said sharply “Cause they'll have to go thru me first.” Luke had always been the one to protect Bo when they were younger and now Bo was going to make that he returned the favor. He had already been through hell thinking that he'd lost Luke for good and now that he had him back there was no way he was going to let anything happen to him.
“The important thing right now is getting Luke back to normal…..” Jesse said “And the first thing we need to do is help Luke to realize that he's back home where he's safe……and not still in that hospital.”
“He knows…..” Bo said firmly “He may not be able to show it right now…..but he knows he's home.” Daisy and Jesse just glanced at one another. They were accustomed to the strange almost psychic connection between the two boys and they knew that if anyone could get Luke to respond then it would be Bo. They just hoped he could do that quickly so they could clear up this mystery.
Chapter 14
All evening Bo stayed by Luke's side, refusing to let his older cousin out of his sight. He talked to him almost continually, coaxing him to respond but to no avail. At supper, Bo even took the responsibility of helping Luke eat. He wouldn't feed himself but he would eat as long as someone else fed him. The whole situation was strange to say the least. Luke responded enough to make it clear that he could still function physically and since he responded to simple commands it was obvious that there was a part of him that could hear them. He just refused to talk and otherwise seemed to be totally unaware of his surroundings.
After supper, they retired to the living room where Jesse read his paper and Daisy worked on some mending. When it was time for bed, Bo helped Luke up the stairs and then helped him to get ready for bed. As he settled into his own bed, Bo smiled faintly comforted by the sound of Luke breathing softly in the bed next to his again. It was still hard to believe that Luke was really alive and not dead like everyone had believed for the past three months. Bo finally drifted off into the first peaceful sleep he'd had in a long time.
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Bo sat Luke sitting at the edge of the pond skipping stones across the water. “Hey, cuz…” Bo said with a relieved grin as he sat down beside his older cousin “I've been looking everywhere for you. Where have you been?”
“Somewhere you don't ever wanna go, Bo.” Luke said in a flat far away voice, turning to look at Bo with eyes that were vacant and devoid of any emotion. Without another word, he stood up and suddenly dove into the water, sinking out of sight.
“Luke!” Bo screamed, jumping in after him but the water was too dark, he couldn't see anything. He dove and dove and dove again but couldn't find Luke anywhere. Exhausted, he finally had to pull himself up on the bank unable to swim any longer. “Nooooooooo” he screamed, pounding his fists on the ground.
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The sound of his own scream in his dream awoke Bo with a start. Trembling as the scattered fragments of the dream slipped from his mind, Bo tossed aside his sheet and sat up on the edge of the bed. He suddenly realized that Luke was moaning softly and twisting his head from side to side on his pillow, obviously caught up in the grasp of a dream of his own. Quickly, Bo went to his cousin's side and gently shook his shoulder “Wake up, Luke…” he said quietly “It's just a dream…”
“No….” Luke said clearly in his sleep, swatting at Bo's hand “Leave me alone….” Bo looked at his cousin in surprise. So Luke could talk, at least in his sleep.
Bo shook his shoulder again, a little more firmly this time. “Bo…..” Luke said in a gasping voice, still caught up in his dream “Help me…..where are you?”
“Luke….I'm right here!” Bo said loudly “Open your eyes, cuz….you're just dreaming!”
“Bo…..” Luke's voice trailed off into a soft whimper. He didn't wake up but he didn't seem to be caught in the dream anymore either. Bo sat down on the edge of the bed and gently rubbed Luke's shoulder until he was sure that Luke was sleeping peacefully and not dreaming any longer. The sound of Luke's voice had sent chills down Bo's spine and filled his eyes with tears as he wondered how often Luke had called out to him for help in the past three months and Bo hadn't been there to hear him. Had Bo's belief that Luke was dead somehow interfered with their usual psychic connection? He racked his brain trying to figure out how to get Luke to respond like he just had when he was awake and not just asleep.