by: Marty Chrisman

Luke Duke stopped his work for a minute, swiping his arm across his forehead to wipe the sweat out of his eyes. It was a hot day for early April. There had better be something cold to drink when he got back to the house. Mending fence was a hard job, especially since he was doing by himself. His cousin, Bo, was gone for the weekend helping Uncle Ben over in Chickasaw County build a new barn. The boys were always the first ones asked to help out when a friend or family member was in need of a pair of extra hands.

Luke ran his hand through his thick dark hair and squinted at the sun. He decided it was time to take a break and eat the lunch that Daisy had made for him that morning. He walked over to the back of Uncle Jesse’s battered white pickup truck and sat down on the tailgate. He reached for the white cooler sitting on the tailgate and opened it. Inside he found a 12 ounce can of coke, some left over fried chicken from last night’s supper, some potato salad and some cookie chip cookies. Smiling to himself, he leaned back against the side of truck to enjoy his lunch and rest before finishing his job.

Luke had only been back in Hazzard for about three months after spending almost a year up north with his Aunt Pauline. After the tragic death of his wife, he had fallen into a deep dark depression that had almost destroyed him. He had even thought about taking his own life. It had gotten so bad that Uncle Jesse had sent him to Pauline’s to keep him from losing his mind.

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by: Marty Chrisman

           Bo made it to the hospital in Capital City in record time. He had radioed Uncle Jesse and Daisy to let them know that he had Luke and was on his way to the hospital. Jesse told Bo that they would meet him there. In the emergency room, Luke was rushed into one of the examining rooms and Bo was ordered to wait in the waiting room. When Jesse and Daisy arrived half an hour later, they found Bo anxiously pacing the floor, a worried look on his face.

“Uncle Jesse,” he said in an agitated voice when he saw his uncle. “They’ve had Luke in there since we got here and nobody will tell me nothing.”

“Now, Bo, just settle down.” Jesse told him “I’m sure they’ll tell us as soon as they know something.”

That was when Doc Applebee came out of the examining room and walked over to the anxious Duke family. “Luke’s in surgery so we can set his ankle. It’s broken in four places and we’re gonna have to use pins to set it, but it should heal without any problems. He has some broken ribs too.”

“That’s good” Jesse said in a relieved voice “Is there anything else?”

“He has a bad infection that’s why he’s running such a high fever. If we can’t get it under control, he could lose his leg.  Plus he’s dehydrated and one lung has collapsed. But now that we have him here in the hospital, hopefully we can get those things under control.”

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by: Marty Chrisman

Shelby’s head snapped up as she heard a sound in the distance, the sound of a car engine approaching. A feeling of relief swept over her. Help had arrived. She just hoped it wasn’t too late. Luke’s condition had grown steadily worse in the past hour. He had lost consciousness completely and his breathing was shallow and weak. When she checked his pulse it was weak too.

The door opened and Cory came in, followed by Doc Applebee, and another young man with blonde hair and baby blue eyes. He was just as handsome as Luke. Shelby stepped aside so that Doc Applebee could examine Luke and do whatever was necessary to stabilize him for the trip to the hospital.

“Shelby,” Cory said, motioning to the other man with him “This is Bo Duke, Luke’s cousin.”

“Nice to meet you, Bo.” Shelby said cordially.

“Is Luke okay?” Bo asked in a worried voice, his concern for his cousin’s well being overriding his manners. For the moment, he was so focused on Luke that he even failed to notice just how pretty Shelby was.

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by: Marty Chrisman

When Shelby got up the next morning, she immediately went to check on Luke. He was sleeping but it was not a peaceful sleep. He was moaning softly and turning his head from side to side, as if he were having a bad dream. His face was covered with sweat and he was pale, too pale. When Shelby reached out to touch is face, she discovered that he was burning up with a high fever.

Suspecting the cause of his fever, she quickly checked his injured leg. She winced when she saw that the area around the wound was red, swollen and warm to the touch. It was obviously infected. She had used some moonshine to disinfect the wound but she apparently hadn’t gotten to it in time. All she could do now was to try and keep his fever down and hope that help arrived soon. Real soon.

She went into the bathroom and returned with a cold basin of water and some washcloths. Kneeling beside the couch, she reached out and gently shook Luke’s shoulder. “Luke,” she said quietly “Can you hear me?” He moaned but did not respond and did not open his eyes. Shelby tried again raising her voice this time “Luke, wake up.” This time his eyes did open slowly but the pupils were glassy and unfocused. Gently, Shelby wet one of the cloths and used it to bath his face, all the while talking to him in a soft, soothing voice.

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