by: Marty Chrisman

Jesse and Daisy were overjoyed when they arrived later that morning and discovered that Luke was finally awake. They were worried and concerned when they found out he couldn’t move his legs, but they tried to keep from letting their own fear show through. They knew they had to be strong for Luke right now and not upset him. As the day passed, Luke gradually became more alert and oriented and his speech started to improve. His voice was still hoarse from disuse but at least he could talk to them again. The news spread rapidly through the facility that Luke had come out of his coma and that he was alert and oriented.

Without much discussion, it was decided that Bo would continue to stay at the facility with Luke so that he wouldn’t be alone. Jesse realized that Luke was going to need Bo now more then he ever had before. He still had a rough road ahead, at least for the next couple of weeks, and he was going to need Bo’s strength to help him to continue to improve.

That was another amazing thing about the bond between the boys, ever since they were children if one of them was hurt they always seemed to get better when they had the other one with them to draw strength from. But Jesse also knew this whole ordeal was hard for Luke, he was used to being the strong one, the one who took care of Bo. It would be hard for him to accept the reversal in their usual roles.

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by: Marty Chrisman

As one of the aides was doing his nightly care, she commented to Bo that Luke seemed restless that evening. And it was true, Luke had began making more random movements, including moving his head from side to side in the past few days. Which was what he was doing while the aide did his personal care. He stopped when Bo stepped up beside him, gently put a hand on his shoulder and said “Its okay, Luke. I’m right here.”

“That’s amazing.” The aide told Bo with a grateful smile as she finished her work. “The way he responds to you like that.”

“Actually I think he’s upset cause there’s a pretty girl touching him and he can’t touch her back.” Bo teased the aide with a grin. The girl giggled and blushed. Gathering up her things, she quickly left the room. Bo glanced at his older cousin and smiled gently. “Time to get some sleep, cuz…..unless you wanna open your eyes. Then we can stay up talking all night.” Bo meant it as joke but he felt a jolt of excitement when he saw Luke’s eyelids flutter. He held his breath for a minute, then grabbed Luke’s hand and held it tightly. “Come on, Luke…” he coaxed “Open your eyes. Wake up for me!” Luke’s eyelids fluttered again but remained closed.

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by: Marty Chrisman

Three days later, Bo was sitting in the courtyard with Luke relaxing in the sun and reading a car magazine out loud to his cousin. Needing a break from reading, he laid the magazine down in the chair beside him and reached out to rub the back of Luke’s hand. “I sure wish you’d wake up so you can do your own reading.” He said in a quiet teasing voice. Suddenly he felt a slight movement under his hand, startling him. He held his breath and then he felt it again. Luke had moved his hand! Not much, but enough that Bo noticed. “Luke?” he said anxiously “Can you hear me, cuz?” He held his breath, waiting but Luke didn’t move his hand again. Bo didn’t care. He knew he hadn’t imagined it. Luke had moved his hand.

The rest of the day, Bo watched Luke carefully. He began to notice little things that he hadn’t seen before. A twitch of a muscle, the faint movement of a finger, a slight tilt to his head when Bo said his name. Bo could hardly contain his excitement. After almost 6 weeks, Luke was finally trying to wake up. When Cindy came out to check on them, Bo excitedly told her the things he’s seen.

“I know” Cindy told him “I told you he was trying to wake up. And you’ll see a lot more of the things you saw today as he gets stronger and closer to waking up.”

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by: Marty Chrisman

Bo was sleeping when a soft thud awakened him. Opening his eyes, he yawned and tried to figure out what had awakened him. He was sleeping in the second bed in Luke’s room, which he had been doing frequently ever since Luke was admitted to the facility. All of the staff had come to know the Duke family and liked them. They were all rooting for Luke to recover and so he would be able to return to his home and his family. Several of the younger aides were quite taken with Bo and enjoyed flirting with him (and more than one of them enjoyed flirting with Luke too even if he wasn’t in any condition to flirt back)

As his eyes adjusted to the dark, Bo realized what had awakened him. Luke’s arm had fallen over the side of the bed and his hand had hit the side of the bed. Crawling out of bed, Bo gently picked up Luke’s arm and laid it back on the bed, only to have his arm fall over the side again almost immediately. Bo frowned and then grinned as a thought suddenly occurred to him. “Cuz, are you doing that on purpose?” he said with a soft chuckle. He picked up Luke’s arm again and this time laid it across Luke’s stomach where it stayed.

Bo stood there for several long minutes just staring down at Luke’s face trying to see if he could notice any change but Luke still looked as if he were deeply asleep and didn’t seem to respond to Bo’s voice or to his touch but Bo couldn’t help hoping that Cindy was right and he was trying to wake up. “Now stop making so much noise and let me sleep.” Bo said with a grin as he gently touched Luke’s shoulder, rubbing it for a moment and then he returned to his own bed. Soon he was sleeping soundly again.

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by: Marty Chrisman

Over the next few days even Bo started to believe that this place might be the best place for Luke. The staff was so caring and genuinely concerned about Luke’s welfare that the difference from the care at the hospital was noticeable. And no matter who was in the room, even if it was only the cleaning staff, they talked to Luke as if he could hear them instead of ignoring him because he was in a coma.

The family had just arrived one morning to visit Luke and was surprised to find his bed empty. When Jesse stopped a passing staff member to ask where Luke was, the aide smiled and told him that Luke’s therapist had taken him outside into the courtyard for awhile. The family found the courtyard and went outside where they found Luke sitting in a specially designed chair that leaned back like a recliner. His therapist, a pretty blonde named Cindy, was sitting beside him reading the Atlanta paper out loud to him.

“Hi, y’all” she said when the Dukes came into the courtyard. “I thought Luke might like some sun for awhile after being cooped up in the hospital for so long.” She grinned “Get that killer tan back that I bet he had before this all happened.”

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