by: Marty Chrisman

Daisy, Uncle Jesse, Bo and Luke were all gathered around Kelly’s bed, each of them lost in their own thoughts and feeling their own pain. In a few minutes, Doc Applebee would turn off the machines and they would let Kelly go so that she could rest in peace. Earlier that morning, she had suffered a stroke. After conducting further tests, Doc Applebee told the family that she was now brain dead. All hope was gone, she would never wake up. Luke had no choice but to agree to let them turn off the machines but he had insisted on being there when they did. Jesse stood on Luke’s left, with Bo on his right side and Daisy was standing slightly in front of Bo. “Do want us to go?” Jesse asked Luke quietly “So you can be alone when it’s time?”

Luke shook his head slowly from side to side. “No,” he said in a ragged, broken voice “I need you guys to stay. I don’t think I can do this by myself.”

“We’re right here with you, Sugar.” Daisy said gently, reaching out to take his right hand and squeezing it tightly. Her eyes were filled with tears. Her heart ached so much for Luke. He and Kelly had been through so much, now it had to end like this. It just wasn’t fair. And Kelly had been like a sister to Daisy, the sister she had never had.

“You got that right, cuz.” Bo said, putting a comforting hand on Luke’s right shoulder, while Jessie clamped his left. “We’re all right here with ya, boy.” Jesse told him. The three of them silently offered up their strength and their love to help Luke get through this. Tears gathered in Luke’s eyes as he reached out and took Kelly’s hand.

Doc Applebee reached out and turned off the machines one by one, until the only one still operating was the monitor that was registering Kelly’s heartbeat. The silence in the room suddenly felt eerie and out of place. Daisy felt Luke grip her hand tightly, squeezing her fingers together painfully, as they waited in silence for the inevitable.

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by: Marty Chrisman

Luke made his way to the hospital cafeteria. He was hungry but nothing appealed to him. He settled for a cup of coffee and looked around the room for a place to sit. He saw Doc Applebee sitting at a table eating a sandwich. Walking over to his table, Luke said, “Hi, doc. Care if I join ya?”

“Of course not, Luke.” Doc said, looking up from his meal. “Have a seat.”

“Kelly’s not going to get better, is she?” Luke asked. No use beating around the bush. Luke needed to know.

Doc sighed, he hated having to give his patients or their families bad news, especially when they were old friends like the Dukes “I wish I could tell you that she was but I’d can’t. Right now, it’s the machines that are keeping her alive. We’re gonna be running some tests this afternoon and hopefully, they’ll tell us something more.”

“I wanna stay with her.” Luke said “Can you arrange that? I need to be with her, Doc.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Doc assured him. “I’m sorry, Luke. I really am.”

“Thanks.” Luke said, shoving himself to his feet and leaving is untouched coffee sitting on the table. “I appreciate you being honest.” Luke suddenly felt very very old. He knew that life wasn’t always fair, and sometimes bad things happened to good people, but this felt like getting kicked in the head by Maudine the mule.

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by: Marty Chrisman

Both boys were sleeping when Jesse and Daisy returned later that evening. Letting them sleep, Jesse talked to one of the nurses to find out if they could see Kelly. When she came back a few minutes later and said that they could but only for a few minutes, Jesse gently woke up the boys to let them know. They took the elevator up to the sixth floor where the hospital’s intensive care unit was located. Jesse identified himself to the nurse on duty at the desk and told her that they were there to see Kelly. She told him that only two of them could go in at one time. Luke and Jesse went in first.

Kelly was in a private room right beside the nurse’s station. There were a smaller number of patients on this floor since most of them required more skilled nursing and some of them, like Kelly, required twenty four hour care and constant monitoring of their condition. Much to the Dukes’ surprise, Boss Hogg was the one who had arranged for the private room and was even paying the hospital bill, proving that somewhere underneath that fat little body and greedy nature, he did have a soft spot. At one time, Jesse and Boss had been the best of friends, running shine together in the old days.

When they walked into her room neither Luke nor Jesse was prepared for Kelly’s appearance. Bandages or casts covered almost all of her body and her beautiful face was deeply bruised and swollen. Her head was wrapped in bandages, leaving only her eyes, nose and mouth visible. And her beautiful honey blonde hair had been cut.

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by: Marty Chrisman

Finally, Luke and Kelly began saying their goodbyes to their friends and family. Luke laughed when he saw The General Lee. Bo and some of his friends had decorated the car with balloons and signs and strings of tin cans were tied to the rear bumper. Bo had moved the General after decorating it, parking it across street from the church where everyone would be sure to see it when they left.

Luke had already crossed the street and was leaning against the General Lee waiting for Kelly to join him. She had gotten detoured by some of the ladies from the church who wanted to say goodbye. She glanced across the street at Luke and shrugged her shoulders with a faint smile. Luke grinned back as he watched Jesse and Daisy rescue Kelly or she could have been there all afternoon. Laughing, Kelly gave Daisy and then Jesse a big hug and a kiss. Smiling happily, she started across the street to join Luke.

Luke, Daisy, Uncle Jesse and Enos all saw the car barreling down the street towards Kelly. They all started yelling Kelly’s name at the same time, trying to warn her.  Confused and not realizing why they had all started yelling at her, Kelly had paused for a moment in the middle of the street, trying to figure out what was wrong. She saw the stricken look on Luke’s face and watched as he started running towards her. Then everything went black as the car slammed into her, throwing her onto the hood and into the windshield hard enough to crack the glass, and then down to the pavement.

Jesse and Daisy ran into the street but it was Luke who reached Kelly’s crumbled body first. Enos, who didn’t drink and was still sober, ran to his squad car and jumped in, squealing away in hot pursuit of the car that he had just watched deliberately ran Kelly down. Luke fell to his knees, gathering Kelly into his arms and screaming her name. She was unconscious, a deep ugly gash on the left side of her forehead bleeding profusely and blood running from the side of her mouth. Her skin was deathly pale and cold to the touch. There were scrapes on her arms and legs from the pavement and one leg was twisted awkwardly beneath her at an odd angle. Instinctively, Luke pressed his fingers against the side of her neck, frantically searching for a pulse. She had one but it was so faint that Luke could barely feel it and her breathing was shallow and labored.

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by: Marty Chrisman

Luke awoke earlier than usual, not sure what had awakened him. Then he remembered. Today was the day. Today he was finally marrying Kelly. Smiling to himself, Luke climbed out of bed and went across the hall to take a shower. When he dressed and went downstairs, he found Uncle Jessie already up and in the kitchen making coffee.

“Morning.” Jessie said, sitting a cup of coffee on the table in front of Luke as he sat down in his usual spot.

“Good Morning.” Luke said with a grin.

“Looks like it’s gonna be a nice day for a wedding. You nervous?”

“Maybe a little.” Luke admitted. “I wish it was over with already.”

“It’ll pass. As soon as you see that little girl walking down the aisle toward you, you’ll forget about being nervous.”

Luke grinned. He wondered if Kelly was as nervous as he was this morning. Daisy had insisted that the two girls spend the night in town with Miz Tidsdale since it was bad luck for Luke to see Kelly before the wedding. Luke glanced at the clock above the kitchen stove. It was almost seven and the ceremony was at Ten. He’d better go get Bo up.

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