by: Kristy Duke
Jesse Duke feels his heart tightening painfully within him as he looks down at his youngest nephew whose blood covered head rests upon his lap, an air mask covering most of his face. He finds himself caringly brushing his blood covered hair out of his face as Luke had done before climbing out of the backseat as his mind races within him. Races from their current situation before rewinding into the past of Bo’s childhood and back again. Through Bo’s entire life it was Bo who Jesse had worried about the most with how Bo often acts before thinking, always the one that seems to trip over his own pride. Jesse had always worried about losing Bo in one of his crazy car stints or in some fight that was too big for him to handle. But over the loss of their farm?
Looking down at Bo, Jesse feels a tear break loose from his eyes to tickle down his cheeks and he allows them to soak into his thick beard and mustache. “C’mon Bo,” he hears himself whisper to his nephew as he glances up to find Rosco pulling into the hospital’s parking lot, “help is almost here.” Sighing heavily, he glances back down and at noticing how still Bo’s thin chest remains, forces Jesse’s own heart to come to a painful halt. Forcing himself to breath in and out, he places a couple of trembling fingers upon Bo’s bloody neck and a chill runs down his back at not feeling a pulse. “I don’t feel anything,” he looks up desperately to see Luke fearfully looking back at him, his fingers remaining on Bo’s still pulse. Looking down at Bo, he is gripped by fear for his young nephew’s life. “There’s no p -” he begins to say, his voice rising in his panic before a small pulse beats upon Jesse’s callused fingers from Bo’s neck, “there’s one.”
“Damn,” Luke hisses from the front seat, his own worry and fear apparent on his face before he turns to look up ahead, “Rosco, pull up behind the ambulance there. There has to be a nurse or a paramedic that could get Bo in quicker than us carrying him into the ER waiting room.”
Rosco nods shortly from behind the wheel and maneuvers his patrol car to the curb in front of the emergency room entry doors and Luke is quick to open his door and jump out. Jesse watches from the backseat as one of the paramedics quickly leaves the parked ambulance and walks over to Luke, yelling something at him. Luke seems to shake his head before he comes to a halt and turns around to face the paramedic and to Jesse from within closed doors, they seem to be talking over something. As Luke points a blood stained arm towards the backseat, Jesse glances down at Bo, only to notice Bo’s cold skin to be noticeably whiter and his lips have a blue tint to them despite the air mask. “C’mon Bo,” Jesse states as he puts his fingers to Bo’s neck once more and once again, feels nothing for a long moment before he feels a thin distant pulse. “help is here, Bo. Just hang on.”
Jesse glances up from Bo as the door across the seat opens to find the paramedic Luke had been talking to, to climb into the back seat. “How is he?” he whispers to Jesse as he leans over Bo to put his own fingers on Bo’s neck, “He’s barely hanging on there, isn’t he?”
“Yes sir,” Jesse slowly nods as the paramedic checks Rosco’s air tank.
“Well the air tank is out of air. Don’t think it’s offering Bo here any help,” the paramedic reaches over and carefully takes the mask off and throws it on the floor at Jesse’s feet. “OK sir, I’m going to pick him up and carry him out of here to put him on the stretcher. We’ll get him hooked up to IV’s and give him an air tank that really works and bring him to the ER and see if the doctor on call can help him any.”
The paramedic eyes Jesse briefly and Jesse slowly nods as he watches the paramedic gently picking Bo up before he slowly makes his way out of the car and places Bo upon the stretcher that another paramedic had wheeled over from the parked ambulance. “Bo,” Jesse hears himself say aloud as he watches the two paramedics quickly working together to get Bo strapped into the stretcher and to get him hooked up to the air tank that ht he paramedic had promised. “No, no,” Jesse hears himself whimper in fear as tears break lose again from his eyes to roll down his cheeks as the paramedics help push Bo to the doors that automatically opens at their arrival.
“I’m so sorry, Jesse. About all of this,” Rosco says from the front seat to break his silence, “I hope that they’ll be able to help Bo. I really do.”
Jesse looks up from the glass doors now that Bo is no where to be seen to look at Rosco who eyes him through the rearview mirror. “I know you do, Rosco,” Jesse states as Luke opens Jesse’s door, “so do I.”
They are all silent once again as their thoughts fall upon Bo in worry and fear for what the next minutes or hours has in store for the youngest Duke, for them all. “Rosco,” Luke finally speaks up, his voice calm despite his own harsh emotions that rage within him, “could you go and pick Daisy up? She’s still waiting for us to return to the house with word on Bo. I never thought of sending word out to her, she’s got to be going nuts all alone in that house,” he pauses for a long moment as Rosco silently nods in the front seat, “thank-you, Rosco. You’ve helped us a lot,” Luke goes silent again, knowing Rosco’s involvement in finding Bo and hopefully putting Craig and his wife in jail may get him in trouble by Boss. Looking back at Jesse, he states, “I think we should go wait on word for Bo.”
“Hurry up and wait,” Jesse grumbles as he stiffly climbs out from the back seat, his saddened eyes falls upon his overalls and shirt sleeves that are now stained in blood. In Bo’s blood.
* * * * *
Gripping tightly upon the leather steering wheel, Sheriff Coltrane feels his heart tightening painfully within him as his mind fixates upon the broken and bloodied body of Bo Duke as they had placed his still body on the stretcher. Over the years, Rosco hadn’t lost much love over any of the Dukes as they had always found a way to escape from him, evading his speed traps, as well as finding a way to ruin Hogg’s masterful schemes he came up with. Not that Rosco always agreed with Hogg and what his plans, but Hogg was the Boss and if Rosco wanted to keep being the sheriff, he knew he had to do what Hogg wanted him to do. No matter what. Despite the eventful past that Coltrane shared against the Duke family, especially the boys, he would never wish any of them harm. How could he? They were just good ol’ boys doing what they knew best. Which was going out of their way to do what is right, to help those in needs, and to make right what Hogg has done wrong. Deep down, Rosco even envies the Dukes. The boys. Envies them for being strong enough to stand up for what is right. To go against Hogg and his crooked ways.
Bo Duke was only doing what he was taught and raised to do, to do what is right. To right what Hogg had wronged. And in the process he had gotten in the midst of Hogg’s plans, of Hogg’s nephew and niece, and now lies in the emergency room relying on the good Lord above and the doctors to help right the wrong that Hogg’s new employees had done to him. If Hogg hadn’t been so greedy…
Rosco shakes his head. It wasn’t all of Hogg’s fault. If he had been strong enough to stand up for the Dukes, to stand up against Hogg, perhaps he wouldn’t be out seeking Daisy with such horrible news. Dread instantly hits Rosco as he slowly comes to full realization of what Luke had asked him to do. He had heard him asking him to go get Daisy, but didn’t think of what picking up Daisy would entail. He couldn’t just make Daisy get in the car and take her to the hospital without explaining what he was doing and what had happened to her cousin. The thought forces his stomach to churn. Being the sheriff of Hazzard, it was his job to rely the bad news if someone’s loved one died in a car accident or was found dead or hurt, but he seldom had to do it. But when he had to do it, his stomach would churn and he would become numb as he fought for the words to explain what had happened, fought to know how to help the person he was telling the horrible news to. He couldn’t just pat them on the back and say it would be OK, because it wasn’t going to be OK.
And thinking of telling Daisy about Bo seems to accelerate the fear and the dread that comes with the job of relaying the bad news. It’s bad telling anyone, even though, on any other day he’d consider the Dukes his enemy, but telling Daisy about Bo seemed worse than it ever had been before. Perhaps through their strained relationship of always going against each other he has gotten to know them better than the others. And whether or not he cared to admit it to himself and anyone else, he cared for the Dukes. He liked what they stood for, even though that made them against him. Deep down, he accepted the facts for what it was. He did his job and they did their’s.
Dread and fear sink heavily within him as he spots Cooter’s rusty tow truck parked along side the road on the curb up ahead where Rosco had parked this morning when the Dukes had flagged him down. He swallows hard with thoughts of Daisy seeing the drop off, the scuff marks we had seen, and Bo’s blood against the tree trunk. It’s Cooter’s tow truck, but it didn’t take Rosco long to think that he could have picked Daisy up before he went searching on his own. After all, Luke said they left Daisy home alone to wait for Bo or them to return. Bo was definitely not going to be returning home for the next few days and with the rest of the Dukes out searching for Bo, they hadn’t been home. Knowing Daisy, Rosco knew, that she wouldn’t stay cooped up inside some strange house fearfully waiting for word on her disappearing cousin. She’d do her own search after awhile or do something in order to help find Bo.
Forcing himself to breathe, Rosco parks his old patrol car behind Cooter’s tow truck and is quick to get out of the car to run across the street to where the woods lies. Running a few feet into the woods, Rosco stops and looks around before calling out, “Cooter…Daisy!” He pauses as his voice echoes off the thick trees and down the drop off and he glances around more, hoping to catch sight of them. Praying they haven’t found what Luke had found this morning. “This is Sheriff Rosco Coltrane! I’ve just entered the woods where y’all did,” he pauses as he waits for a response other than his own echoing voice, “I need you to stop what you are doing and come to me. I’ve been sent to talk to you.”
Rosco lowers his hands he had been yelling through in hopes of his voice carrying farther and he takes a couple more steps into the woods, spotting two pairs of fresh foot prints. “Daisy Duke! Cooter Davenport! If you hear me, you are ordered to stop what you are doing and come here! It’s important!” Rosco yells out as raw emotions begin to eat thickly through him of the day’s events. Silence surrounds him and as he walks along watching the two new pairs of footsteps, his imagination builds vivid scenes of all that Bo had gone through. From early this morning to this afternoon when Luke had found him; of the pain and fear he had to go through in his quest to get his family farm back into the family. His family farm that Hogg had greedily took from him by running him off the road. And now…
Rosco comes to a halt as tears sting his eyes. Tears of guilt, fear, and horror of what this day has produced for everyone. He angrily wipes his eyes with the back of his hand and as he glances up he sees two dark shadow in the distance growing closer. He takes a step forward. “Daisy…Cooter?!” he yells out at the shadows as they continue to slowly get closer, “This is Sheriff Coltrane.”
Rosco walks a few steps closer to them as they slowly walk towards him and he slowly is able to identify them as Cooter and Daisy as Daisy leans on Cooter’s shoulder for support. Cooter has a protective arm around her shoulder and as the stop a foot in front of him, he sees tears running down Daisy’s face and a disturbed look on Cooter’s normally crazed face. “Well hey Sheriff,” Cooter states as Daisy slowly stands up and a look of horror crosses her face as she eyes the sheriff and Cooter’s face gains the same expression, “what happened to you, Sheriff?”
Rosco eyes the two questionably before he glances down and for the first time notices several dark stains of blood splattered upon his dark blue uniform shirt. “Never mind that,” he hears himself say, “I’ve been sent to retrieve Daisy here by Luke. But if you want to come, I know better than to try stop you, Cooter.”
“To retrieve me?” Daisy asks before giving a sarcastic laugh, “Why would Luke ask you to retrieve me? He’s the one that left me home alone all day. He knew where I was. Why didn’t he retrieve me himself?” Her arms go folded across her chest and she gives the sheriff a demanding look. “Besides, usually when you retrieve something…it is something. Not someone. You make it sound like Luke thinks you’re his dog and he sent his dog to retrieve his thrown stick or something.”
Rosco rolls his eyes. “OK fine. He didn’t send me to retrieve you. He sent me to pick you up -”
“What?! As in to arrest me?!” she yells, eyeing the sheriff wildly.
“Shhh Daisy,” Cooter wisely states, “I think we should listen to Rosco and hear what he has to say.”
Rosco nods appreciatively at Cooter. “I’m not here to arrest anyone. I’m here in order to help Luke and Jesse with something they asked me to do,” Rosco calmly states.
“Y’all found Bo, ain’t ya?” Cooter is quick to ask, “That’s his blood on your shirt, ain’t it?”
Daisy’s eyes grow big with fear as she eyes Cooter and then Rosco. “No, no, no,” she mutters and more tears flow from her eyes.
Rosco hesitantly nods at the two, dreading what he is going to have to tell them. “Luke found Bo a half hour ago or so. I just helped them take him to Tri-County,” Rosco forcefully says, “I can explain on the way there.”
Both Cooter and Daisy quietly nod at Rosco before Rosco slowly turns around and slowly walks back out through the forest and back to the road. Approaching his car, he comes to the bold realization that there was no way that he could have transferred Bo’s bloody body to the hospital without getting any of his blood in the car. If Cooter and Daisy were to ride in his car, they’d see his blood. Rosco is quick to turn around. “I don’t think you should ride with me after all. The car’s kinda messy,” he fumbles, “how about you follow me and I can explain when we get there?”
“Not a chance, Rosco!” Cooter angrily announces, “We’ve waited this long for answers…we’re not waiting any longer!” With that, Cooter leaves Daisy’s side and moves to the back seat of the car and as he throws open the door, he is quick to realize why Rosco was reluctant to drive them to the hospital. “No, no, no,” he hears himself say aloud as he sees the blood staining the backseat and his mind goes awash with all that could have happened to his friend. Weakly he slams the door shut and walks back to Daisy and eyes the sheriff, “I’ve got a better idea. How about I tow your car and I’ll drive us to the hospital and you can explain what had happened?”
Rosco nods. “Fine with me,” he slowly states.
“Why? What’s wrong with the sheriff’s car?” Daisy questions with tear filled eyes, she glances over at the sheriff and over at Cooter for an explanation before taking a step forward.
Cooter is quick to step in front of her. “Nothing is wrong with it. It’s messy like he said and a pretty little lady like you don’t need to see it,” Cooter quickly states before eyeing the sheriff, “how about you take Daisy across the street while I get your car hooked up? Then y’all can climb aboard.”
After a few minutes of watching from across the street and avoiding Daisy’s worried questions, Cooter finishes hooking Rosco’s patrol car up to his tow truck and parks in front of them. Rosco is quick to open the door and help Daisy up before climbing into the passenger seat, squishing Daisy in the middle of him and Cooter. As Rosco slams the door shut, Cooter quickly takes off on the dirt road and a thick air of silence surrounds the cab of the truck.
“OK Rosco,” Daisy states to penetrate the silence, “what happened to Bo? Is he…?” she goes silent, no longer able to ask the dreaded question.
Rosco looks out through his passenger window as he struggles to know where to begin and what to say. Finally, he turns and forces himself to look at Daisy and Cooter, clears his throat and starts his story by saying, “I left your old place this morning after running an errand for Hogg there and on my way back from your old farm, Jesse and Luke forced me to stop where they were in full panic mode. . .” Rosco continues to tell the story, not leaving anything out, as it had happened as far as he knew before finishing his story by saying, “Jesse did feel a small pulse when I had pulled up at the ER entrance and some paramedics quickly put Bo on a stretcher and rushed him into the ER. That’s when Luke sent me to go get Daisy and to bring her to the hospital.”
“That’s why you didn’t want me to look in the backseat,” Daisy slowly states, “you didn’t want me to see Bo’s blood.”
* * * * *
Staring through the window over looking the staff parking lot and an large field across a side dirt road, Luke sees nothing but Bo’s lifeless body lying upon the stretcher. His cousin’s fear and pain stricken eyes glance back at him from within, pleading Luke to help him, to save him; as they had when he had climbed into their loft this afternoon. Only to produce more guilt to rip violently within Luke’s tense body. He had been feeling guilty for his harsh and accusatory words he had spoken towards Bo yesterday ever since he had walked into their new bedroom to find Bo miss. But now new and fresh guilt builds upon the guilt he had already been feeling. Guilt for not keeping his word that he had spoken several times to Bo. “Bo, I won’t let anyone hurt you. They even look at you wrong and they’ll be answering to me. I will protect you. I am here for you, Bo,” his words that he had spoken years ago while they were both growing up are quick to be thrown back at Luke. Words Luke had spoken to comfort an eight year old Bo after Bo was tripped and beaten by a twelve year old bully, a bully that Luke repaid with the same treatment that he had given to Bo. But worse.
Now years later, he is reminded of his promises he had given Bo. Not only then, but on other occasions, through words and through Luke’s actions to make sure no one would hurt Bo. Deep down, Luke knows that it would almost be impossible to make sure no one hurts Bo. Unless Luke followed Bo where ever he went and never left his side. As it was, Bo had left on his own free will this morning by himself and was the one that found trouble. How could Luke prevent that?
But seeing Bo’s pain and fear filled eyes looking back at him, Luke can only see and feel his broken promise he had spoken years ago. Bo’s eyes pleading for his help, his protection that he failed to give him. In Luke’s own eyes, he had failed Bo.
And now, Bo may die before Luke will ever be able to apologize to him for what he had done. For what he had said.
“Lukas Duke!” a familiar voice full of anger and pain loudly penetrates his thoughts and he quickly turns around to find Daisy and Cooter walking at him, followed by Rosco. Besides him, Luke sees Jesse throw his torn newspaper onto the side table and stiffly stand up. “How could you leave me in that house all by myself like that?! You leave me to look for Bo and what? You forget about me?!” Tears are rolling down her tan cheeks as she stares accusatory at Luke.
Jesse quickly steps in front of Daisy and Daisy is quick to accept his hug. “Shhh Daisy. It’s not Luke’s fault,” Jesse soothingly says and steps back, “we just got busy looking for Bo and -”
“And y’all forgot about me,” she interrupts Jesse, “I was told to sit and stay like a dog. Wait for Bo to return y’all say. Hours go by and nothing from no one! All I can think of is that he’s dead. Perhaps all of you as well! How was I to know differently?”
Luke slowly shakes his head as he inhales heavily in attempt to cool his own temper, his temper that he seldom allows to be seen. “You weren’t. I’m sorry, Daisy. I am,” Luke places a comforting hand on her shoulder, “I don’t blame you for being upset at me. Heck, I’d be upset as well if I was in your place. But what else were we to do?” he shrugs his shoulders, “I found that cloth, his blood. Then Rosco explained about that guy at that took our farm and how he acted. I knew it was Bo. I knew he was hurt. Or worse,” Luke pauses as he fights back his own emotions, “I couldn’t just stop and go back to the house to get you. We do that, it could have…probably would have been too late. I’m sorry, Daisy.”
With that, Daisy exhales and nods before hugging Luke tightly. She knew that it wasn’t Luke’s fault, yet her anger and fear had to be directed at someone. “I know. I’m just so worried,” she pauses as she steps away from Luke, “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault.”
Luke eyes Daisy momentarily before nodding and stepping back to the window, not really interested in talk or company. At the moment, all he wanted was to hear and see how Bo was and with each second that ticks away on the clock that hangs behind the nurses desk, the more intense his fear and worry grows within him for his cousin’s life and health.
“Any word, yet?” Cooter asks behind Luke, looking from the Duke elder to Luke at the window.
Jesse sighs heavily and shakes his head. “They always say, the later the better. But the longer the wait is, the worse I feel about it,” Jesse states how Luke is feeling, “I just keep seeing him lying my lap with the air mask on. All that blood…we lost him for a second in the car.” He goes silent as tears swell in his bright blue eyes and he weakly takes a step back to sit back down on the chair he had been sitting on. Instead of picking the paper back up, he rests his head back upon the light blue wall to stare up at the ceiling, his tears soaking in his beard.
Despite her own harsh feelings and the tears falling from her eyes, Daisy slowly walks over to sit next to Jesse and rests her head upon his shoulder. “It’s OK Jesse. Remember what you tol’ us a few years back when Bo was in that racing accident and had to be put into an induced coma for a couple of days?” she questions, bringing up a past story that no one liked to think or talk about.
“That Bo was too tough and stubborn to die,” Jesse weakly responds, eyeing his niece, his mind momentarily leaving their current situation to five years ago when another driver purposely wrecked Bo. Bo had been hit hard from behind from a strong rivalry from out of town that had sent Bo’s car spinning out of control. A good friend of Bo’s drove around the corner to hit Bo on the driver’s door and sent Bo’s car off the road and rolling down a steep hill before a large and thick tree had stopped Bo from going any farther. Bo was rushed to the hospital with little hope of ever surviving the horrible wreck and even if he had miraculously survived his injuries, he would never be the same.
But Bo being Bo, went and proved everyone wrong. Not only did he walk out of the hospital alive after several weeks confined to a hospital bed, but he was the same as he was when he entered that stock car that horrible afternoon. The same except for a few scars and being plagued by nightmares.
“Exactly. He was too tough and stubborn to die then,” Daisy finally states, “and he’s too stubborn and tough to die now. You just need to have faith, Jesse.”
“Whaddya know?” Jesse forces a small grin through the tears, “You actually do listen to me after all.”
* * * * *
“Dukes,” a male voice loudly announces their name to abruptly to pull Luke out of thoughts and he turns around to find Jesse and Daisy quickly standing up. Rosco and Cooter step away from their chosen place in the corner and all walking towards a tall slender and balding doctor that stands in front of the nurses’ station and besides the hall ways. Luke eyes them all questionably, caught in the middle of wanting to know how Bo is and being afraid to hear his report. As if not hearing what the doctor has to say will make Bo better. Luke shakes his head and inhales heavily before he reluctantly follows his family up to where the doctor stands, looking at his clipboard.
“How’s my boy, doctor?” Jesse eagerly asks in front of Luke.
The doctor nods at Jesse before eyeing everyone else. “I’ll be Bo’s main doctor. Doctor Harshaw,” he states as he readjusts his thin framed glasses, “Bo is pretty beaten up. A lot of cuts and bruises. Several stitches in a few of the cuts. Our main worry has been his concussion, he has suffered a pretty bad concussion. He broke a couple of ribs, one that had punctured his lung and had made it near to impossible for him to breathe. He had a lot of internal bleeding,” he pauses for a long moment as he eyes his clipboard, “he broke his right knee and bruised his right shoulder. Looks like he took a pretty heavy fall on them.”
“Is Bo going to be OK?” Luke questions after a moment of silence, wanting to know for sure.
Harshaw nods. “Like I said, he’s pretty beaten up, but he’s in stable condition. His heart rate and breathing were very minimal when he was brought into the ER, but they have increased greatly with some medical help. I’d say, as long as everything goes as planned, that he’ll be outta here in a week, max,” he pauses with a calm smile, “in fact, he even awakened several minutes ago. He was asking for Luke.”
Everyone glances back at Luke. “Can I see him?” Luke is quick to ask.
Harshaw nods. “For now, I am asking for one visitor at a time. That way it’ll produce a little less stress on him. Perhaps by tomorrow if he is continuing to get stronger and healthier we’ll get rid of the limited amount of people,” the doctor answers, “follow me.”
Luke nods as he makes his way in between Daisy and Cooter to follow Harshaw down a brightly lit hallway with a few doctors and nurses scattered around. A strong smell of cleansers, sick sweat, and vomit is heavily in the air. After a long minute of silence, Harshaw comes to a stop in front of a closed door and Luke is quick to note that the name card on the side of the room reads: BO DUKE. “Just a couple of points to make first. He looks pretty bad and all the medical equipment make it look worse than what it is. His lungs are still weak so for the next couple of days he’s going to be relying on help from air tubes in his nose. Plus with the monitors, the IV’s…you get the drift,” Harshaw gives Luke a nervous smile, “secondly, he just woke up within the last fifteen minutes or so. Perhaps a half hour ago. Plus we have him on some pretty high pain medication right now. So I don’t know how with it he’s going to be when you go in there. He may start talking about green elephants chasing down purple cats for all I know.” Luke nods and Harshaw shrugs as he opens the door. “I do know he was awake enough to ask for you, though. He’s got a room to himself.”
“Thanks,” Luke mutters as he walks past the doctor and into the dark room to be greeted by loud irritating beeping sounds as the door goes shut behind him. Luke takes a last look at the door, half excited to see his cousin and half scared to see the pain and fear he must be in. Turning back around, Luke slowly steps up to the hospital bed, eyes the monitors, before looking down to find Bo lying with his eyes closed on the bed. Luke’s heart seems to come to a halt within him as he the ghostly pale skin surrounded by bruising and cuts on his face and bare arms. A clear tube is linked around his ears and under his throat with two prongs stuck into his nostrils of his bruised nose, several needles stick into his arms leading to IV bags hanging behind his bed. And under his thin hospital gown, Bo’s thin chest heaves heavily in and out in his struggle to breathe through his injuries. Only to remind Luke of how he had found Bo tied in the loft.
A brief moment passes as Luke watches Bo lying asleep on the hospital bed, thankful for the encouraging words he had heard from his doctor, before Bo’s bruised eye lids slowly and forcefully open. Luke hears himself gasp aloud and stands up as Bo eyes him blankly for a long moment before recognition clearly enters Bo’s dark blue eyes. “Luke!” he states excitedly as he attempts to shove himself up in bed only to hiss out in pain.
“Shhhh Bo. I’m right here,” Luke states as he bends over to gently wipe a thick lock of hair out of Bo’s eyes, “just take it easy, buddy. OK?”
Bo eyes Luke with pained eyes. It was never like Bo to take anything easy and if anyone knew it, it would be Luke. “Thank-you Luke,” Bo slowly and forcefully states before coughing chronically for a long moment and Luke is quick to pour Bo a glass of water and carefully helps him take a drink from it. Bo silently watches Luke place it back as he struggles to catch his breath. With Luke’s attention back onto him, Bo forcefully states, “if it wasn’t for you,” Bo pauses for a long moment, frustration clear in his pained eyes, “I’d be dead.”
Luke finds him shaking his head despite the firm belief that he was right. What other intentions could those gun men have for Bo? The man Luke had fought and thrown off the loft treated Bo hatefully and violently and Luke’s gut told him strongly that the guy was just waiting on the word to pull that trigger. Yet, he couldn’t grasp why anyone would want to hurt his cousin. Why anyone would want to kill Bo for. “You know I couldn’t let that happen,” Luke attempts to lighten the topic as he sees the fear reenter Bo’s eyes, “the room would be too big, quiet, and lonely without you. I could never drive The General without you there and that great car you put together would be left to rot at Cooter’s junk yard. I couldn’t have that happen.”
Bo tiredly nods. “Thank-you,” Bo tiredly states before falling silent, concentrating upon keeping his heavy eyelids open and upon finding the easiest way to breathe without feeling the piercing pain with each breath.
“Well, Doctor Harshaw claims you’re gonna live to walk out of this hospital within a week or so if all goes as planned,” Luke states as he pulls a metal fold up chair closer to the bed and takes a seat as he watches the monitors for a moment before glancing back at Bo, “but how do you feel, Bo?”
Bo eyes Luke for a long moment, too stubborn to say how bad he hurts yet too tired to make up a reasonable lie. “I hurt,” he slowly states, “everywhere. But I guess,” he pauses again, “that is better than what I would have felt if you didn’t come when you had.” Bo goes silent again as he closes his eyes and he instantly sees Craig and his brother standing over him, of their hateful eyes glaring down at him. Opening them again, he eyes Luke and says, “I’m sorry Luke.”
“Sorry?” Luke questions, “What you have to be sorry for? It’s me that has to be sorry. I should never have said those horrible things to you the other day. Losing the farm isn’t your fault…Hogg had that truck run us off the road in order to get our farm in order to make the farm into a boarding house. You believe that? Our farm a boarding house,” Luke shakes his head in disbelief, “but even if it was an accident as we believed it was, I should never accused you or said such things. It wasn’t your fault…it would have happened no matter what. I was just angry and needed someone to blame. You just happened to be the one in the best position to blame…you being the driver and all. No,” Luke states, looking Bo in the eyes, “it is I that is sorry.”
Bo slowly glances away for a moment, taking in the walls that surround him, the walls he will be faced to look at the for the next few days or so. Looking back at Luke, he says, “I’m sorry for,” he pauses once more, his breathing is loud and wheezy, “I mean, if I hadn’t ran off like I had or if I turned back when y’all called,” Bo attempts to shrug and hisses out in pain and Luke jumps to his feet, alert. Relaxing against the bed, Bo states, “y’all wouldn’t have had to come find me. Wouldn’t have put you in risk with Craig and his brother. I wouldn’t be here.”
Luke nods. “Yeah well,” he lets out a sigh, “if we all didn’t accuse you like we had, you wouldn’t have felt the need to run off and cure our problem on your own. Though, I must admit, that wasn’t one of your better ideas.”
Bo gives a short nod, his thoughts are focused upon all that had happened. What he had overheard. Abruptly he sits up, ignoring the sharp piercing pain that streaks his body and Luke places a protective hand upon his shoulder in worry. Looking at Luke, Bo states, “You’re gonna have to help, Hogg, Luke.”
“Help Hogg?” Luke questions, “From what? His greed or his pride? If he wasn‘t so damn greedy, if he didn‘t run you off the road, you wouldn‘t be here!”
“Neither. From the people he’s working with,” Bo states, each word urgently spoken, “the only reason they’ve agreed to do business with him,” Bo pauses, fighting to breathe, “is to get to Hogg’s money. I overheard them fighting. Hogg’s niece and her husband…about Brian that gun man. They said they were using Hogg with the boarding house to rob him blind. Leave him broke with a boarding house.”
Luke sits down in silent thought. “I really don’t care about Hogg getting robbed. Most that money don’t belong to him anyway. But,” Luke states thoughtfully, “now that I shoved Brian off the loft to get to you and so far escaped,” Luke eyes Bo as he is quick to realize that Bo may not be safe if they decided to go after him, “it’d leave Craig and his wife in a state of panic now that their plans didn’t go as expected. Who knows how they’ll react.” Luke goes silent for a long moment, too busy to sort out his new thoughts and fears that Bo’s statement had installed within him. Looking back at Bo, he states, “What happened, Bo?”
Bo eyes Luke tiredly as his mind replays the day’s events vividly while he attempts to ignore the throbbing pain that the painkillers have yet to kill off. “Well, I felt like I lost the farm. I felt that way even before you or anyone else said anything. I felt like I had to do something to get it back, I didn’t know what. But I had to do something, so,” Bo pauses and closes his eyes for a brief moment before forcing them open again, “so when you left the room this morning, I thought it was my opportunity to at least walk to the farm and to have a look. See if I could see or find anything.” Bo closes his eyes for a long moment before he forces them open again, to look at Luke and slowly begins to tell him all that had happened, starting from leaving through the window and until Luke had climbed up into the loft.
Luke slowly nods as Bo goes silent and watches Bo fighting off sleep momentarily, lost in silent thought. “Thanks Bo,” Luke finally states as he places a comforting hand upon Bo’s wrist as he stands up, “you may be right about Hogg being in trouble. But he may not be the only one. Jesse and everyone is in the waiting room right now waiting for their turn to have their visit with you. They have a strange one day rule where you can only have one visitor at a time. Something about it being too stressful for you. For today,” Luke grins at Bo in attempt to lighten the mood for his cousin, “I am going to make sure that there is to be someone in here with you at all time. Day or night. Who knows if they’ll come back after you or not. I’d rather be safe than sorry,” Luke pauses momentarily as he takes a last look at the monitors and down at Bo. “You get feeling better. That’s an order, you hear? We’ll need your help to move back into the farm once this is all done and over with. Ya hear?”
Bo forces a small grin. “Yes sir, Lukas,” Bo states and Luke bends over to give Bo a gentle hug.
“Bye Bo,” Luke slowly stands up and takes a step away from him, “you get some rest.”
Bo nods and goes to say something only to quickly fall back to sleep, no longer able to fight his heavy eyelids to fight back sleep. Luke nods at his sleeping cousin, once more thankful with the report they had gotten from the doctor despite the apparent pain Bo remains to feel. “Nite cuz,” he states before turning around and walking to the closed door.