by: Marty Chrisman

Jesse Duke was in the barn feeding the animals when he saw the sheriff’s car pull into the driveway behind the house. Sitting down his bucket of feed, he walked out of the barn and into the barnyard to see what Roscoe wanted this time. Jesse was in his early sixties but still had a spring in his step and a twinkle in his eye. He had shaggy white hair, a full white beard and a deeply lined weather-beaten face.

His niece, Daisy, was hanging up laundry on the line. She stopped when she saw Roscoe’s car and joined Jesse to find out what the sheriff wanted. He better not be looking for the boys to try and pin one of his trumped up charges on ‘em againshe thought to herself as she watched Roscoe climbing out of his car.

“What do you want this time, Roscoe?” Jesse growled, not in much of mood to be sociable.

“Jesse…I…” Roscoe stammered, taking off his hat and holding it in his hands.

Jesse frowned. Roscoe sure seemed tore up about something. Suddenly, Jesse had a bad feeling, a real bad feeling. “What is it, Roscoe?” he asked quietly, eyeing the sheriff somberly.

“Jesse…I don’t quite know how to tell ya this…” Roscoe stammered at a loss for words.

“Maybe you best just tell us, Roscoe.” Daisy said getting a bad feeling of her own

“There’s been an accident….” Roscoe said “The boys ran into the side of the mountain…”

“My boys?” Jesse said in a stunned voice “Are they alright?”

“It’s bad, Jesse….real bad. They had to cut ‘em out of the General Lee.” Roscoe said “They took ‘em to Tri County Medical Center…” Before Roscoe had even finished speaking, Daisy and Jesse were both running towards Jesse’s pickup truck and climbing into the cab. He didn’t get a chance to tell them the worst news of all that Luke wasn’t breathing when they pulled him out of the car.

Jesse pushed the old truck as hard as he could and made it to the Tri County Medical Center in less than fifteen minutes (a drive that normally took at least forty minutes from the Duke farm) They hurried into the emergency room and Jesse stopped the first nurse he saw.

“Excuse me, Ma’am. My name’s Jesse Duke. My two nephews were in a bad car accident and I was told that they were brought here. Bo and Luke Duke.”

“If you’ll have a seat, Mr. Duke, I’ll see what I can find out for you.”

Jesse and Daisy sat down on one of the hard plastic chairs in the waiting room. You’d think they’d have more comfortable chairs in a place like this Jesse found himself thinking. He was worried sick about the boys. If somebody didn’t tell them something pretty soon, he just might have to go back there and find out for himself what was going on.

Twenty minutes passed before Jesse saw a doctor come out of the emergency room and walk towards them. He stood up impatiently. The doctor looked at Jesse and Daisy and said “Are you Mr. Duke?”

“Yes,” Jesse told him “And this is my niece, Daisy. How are my boys?”

“I’m Dr. Anderson. our nephew, Bo, is in surgery right now…I’m afraid I can’t tell you much than that until after the surgery except that he’s in critical condition. He was thrown into the steering wheel and suffered blunt force trauma to the chest.”

“What about Luke?” Daisy asked anxiously

The doctor hesitated before answering instantly alerting Daisy and Jesse to the fact that the news about Luke may not be good. “Your nephew, Luke, was not breathing when they pulled him out of the car…the paramedics did CPR and they  got him here as quickly as they could and we tried to stabilize his condition but…”

“Is he dead?” Jesse asked in a tightly controlled voice cutting off the doctor before he could continue. Jesse felt a sudden surge of fear at the thought of losing either one of the boys.

“No…we were able to get him breathing again and his heart rate stabilized but his condition was much too serious for us to treat here. He’s been care flighted to the Atlanta Medical Center.”

Daisy cried out softly and buried her face against Jesse’s shoulder. Jesse put his arm around her shoulders comfortingly. Jesse looked the doctor in the eye and said, “What are his chances?”

“In my professional opinion, I would say not good. He should have been killed on impact. He has extensive life threatening injuries. Any number of which could be fatal.”

“What about Bo? What are his chances?’

“It’s really too soon to tell but his chances are probably better than Luke’s are.”

“Is there any way you can find out anything about Luke for us?” Jesse asked

“I’ll be glad to call Atlanta for you and see if I can get an update on his condition. If you want to have a seat, I’ll let you know as soon as I have any more information on either one of the boys for you.”

Jesse nodded silently and slumped back down in his chair. Daisy leaned her head against his shoulder, still crying softly. Jesse suddenly felt every year of his age. If either one of the boys died, he didn’t know what he would do. He loved those kids more than anything else in the world. And he knew he couldn’t stand it at all if he lost them both. Jesse glanced up and saw Cooter walking in the front entrance to the ER. He spotted Jesse and Daisy and immediately came over to them.

“Any news yet, Uncle Jesse?” he asked, taking a seat beside Daisy. He reached out and rubbed her shoulder offering comfort and support.

“Bo’s in surgery…they won’t know much about his condition until after that.” He took a deep breathe and exhaled slowly “They care flighted Luke to the Atlanta Medical Center. He’s not doing very good.”

“I know.” Cooter said in a strained voice “I was there just after it happened. I watched ‘em get the boys out of the General. Uncle Jesse…I thought for sure you were gonna tell me that Luke was dead…”

“Well, he ain’t…not yet.” Jesse said a little sharper than he meant to. “I’m sorry, Cooter.” He apologized. “I didn’t mean to snap at ya like that. I’m just worried about my boys.”

“I know. I am too. That’s why I’m here.”

“What happened?”

“Oh, Roscoe and Enos were chasing ‘em just like usual….a tire blew out and Bo must’ve lost control.” Cooter shook his head “If they’d been on any other road but that one…they’d been okay.”

“All we can do now is pray, Cooter. Cause it’s god’s hands now, not ours.”