by: Marty Chrisman

  Bo sat by Luke’s side talking to him, just like he’d been doing for the past two hours. “Come on, Luke…” Bo said, trying to coax him into opening his eyes. He could sense that Luke was right on the verge of waking up from the coma, all it would take was a nudge in the right direction. “Unless you wanna keep listening to me, you better wake up. Cause ya know I can go right on talking all day….”

Luke tried to open his eyes but it felt like his eyelids were glued shut, he just couldn’t get them open. If he could, he would have just to get Bo to shut up. It was giving him a worse headache than he already had.

            Bo had seen Luke’s eyelids flutter a couple of times but he still wouldn’t open his eyes. So Bo kept talking. Then he saw Luke’s eyes open, not much, just a crack but he was tryng. “Come on, Luke” he coaxed “You can do it….open your eyes, cuz.”

Luke’s eyes fluttered again and opened a little more, enough that Bo could see the sapphire blue of his pupils. Bo’s heart pounded and he tightened his grip on Luke’s hand. “Come on, Luke….” He said encouragingly. Finally, Luke’s eyes opened the rest of the way. His gaze swept the room and then fixed on Bo’s face. He looked confused and disoriented but he was awake. “Alright!” Bo said grinning broadly. “Welcome back, cuz.” Luke’s lips moved slightly as if he were trying to say something but no sound came out of his mouth.

Luke’s eyes started to close again. “No, you don’t!” Bo said firmly “Don’t you dare close your eyes again, Luke Duke!”  Luke opened his eyes again and focused his attention on Bo’s face. Gently, Bo lowered his voice and said quietly, “It’s okay, Luke…you’re in the hospital and you’re gonna be okay…Daisy and Jesse are here too. They’re getting some coffee but they should be back any minute.”

Even as Bo said the words, the door opened and the other two Dukes came into the room. “Luke’s awake.’ Bo told them excitedly. Both Jesse and Daisy grinned and quickly moved to Luke’s bedside.

“Good to see ya awake, boy.” Jesse said gruffly, tears glistening in his eyes.

“Same here, Luke.” Daisy said, gently reaching out to touch Luke’s cheek. He flinched and a look of fear crept into his eyes. Daisy looked at Jesse, the hurt showing plainly in her eyes at Luke’s reaction to her touching him.

“Now baby, it’s okay….” Jesse told her gently, looking at Luke closely. The fear still showed clearly in Luke’s eyes. He looked like a trapped animal caught in a trap. “Luke, it’s Uncle Jesse and your cousin, Daisy.” Jesse told Luke in a slow careful voice. Slowly the fear faded from Luke’s eyes but he still looked disoriented.

“Uncle Jesse, what’s wrong with him?” Daisy asked in a worried voice “What’s wrong with, Luke? Why’d he act like that when I touched him?”

“I reckon he’s just a little confused that’s all” Jesse said praying that he was right. “I’m gonna see if I can find that doctor.” Jesse left the room to go in search of the doctor leaving Daisy and Bo alone with their older cousin.

“You’re gonna be alright, cousin.” Daisy said, careful not to touch Luke again. It hurt her feelings the way Luke had reacted but after all he’d already been through, she tried not to take it personally.

“Yeah,” Bo said “Now that you’re awake….you can get better a whole lot quicker.” Luke looked at Bo and then at Daisy but still did not speak. “Come on, Luke…say something” Bo said in a slightly worried voice but Luke remained silent and just stared at his two cousins mutely.

The door opened and Dr Malone came into the room with Uncle Jesse. He asked the Dukes to wait in the waiting room while he examined Luke. “We’ll be right back.” Bo told his cousin as the three Dukes prepared to leave the room.

“Uncle Jesse, do you think Luke’s okay?” Daisy asked in a worried voice as the Dukes walked down the hall towards the waiting room.

“Now, honey, don’t go fretting.” Jesse told her “Luke’s probably just a little confused that’s all…..he just needs a little time to put the pieces back together again.”

They found seats in the waiting room and sat down to wait for Dr. Malone. It was a long wait. It was almost two hours before he finally joined them in the waiting room. Long enough to have the Dukes all worried.

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting so long but I ordered some additional tests for Luke that I want run right away.”

“What’s wrong, Doc?” Bo asked anxiously

“He’s pretty confused and disoriented but that’s to be expected and I’m sure it’s related both the stroke and the length time he’s been in a coma. He won’t talk at the moment and that could be due to the stroke and the head injury or it could be just because he chooses not to speak right now. He does seem to be able to communicate by blinking his eyes and he does seem to understand simple questions and commands. We’ll know more after we finish the tests I ordered.” The doctor told them

“How soon will that be?”

“I’ll have some of the results later today and some of the tests it will take a couple of days for us to get the results.”

“Will we know then about brain damage?” Jesse asked

“We should have a pretty good idea.”

“Can we see him?”

“Right now, I’d really rather you let him rest. He’s still very weak and he’s sleeping right now.” The doctor told them “You can come back tomorrow to see him. I should have some news for you by then.”

The Dukes agreed reluctantly and left the hospital. At least Luke was awake and that was the important thing.