by: Marty Chrisman

Luke opened his eyes and looked around the room He knew that he was in a hospital and that he’d been hurt and hurt badly. But he couldn’t remember how he’d ended up here. He couldn’t seem to think straight, memories lurked at the edge of his consciousness but he couldn’t seem to grab hold of them. He knew Bo, Jesse and Daisy and he knew they were his family but he felt strangely detached from them for some reason. He didn’t mind Bo holding his hand but he remembered involuntarily flinching when Daisy touched his face and he didn’t even know why he did it. Everything was so confusing. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. He’d figure it all out some other time.

The sound of someone saying his name made him open his eyes somewhat reluctantly. Bo was sitting by his side, smiling at him. Bo, help me figure all this out, will ya? Nothing makes any sense right now. I can’t remember how I got here or how I got hurt….I can’t remember much of anything except you. Luke couldn’t say the things he wanted to say out loud because for some reason, he couldn’t speak. He closed his eyes and then opened them again to acknowledge Bo’s presence. Once for yes.

“Uncle Jesse and Daisy are talking to the doctor about them tests they ran on ya.” Bo told him “You still having any pain?”

Once for yes.

“I’ll have Uncle Jesse say something to the doctor” Bo told him. It was hard trying to communicate with someone when they couldn’t talk to you and the only answers they could give had to be either yes or no. And Bo never had been any good at twenty questions.

Suddenly a strange expression crossed Luke’s face and his eyes widened alarmingly. “Luke, what’s wrong?” Bo asked anxiously even though he knew Luke couldn’t answer him. Without any further warning, Luke suddenly went into a convulsion. His arms and legs contracted involuntarily and his back arched off the bed.

Alarmed, Bo ran to the door and threw it open yelling for help. Two nurses and a doctor came running into the room, one of the nurses gently pushing Bo out of the way so they could attend to Luke. Bo watched helplessly as the convulsion continued for what seemed like an eternity but in reality was only a couple of minutes. Finally Luke’s arms and legs stopped jerking so violently and he quieted, his eyes closed and his breathing heavy and labored.

“Please wait outside.” One of the nurses told Bo, taking him by the arm as she opened the door and gently shoved him into the hallway. Bo stared at the closed door in frustration. What the hell was going on now? He saw Daisy and Jesse coming down the hallway with Dr. Malone.

“What’s wrong?” Jesse asked when he saw the stricken look on Bo’s face.

“I don’t know.” Bo said sounding as if he were on the verge of tears “Luke had some kind of seizure or something.”

“Excuse me, please.” Doctor Malone said quickly, opening Luke’s room and disappearing inside.

“Uncle Jesse,” Daisy said trying to hold back her fear “What’s going on now?”

“I don’t know, baby. I just don’t know.” Jesse said his own voice heavy with worry and concern for his oldest nephew.

It was several long nerve wracking minutes before the two nurses, the other doctor and Doctor Malone came out of Luke’s room. “What’s wrong with my boy?” Jesse demanded before Doctor Malone even had a chance to speak.

“I’m not exactly sure…I’m going to run some tests to try and find out.”

“What do you know?” Bo snapped sharply “Seems to me like all you know how to do is run a bunch of tests!”

“Bo…” Jesse said in a mildly warning tone. The last thing they needed right now was for Bo’s hair trigger temper to start a ruckus. Bo gave the Doctor a dirty look but backed down.

“I’m sorry but the only way I can give you the answers you want is by running tests.” The doctor said somewhat defensively.

“Can we go back in there now?” Bo demanded in an agitated voice.

“No, he’s sleeping which is a common reaction to a convulsion like he just had.” Doctor Malone told them “If you want to wait, I’ll let you know when you can see him…but it will probably be at least a couple of hours.”

“Thank you.” Jesse said “We’ll wait.”

The Dukes walked back down the hall to the waiting room. They were so familiar with that room by now that they could tell you how many cracks there were in the ceiling and how many steps it was from one side of the room to the other.

“Did the doctor say if they had any news from them other tests they ran?” Bo asked, slumping down in one of the chairs and stretching out his legs in front of him.

“He said it looks like there’s some brain damage that may be affecting Luke’s speech and his coordination.” Jesse told him “It could also be affecting his memory.”

“What the heck does that mean?”

“It means that Luke may have to learn to talk all over again and that he’s gonna have problems with his balance and maybe some other things too. We just have to wait and see.”

“Wait and see.” Bo said angrily “That’s all we’ve been doing.”

“Bo, I know how you feel but there’s nothing else we can do.” Jesse said his own voice taking on an irritated tone. “We don’t need to start back biting each other.”

So they waited. There was nothing else they could do.