by: Marty Chrisman

It was late, almost four A.M., and it was dark. The young man stumbled down the road guided more by instinct than anything else. He was a handsome young man in his mid twenties with finely chiseled features, sapphire blue eyes and dark brown curly hair. Six feet tall, he had lean muscular build and was casually dressed in brown cowboy boots, blue jeans and a blue plaid shirt.

Reaching a dirt driveway, he walked around to the back of a weather beaten two story frame house with a screened in back porch. A white pickup truck and a white jeep CJ7 with the name Dixie written on both sides of the hood with a golden Eagle painted in the middle were parked in the barnyard between the house and the old barn.

The young man stumbled up the steps to the porch and entered the house through a back door that opened into the kitchen. Without bothering to turn on the lights, he made his way through the darkness to the stairway and climbed the steps to the second floor. He opened the door to the bedroom at the top of the stairs and went inside. Ignoring the single bed directly in front of him, he crossed to the second single bed in the room. He collapsed across it, face down, without bothering to get undressed.

Jesse Duke was up at five thirty just like he was every morning. The day starts early on a farm. He was a gentle bear of a man in his early sixties with snow white hair and a full beard. He quickly dressed and then went across the hall from his room to wake up his niece, Daisy, so she could start breakfast. He tapped lightly on her door and heard her answer in seconds, “I’m up, Uncle Jesse.” He smiled faintly as he continued on down the hall. Daisy was the easiest of his three charges to awaken in the morning.

He opened the door to the room that his two nephews, Bo and Luke, had shared since childhood. Walking over to the window, he pulled up the blind letting the early morning sunshine into the room. “Alright, Boys.” He said cheerfully “Time to get up.”

Bo, who slept on the bed closest to the door, mumbled in his sleep but didn’t awaken. He was usually the hardest of the three cousins to wake up. Normally, Jesse woke his oldest nephew, Luke, up first and then let him take care of waking up Bo. But this morning, he noticed that Luke wasn’t waking up very easily either.

Frowning Jesse walked over to Luke’s bed and looked down at his nephew who was sleeping face down and still fully clothed. Luke must have gotten in awfully late last night, something out of character for Luke he was usually the more responsible one of the two boys. Jesse reached down and shook his shoulder gently “Luke,” he said firmly “It’s time to get up.” Jesse knew the boys played as hard as they worked but he didn’t allow them to slack off their work just because they’d stayed out a little too late the night before. When Luke still didn’t wake up, Jesse shook his shoulder again, harder this time. “Luke, I said it’s time to get up!” he said a little louder and just as firmly.

Finally, Luke groaned and rolled over onto his back. His eyes opened and he looked up at Jesse with a startled expression on his face. Jesse stepped back and looked at his oldest nephew with a puzzled expression on his face. He could only describe the look he saw in Luke’s eyes as fear, pure fear. Thinking that Luke had simply been having a nightmare and was still not quite awake, Jesse said quietly “It’s time to get up, Luke.”

“What?” Luke mumbled almost incoherently, as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. He looked at Jesse with the fear still showing clearly in his eyes. His next words sent a chill through the old man’s heart “Who are you and where the hell am I?”

“Luke….what’s the matter, son?” Jesse said slowly, still not sure why Luke was acting so strangely this morning.

“Don’t call me that!” Luke snapped sharply “I don’t know you! Where am I and how did I get here?”

Bo muttered something under his breath and opened his eyes, awakened by the voices of his Uncle and his cousin. Blinking sleepily, he yawned and sat up in bed, running his fingers through his thick blonde hair. He turned his attention to his Uncle and his cousin wondering what was going on and why Luke hadn’t woke him up like he usually did the mornings.

“Luke….just calm down…” Jesse said in a soothing voice, sensing that Luke was ready to bolt at any second “It’s your Uncle Jesse, son….”

“I don’t know you!” Luke said angrily, his sapphire eyes flashing fire as he glared at his Uncle.

“Uncle Jesse,” Bo said, wide awake now and stunned by Luke’s words. “What’s the matter with Luke?” He felt a sudden surge of panic but he wasn’t entirely sure why.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” Jesse told his youngest nephew without taking his eyes off of Luke. “Now listen to me, son…” he told Luke calmly “Your name is Luke Duke. I’m your Uncle Jesse and this here is your cousin, Bo.”

Luke shook his head stubbornly “I don’t know either one of you and I never heard of any Luke Duke!”

“Uncle Jesse!” Bo said, bouncing out of bed and really starting to panic when he realized that there was something wrong with Luke.

Jesse held up a hand to silence Bo. In a quiet, calm voice he told Bo over his shoulder “Go call Doc Pedicord and tell him to get out here right away.”

“Yes, sir.” Bo said, leaving his room dressed only in his boxers as he hurried to do as his Uncle instructed.

As Bo left the room, Jesse reached out intending to touch Luke’s shoulder. Hurt filled the old man’s eyes when Luke pulled away from his hand and looked at him warily, suspiciously, the distrust showing clearly in his eyes. Jesse let his hand fall to his side and looked at his nephew sadly wondering what had happened to Luke that was causing him to act this way. “Why don’t you come downstairs with me?” Jesse said gently “You can have some breakfast while we try to figure this thing out.”

Luke hesitated and then slowly shoved himself to his feet. He followed Jesse out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the kitchen. The smell of bacon frying and freshly brewed coffee filled the air. Daisy turned to look at her Uncle and Luke as they came into the kitchen. Jesse knew from the look on her face that Bo had filled her in on what had happened upstairs. Bo was standing by the sink, eyeing his cousin worriedly. “Doc said he’d be here as soon as he can” he told Jesse

Jesse nodded to acknowledge Bo’s words and told him “You better go get dressed.” As Bo left the kitchen, Jesse turned his attention back to Luke who was still standing in the archway between the kitchen and the living room, watching them all cautiously. “Why don’t you sit down?” Jesse said “And Daisy can get you something to eat.”

Luke hesitated again but finally sat down at the table, taking Bo’s usual chair. Daisy quickly prepared a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast, sitting it on the table in front of Luke. She also poured him a cup of coffee, black the way he usually drank it.

“Well go on….” Jesse coaxed Luke gently “Eat….” The suspiciousness in Luke’s eyes tore at Jesse’s heart. Something was wrong, very wrong and Jesse didn’t know how to fix it. He hoped to god that Doc would be able to tell them what was wrong with Luke. Still watching Jesse and Daisy warily, Luke finally began to eat but he did it slowly almost cautiously. The look in his eyes reminded Jesse of a cornered animal just looking for a chance to escape.

Bo came back into the kitchen and fixed himself a plate. Glancing at Luke and then at Jesse, he sat down beside Luke in the chair that Luke normally used. Disturbed by the morning’s events, he began to eat trying to make sense of what was going on around him. The family had almost finished with their breakfast when Doc Pedicord arrived.

Jesse met Doc at the front door and in a quiet voice told him about that morning’s events and Luke’s strange behavior. Doc nodded and accompanied Jesse into the kitchen.

“Good morning, Luke.” Doc said pleasantly “I’m Doc Pedicord. Why don’t you come with me for a few minutes and we’ll try to figure out what’s going on here?”

He noticed the suspiciousness in Luke’s eyes too and the hesitation before Luke finally shoved himself to his feet and voluntarily followed Doc out onto the front porch. The rest of the family exchanged anxious glances as they waited to hear what Doc had to say after he finished examining Luke.

“Uncle Jesse, what’s wrong with Luke?” Daisy asked anxiously

“I don’t know, honey.” Jesse told him, reaching out to pat her hand reassuringly . “Let’s hope Doc can tell us.”

“Hey!” Bo said as he happened to glance out the window into the barnyard “The General Lee’s not out there!”

“What do you mean The General’s not out there?” Jesse said, jumping to his feet and hurrying to the window over the kitchen sink and looking outside.

“It’s not out there.” Bo repeated unnecessarily since Jesse could see that for himself.

“Then how did Luke get home last night?” Daisy asked in a puzzled voice.

“He must have walked.” Jesse said. He looked at Bo “Where was Luke going last night?”

“He had a date with Mary Anne Cummings.” Bo told him

“Well, let’s wait to see what Doc has to say and then we’ll try to figure out where the General is.” Jesse said

A few minutes later the front screen door banged and Doc came back into the house. He walked into the kitchen where the other three Dukes looked at him anxiously.

“It looks like Luke’s suffered a severe blow to the back of his head and as a result he has amnesia.” Doc told them “It’s probably only temporary but right now he’s very confused and very frightened because he can’t remember anything.”

“Is he alright otherwise?” Jesse asked “You said he had a blow to the head.”

“Yes but other than a concussion I’d don’t think there’s any other damage. Now, there are some marks on his wrists that makes it look like he’s been tied up at some point.”

“Tied up?” Bo exclaimed “Who’d do something like that to Luke? And why?”

“If we find that out, then we might find out what happened to Luke and where the General Lee is.” Jesse said. He looked at the doctor “What can we do for Luke till he starts to remember things himself?”

“Just try to be patient with him and try not to let him get too upset or agitated. Right now, as I said he’s confused and scared and he’s very frustrated because he can’t remember. Otherwise, just do what you’d normally do….there’s no way of predicting what might start triggering his memory again.” Doc said “And I wouldn’t leave him alone right now. Make sure someone is with him until he feels comfortable being here.”

“You don’t think he’ll try taking off, do ya?” Jesse said

“No, I don’t think so. Right now the whole area is strange to him so I don’t think he’ll venture too far by himself. The most important thing is to just keep reassuring him that this is where he belongs and that he’s safe here.”

“If he’ll let us.” Bo said remembering how Luke kept denying all morning that he didn’t know them or anyone named Luke Duke.

“I know it’s hard for all of you too but that’s all you can do right now. I already told him that he was Luke Duke and that you were his family and this was his home but I’m not sure he really understands that right now. It’ll take some time but he’ll come around.” Doc told them “If you need anything else just give me a call.”