by: Marty Chrisman

It was the Fourth of July in Hazzard County and Luke had been home a little over a month. As usual, the Duke family had gone to town to celebrate the holiday. There were several events and activities going on in the town square, various contests, a large flea market, concession stands, and entertainment throughout the day. The festivities would conclude that night with a huge fireworks display at the fair grounds.

For the first time since he’d come home, Luke seemed to be enjoying himself and having a good time. He socialized with old friends and flirted with all the pretty girls. He even entered the axe throwing contest and won. He seemed relaxed and more like himself again, not as tense or on edge. Jesse hoped that his behavior that day meant that he was getting better and adjusting to be being back home again.

When it started to get dark, the Duke went to the fairgrounds along with the rest of the town to watch the fireworks. They found a place to sit and spread out the blanket that Daisy had brought for them to sit on. They all made themselves comfortable and waited for the show to begin. As soon as it was dark enough, the fireworks started with the flashing flares of shining color and loud bangs and explosions. Suddenly, Luke bounced to his feet and walked away, disappearing into the crowd.

Bo looked at his uncle with a startled glance and started to stand up to follow his cousin but Jesse shook his head and said, “You stay here…I’ll see what’s wrong.” Jesse pushed himself to his feet and made his way through the crowd. As he approached the area where the cars were parked, he spotted Luke heading towards the General Lee.

“Luke!” He yelled “Wait up….”

Luke paused just as he reached the General and stood there waiting for Jesse to catch up. As Jesse got closer, he saw the haunted, frightened look on Luke’s face and the slight trembling of his hands. Jesse frowned wondering what had put Luke in this state. “Luke…” he said quietly “What’s wrong, son?”

“Nothing….” Luke said a little too quickly “Just take Bo home with you….I gotta go…I gotta get outta here.”

“Luke, at least tell me what’s wrong…” Jesse said firmly

“I’m fine.” Luke insisted, climbing into the General and starting the engine. He pulled away without saying another word leaving Jesse standing there more confused than ever. Jesse made his way back to where the rest of the family was waiting for him.

“Luke went on home.” He told them as he rejoined them

“What for?” Bo said in a surprised voice “Luke always liked watching the fireworks.”

“I don’t know.” Jesse said “But I aim on getting to the bottom of this when we get home.”

After the fireworks display was over, they gathered up their blanket and walked back to Uncle Jesse’s truck. When they got back to the farm, the General Lee was parked in its usual place but there was no sign on Luke inside the house. “You two stay here.” Jesse ordered Daisy and Bo as he went outside to look for Luke. He had a feeling that he knew exactly where to find him, the one place that Luke always went to when he wanted to be alone. The hayloft in the barn.

Jesse entered the dark interior of the barn and walked over to the ladder that led up to the loft. “Luke, come on down” Jesse called out “I know you’re up there and I ain’t climbing this dang ladder after you.” He heard a slight movement in the loft and then a few minutes later, Luke began climbing down the ladder. When he reached the bottom of the ladder, Luke turned to face his uncle but kept his eyes lowered, refusing to look into Jesse’s eyes. “Let’s sit down…..” Jesse said “I ain’t as young as I used to be…”

They moved to a couple of bales of hay sitting to one side of the ladder and sat down. In the darkness Jesse couldn’t see Luke’s face clearly but he could feel the younger man’s tension. “Alright, Lucas….” Jesse said firmly “I want you to tell me what happened back there in town that upset you so much…”

“I just had to get out of there….” Luke said his voice tight and on edge. “That’s all…”

“That’s not all and I know it.” Jesse said “Now out with it before I turn you over my knee.”

Luke was silent for several minutes and Jesse thought at first that he was going to refuse to answer. Finally, Luke made a strangled cry somewhere deep in his throat and said “I had to get away from the noise…..the fireworks….”

“Why?” Jesse asked trying to understand why something so ordinary had upset Luke so much.

Luke turned to look at his Uncle and Jesse could see the tears in the young man’s eyes “Because….they sounded just the bombs in ‘Nam….the noise and the fire when they exploded…..” Suddenly Luke broke down and started to cry, leaning forward and hugging himself as he rocked back and forth.

Instinctively Jesse reached out and pulled his oldest nephew into his arms, holding him close and letting him cry on his shoulder. It had never occurred to Jesse to associate the sounds of the fireworks display with the sounds of a battle in Viet Nam.

“Shhhh…its gonna alright, boy…..you’re home now……you’re not over there anymore….”

“That’s just it, Uncle Jesse….” Luke’s muffled voice said against his shoulder “I am still over there…..I can’t get it out of my head…..” he began to cry harder as the floodgates finally opened and the pain and terror of what he had gone through overwhelmed him.

“Let it out, son….just let it all out.” Jesse whispered gently as he rubbed Luke’s back to comfort him. At Jesse’s words, the tears began to pour and Luke’s whimpers became gut wrenching sobs that tore at Jesse’s heart. “I’m right here, boy. Uncle Jesse’s here.” Jesse whispered, repeating the words he had used when Luke was a child and had a nightmare. He cursed the war and what it done to his nephew, reducing a strong young man to a pitifully crying child. Gently, Jesse began to rock back and forth as he continued to hold Luke in his arms. The war would never end for Luke, he would always remember the war in his mind. But hopefully with the love and support of the family who loved him so much, he could learn to live with his memories and move on with his life and even learn to enjoy life again the way he had before he left for Viet Nam.

Jesse held him tightly and let him cry knowing that this was what Luke needed more than anything else. He might have grown up quicker than he should have over there but at the moment he was a child again needing the comfort of his Uncle’s embrace. Luke cried for a long time, deep heart rendering sobs that tore at Jesse’s heart. Finally, he seemed to get himself under control and slowly pulled out of his Uncle’s arms. Jesse put his arm around Luke’s shoulders waiting for him to talk to him.

“Go on, Luke…..get the rest of it out…” Jesse said quietly. “It’ll help to talk about it.”

“It was horrible over there….” Luke said almost in a whisper “I was so scared all the time….I watched some of my best friends get killed….one of them even died in my arms.” He choked back a sob and paused to regain his composure. “I was afraid that I was gonna be next….” He swallowed hard as his voice threatened to break “I was supposed to come back to the states….my tour over there was over…then I got caught and took to that prison camp.” He stopped talking and Jesse knew that he was almost ready to start crying again. Jesse waited patiently for him to continue knowing the next part of his story would be the hardest part for him to tell and the hardest part for Jesse to hear. “They put us in cages….like animals…with nothing to wear but rags….” Luke took a deep shuddering breath “They hardly fed us anything and they….” He stopped unable to go on as the horror of the camp flooded back into his head. He buried his head against Jesse’s shoulder again “They hurt me, Jesse….they hurt me so bad….” Jesse held him and patted his back soothingly as he started crying again. Jesse felt the tears burning his own eyes as he tried to help Luke deal with the memories that were tearing him apart inside.

“Go on, baby….” Jesse whispered his own voice cracking with emotion “Get it all out….you’re safe now….they can’t hurt you anymore….”

“They beat me….they shocked me…again and again and again.” Luke cried in strangled voice “They even took four of us out of the cages one day and made us get down on our knees, then they held a gun to our head and they shot the three other men first…..I thought they were gonna kill me too…but there was no bullet in the gun when they held it to my head and pulled the trigger….” He started crying harder and his entire body shook in Jesse’s arms.

Jesse’s own tears fell down his face as he held Luke as tightly as he could and continued to gently rock him back and forth. Luke cried and kept crying until he couldn’t cry anymore. Still he stayed in the comfort of Jesse’s embrace too exhausted emotionally and mentally to move. For just a few more moments, he wanted to stay a child again and pretend that the horrors he’d experienced as a man had never happened.

“You ready to go in the house?” Jesse finally asked him gently. Luke straightened up, moving out of his uncle’s arms and nodded his head slightly. Jesse shoved himself to his feet and helped Luke to stand up. He was still shaky and unsteady on his feet, leaning heavily against Jesse for support as they walked back to the house.

Inside the house, Daisy and Bo were still waiting up, worried about Luke and wondering what was taking Jesse so long to return to the house. When he came into the house with Luke, Bo and Daisy both saw the strained look on Luke’s face and his puffy red eyes. They noticed that Jesse’s eyes were red too. Luke walked past them and went up the stairs to his room, closing the door.

“Uncle Jesse, is Luke okay?” Bo asked in a deeply worried voice

“He’ll be fine….” Jesse assured him “He’ll be just fine…..just give him a little space right now.” Jesse raised his eyes towards heaven and prayed to god to take away some of Luke’s suffering and let him finally have some peace. He knew that Luke would survive this and that his family would play a major part in his recovery from the trauma he had experienced. He had taken the first step by letting himself cry and letting go of some of the terror he had gone through. But it would still take time for him to learn to live with his memories and with his pain. He had lived through it but the price he’d paid for surviving was high indeed.

Jesse prayed that Bo would never have to be forced to fight in a war while he was still somewhere between being a child and being a man. That he would never have to see the things that Luke had seen, or suffer through the things Luke had suffered through, and he would not have to come home changed in so many ways from the boy he had been when he had left. He wouldn’t lose his innocence and a part of himself in a jungle a thousand miles from home. He would never be Luke.