by: Marty Chrisman
Three days later, Bo was sitting in the courtyard with Luke relaxing in the sun and reading a car magazine out loud to his cousin. Needing a break from reading, he laid the magazine down in the chair beside him and reached out to rub the back of Luke’s hand. “I sure wish you’d wake up so you can do your own reading.” He said in a quiet teasing voice. Suddenly he felt a slight movement under his hand, startling him. He held his breath and then he felt it again. Luke had moved his hand! Not much, but enough that Bo noticed. “Luke?” he said anxiously “Can you hear me, cuz?” He held his breath, waiting but Luke didn’t move his hand again. Bo didn’t care. He knew he hadn’t imagined it. Luke had moved his hand.
The rest of the day, Bo watched Luke carefully. He began to notice little things that he hadn’t seen before. A twitch of a muscle, the faint movement of a finger, a slight tilt to his head when Bo said his name. Bo could hardly contain his excitement. After almost 6 weeks, Luke was finally trying to wake up. When Cindy came out to check on them, Bo excitedly told her the things he’s seen.
“I know” Cindy told him “I told you he was trying to wake up. And you’ll see a lot more of the things you saw today as he gets stronger and closer to waking up.”
“You really think he can hear me?”
“I’m sure he can. Just keep talking to him. When he does wake up he’ll probably be disoriented and confused at first. And he’s probably really scared right now because he can hear you but he can’t open his eyes. It’ll help if he knows he has family around him and that he’s safe. Just reassure him of that as much as you can.”
“You don’t have to worry none about that.” Bo assured her with a smile as he gently rubbed Luke’s shoulder fondly.
Cindy smiled back and put her hand on Bo’s shoulder. “I have no doubt about that.” She told him. “He has no idea how lucky he is to have the family he has.”
As Cindy went back inside, Bo leaned over closer to Luke and said “Hey, cuz….did you hear that? You’re gonna be okay, Luke. You were hurt but you’re gonna be okay now. I’m right here and I ain’t going no place.”
Bo? Is that you? How’d I get hurt? Where am I? Why can’t I open my eyes?
Stay with cuz, don’t leave me alone. I’m scared. I don’t wanna be alone.
Instinctively Bo knew that Luke could hear him. He didn’t know how for sure, call it that physic bond between the boys, but he knew. And he knew that Luke was comforted by his voice and by his presence. After so many weeks with no response of any kind from Luke as he lay locked in the depths of his own mind, Bo was overjoyed at the idea of finally having his cousin back again.
When Daisy and Jesse arrived later that afternoon, Bo couldn’t wait to share his good news with them. They were overjoyed to when they learned that Luke was showing definite signs of waking up. They didn’t question it when Bo said that Luke could hear them. They had never doubted that for a minute.
Even though he couldn’t open his eyes. Luke could feel the love of his family surrounding him. And that love both comforted him and soothed him. And gave him the strength to start fighting his way back to them.