by: Kristy Duke

Fear grabs a tight hold of me as I stare numbly at the old clock that rests above the nurses desk, silently counting down how long we have waited on word for Bo. Despite the happy word of Garrett awake and quickly recovering from his injuries, my mind and fear remain upon Bo. All that Luke had said that he had witnessed and all that had happened in the shaft continues to haunt me while my imagination vividly flashes scenes of what my nephew must have went through. Of his fear and of his pain. With the injuries that Luke had described to me and of Bo’s condition, fear of losing him rushes through me, making me think of a life without Bo. As I have done many times in the past when he had grown up with his diseases and had been left in the hospital fighting for his life. As we had done a year and a half a go when we had been led to believe he had died in the accident. Watching the clock slowly tick by, I am lost once again in prayer for my nephew’s fragile life, that he may be strong enough to pull himself out of his weak condition that he is in now. That he may live long enough to have a future, that his life may have a chance to go back to as it had been before the fight at the Boar’s Nest between Luke and Garrett.

Thinking of Luke, I slowly glance over at Luke who stands quietly at the window that over looks a muddy pasture filled with cows and horses. Blood and sweat stain his clothing as he stares blankly through the window, a lone tear melts down his right cheek as he remains lost upon thoughts of Bo. His right eyes is blackly bruised with a thin cut above his left dark eye brow from his own brief moment as prisoner. For a moment I debate upon approaching him before I slowly let the thought escape in knowledge that there isn’t anything I can say or do that would help him any. The only thing that would help him would be a good and positive word from Bo’s doctor. If that is even possible.

I let go a deep breath I had been holding before I glance back at the clock and sigh heavily at seeing that we have been waiting for two hours for word on Bo. Two long hours in the emergency room. Glancing to my left, I take in Daisy and Kristy who stare quietly into an open, old magazine despite not seeing the pictures that is shown. LB, Cooter, Brodie, and Dobro sit somberly in the far corner, their emotions spread across their crazy eyes as they fear for their friend’s life. Standing across the room is Sergeant Frank Mills who waits for word on Bo himself from hearing about his partner’s health problems. Sergeant Mueller will be released in a day after a day of observation. After visiting Treyton, Frank had declared that he would stay to hear about Bo. An FBI agent waiting worriedly on my nephew. The irony doesn’t leave me. JD Hogg and Lulu Hogg sit holding hands upon the bench seats across the room, awaiting word on Rosco as well who by the sounds of things, is doing ok.

“Coltrane,” an smaller thin doctor with light brown thinning hair slowly walks into the waiting room from within the wide hall way, still looking down at his clipboard. I slowly follow Lulu and JD up to the doctor who slowly glances up at us with uncertain hazel green eyes through thin framed glasses. “I’m Doctor Pedster,” he pauses to take everyone in for a long moment before readjusting his glasses upon his thin nose, “I’ll be Rosco Coltrane’s doctor through his duration at the hospital.”

“How’s my brother, doctor?” Lulu asks as the doctor goes quiet, impatience and worry thickly drips from each word she says.

“Well,” he nervously glances back down at his clipboard before eyeing Lulu skeptically and then to JD and I, “Rosco has broken two ribs and bruised another rib. One of his broken ribs has scratched his lungs, making it a bit painful to breathe,” he pauses for a long moment before going on, “he’s suffered a slight concussion and is bruised and cut up pretty badly. We applied a few stitches in a couple of the deeper cuts. I say,” he checks with his clipboard once again, “that he should be able to go home by the end of tomorrow. We want a few hours of observation before sending him on his way.”

Lulu lets out a loud sigh of relief upon the other side of JD, JD quickly glances down at the bright linoleum under his scuffed boots. “Can I go see him, doctor?” Lulu asks to bring our attention back upon them.

“One at a time,” the doctor slowly responds while nodding. Quietly, JD and I watch as Lulu slowly follows the small framed doctor down the wide, brightly lit hallway. Silence once again begins to filter into the small waiting room, forcing the silent tick from the old clock to echo off of the hollow walls.

“He could have died,” JD finally says to break the silence, his voice thick with emotion as he stares down at his toes before he forces himself to look up at me, “Bo could die…because of me!” He goes quiet momentarily as his dark eyes seem to dart from me to Luke standing at the window and back at me, “A lot of people could have been hurt…or worse. Because of me!”

“JD,” I slowly speak up after allowing a long moment of silence to stir between me, “it won’t help blaming yourself for what they did. You didn’t know -”

“You’re right, I didn’t know,” he quickly snaps at me, fire flares in his dark eyes, “I didn’t know because I didn’t look into Levi and Trent. All I saw was money…the money that could be made through the shop,” he pauses once again as he forces his voice to go down as he notices that everyone has looked up from what they were doing to look at him, including the secretary nurse, “hell, as far as I know, is that nothing in that shop is legal Jesse. Levi and Trent had people based somewhere in a deserted town that they picked the shipment up at. The bats, the sporting equipment, the guns…knives,” he sighs heavily, “as far as I know, are stolen! But did I stop to think of that? Did I stop to think of who they are?” he pauses once again as he steps away from the nurse’s station, “No. I didn’t…Caggers and Randly was the first to approach me with the idea. I’ve worked with them before and thought that Hazzard could benefit from a new sporting store and when he showed me what I’d make…so did I! That’s all I cared for Jesse… the money.” Once again he goes silent as he stares over at Luke who stares out of the window, no longer interested in our conversation. “And in doing so, I almost killed Rosco. . .and poor Bo.”

Silence pours heavily within the waiting room as I stare harshly at my long lost friend as his words of his last statement echoes through me, filled with the emotion that had filled each word. Despite the anger that struggles to surface towards JD for what he’s done, for his greed and for his illegal sporting store, I can’t help but to feel bad for him. Never before has JD came straight forward with the truth, the truth that could put him behind bars for a long time and take away the one thing that means the most to him: his job; his county. Now covered in guilt for what the consequences that has followed his actions he has boldly came forward with the truth despite what may fall upon him. “You didn’t know JD,” I repeat once again as I place a hand upon his thick shoulder, “you didn’t know about Levi and Trent…all you saw was your previous partners from another time and the money they proposed to you. You saw all that you were meant to see while they planned evilly behind your back and double crossed you. You can’t be responsible for other’s actions.”

He stares at me for a long moment with fear and worry written across his face. “How can you stand there and be so calm,” he pauses, “when your nephew remains in the emergency room? How can be you be so calm towards me, when it was me who put him there?”

I momentarily glance back to find Daisy and Kristy watching us along with LB, Cooter, Ethan, Brodie, and Dobro. Glancing back at JD I say, “Because I know you JD and I know you didn’t have anything to do with his kidnaping or with what had happened down in that shaft.” I pause momentarily as my mind goes back upon all that Luke had said of Bo’s condition, of Bo’s flat heart beat that he had when they rushed him the emergency room, leaving Luke out in the cold. “Not only that, but you put your own life on the line with helping us find Bo and Rosco. You helped with Luke’s plan and you were the one that had made us aware with who we were dealing with.”

“Damn it Jesse! You have to be so damn stubborn, don’t you?” he barks taking a deep breath, “If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t be in the emergency room…Rosco wouldn’t be in the hospital and Sergeant Mueller wouldn’t be shot. I hired them down here and by doing so, I’ve endangered Hazzard and it’s citizens.”

With the mention of Mueller’s name, I instinctively glance over at Sergeant Mills who sits at the far corner of the room looking at a newspaper, either too involved in what he’s reading to hear what was said or pretending not to hear. Glancing back at JD, I find a couple of tears melting down his chubby cheeks, tears of fear and of deep regret. “Look JD, take a deep breath and think of what you are saying,” as I say this he glances back at Mills and back at me, “you made a mistake by hiring your boys in for the sporting store and that’s all you had with it. They came in and took it from there…rather Levi and Trent did by taking it farther than what you meant for it to go.” I pause heavily as Mills slowly approaches from behind me, “and as for being calm? I’m not calm…not inside. I feel like screaming or crying until it all goes away and I wake up and to find this to be a bad dream. I feel like going out and finding Levi and Trent myself and make them pay for what they did to Bo. My nephew could be dead right now…but I know one thing, and that it isn’t your fault.”

JD looks at me with uncertainty in his eyes before he reluctantly glances at Mills who in returns looks at the greedy commissioner that had once been my friend; in another life. “Sorry Commissioner, Jesse,” he gives a comforting smile, “I couldn’t help but to over hear what’s going on here.”

“Sergeant,” JD nods at him respectively as he rubs his eyes while he drags out a fat cigar from his dirty white jacket to hold desperately onto it, “I’m sorry about your partner.”

“He’ll be OK…just another scar to show the kids when they get older,” he forces a dry smile at us before taking Hogg in, “I just came over to say…that what had happened in that shaft, wasn’t anyone in this room’s fault. Whether you hired his men for the store or if they came into your bank, Hogg, saying they wanted to make an account…what happened would have happened. Whinston had one thing in mind and that was revenge on Rosco and Jesse here…and with men like Trent and Levi on his side, he would have been able to pull it off one way or another.”

JD’s shoulders seem to sag at the confirmation at the FBI’s acknowledgment of hearing all that he had said, of his admission of the men’s illegal operation on the sporting store. “You heard?” Hogg finally asks looking down at his cigar after Mills nods in confirmation, “Thank-you for all that you did…for jumping in like you did and putting a stop to their plans. I – I didn’t mean -”

“We know and no one is looking into your operation at the store,” Mills nods towards JD, “just clean the store up and it’ll be a good store for the town. Being a sports fan myself, I’m sure Hazzard would be good with a sporting store.”

Silence once again explodes within us as Mills takes us both in and over at Luke who remains at the window. “Did they find Levi and Trent?” JD breaks the silence to bring Mills attention back onto us.

“Not a trace,” Sergeant Mills shakes his head sorrowfully, “but they did find Treyton’s car…off Rainbow Cliff and in flames. Either they found another ride or someone came to pick them up. Anyway you look at it, they’re long gone by now. We still have a few agents out looking and will be for a long while now, but it don’t look good.”

JD nods somberly as he glances away from Mills to look at me for a moment and back onto the floor. His guilt spread thickly across his small chubby body while he fidgets with the cigar in his hand. “Best of luck catching them, Sergeant,” he finally says, “they’re smart and evil.”

Mills nods at him as I slowly back away from their conversation as Mills goes to respond to Hogg’s last comment. My mind slowly drifts away from Mills’ situation with Levi and Trent to return upon Bo and to where we sit,awaiting on word on how he is doing. “Luke,” I softly speak my older nephew’s name as I slowly approach and he hesitantly turns around to face me. Deep worry and fear are scarred into his deep blue eyes, emotions that he has rarely allowed to show, emotions that he has usually bottled deeply within him for no one else to see. Seeing his emotions spread deeply across his face, I fall into silence, no longer knowing what to say. Slowly I place a comforting hand upon his tense shoulder before saying, “Have faith…he’s strong and stubborn.”

He looks blankly at me for a long moment before nodding and staring down at his boots for a long moment, a muscular hand is shoved through his hair before he looks up. “I hope he’s strong enough,” he finally speaks up, his voice quivers in deep emotions, “he fell into cardiac arrest as they began to roll him into the emergency room. He looked so vulnerable, so -”

Luke slowly cuts himself off as he glances over my shoulder and I slowly turn around to find a tall bulky doctor with thick dark gray hair walking in, looking at a clipboard. “Dukes,” a gruff voice calls out as he scans the room with bright blue eyes under thick bushy gray eye brows.

“How’s Bo, doctor?” I ask as I quickly walk up to him, followed closely by Luke and the rest of the clan awaiting on word on my nephew’s condition.

“First of all, I’ll be his doctor,” he gives us a comforting smile with bright straight teeth, “Dr. Elukta.” He pauses for a long moment to nod at us while taking everyone in as his eyes seem to sadden before he slowly goes back to his clipboard before eyeing me. “After two hours in the emergency room, we think we have finally got him stable enough to be placed in a room. His heart beat is very weak and very slow, his asthma is really acting up and without the appropriate medication for his attacks, his infection in his lungs has worsened dramatically from his last appointment he had with Doctor Applebee,” he pauses for a long moment to allow what he had said to sink in, “he has hit his head pretty hard and has suffered a concussion and is pretty badly bruised and cut up. A couple of cuts did require stitching.”

“How about his knee?” Luke speaks up as the doctor slowly fades into silence.

Without looking at his clipboard, Elukta responds, “His right knee is badly cut open and deeply bruised, but not broken. We put eighteen stitches in the cut and we’ll put a brace upon it for awhile, at least until the bruising and swelling goes down. He has also broke a couple of ribs and bruised a couple.”

Silence once again picks up between everyone in the room as everyone takes in all that the doctor had said of Bo’s condition. “Will he,” I break the silence before cutting myself off, “will he be ok?”

Elukta slowly nods for a short moment. “He should be. We are really concerned about his heart rate and his breathing. His heart rate is weak and slow…he had that cardiac arrest on arrival to the emergency room and it took us a long time to get the heart rate he has now. Which, as I said, is slow and weak. Very irregular,” he pause once again, “With his asthma acting up right now and with the infection in his lungs, he isn’t getting very much air in on his own. We’ve given him some medication that should help fight the infection and more to help with his asthma. As I said, we are very concerned with his heart and lungs…we will keep him here for observation and support until we feel his heart and lungs are as strong as they can get with his condition.”

I stare blankly at the doctor as I hear the ticking of the clock once again through the silence as his words seem to echo through me. “Can I see him?” I finally speak up as my last encounter with Bo seems to push it’s way in. “Can I see Bo?” With my last question, I hear my desperation seep in through my words.

“One at a time,” he says and I nod before I begin to follow him down the hall before I anyone else can object to me going. Around the corner and out of sight of the waiting room, Elukta says, “Just for warning, things often times look worse than what they really are. He is hooked up to breathing and heart monitor and has several IVs running in through him and a tube in his nose to help him breath. If his breathing gets worse, we’ll have to move for a tube for his throat, but for now we’re trying for his nose.”

I numbly nod at him as I am thrown into vivid flashbacks of visiting him in the hospital in the children’s unit, watching him suffer at such a young age. “I understand how it is,” I finally respond.

“I figured you would,” he smiles sympathetically at me, “Doctor Applebee was in the emergency room with us during the past hour, helping us out and telling us more about Bo than what is in his file. All I have to say is, is that your nephew must be quite the fighter, and stubborn. To be able to surpass everyone’s expectations and then to be able to survive what he had just went through…it’s just amazing.”

“He’s stubborn all right and he’s not going to allow anyone to tell him no or by giving him such expectations,” I respond as we come to a stop in front of a closed door.

He nods slowly. “Well here we are. I’ll be around if you have any questions and I’m sure Dr. Applebee will stop by sooner or later.” He pauses as he begins to walk away to turn to face me, “Bo was still un-conscience when I last left, but he should be waking up sometime soon.”

“Thank-you doctor,”I nod at him before he slowly turns away and I place a hand upon the cold gold metal door handle. Taking a deep breath, I slowly shove the door open and am welcomed in by the thick darkness of the room and the loud and annoying beeping of the monitors. Saying a silent prayer for my young nephew, I slowly walk towards the barred in bed and my heart comes to an abrupt halt at seeing my bruised and beaten nephew lying vulnerably upon the old bed. “Bo,” I hear myself say as I place a weak hand upon his bandaged forehead, before running my hand through his thick blond hair. Through the bruises, his complexion remains the deathly pale color that Luke had described as I had walked through the hospital doors. “Uncle Jesse’s here, Bo,” I speak of myself in third person as I take his right hand to find it deathly cold to force to me to think of how close I came to losing my nephew. “I’m here Bo. It’s all over.”

The annoying beeping is what I get for a response as I take in the tubes that is placed in each nostril before the tubes go behind his ears and attach under his bruised chin. Two IVs slowly drip into each arm while wires are suctioned to his thin chest under his hospital night gown. Fear continues to hold a tight grip upon me as I watch his thin chest that only slightly moves every few seconds. “It’s going to be OK Bo…everything is going to be ok,” I finally speak up before I slowly sit upon the old metal fold up chair that is set up in the corner by his bed. Watching him lying silently still in bed, old flashbacks continue to rush through me of his past, of all that he’s gone through and all that he’s lived through. Now this. Silently, I wonder just how much he can handle, how much he can take before it becomes too much for him to handle.

After a long moment of taking in my nephew lying upon the old hospital bed, looking small, weak and vulnerable within the sheets, I slowly bend over to hold my head in my hands. Staring at the linoleum, I am once again lost in prayer for my nephew, for my family, and for Hazzard. “Uncle,” Bo’s weak voice breathlessly interrupts my prayer and through the irritating beeping of the monitors, “Jesse.” He is instantly sent into a harsh coughing spasm and for a moment he struggles with his breathing before slowly relaxing upon his thin pillow.

“Bo,” I quickly get up as relief slithers through me at seeing his baby blue eyes looking up at me, thickly filled with fear and pain. Carefully I slowly pull him into a tight hug, grateful to be able to see him awake and alive once again after the past couple of days, certain he was dead. “Bo.” I say again as I let him down upon his pillow and he intently watches me with pain-filled eyes, “How you feel?”

“I. . .hurt,” he forces out while boosting himself upward, “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” I question as his hand slowly goes to his chest, grasping at it as he had done as a child when he had been in pain. “For what?”

“For. . .for leaving,” he forces out wheezily before he hesitantly drops his clenched hand down upon his bed, “for this.”

I slowly force a smile down at him as I take in his bruised body while his doctor’s concerned voice rings in my ears, his concern for his breathing and heart rate. “No, I’m sorry. I should have trusted you,” I finally respond as his eyes slowly close before he forces them back up once again. Pain-filled blue eyes piercing through me. “I better go and let Luke come in to say hi. I bet he’s getting anxious out there. Probably paced a big ol’ hole in the floor.”

A thin, weak smile flashes upon his deathly pale face at the thought of Luke pacing the floor, as is his habit when in times of stress and worry. “OK,” he slowly responds before he is thrown into a harsh coughing fit. A long moment passes before his coughing slowly comes to a halt with the help of his emergency inhaler that had been sitting upon the night stand besides him. My heart tightens in intense worry for my nephew as a thin streak of tears melts down from the corner of his right eye and down his nose before he stubbornly wipes it away. A tear of pain and of fear.

“Bo,” I slowly start to say before cutting myself off as I step back to the side of his bed and he glances up at me.

“I’ll be fine,” he forces out wheezily, “Uncle Jesse.”

I force a thin smile at him as flash backs of his past flashes vividly within me, of watching Bo suffer endlessly due to his illnesses. “Well,” I force another small smile at him, struggling to hide my emotions that rush rapidly through me, “I guess I’ll go get Luke for you. I’ll be by later. You rest now, you hear?”

“Yes sir,” he slowly responds while fighting off sleep while I slowly move towards the door. Slowly opening the door, I take another long look back at Bo lying in the old hospital bed, looking weak and vulnerable. Saying a small silent prayer for him, I hesitantly walk out into the brightly lit hall way to close the door behind me.

“How is he?” Luke asks me as I slowly walk into the waiting room, he quickly leaves his position at the window to approach me. Everyone else remains seated while watching me with interest.

“He says he hurts,” I slowly respond and Luke’s worry builds upon his face. For Bo to freely admit of his pain, only means that it’s bad. “And he just had an attack, he looks pretty beaten up and tired.” I pause for a long moment to take everyone in as they silently go back to looking at the floor or the walls. Looking back at Luke who remains in his blood stained clothes, I say, “I told him that I’d go get you so you could go visit him…before he falls asleep.”

“OK…thanks,” he slowly nods before he quickly walks past me and down the long wide hall way that I had just came from.

***BO DUKE***

“Yes sir,” I hesitantly respond as I watch my uncle slowly walking towards the heavy white door that lies only a few feet from the old hospital bed. I slowly force a thin smile at him as he approaches the door only to turn around to look at me once again, his reluctancy to leave shines in his bright blue eyes. Despite the harsh pain and the exhaustion that ripples thickly through me, I force a thin smile at him while attempting to hide my emotions. After a long awkward moment he returns a forced smile before opening the door and steps out into the brightly lit hallway and the door makes a metallic clicking noise as he pulls the door shut.

For a long silent moment I stare sadly at the thick door as my thoughts slowly fall back upon the past couple of days, of all that has happened and of all that has gone wrong. Tears once again sting in my eyes, tears from the harsh pain that continues to grow steadily within me and tears of fear. Fear, despite that it should be all over now and perhaps some of guilt. If I hadn’t allowed my temper to grab a hold of me the other day, I wouldn’t have gotten caught by them and I wouldn’t have endangered Luke as I had.

Thinking of Luke, I once again run the back of my bare left hand across my face in attempt to hide the tears and a shot of pain spreads across my face. Pain from touching my swollen face. Slowly I take a deep breath in attempt to hide my raging emotions to force my lungs to burn up in pain and my breathing monitor momentarily beeps rapidly before slowing back down. Hesitantly, I glance away from the brightly painted white door to glance over at the tvshaped monitors to watch the neon green line go straight before going slight up and down again. And I am once again reminded of my past. Of lying in a hospital bed on the pediatric floor with the bright and lively colors surrounding me. Bright lively colors. I could never understand why they’d chose bright colors at such a dreadful place.

After a long moment of being lost within the past, a loud metallic sound abruptly interrupts my flash back and bringing me back into reality. Glancing away from the dreadful monitors, I find Luke stepping into the small room before closing the door behind him to create another clicking noise. “Luke,” I slowly speak up as I painfully push myself up on my bed as he slowly turns around to face me.

“Hi cuz,” he smiles calmly at me as he walks up to the metal railings of my bed to protectively run a hand through my hair for a moment, “how you feeling?”

I shrug at him and more pain ripples across my body at the movement. “I’ve been better,” I force an ornery smile up at him while ignoring the shooting pain, “but then again, I’ve been worse.”

“That’s not what I asked,” Luke responds lightheartedly before falling back into silence, while watching me tiredly. “Want to talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about?” I respond while fighting back the tiredness that builds within me, “Not much more happened than when you were there.”

“Well, seeing your knee,” he slowly replies, “I’d say otherwise.”

“Well,” I slowly speak up before coughing momentarily, “I don’t want to talk about it. Not now.”

Luke slowly nods as my mind goes back into the past and how protective Luke had been, how he had been there when I had needed him the most. “Well whenever you want to, I’m here,” he smiles at me as he slowly takes a seat upon the old fold up chair. “Or about anything. You -”

Luke is quickly interrupted as the heavy door slowly clicks open once again to grab both of our attention and Kristy slowly wheels Garrett in, in a wheel chair. “Garrett?” I look at him quizzically and then up at Kristy who smiles at me while she wheels him next to Luke.

“He woke up yesterday,” Kristy slowly explains, “while y’all were out playing hero. How you feeling, Bo?”

For a long moment, I watch Garrett as he sits within the wheelchair, looking back at me. His bruised face is now partially healed with his bruises only a pale yellow color while his cuts are barely noticeable. Slowly, I glance away from his gray eyes to look up at Kristy, whose soft green eyes shine in fear and worry as she watches me over Garrett’s sandy blond head. “I’ll be,” I force out and my wheezy breathing seems to echo off of the bright walls, “fine.”

Silence slowly begins to build within the small wall as their attention seems to drift away from me and onto the annoying monitors. “How are you, Garrett?” Luke slowly asks to break the silence. “You’re looking better than the last time I saw you.”

“I’d imagine so,” Garrett flashes a bright smile as his hand goes up to his scar before Kristy pats his arm down, “I’m doing alright. Doctor says I can go home tomorrow sometime.”

“That’s no fair! I want your doctor,” I slowly speak up to drag everyone’s attention back onto me, “my doctor says he don’t know when I can go home.”

Luke smiles down at me as he pats my shoulder. “You’ll be going home when you’re ready to,” he responds as he glances up at my monitor, “as of now, I’d have to agree with him.”

“Only because,” I force out while attempting to ignore my raising pain, “you don’t have to share our room while I’m here.”

Luke laughs momentarily before dropping his smile and a hint of sadness seems to drain over him as he forces his attention away from me, to look out of the far window. “Actually it’s the opposite,” he looks back down at me, “it’s kinda empty without you there…so you need to get your rest and get your strength up to come home. Ya hear?”

I force a small smile as I am once again reminded of the exhaustion that swarms through my pained body. “Yes sir,” I force out wheezily before looking away and back towards Garrett and Kristy who seems to hold the same form of sadness.

“I guess we should get going and get Garrett back to his room. Garrett said he wanted to drop by,” she nudges Garrett on the head, “because he said that he had something to tell you. And Luke.”

Silence momentarily fills the small room and the irritating beeping of my monitors echoes loudly off of the thin walls. “I am sorry for how I acted towards both of you…at the Boar’s Nest,” Garrett reluctantly as he looks up at Luke before eyeing me, “I was a jerk.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Luke speaks up for both of us, “we all have our moments. Don’t we Bo?”

“No. Not me,” I force another ornery smile towards them to draw a smile out of Garrett, “but you’re forgiven anyways.”

Garrett laughs silently while nodding at me. “Well tell you what,” he raises his right bruised eye brow, “you’re always bragging just how good that junk of a car you call General Lee. You save your strength and get out of this dump, I’ll race you to show you who is better than who…General Lee versus Spittin’ Cobra.”

“You got yourself a deal,” I smile up at him before glancing at Luke who only shrugs, staying out of it, “but the General is anything but junk. I guess you’ll find that out the hard way.”

“Ha!” Garrett laughs while grabbing a tight hold upon the old metal railings of my hospital bed, “General Lee better like the taste of dirt, because that’s all he’s gonna be eating at the race…Spittin’ Cobra’s dust and dirt!”

“The General doesn’t eat anyone’s dust nor dirt and he’s not about to start now,” I quickly rebuke only to force upon another coughing attack which is quickly quieted down with a couple of puffs of my inhaler.

“I think we should go before Garrett gets himself in any more trouble,” Kristy breaks the silence with her soft, gentle voice, “you get feeling better, Bo.”

“Yeah sure,” I nod as I glance away, staring into the dark far corner, struggling with the tears of pain that sting in the corners of my eyes. “I’ll be fine,” I finally say after a long moment of silence as I look back at them, trying to convince myself as much as them that I’ll be fine.

Kristy nods while Garrett sends a small wave before Kristy turns him around and wheels him towards the door. “Spittin’ Cobra versus General Lee,” Garrett calls back as Kristy wheels him out into the brightly lit hallway and Kristy closes the door behind her, drowning out the roar of people that is out in the hallway.

Silence once again builds within the dreaded room as I am left alone with Luke as well as with my thoughts of all that has just happened. If it hadn’t been for Luke, I’d be dead right now. If it wasn’t for Luke, I would have died over a year ago at the hands of the true killer. “Well,” Luke slowly stands up to bring my attention back to him and onto the present. “I better go and let you get some sleep.”

“No,” I hear myself whisper as dread fills me at the thought of being left alone within the small confines of the four brightly white walls.

“I know, Bo,” he nods regretfully down at me, his bright blue eyes remaining calm and strong as he forces himself to look away from me. After a moment his attention falls back onto me, “but you’re fighting sleep, sleep you need to get feeling better…and if you want to do that race, you better get your rest.” He pauses as he bends down to rest a protective hand upon my shoulder, “We’ll be back to check up on you in the morning…after chores are done.”

I nod hesitantly before our attention is drawn back on the door and an older nurse walks in pull a dull brown cart with her. “Medicine time,” she smiles, “doctor’s orders.”

“Looks like I gotta go anyway,” Luke forces me another smile as his hand remains upon my shoulder and I slowly shake my head no as my fear rises deeply within me as I watch the nurse in dreadful anticipation. “You’ll be fine Bo…hang in there.”

Chills rapidly chase their way up my neck as the nurse pulls out a large needle filled with clear liquid and Luke pats my shoulder as he senses my fear of needles rising. Looking at him, I ask, “You promise?”

“Promise what?” Luke asks as the nurse grabs a tight hold of my right arm to wrap something around my upper arm, cutting off my circulation. I remain silent as I glance at the nurse and the big needle that she aims at my pale bruised inner elbow. “Promise what, Bo?”

Looking back at Luke pain shoots through me as the needles is forced into my skin and a rush of liquid seems to tinkle down my arm before she roughly yanks the needle out. “That you’ll,” I pause as I fight for air, “be back in the morning.”

A smile slowly grows across his face at me before he nods. “I promise. I’ll be back in the morning.” He glances up as the nurse begins to fill a couple of my IV bags that runs into my arm through already planted needles in my arms. “You take care…hang in there, cuz. You get out of here and this whole thing will be done and over with. You get some rest.”

I nod tiredly as I slowly allow the exhaustion through. “OK,” I force a smile as he bends down and we hug once again before he stiffly stands up to begin to walk towards the door. “Thanks Luke. . .for everything.”

“Anytime, Bo. Anytime,” he approaches the door and slowly opens it and a bright ray of light shines into my darkened room, “Bye Bo.”

“Bye Luke,” I slowly speak up as the thick wooden door slowly slams shut behind Luke, shutting out the door. Looking at the nurse, I say, “I want to go home.”

“Don’t we all, honey,” she shakes her head as she starts to fill out something upon the clipboard that had rested upon the end of my bed, “but you’ll have to talk to your doctor about that. I’m just the nurse.”

I nod as I watch her pull her cart out into the bright hallway, leaving me alone with the irritating monitors. Left alone, I allow sleep to come over me and I am filled with intense nightmares of being locked back down within the dark shaft.

***TWO MONTHS LATER***

A large sense of pride thickly swarms through me as I feel the power of my homemade engine ripple through my right leg that is shoved harshly upon the metal gas pedal. Pride, not only for the powerful engine that lies buried under the orange hood, but towards the whole car as well. For all the work I had done and accomplished over the few years since the dream of General Lee had came true, the General has yet to let me down. When everyone had given me a hard time or had given up on me, only a few things has stuck loyally with me. Family, friends, and the General.

“How’s the knee?” Luke slowly asks to break the silence that had began to build since we had left the farm’s drive way, where had been our starting line of our race against Garrett.

I glance down momentarily at my right knee as if expecting to see how it felt through my light faded blue jeans before glancing back at the winding road ahead. “Feels fine,” I shrug as I glance back into my rear view mirror to find Spittin’ Cobra only a couple of inches behind us, struggling for an angle to pass us on the narrow road. “Everything else is fine too.”

“Well good,” Luke gives me a sarcastic smile as his attention falls onto me momentarily before he stares back into his door mirror, “he’s gaining.”

“So I see,” I reply as I step harder upon the gas pedal and watch my red speedometer pin go up to a hundred and ten, “but not for long. As long as I can help it.”

“Good, because I don’t know about you,” Luke says besides me, sitting comfortably upon the black leather passenger seat, “but I don’t have any money to pay for the drinks at The Boar’s Nest.”

I nod while watching Garrett through my rear view mirror. “You worry to much. Don’t worry, he’ll be buying the drinks when we reach the Boar’s Nest,” I finally respond, glancing ahead for a moment and then back at Garrett, “he’s good, but not good enough.”

“And I spose you think you’re good enough,” Luke quickly responds while his attention remains upon Garrett’s car.

“Of course I am,” I confidently respond as I make a sharp right turn upon another dirt road and watch Garrett quickly turn behind us, his back loses control momentarily before he regains control and he quickly shoots towards us.

“Good to hear it,” Luke looks back at me and a brief look of worry crosses his face before fading, “How do you feel, Bo? The truth.”

“I always tell the truth,” I quickly respond before falling into silence as I think of what I should tell him as I feel pain beginning to build within my chest. But nothing major and nothing to worry too much about, it has been worse. “The truth is…my chest hurts a bit, but I’m fine. Really Luke.”

“OK,” he falls into silence momentarily as he quietly takes me in, “you just look really pale all of a sudden. That’s why I asked.”

“I’m fine,” I reply confidently while listening to my powerful engine, “I’ll be better when I beat him to The Boar’s Nest and show him just who is the better driver…or shall I say who has the better car.”

“Is that what this is about?” Luke asks as he shakes his head, “Should have figured that this is only about pride…does it really matter?”

“Of course it does, cuz,” I smile towards Luke, “because I never say no to a challenge, especially when it has something to do with driving and racing. Never said no to a race and I don’t plan to change that…especially to Garrett. There is only one way to prove I’m better…that General is better and that is to race him and he can see it himself.”

“You’re hopeless,” Luke once again shakes his head with a proud smile on his face. His smile quickly fades as the unmistakable wail of a siren penetrates the silence of the countryside. Turning around in his seat to glare over Garrett’s red hood, he says with irritation in his voice, “Rosco,” he slowly turns around in his seat to stare through the smeared windshield, “you better hit it and not slow down…he’s lookin’ as if he’s on a mission. You know how he -”

“Feels about racing. Yes sir,” I nod as I force the General to go faster as a quick idea flashes within. Smiling at Luke I say, “Watch this.”

“By the sound of it,” Luke begins as I quickly turn left onto open farm land, “I hate to see it. Mind I shut my eyes and you tell me when it’s over?”

“Ah chicken are we?” I ask as I watch Garrett follow me off the road and Rosco follows quickly behind him, “Just like ol’ times.”

“Just don’t let him catch us,” Luke shakes his head in disbelief as he watches the two cars chasing us from behind through the passenger window, “Jesse will have our hide if we get another ticket.”

“Don’t plan on letting him catch us,” I grin at him before watching Garrett and Rosco follow closely behind.

“What are you doing, lost sheep?” Garrett’s voice is filled with irritation through the CB.

“Follow and watch,” I pick up the handle to say within, “and you’ll see.”

“I’m afraid to see,” he laughs through the CB, “what you’re about to do.”

Luke laughs besides me as he grabs the CB handle out of my hand. “I said the same thing,” he continues to laugh, “but he refuses to listen to me…I guess I’m just along for the ride.”

Garrett laughs upon the CB. “Ten-four on that.” Silence covers the CB as the sirens seems to grow louder in agitation behind us and I dodge through a couple of thick trees.

“I really hope you know what you’re doing Bo,” Luke breaks the silence once again while continuing to watch the cars behind.

“Of course I do,” I grin at him while shoving The General faster, “as I said, just like old times. It is ninety-nine percent errorless.”

“And the one percent?” Luke asks, glancing questionably at me.

I shrug. “I don’t know,” I slowly respond, “I never had that one percent happen before. And it won’t come in now, either. Just hold on.”

“Sure hope you know what you’re doing,” Luke says as he looks ahead and the large Hazzard Pond comes into view only a few feet away, “What are you doing? You’re heading right to the pond.”

“Yeah I know,” I smile crazily at him, “they don’t call it the Hazzard Car Wash for nothing!”

“No way…you can’t jump that!” he yells over the purr of the engine, “You’ll drown us and Garrett…and the cars!”

“No I won’t…not us at least,” I grin at him and his eyes widen, “Garrett is on his own. Hold on…The General’s going flying!”

“You’re pure crazy!” Luke quickly responds as he grabs a tight hold upon the arm rest upon his door and onto the seat next to him as I gun the car while I hit a pile of dirt on the land that surrounds the pond.

“Yee Haaa!” I yell out as the General Lee is sent flying over the deep pond and I glance over as Luke glances down at the water in disbelief. After a long moment, we land harshly upon the old side of the pond with a foot behind our back tires to the edge of the land. “Watch this.”

Luke hesitantly glances behind us as Garrett quickly follows us and lands a foot besides us before Rosco quickly hits the pile of dirt. For a long moment, the old sheriff’s car is flown into the air before it splashes hood first into the icy cold water. After a long while, Rosco climbs upon his drowned car’s hood to angrily throw his hat towards the land, which splashes into the water a foot away. “You won’t get away with this, Bo Duke!” Rosco yells out before he slowly climbs back into the water to paddle his way towards land.

“Great driving!” Garrett laughs besides me.

“You too,” I shout past Luke, “I was wondering if you’d chicken out or not. Seeing how you got that junk of a car.”

“Oh yeah?” he laughs, “Well we are just about to see who has the junky car.” He laughs, sounding almost evil as he shoots past us and I press harshly upon the gas pedal and I am shoot past him. Driving past him, Luke and I both wave at him before speeding ahead.

“You are crazy,” Luke shakes his head in disbelief, “just plain crazy to even attempt that.”

“Oh that’s right,” I smile broadly at Luke, “you’ve missed all the fun while you were gone…I’ve done higher and longer jumps than that. Haven’t we, General?” I question the car, “but I’ve jumped since you came back…haven’t you noticed?”

Luke only shakes his head in disbelief as he forces himself to relax in the passenger seat. “I guess so and each time I end up thinking of how crazy you are,” he forces a smile at me, “great driving by the way. Garrett’s right.”

“About time, he’s right about something,” I laugh as I reach another dirt road that would also lead to The Boar’s Nest, “it may be crazy, but it’s fun.”

An thick air of comfortable silence slowly fills the chilly car between us for a moment before I am startled by his left hand landing upon my right shoulder. “Just hit it,” he grins at me, “I’m thirsty and I don’t want to be the one to pay up for your big mouth.”

“I should be hurt by your mistrust of my driving abilities,” I quickly throw back as I glance into the rear view to watch Garrett’s proud Mustang fight to pass me while I fight to block his passage.

“I trust you enough to know you’ll get us in trouble,” he throws back at us as the entry way to The Boar’s Nest comes into view, “hold him back for a few seconds and we’ll be there.”

“You got it cuz,” I nod at him while I watch Garrett behind me for a long moment, continuing to block him I glance forward and the old rectangle shaped building comes into view. Old rusty cars and trucks are scattered around the dusty parking lot while music is audible through the thin walls. “Yee Haa!” I yell out as we quickly enter the parking lot and is quickly followed by Garrett.

“Beat by a half second,” Garrett spits out as he climbs out of his car while pulling his racing coat tightly against his body to block the wind, “how humiliating it is to beaten by a ugly bright orange thing you call a car.”

“Hey you better watch your mouth…that orange car just kicked your butt,” I throw back in his face, “and don’t try to say I didn’t warn you…I warned you several times that The General is unstoppable and unbeatable. You refused to listen and the consequences followed. Not our fault.”

Luke places an arm around my shoulder as we begin to walk towards the front door where we find Jesse’s truck parked between Cooter’s tow truck and Daisy jeep. “Looks like the whole gang’s here tonight,” Luke comments as we reach the door and he holds the door open for us to enter before he joins us. Toby Keith sings proudly upon the old jukebox about how he should have been a cowboy. Luke stops after a few steps into the smokey bar room and I am instantly reminded of last year when I had passed out in the bathroom, when my heart disease had returned from being in remission for six years. “There they are,” Luke points out to break the silence between us, pointing towards a table in the corner.

“Everyone’s here to see me win,” I force a smile back at Garrett while fighting back the old memory.

“Give the guy a break, Bo,” Luke says looking back over his shoulder at me, “he lost by a mere second…could have been a tie if there was enough room for two cars to enter the parking lot.”

“Tie? No way,” I quickly come to a stop, “I’ll give him a break, this time…but I won fair and square.”

“Y’all tied?” Daisy asks as we approach the back table that they had pushed two tables together to make more room and more chairs. “You know if y’all tied, that this is only gonna drag on and on until Bo wins. Bo won’t be satisfied until he wins.”

“Got that right,” I give her an ornery smile as I slowly glance around the table at Cooter, LB, Ethan, and Jesse who all watches with interest, “but we didn’t tie. I won.”

Silence seems to float around the table and everyone’s eyes seem to come back to me as I slowly pull out a chair that is on the far end and next to Jesse. “How you feelin’ Bo?” Jesse asks as Luke sits at the far end of the table next to me, Garrett remains standing.

“If you were in the car with him, you wouldn’t be asking how he felt,” Luke speaks up before I can say anything, “judging by how he drove, I’d say he feels great.”

“That good, huh?” Cooter pipes up while taking a sip from his beer.

“Something like that. Let’s just say, Bo’s and Garrett’s high speed of something over a hundred had caught the attention of the one and only Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane,” Luke pauses to take everyone in, “Bo lost the sheriff by jumping the Hazzard Pond, right down the middle.”

“Hey,” I say in protest, “Garrett followed me. He could have drove around it as well.”

“You jumped the pond?” Kristy comes from somewhere behind us to overhear our conversation, “Wish I could have seen that.”

“Hi Kristy,” Daisy hugs tightly onto Kristy who returns the hug before she steps back to run a hand through Garrett’s thin hair and walks past everyone to LB who pulls a chair out for her. “Where’s Shay and Jamie?”

“Lulu is watching them. She volunteered,” Kristy smiles around the table, “saying that is the least she could do after all that we went through. Says she loves kids.”

“Glad to see you could make it,” LB smiles at her and gives her a small hug, “one of these days, Bo…either the pond or Rosco will catch up with you.”

“Never,” I throw back at him and a roar of laughter races across the table before silence seems to fall upon us and a thin smile crosses my face, not only from the joy of the race, but to be with friends and family. Life slowly returning to how it had once been so long ago. “I don’t think I had that much fun in a long time.”

“Got that right,” Garrett nods as he seems to loom over the dark table, “and talking of which, since I lost, I guess I owe you two a beer -”

“Sorry to beg,” Luke cuts him off, “but I’d rather have a beer of my own than to have to share with Bo…he might have germs.”

“Do not,” I sneer at him and he throws a protective arm around me for a second.

“I owe you both a beer. Sound better?” Garrett asks sarcastically, “Can I get anyone else anything?”

Everyone else gently puts their glass up, displaying that they already have a beer of their own as Toby Keith slowly fades into Keith Urban’s “Where the Blacktop Ends.” Garrett nods slowly at everyone before turning around to be face to face with Boss Hogg who smugly walks up to him, a brown tray in his fat right hand with several mugs of filled beer and a full pitcher of beer in the middle of the mugs of beer. “Don’t worry about it, Garrett,” Hogg slowly bends down to put the tray down in between Luke and me before standing up to face everyone, “I’m buying this time…on the house.”

“On the house?” Luke asks besides me in disbelief as he eyes the drinks, “What you up to? You put poison in them or something?”

“Who me? I’d never do such a thing,” Hogg puts a face of hurt feelings for a while before he straightens out his white suit, “No, I just figured I owed y’all something for getting me out…Hazzard out of the trouble that I put it in with the sports store. Not much, but it’s something.”

“Thanks JD,” Jesse says besides me, “wanna join us?”

“Me? No,” he sadly shakes his head as he glances around the table, “I just figured I’d show you my thanks. There you have it…don’t think it changes anything between us.”

“Of course not,” Luke shakes his head before growing serious, “and thank-you Hogg. You helped in putting them behind bars.”

“If I hadn’t brought them to Hazzard,” Hogg shakes his head in regret, “Levi and Trent. Any of you hear of what happened to them? Last I heard they had stole Agent Mueller’s car and had ran it over the cliff.”

Silence once again filters around the table as our thoughts fall back a couple months ago, of the gang that had once owned Hazzard. “Sergeant Mills called me the other day,” Jesse slowly speaks up, regret and fear thickly in his voice, “he says that they’ve been searching hard for them for the last two months and it is like they dropped off the edge of the earth or something. Not one hide nor hair of either of them.” Jesse sighs heavily, “Says that they don’t have enough man power to continue to chase something that is obviously not there…they’ll keep an eye out for them, but that’s about it.”

“Other words,” Hogg drying speaks up, “they’re still running free somewhere. Unless they mess up somehow, they won’t get caught.”

“It’s not like they didn’t try. They have wanted posters all over America where people can see, they’ve talked to all their friends. Family. No one has seen or heard of them,” Jesse shrugs besides me, “and despite the low life that they hung out with, Frank says they have reasons to believe that they are telling the truth when they say they haven’t heard of him. In fact, some where still surprised that they was still alive.”

Hogg nods as he grabs a fat cigar out of his pocket to begin to nervously twist it in his chubby fingers. Slowly he nods towards the drinks. “I’m sorry for…all that I put you through,” he pauses as he steps back, getting ready to leave, “Thanks for bailing me out.”

“Not your fault, JD. Stop blaming yourself,” Jesse says besides me, “no one else is blaming you. Wanna reconsider and join us?”

“Not now Jesse. Bye y’all,” he nods as he slowly turns around as he shoves his other hand into his pocket as if searching for a lighter. Abruptly he stops in his pace before quickly turning around while pulling out a white piece of paper out of his pocket. Walking back towards me, he says, “Oh yeah, Rosco wanted me to give you all this. There’s one for you and Luke, and then another one for Garrett.” He hands me a rectangular shaped white piece of paper and an identical one to Garrett, “Night y’all.”

Luke slowly glances over at me as Hogg begins to walk away while lighting his cigar for real this time. “A speeding ticket,” Luke says bemused besides me while shaking his head.

“Same here,” Garrett sighs heavily and everyone quickly begins laughing in joy and in relief. Joy and relief that life in Hazzard has finally revolved back to normalcy, the normalcy that had been before Levi and Trent had entered Hazzard.

“Hey Garre,” Ethan slowly speaks up as the laughter dies down into silence, “won’t it be hard to drive the semi without a driver’s license?”

“I don’t plan on losing it,” Garrett grins ornery at Ethan as he quickly crumples up his speeding ticket to calmly toss it in the air to grab everyone’s attention. The small white ball of paper seems to float in the air for a long moment before gravity grabs it back down, forcing it to land with a splash in Ethan’s full mug of beer. Once again, laughter raises from our table as Ethan forces on a pouting face as he digs the wet ticket out of his fresh beer to throw it back at Garrett.

“A toast,” Cooter says from the back corner as he raises his half full mug of beer, “for all that we went through and for what lies ahead.”

Silently everyone clicks glasses together before taking a long drink from the watered down beer that Hogg himself had delivered to our table in his own regrets for what had happened. After a moment of long silence, everyone taking each other in, just enjoying the fact of being a live and together, Jesse slowly leans over to hug Luke and I. Life in Hazzard as we all know it has returned. . .

~THE END~