Jesse and Bo, who had both been concentrating on and rubbing the sore area of Jesse's back, simultaneously jerked their heads up at hearing that single word come out of Kathleen's mouth.
"What did you say lady?" Bo asked, speaking for both of them as he moved forward and loomed over the petite lady in an unintentional threatening manner.
"Oh um….." Kathleen stuttered, looking down nervously at her clipboard, where her eyes so happened to fall on the patient's name. "Uh, I'm sorry. It's Duke, isn't it? Jesse Duke?"
Both of the Duke mens' looks of hope became crestfallen. "Uh, yes ma'am." Jesse replied. "I'm Jesse Duke."
"Well Mr. Duke." Kathleen replied, intentionally stepping away from Bo in order to reach more of a comfort zone. "What brings you to the emergency room this afternoon?"
Jesse commenced to explain what had happened and the reason he was there. Kathleen then left the room and returned moments later with Dr. Wilson.
"It's good to see you again, Mr. Duke." Dr. Wilson smiled, remembering Jesse and Bo from some past visits, first when Jesse was brought in with appendicitis and then when Luke was brought in with a kidney disorder. "I'm sorry to hear about your back. However, being that this has happened before, I'm sure you realize that there isn't much I can do for you here, other than to prescribe some Vicoden to dull the pain and see that you're set up for a few sessions with a chiropractor."
"The pain killers are what I came fer, and the sooner I can get 'em the better." Jesse muttered.
The doctor nodded and wrote out a quick prescription, which he handed to Bo. "We have complimentary samples of the drug here at the hospital. Kathleen will bring you enough to see you through until you can make it to the pharmacy."
"I'll be happy to." Kathleen agreed, rushing out of the room as if she were happy to have an excuse to leave there. Having noticed Luke's car removed from the accident site on the way to work that morning, she had joyfully concluded for herself that there were no longer any clues to the whereabouts of her 'Jeremy'. But that had all nearly changed with a simple slip of her tongue.
"If you don't mind, Mr. Duke, I'm just going to press on your back a little bit, make sure that there isn't anything else going on that we need to be aware of."
As Dr. Wilson began the examination, Bo couldn't help but question him. "Dr. Wilson, is there any chance that you might have seen Luke come through here?"
"Your cousin that had the kidney disorder?" Dr. Wilson asked, receiving a reassuring nod although he was fairly certain he already knew the answer. "No, I haven't. Why, is there a chance he's developed complications?" He asked with a slight frown.
"No sir." Bo replied, relaying Luke's inexplicable disappearance.
"That's a real shame. I hope you find him soon. Listen, I'll be around until about ten this evening. If you could tell me some way of getting in contact with you, I'll keep an eye out for Luke and call you if he comes in."
"That would be great, Doc." Jesse replied with gratitude.
Knowing that Cooter and Daisy were on the search as well, and realizing that they too only had contact through CBs, Jesse then commenced to advise the doctor to contact the Hazzard Police Department should Luke show up. He figured someone there would take the call then get word to them through the CB.
"Just leave the number with Nancy at the admittance desk on your way out." Dr. Wilson then advised, patting Jesse softly on the shoulder. "Nothing going on except a slipped disc, Mr. Duke, but I think I would leave the searching to others. Kathleen should have those samples to you in a moment."
"Thank you doctor." Bo replied before the professional left to attend to other patients.
A few minutes later, Bo had Jesse seated in the emergency room waiting area while he went to see the clerk about Jesse's discharge papers as well as to leave the phone number for Dr. Wilson.
"Hey Cooter". He said, as the mechanic entered the hospital and walked up beside him. "I know when I called you about Jesse's back you were concerned but we didn't expect you to drive all the way down here."
As the two men commenced to talk, Kathleen arrived with the medicine samples and overheard their conversation.
"That ain't what brought me. Turns out I got a real interestin' lead that brought me right here to Chicasaw" Cooter announced as Bo perked up in interest. "I talked to Sammy who owns the junkyard here. Turns out he pulled a car off of Hackett's Mill Road before he left, one that sounds an awful lot like the one I let Luke borrow."
"He did?" Bo asked in excitement. "Well where is it?"
"In Atlanta."
"Atlanta?" Bo asked.
Cooter nodded. "Turns out his mom got sick soon as he had it hooked up and he had to make a quick trip down there."
"So he's not sure it's your car? Well I guess we can conclued that Luke wasn't in there, huh?"
"You'd be right about that, which means that our best bet is to skedaddle on over to Hackett's Mill road 'nd see what we can come up with."
"You bring the General with you?" Bo asked hopefully.
Cooter chuckled, holding up the General's key" Bo Duke, I can read your mind like an open book."
"Then what are we standing around for? Let's go!" Bo exclaimed, finalizing the billing paperwork before he left the phone number and went to assist Uncle Jesse on a rather rapid journey back to the pickup truck.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Thirty minutes, it had to have been at least thirty minutes.
That's how much time Luke Duke had convinced himself had passed since he had last looked at the watch he had found laying on the end table. All that time, he had held and bounced an inconsolable infant. It seemed the baby had cried non-stop for an hour, but Luke realized that in all reality thirty minutes had to be more on the mark. Well, it was closer anyway. Reluctantly picking up the watch, he saw that it had been ten minutes.
All had initially went well after Kathleen had left four hours earlier. In that time span the baby had been fed-twice, diapers had been changed, the books had been read and songs had been sang. But now that the man with limited mobility had run out of bedside activities, the child seemed to be restless and bored. Luke couldn't imagine how anyone could anticipate the arrival of a perfect stranger such as Kathleen more than he did at that exact moment.
"C'mon Will, I'm your Dad, don'tcha know me?" Luke asked as he bounced the baby, wondering why he, no matter the situation, couldn't seem to find comfort in the arms of a parent. Luke simply concluded that, since he himself was in the dark as to his identity, that he couldn't make himself sound very convincing for the sake of the kid.
"Hey sounds like Mommy's home!" Luke exclaimed moments later having heard a car approach. The fact brought more relief to Luke than it seemed to Will.
Seconds after the sound of a car door was heard slamming the front door opened and Kathleen entered, looking around wild eyed.
"I can't get him to stop crying. I think he missed you." Luke immediately said, his nerves shot and ready to hand the child off to anyone.
Instead of responding, Kathleen simply looked in the direction of a small closet and opened the door. Taking only a moment to open the door below the sink, she pulled out a large garbage bag and opened it up before commencing to throw clothes inside.
"What are you doing?" Luke couldn't help but ask.
"I'm packing." Kathleen shot back. "We're moving……….right now!"
Well, 'least ole 'Jeremy' won't have to worry about fixin' up his house anymore.
