"What's wrong with him?" Luke asked
"I'm just a country doctor, Luke. It would take time for me to make an exact diagnosis and even if I did, there's no guarantee that I would be able to treat him. Time is not a luxury we have right now. He's in a lot of pain in there, as you can see. Don't worry, Tri-County's got Dr. Wilson on their staff now, and I hear he's one of the finest doctors in the state of Georgia."
"I'll go put my mattress in the back of Jesse's pickup. He'll be a lot more comfortable on the ride if he can stretch out." Bo suggested.
Doc Applebee shook his head. "Boys, don't subject him to a bumpy ride in the back of a pickup in his condition. Call an ambulance."
"Ambulance rides are expensive. Uncle Jesse would chew us out and tell us it was a waste of money when we could have drove him there ourselves." Daisy argued.
"Believe me." Doc Applebee replied. "He's in no position to chew anybody out."
A little over an hour later, Bo, Luke, Daisy, and Cooter were in the waiting area of the Tri-County hospital. As was typical Bo sat calmy, patiently awaiting word on Jesse's condition.
"Why hasn't that doctor come out and told us anything yet?" Bo grumbled as he paced back and forth in front of his cousins.
"Calm down, Bo. Let the doctor check him out good so's he knows what's goin' on. We've only been here 15 minutes."
"Yeah, well it seems like 15 hours." Bo complained, hurling himself into a seat beside Luke. He immediately got back up when he saw a doctor walking toward them.
"How's my uncle?" Bo asked.
"Are you Mr. Silvers' nephew?" The doctor asked.
"No." Bo shook his head. "Duke, Jesse Duke."
"I'm sorry, I'm here for the Silvers family." The doctor replied. An elderly woman rushed forward and the doctor put his arm around her, leading her toward the back.
"Now that ain't fair. That lady came in after we did." Bo exclaimed, motioning madly toward the exiting pair.
"Duke, Jesse Duke family?" A doctor called out.
The four of them quickly stood up. "We're with Jesse Duke."
"I'm Doctor Wilson. Come with me, please." The doctor asked.
The doctor led them to a small , private waiting area, where no one took him up on his offer to sit down.
"Mr. Duke has appendicitis, a rather severe case of it, I'm afraid." Dr. Wilson, explained.
The group let out a collective sigh of relief. "So it's treatable, then." Luke confirmed.
"Oh, totally treatable, but we'll need to do surgery today." Dr. Wilson replied.. "I'll take his paperwork to the secretary. One of you will need to see her to finish filling it out before we can start."
"Can I see him, Doctor?" Daisy asked.
"Of course. But we have him sedated to help with the pain, so he won't respond to you."
"You go ahead, Daisy. Me an' Bo here will go fill out that paperwork." Luke confirmed. "Cooter, will you go with her?"
"Sure thing." Cooter replied, putting his arm around Daisy's shoulders as the four of them followed Dr. Wilson out the door and down the corridor. Dr. Wilson stopped at the secretary's station just long enough to hand over Jesse's file and speak a few words before leading Daisy and Cooter further down the hall.
"You boys have a seat right there." The secretary said, motioning to two chairs just outside the window. Bo stared at the middle aged woman, her red hair pinned hurriedly on top of her head as she examined the file through reading glasses that had a black neck chain attached to them.
"Jesse Duke, now why does that sound familiar?" She mostly asked herself as she stood up and made her way to a room behind her with the word 'Files' on the door. She spent a few moments there before re-emerging with a new file. She returned and sat once again facing the boys, finally looking at them for the first time. "Now I know why I remember that name. We've had an outstanding balance here on Mr. Duke that is nearing two years old."
Luke thought for a minute. "Oh, you're talking about the time when Jesse was here with that head injury. I know we still owe money on that, but we've been payin' $20.00 a month on that account ever since he was here."
"I can see that, Mr. Duke, but the thing is, we can't add new debt on the top of old debt, not when the old debt is THAT old. It's against hospital regulation. I trust you've taken out a health insurance policy since that incident."
Bo and Luke looked at each other, and Luke swallowed before he shook his head.
"Well Mr. Duke, I'm going to need payment in full before we can treat your Uncle here today."
"Payment in full before you can treat him?" Bo asked, flabbergasted. He pointed down the hall in the direction that Cooter and Daisy had walked. "The man has to have emergency surgery. What are you going to do if we don't have the money? Let him die?"
"Of course not, Mr. Duke. But we won't be able to treat him. We would have to transfer him to the Chickasaw Clinic."
"The Chickasaw Clinic! That ain't even a hospital." Luke complained.
"I realize that, but they can do the surgery there, you'd just need someone to sit at home and keep an eye on your uncle for a few days , since they would have to discharge him immediately afterward."
"Luke, I just can't stand the thought of Uncle Jesse getting no secondhand care!" Bo muttered through clenched teeth.
"Me neither." Luke confirmed. "Lady, how long do we have to come up with that money?"
"Well, the sooner your uncle has his surgery, the better. I wouldn't spend any more than an hour or so trying to come up with it."
"How much do we need?" Luke asked.
"Let's see. The ambulance………….room and board……….surgery." She muttered as she banged on a calculator. She finished a few moments later. "More or less, you're looking at about $9000.00."
"Nine thou---." Bo stopped short. "Luke, we've pulled some stunts before but I just don't know of any job we can do to earn no $9000.00 in just one hour!"
"We'll be back in an hour, ma'am." Luke confirmed, standing up from his seat, followed by Bo.
"What are we gonna do? Bo asked.
"You're gonna use your pull at the Frothy Brewing Company to borrow some money." Luke replied, stopping at a payphone and fishing some change from his pocket.
Bo grinned. "Why didn't I think of that?"
Bo got on the phone and began talking to Harold Steelman. As the conversation continued, his smiled slowly faded untill it disappeared all together.
"What did he say?" Luke asked after Bo had hung up.
"He more or less gave me a real pretty speech, saying that while he was grateful for the work I had done in contributing to the camp, the company basically doesn't give loans."
"Well we don't have time to argue with him right now." Luke said, grabbing the phone. "I'll call the bank. Maybe we can get one there."
"I'm sorry, Luke." Iola, the Hogg Savings and Loan secretary, said into the phone a few minutes later as J.D. Hogg walked through the front door, puffing on a cigar. "You already have your farm tied up in the orphanage playground loan, and I'm afraid your other assets just don't add up to $9000.00."
"Hmmm!" Boss exclaimed, motioning to the phone.
"Hold on just a second Luke." Iola asked, placing her hand over the receiver.
"Is that Luke Duke on the line askin' for a loan?"
"Yeah Boss. Seems his Uncle Jesse is over in the Tri-County hospital and he needs $9000.00 real bad."
"Oh, idn't that a shame." Boss laughed, taking the phone from Iola. He quit laughing before he got on the line. "Luke Duke? This is J.D. Hogg speakin' . I heard your Uncle Jesse was ailin'. Hope everything's alright."
Luke reluctantly explained the situation to Boss. While the Dukes had never exactly been friends with Boss, he and Jesse went back a long way.
"Well I'm real sorry to hear that, Luke. Considerin' the situation, I see no reason why I can't lend you that money."
"Really, oh that's great Boss!" Luke replied, giving a grinning Bo a high five.
"Now now wait a minute, Luke. I'm makin' an exception here but I am a businessman. I'm afraid you're gonna need to put something up 'till you can pay it back."
"Well, Boss, Iola there, she pretty much confirmed we ain't got nothing worth puttin' up."
"Nothing except, maybe, that orange clunker---I mean, your car, the General Lee."
"General Lee? Boss, I've heard you say a thousand times that our car ain't even worth the gas it would take to get it to the car crusher. Why the sudden interest?"
"Well like I said, I'm making an exception because me and Jesse go back a long way. Besides, you gonna sit there arguing about it with me or you gonna put one of them hospital secretaries on the line so I can guarantee payment and your uncle can have his operation?"
"It's a deal, Boss." Luke replied, really having no other option but to take Jesse to the clinic.
"Good. Now I'll need that car brought over to my impound yard as soon as possible. I'll have to hold it until you pay all the money back."
"Hold the General? Boss, I'm afraid payback could take a couple of years at best."
"Do you want your Uncle Jesse taken care of or not?"
"Of course." Luke replied. "I guess we have to do what we have to do. I'm at a payphone. I'll have the secretary call you back. You'll be there a few minutes, won't ya?"
"I'll be waiting." Boss replied before hanging up. "Well that was easier than I thought!" Iola looked at him in confusion as he stood their laughing."
The trouble in all this is that Bo and Luke have no idea that Boss knows about the offer Billy Kay's put up for the General. They think they'll eventually get their car back, but friends, I'm not so sure anymore.