There wasn't a soul in the room who didn't know who these men were.

Edwards and Kilmer had recently rescued and treated Bo, who had been exposed to a dangerous illegal drug when an ousted government scientist had used him as an unwilling test subject.

Dr. George Foster had been assigned to create a drug ordered by the military, one that would help the soldiers fight without letting their emotions get the best of them. Years into the project, the scientist still hadn't achieved success in creating a drug that could perform the desired outcome without very nasty side effects. After the officials had had set a deadline, Dr. Foster, in his desperation, illegally tapped into unauthorized military funds to conduct his experiments. When the truth was discovered, he was ousted.

He didn't easily give up, however. Having performed slight reformulations, he needed a volunteer for testing, but couldn't recruit as the consequence would have been prison if the military discovered he was still dabbling in the top secret project. With that in mind, he instead recruited the help of hypnotist Tom Dewberry, promising him a share of the riches he was sure to enjoy when success was achieved. And when Dr. Dewberry ran across Bo during a visit to Dr. Appleby, he had found his unwilling 'volunteer'.

By the time Major Gene Edwards got wind of the situation, the drugs had been administered and Bo had become insanely violent. It was this nasty side effect that had prevented the drug approval in the first place. When he later got together with Dr. Kilmer, they explained to Jesse, Luke, and Daisy that another experimental drug might offer a solution to the long term effects Bo was sure to suffer, but that it was. Figuring his cousin had suffered enough, Luke had insisted that the new drug be given to him first.

And though everything seemed to turned out okay…..Luke appeared to suffer no side effects while Bo was freed from his, Luke's illness and the arrival of the two men in his room indicated that things clearly had not.

Without hearing any explanation at all, Bo suddenly felt a tremendous amount of guilt. After all, it didn't take a genius to figure out that it was Luke's attempt to protect Bo by testing the antidote that had landed him in trouble. Overwhelmed with emotion, he turned and bolted for the door.

"Bo 'cmon now." Luke said as Bo opened the door. "BO!" He yelled out, after his cousin exited the room.

"I'll go after him." Cooter offered, getting up from his chair. He rushed to the door, pausing to look to his right and his left. Shrugging his shoulders slightly, he finally settled on the right and took off running down the hall.

Gene Edwards stared at the door before turning back to Uncle Jesse. "I apologize, Mr. Duke. Our intention here today was not to upset your family."

"I realize that, though I don't know what other reaction you expected." Jesse replied. "Just yer presence opens up a bad book we thought we done got closed."

"And again, I apologize. It pains me to think that your family was unwillingly forced into the Wildflower Project, and it pains me even more to know that the effects of that involvement cease to exist."

"So my problem, whatever it is, concerns the antidote." Luke concluded.

Dr. Kilmer nodded. "You're right, Luke. After the promising results we achieved with both you boys, we were inspired to do further research into it and, I'm afraid, we made some new…unsettling discoveries."

"Go on." Luke encouraged him, wincing in pain as Daisy and Jesse sat on each side of him, grasping his hands tightly.

Dr. Kilmer looked nervously at Gene Edwards before he continued. "Well, as you may recall, before you agreed to test the antidote, we explained that animal tests had already been performed, and that only one animal had shown a side effect from the drug."

"Yeah. You said that the animal in question had a previously undiagnosed condition, from what I remember, and that you felt his reaction may have been a result of having that condition."

Dr. Kilmer offered a slight smile. "You have a good memory, Mr. Duke."

"It's not hard to absorb information like that when it has anything to do with the well being of your family." Luke pointed out.

Kilmer and Edwards nodded. "As Dr. Kilmer was saying…..." Edwards continued, "The encouraging results demanded further experiments, and all new animals were ordered right away. The final results of the new tests came in just last week."

"Please go on." Daisy asked as Enos put his hand on her shoulder.

Dr. Kilmer took a deep breath. "You should know we deliberately obtained an animal that had the same condition as the one who previously suffered the side effects, to see if the outcome was the same. And it was."

"And what condition is that?"

After a long pause, Dr. Kilmer answered simply. "Glomerulonephritis."

Jesse snarled. "Do you really expect a bunch of dirt farmers ta know what that means?"

Dr. Kilmer jumped a bit at Jesse's outburst and quickly learned he should clarify the situation. "Mr. Duke, Glomerulonephritis is best described as a kidney malfunction. People have it as well. Often, it forms for no known reason, and the person that has it doesn't even know that he does. Often, the only symptom is high blood pressure, a rather common condition as you realize.

"So you think when Luke tested the antidote he may have had this gluber….glomer….whatever it was you just said?" Jesse asked.

"Yes, Mr. Duke." Dr. Kilmer verified. "As I said, a lot of people who get it don't even realize they have it, not right away anyway. I'm sure that was the case with Luke here, seeing how he didn't mention any health problems beforehand."

"Okay, so at least we know what's going on, right?" Daisy announced, squeezing Luke's hand assuringly. "Now you can start treating him."

"I know it's a lot of information to take in at once, miss." Major Edwards replied. "But you have to understand, Luke had glomerulonephritis before the drug was ever administered. The administration altered the condition."

"Altered it how?" Jesse asked nervously.

"I'm sorry to tell you this Luke." Dr. Appleby, who had stood silently as the others explained, began. "But you're suffering from renal, or kidney, failure."

"Kidney failure." Luke whispered, absorbing the information.

"Well….what kin ya do to help Luke, Homer?" Jesse asked, trying to come out of his shock.

"We need to start dialysis right away, Luke." Dr. Appleby clarified.

"No Homer, I meant, what is it you can do ta doctor Luke's kidneys?" Jesse asked.

"Jesse…" Dr. Appleby replied, hating to crush three hopeful faces. "There isn't anything I can do. The damage……..is irreversible."

Ya know, words often don't have the same meanin' in Hazzard that they do in other places. Let's just hope this is one of them instances.