Matthew and Anthony quickly returned home, the younger Garrett reluctant to leave the accident scene but wanting to rush to a pay phone all the same. Arriving at their small farm, they quickly parked the cars in the barn.

"Dad's gonna know what we've been doin' if he sees all this mud." Anthony pointed out as they quickly threw the tarps over the cars.

"He won't even look at 'em 'till the weekend, and we'll get 'em washed before then. C'mon, let's get to that phone."

Rushing over to the beat up little pick up truck that served as the boys' primary transportation, they prepared to jump in as their father rolled up in his own truck. "Hi boys!" He greeted them as he got out and slammed the door. "Ya off somewhere?"

"Yeah Dad. We gotta run into town we'll be back in a few minutes." Anthony explained.

"Whatcha runnin' to town for?" He asked.

"Um, I left my book at school. Got that big test tomorrow." Matthew explained, knowing his dad wouldn't object to that.

"Well 'fore ya go help me unload this firewood. Ole' man Miller asked to borrow tha truck and I promised him I'd have it over there by seven."

"But dad, my homework!" Matthew pushed.

His dad chuckled a little. "I ain't never seen you in such an all fired hurry to do homework. Can't say it disappoints me, though."

As the boys tried to enter the truck again his dad added. "But the book can wait. Like I said, Miller's lookin' for this truck by seven. Besides, a little late night studying might convince you not to wait until the last minute to get things organized next time."

There was nothing unusual about Thomas Garrett. He was a common southern father who made decisions as he saw fit and expected his young charges to go along with things.

As Thomas lowered the tailgate, Matthew turned to Anthony. "What do you think we should do?"

"Ain't got no choice. We gotta do what he says." His brother replied. "Let's just make sure this is the fastest unloading job in Garrett history."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As the sun began to set, Luke Duke stirred and woke up, feeling every single muscle in his body as he tasted blood in his mouth. Putting a finger to his lip, he felt the sticky red moisture and, noticing one of Cooter's greasy rags lying next to him, wiped his face.

He didn't know how he got there, but somehow he realized that he had been there long enough that, if anyone knew of his predicament, they would have arrived already. It would be up to him to get out on his own.

After several minutes of struggling with the stuck door, it became apparent that either it was too jammed or he was too weak to get it open. Sighing, he reached through the window and grabbed onto the top of the car, pulling himself out even as his body screamed in protest.

Luke managed to pull his legs out and dropped to the ground. As his legs failed to support him and he landed on his side, a fresh stab of pain in his ankle told him it was at least sprained if not broken.

Taking a moment to collect himself, he looked at the path the car had taken to get where it was. He had gone down a steep ridge. He estimated the angle of the lengthy drop to be about sixty degrees. There was no way he was going to make it back up there with a busted ankle. He would have to find another way out of there.

Pulling himself up, he felt a wave of dizziness as his head pounded. Taking a look inside the car, he noticed for the first time that there was blood on the steering wheel….his blood. A glance down at his stained shirt further confirmed that he had suffered a pretty nasty cut and most likely a concussion in the accident.

As the air chilled with the coming night, Luke realized that he needed to get out of there. Gathering up all of his strength, he limped away from the accident site.

Listening to the sounds around him, he distinctly recognized the sound of running water. Hoping that the water would lead to a town or perhaps a nearby homestead, he decided that would be his best bet on getting out of there.

The journey on one foot was very slow indeed. It took no time at all for Luke to realize that he would be looking at an unplanned camp out if he didn't do something to speed things up. Looking down at the ground, he spied several large branches that had been shed at some point or other from the old oak tree against which Cooter's car rested. Finding a sturdy one that forked out into two branches, he broke the wood in a way that, in the end, he had fashioned a primitive crutch.

Allowing the fork to support his weight, Luke bore down on the stick and trudged ahead, achieving more distance in thirty seconds with the help of the crutch than he had achieved in five minutes with no assistance.

Soon, the river he had heard came into view. Spying a still little pool fed by the river, Luke knelt down with the intention of getting a drink, the wavering day offering him enough light to get a good look at his reflection.

Seeing that half of his face was covered in dried blood, Luke moved ahead to the river to wash it off. Waiting for the flowing water to carry the blood away, Luke then cupped his hands into the river for his drink, feeling fresh oozing down the side of his cheek, realizing too late that he had been a bit too generous in scrubbing his head wound.

Tearing off the bottom of his plaid shirt, Luke formed a headband which he tied over the wound. As he pulled the material tight, he winced a little as the pressure.

Gathering up what strength he had, Luke got back on his feet and scanned the river. Deciding that there wasn't anything nearby to serve as a shelter other than the wreck he had recently climbed out of, Luke decided to make his way back there, hoping he could somehow start a fire while there was still light left.

But before he could turn, he heard a crunching of leaves from the other side of the river. Expecting a wild animal, he watched as foliage gave way and was surprised to see a woman appear instead, carrying a baby.

"Here we are, Will." The woman said to the baby, lowing his bare feet into the water. At feeling the icy coolness, the baby squealed in delight and grabbed onto the woman's neck, kicking all the while.

"Oh you silly thing." She laughed, embracing the child before she looked across the river. Upon seeing Luke, she froze and almost looked frightened as she clutched the baby tightly to her.

Scanning further, she then noticed the walking stick he had fashioned. Coupled with Luke's bruised complexion and his stained shirt, it didn't take a genius to figure out that he wasn't out there on purpose.

Keeping a firm hold on the baby, she stepped into the shallow river and crossed over. "Oh my!" She exclaimed, getting a better look at Luke, who looked even worse close up. "Bless your heart! What happened to you?"

"Wrecked my car." Luke replied as he steadied himself on the crutch. "I think I busted my ankle."

"That's not the only thing you busted." She replied, gently touching Luke's bandage as she examined it. "Come on. The house is just back through the trees here. We'll go home and get you fixed up. Think you can manage?"

"I'll try." Luke nodded, happy to have somewhere to stay overnight other than a totaled car. As he struggled across the river on the crutch, the woman snaked her own arm under his other one, offering him support as she balanced the baby in her other arm.

After traveling a narrow path between two mountainous wooded hills, Luke could see the house in the distance. As he neared the front porch, he gave the poor condition of both the residence and the grounds that surrounded it a slight acknowledgement.

By the time they were inside, the baby was fussing from being held in the same position for the length of the walk. Placing him in a crib, the woman turned to Luke before nodding toward the full-sized bed. "Lay down over there and I'll get you some coffee."

Glad to be off his feet and to have a decent place to lay, Luke followed her instructions and stretched out on the bed, favoring the ankle and paying attention to new pains that had waited for comfort to make themselves known.

"Here you are." The woman said a few moments later, handing Luke a coffee cup after having pacified the baby with a warm bottle. As Luke sat up to drink, she looked at his boots. "Let's have a look at that ankle, huh?"

"Careful." Luke said in a pleading tone, wincing just at the thought of disturbing the ankle.

She offered him an amused smile. "Don't worry. I am a trained nurse." She said, gently removing the shoe. Trying to keep his mind off of what was going on, Luke opted to sip his coffee and look at his surroundings. While the house was cozy and clean, the condition was terrible. He wondered why a trained nurse would live in such a place.

"That's a definite sprain, but I don't think anything's broken." She announced moments later, gently applying pressure to the ankle while Luke tried to keep still. "I'll wrap it up in a little while but I think we should put a cold compress on it first."

After the compress had been applied, she brought a cloth over and saw to Luke's head. Realizing the wound was deep, she pulled out a small sewing kit and commenced to applying a few stitches despite Luke's protests. Once she had bandaged it, she ordered Luke out of his bloody ripped shirt and pants. After putting them in some sudsy water, she secured a pillow under Luke's head and another under his ankle. Throwing an extra blanket over the top of him, she then turned her attention to getting the baby to sleep.

As she rocked the baby in a rocking chair, Luke looked at her. "You've been very kind." He announced.

She offered another slight smile as she looked up at him. "What else would be expected of me?"

"What's your name?" Luke asked.

The woman paused for a moment as she looked at him. But in seconds, she started rocking again. "My name's Kathleen, and this is Will." She replied looking down at the baby with a loving smile. "Anything else you want to know?"

"Yeah." Luke replied.

"What's that?"

"Who am I?"

I don't know about ya'll, but I was startin' to feel better about the situation.