TEARS
Luke dialed the Hazzard Police Department's telephone number, waiting for Rosco's answer, while Bo rested against the wall of the waiting room, his left arm up and his hand against the wall.
"Rosco," Luke glanced at Bo, "this is Luke. The man is Enos. He's here, in the I.C.U., unconscious but alive."
Bo scratched his nape with his right hand and had a deep sigh.
"He's goin' to recover, don't worry, but actually he can't talk to us," Luke shook his head, "We can just wait."
Bo folded his arms and rested his back against the wall.
"I don't know when he'll wake up, nobody knows it, but doctors are optimistic 'bout it," the receiver pressed against his ear, Luke nodded at Rosco's words while Bo moved away from the wall and walked to the near couch, sinking into it.
"Bye Rosco," Luke put the receiver down and turned round, folding his arms and resting his back against the wall, mimicking Bo's previous posture, "Enos is alive, and this is the most important thing, Bo."
Bo stared at Luke, "Alive but…," he shook his head and averted his eyes from Luke, "… lying unconscious in that bed… those tubes, and monitors and… everything is so scaring."
Luke had a deep sigh and reached Bo on the couch, "This is exactly what that nurse told us, Bo. It's scaring but for sure less scaring than… you know what."
"You're right. When we arrived here we thought Enos could be dead, so we should be happy he's still alive, though seeing him that way scared us." Unable to remain still, Bo stood up and walked to the window of the small and empty waiting room, "This is a so beautiful day, outside, but I can't enjoy the sun now. I'm worried," he turned to Luke, "Daisy… I've never seen her that way. She was trembling like a leaf and she couldn't stop crying, and I don't know if I'm more saddened for Enos or for Daisy."
"Daisy is really strong, and she's perfectly able to react. Uncle Jesse is by her side, don't worry," he smiled, "and, if there's a person who could help Enos to wake up, that person would be Daisy."
Bo nodded and walked to the telephone hanging to the wall, "After Rosco, we should warn Cooter too. He's waiting for our call," he dialed Cooter's telephone number, waiting for his friend's answer.
Sitting on the couch, Luke folded his arms and stared at the ceiling, listening to Bo repeating his previous dialogue: "Yeah Cooter, the man is Enos, he's alive but still unconscious"… "He's in the I.C.U., and now Daisy and uncle Jesse are with him, whereas Luke and I are in the waiting room. Just two people for any patient are allowed to stay inside the I.C.U." … "Doctors say he's goin' to wake up but they don't know when" … "Bye Cooter."
Bo put the receiver down and reached Luke, sinking into the black leather couch.
They both had a deep sigh.
Uncle Jesse's hand squeezed Daisy's shoulder.
Daisy wiped away the tears on her face and smiled, looking at her uncle, "Now I'm feeling better, uncle Jesse, don't worry. I cried both for the pain to see Enos this way but also for the relief to know he's alive. He'll wake up, and I'll be by his side when it'll happen."
Uncle Jesse nodded and smiled.
Daisy's right hand reached Enos' one and grabbed it, squeezing it, while her left hand caressed his hair, "Hey sugar, you aren't alone. Can you hear me?"
Sitting on their chairs, Daisy and uncle Jesse remained quiet; in the little room just the beeps of the monitor checking Enos' vital functions and the noise of the ventilator pumping air inside his lungs. Daisy had a deep sigh and broke that anomalous silence and those unnatural noises, "That nurse was right 'bout how… strange and scaring this department is."
'That nurse', evoked by Daisy, came closer Enos' bed, "Sorry for disturbing you, but I need your friend's ID card," she smiled and she stretched her arm out to take the card Daisy was giving her, "Thanks."
Daisy glanced at the name on the nurse's uniform and, when the nurse turned round to go back to the counter, she called her, "Nurse Emily, thanks for everything you're doin' for Enos," she stretched her arm out and she shook hands with the nurse, "My name is Daisy Duke, this is my uncle Jesse Duke, and the boys with us are Luke and Bo Duke, my cousins."
Nurse Emily smiled and nodded, "I'm just doin' my job."
After nurse Emily's leaving, Daisy sat down again on her chair and her hands reached Enos, restoring their previous position, "Can you hear me, sugar?"
Enos opened his eyes and looked at Daisy.
Lying on the grass, his head on her lap while she was sitting with her back against the tree, he smiled: she was looking at him, her head bent and her hair like a sort of halo, the sun turning the brown into a blonde shade.
"Can you hear me, sugar?" Her right hand reached his one and squeezed it while her left hand caressed his hair and then slid from his hair to his cheek and finally to his shoulder.
"I love you so much, Enos. Do you know it?"
Her words sounded muffled and distant, but Enos caught the sense in it.
His heart filled of warmth and happiness, he closed his eyes and he squeezed her hand.
Tears of joy flowed from his eyes.
Daisy's hand slid from Enos' hair to his cheek and finally to his shoulder, squeezing it, "I love you so much, Enos. Do you know it?"
When she felt his hand gently squeezing her one, just an allusion of squeeze but anyway a squeeze, Daisy's heart skipped a beat. She turned to uncle Jesse, "Uncle Jesse, he's squeezing my hand," then she turned to Enos, "Enos! Please, open your eyes!"
When tears flowed from Enos' eyes, few and fleeting tears but tears, Daisy burst out crying, both of pain and joy.
Emily looked at Daisy and Jesse Duke, realizing that something was going on. She rested the nursing record and the ID card of the man on the counter and walked to the bed.
The young woman looked at her, both with pain and hope, "He squeezed my hand, I felt it and…" she glanced at the man and then again at the nurse, "he's crying."
Emily checked the monitors and smiled, "Positive signs."
Jesse Duke circled her niece's shoulders with his right arm and stared at Emily, "Is he suffering?"
Emily shook her head, "I don't think he is suffering, don't worry. Keep on talking to him."
From the counter, Emily kept on observing the young woman and her uncle: Daisy Duke caressed the unconscious man and talked to him, smiling as if the man could see her, while the woman's uncle circled her shoulders with his arm.
Bo and Luke stood up and walked to uncle Jesse and Daisy entering the waiting room, reading their features: emotional exhaustion after a roller-coaster of sadness and joy.
"Visiting time is over," Daisy smiled, "but Enos…" her eyes sparked, "… he squeezed my hand. The nurse said it's a really positive sign." She preferred to avoid the part about Enos' tears.
"Oh great!" Bo patted Luke's shoulder and smiled, relieved.
"I guess ol' Enos is going to wake up very soon with you by his side," Luke smiled and folded his arms, regaining his self control and his knowing attitude.
"Did you call Rosco and Cooter? They're waiting for our call": uncle Jesse's pragmatism.
"Of course uncle Jesse," Bo pointed at the phone hanging on the wall, "Rosco for sure told it to Boss, and Boss to Lulu, and… now I think everybody in Hazzard knows about Enos."
They had a brief laugh, washing away all the worrisome and fears they shared when they entered the Hospital just some hours before.
"OK, time to go back to Hazzard," Luke walked to the door.
Walking along the corridor that brought them there and entering the elevator, they realized how much different everything looked like: the corridor looked less dark, the elevator less cold and metallic, the hall less anonymous and professional.
Outside, the sun was still sparking on the building but now the light looked less metallic and warmer.
They walked to The General Lee and they came in, indifferent to people looking at their strange way to enter the car.
Finally inside the car, Daisy sank into the back seat and had a deep breath, "I feel like if I died and then come back to life. If I think of our way to the Hospital and what was goin' on in our mind," she shook her head, "I'm glad we've found Enos, alive, though I'm still shocked 'bout him lying in that bed, but he's goin' to recover and it's the only important thing, now."
Uncle Jesse nodded, "Maybe Enos will need some time to wake up, but we'll come here every day 'til his recover, and we'll help him when he'll come back to Hazzard."
"And we'll find whomsoever did it to him," Bo clasped his hands around the wheel.
"Especially 'cause whosoever did it to Enos can decide to bring to an end his purpose," Luke dampened everybody's enthusiasm, but nobody could deny the possible and terrific truth in his words.
"We'll protect Enos," Bo glanced at Luke, "when he'll wake up we'll know what happened and so who is the culprit, how to find him (or them) and how to stop any possible harm."
Luke, Daisy and uncle Jesse nodded.
The news about Enos ran in the town quicker than The General Lee; everybody was talking about it with a mix of shock, sadness and relief, sharing the Dukes' emotions.
Rosco was moving inside the Police Department in a sort of circular dance, Flash in his arms, tuning a repeated "Dipstick is back" alternated to his characteristic laugh.
From time to time Boss came out his office, his "Stop it, Rosco, and go work! I'm not paying you for dancing with a dog" harsh like usual, though everybody who knew Boss pretty well could catch a pitch of relief in his voice.
Everybody shared the same relief, except…
… the man gritted his teeth: he was pretty sure Enos Strate was dead when he left his body in Rockdale County. He shook his head and he walked away from the crowd chatting in front of the Police Department: it didn't matter, Enos Strate probably learned the lesson, and he could teach the deputy a new lesson if it was necessary, the final lesson. The deputy couldn't recognize him 'cause that night he wore a ski mask, and people couldn't suspect him 'cause he was a simple and honest citizen: he just had to act like usual.