1979. Bo tells you what happened in the last chapter. you probably gathered that is has to do with a goat due to the last chapters title. idontownthedukesofhazzard
I had just finished chopping my share of the wood. Luke'd done his half before dinner last night, like he was s'posed to. I was s'posed to help him, but I forgot so, he saved half for me to do this morning.
Anyhow, I'd just finished up with that. I went into the barn to get the chicken feed, when one out our baby goats ran out. I chased her around the front for a few minutes. I grabbed her once, but he slipped away. I kept on chasing her, and before I knew it, I was out in the back 40. There weren't no sign of the goat anywhere and it was starting to rain so, I decided to head on back. I must've slipped or something, 'cause I fell over and that was it: I hit my head on something, not too sure what, and then everything was black for a while.
When I woke up, I was in the ravine, the one that only fills up when it rains. I went to take a breath, and I found that my lugs were full of water. I coughed and treaded water for a while, making my way over to the edge so I could get out. It was hard to see 'cause it was still raining, but I eventually found dry land. I lugged myself outta the water. My boots were heavy with water, and so were my clothes. My hair was plastered to the back of my head and down my forehead over my eyes with blood and water. I figured the blood was from when I hit my head.
Anyhow, I walked for I dunno, 1 mile or so until I got real dizzy and I laid down for a bit. I feel asleep for I don't know how long, then I started crawling towards a big 'ol tree that I saw. It looked like a good place to take a rest. I couldn't see much, everything was blurry, it was still raining after all. After a while I could hardly breathe no more, so I stopped crawling and laid on my stomach for a while.
After a bit it stopped raining, but it was still real cold. My head hurt, my eyes hurt, I didn't know how I got where I was, and I couldn't really breathe. I tried my best to cough out the dirty water, but it weren't no use.
God please let someone come out here and find me. Even if it's Rosco. I prayed silently. Then I either passed out or fell asleep, I'm not too sure which one.
When I woke up, everything was blurry. Someone was talking to me, I couldn't place their voice though.
"Bo?" The voice whispered.
I know that voice, I know it... I thought, as I tried to place who this person was.
"Bo, wake up, buddyroo. I gotta get ya to the doc." The voice continued.
Cooter. Thank God: not only for letting someone find me, but that it wasn't Rosco. I thought silently, as I mustered up the air and strength to open my eyes or speak to him.
"Coo..ter?" I asked between coughs, which brought up dirty water. I looked him in the eyes, trying my best to tell him how I was feeling and what I needed, but he couldn't read my mind.
"Oh, Lordy, Bo..." Cooter reached out to touch me.
"Ya...fou..nd..me..." I slurred, managing a small smile.
"You're dang right I found you, buddy. We weren't gonna give up until we did." Cooter put his hands on my shoulders.
I was just too dang nauseous to bear it anymore so, I decided to warn Cooter so he didn't get covered in it.
"Gon' be... s-sick..." I coughed and turned onto my side, coughing and heaving harshly, pond water and throw up emerging.
"Easy, easy... you're alright." Cooter tried to calm me, but I couldn't be calmed: it all hurt too bad, and I could hardly even breathe.
"He..lp..." I didn't mean to, I know it makes it worse, but I got myself into the fetal position.
"You're gonna be alright, buddy." Cooter rubbed my back.
After coughing up a few gallons of water and throwing up the last of the bile in my guts, I rolled onto my back with Cooter's help. I tried to inhale, but I just made a high-pitched airy whistling sound, not getting much air.
"Imma get you some help." Cooter picked me up and hauled me over to his truck, holding me close to himself as he picked up the CB.
"Luke, you read me, come back?"
"Yeah, Cooter, I read you." Luke replied glumly.
"I found Bo."
"You found Bo? Where is he, is he alright?" Luke shouted.
"My trucks broken down and I can't get it goin' again without some parts. Bo's in a mighty bad way so I think you ought to come pick us up. I found him in Widow's Hollow." Cooter told Luke.
"Alright, I'll be there faster than you can say anything." Luke replied.
"Cooter, you say you found Bo?" uncle Jesse called in.
"Yes sir, I did. Why don't you and Daisy meet us at docs place?" Cooter suggested.
"Alright, you hear that Daisy?" uncle Jesse asked.
"Yeah, I'll see y'all there."
"You hear that, Bo? Lukes gonna come get you and we're gonna take you to Jesse and Daisy and the doc. You'll be alright." Cooter removed my soaked shirt and jeans and wrapped me up in blankets in the passenger seat.
Everyone's been looking for me? I've been gone that long? I thought.
I tried to speak, but no words came out. I wanted to tell him that I couldn't breathe, and that just about everything hurt, but I couldn't do much more than groan, much less speak.
"What's the matter?" Cooter asked me.
After a while, he figured out one thing: I couldn't breathe. He pulled an inhaler out of his glove compartment and raised it to my mouth and helped me use it.
Everyone has one of those, don't they? I thought as he helped me use it.
"Cold, freezing... c-cold..." I slurred after I was finished with the inhaler.
"Luke'll be here soon, you'll be alright." Cooter sat next to me and leaned me against himself.
"Thanks." I coughed and leaned into his warmth.
Soon, Luke swerved up in the General Lee and ran to the truck.
"Oh, God, Bo you scared 30 years offa me!" Luke proclaimed as he let me fall into his arms upon opening the truck door. I wrapped my arms tightly around him and buried my face in him. I hadn't been so happy to see him since he came home from Vietnam.
"Lets get you to docs." Cooter helped Luke get me into the General, and then we all headed to docs, me seated in between Luke and Cooter, leaning on Luke's shoulder. Luke took one hand off the wheel and wrapped his arm around me, which I was very grateful for.
"He's freezing cold." Luke stated. "I brought some blankets in case I was the one who found him, they're in the back." I felt Luke's body turn as he pointed.
Cooter reached into the back and grabbed the blankets, wrapping them around me.
"Thanks, guys." I managed.
"I'm just glad you ain't dead." Luke smiled.
"Better step on it or I will be..." I mumbled as I fell asleep.
When I woke up, Luke and Cooter were gone, replaced with a cold bed and doc ApplyBy.
What the hell? I thought.
I tried to sit up, but I found that it hurt too much so, I just laid back and breathed. Oh, yeah, I could breathe now, but there was something in my nose: ah, an oxygen tube. I saw the doc lookin' down at me: he was talking, but it sounded like a different language. He was also flashing a very annoying light in my eyes.
I was still cold, way too cold, and my head hurt, along with my left side, I didn't remember how I'd hurt it, but I knew that Cooter had found me and he an' Luke had brought me here.
"How are you feeling?" I finally figured out what he was saying. I wanted to respond, but I couldn't make any words come out.
"Can you nod when I ask you questions?" He asked me, finally stoping the use of the horrible flash light.
I nodded yes.
"Good. Are you cold?"
Of course, I nodded.
"Does it hurt when you breathe?"
Like hell, I nodded.
"Can you see me?"
How do you nod sort of?
"You can't see me?"
No, you're just blurry, I shook.
"Can you see me?" He repeated. Again, I attempted to speak, but no words would come from me. Instead, I rolled my eyes at him.
"Bo, come on, son..." Doc closed my eyes with his hands and flashed the light against my closed lids. "Can you see light?" He asked.
Yes. I nodded.
"When you look at me is it blurry?" He asked, removing the light.
Yes, now you've got it. I nodded.
"Does it hurt anywhere other than your lungs, left side, or head?" He asked me.
Yes, my eyes. I nodded.
"Can you point to where?" He asked.
I slowly tested my hand, and seeing that I could move it without pain, I lifted it to my eyes.
"Your eyes hurt?" He asked.
Yes. I nodded.
"Alright. You lay here and relax." He pulled another blanket over me and pulled up a chair.
"The reason you're so cold is because you have hypothermia. That's also why it's hard to see and you're shaking. You may also feel dizzy or unaware at times. I'll go get your family, alright?"
Yes, do that, and hurry. I nodded.
"Hey, Bo." Luke sat in the chair that was next to the bed. I tried to speak, but I couldn't.
"Hey, that's alright, ya don't gotta talk." Luke took my shaking hand. "Still real cold, huh?" Luke ran a hand through my hair like my family always did when I was feeling poorly.
I opened my tired eyes a little wider and begged Luke to go home as best as I could without words. I could tell Luke knew I was trying to say something, he just didn't know what.
"What's wrong?" He asked me.
"H-h..ho..." I struggled.
"You wanna go home, don't you, cuz?" Luke lifted my head up and pulled me into a gentle hug. "We'll go home as soon as doc Appleby says you're alright to go home, I promise." Luke set me back down and I closed my eyes again.
"You're real tired ain't you?" Luke stood up and offered the next person in line the chair, uncle Jesse.
He took his old weathered hand and stroked my messy hair for a while, he put me right to sleep. I think Daisy was there with me for a while, but I was pretty much asleep so, I'm not too sure. And Cooter was definitely in the room somewhere.
I don't really remember much of that night, all I know is, I wasn't at home, but Luke was there.
The next morning doc took the horrible tube that I hate so much outta my nose. I don't remember too much accept for Luke picking me up and carrying me out to uncle Jesse's truck and bringing me on a long drive, telling me that I was 'gonna be alright' or 'I'm right here' every time I woke up an' asked for him.
When it was time to get outta the truck, Luke woke me up.
"Bo, we're home, cuz." He gently shook me.
"Good." I mumbled, I still weren't really awake: I dozed in and out every few seconds. The world was much to cold to stay awake in.
"You need help carrying him?" Cooter asked as we all got outta the truck.
"He's my cousin, I can carry him, I've done it a million times." Luke strengthened his grip on me and I could feel he was looking down at me. You know how you can tell when someone is staring at you? It weren't a stare though, it was a loving look of concern, I could feel it.
"Alright, I'll get the door." I heard Cooter say before I fell asleep in Luke's arms: the perfect place to be 'side from the coldness that was everywhere.
The next time I woke up, I was at Cooter's garage I think. I don't know, it don't make much sense.
Anyway, Luke was picking me up, and I didn't know why so, I asked him where we were going.
"No where, just relax." he soothed. I heard him and Cooter talking for a while, and then Luke handed me to Cooter.
"I think I best get on home now, Cooter, uncle Jesse'll be looking for me..." I knew that uncle Jesse wouldn't have no more of me coming home late.
Cooter chuckled. "You are home, Bo."
"Yeah...ok...Cooter, I'm cold... colder than hell...wait no...hell ain't cold..." I slurred and mumbled on.
"Oh, Bo." Cooter chuckled and Luke helped him get me into some place that was real nice and warm. I figured it was the General Lee's back seat.
"Sorry I stayed out so late uncle Jesse...won't happen again...I'll go to bed early tomorrow..." I mumbled as I fell asleep.
I realize now that Luke's told me that I weren't at Cooter's garage, but at home in my bed. It's kinda funny if ya think about it.
The next time I woke up, I was in my bed. I knew that, this time. Everything was cold, not warm like it had been before, and Luke was gone. Next on the list was uncle Jesse or Daisy, so I hollered for them as loud as I could, until Daisy replied and ran into the room.
"Where'd Luke and Cooter go..." I asked her.
"They went to go get Cooter's truck." Daisy knelt next to the bed. "What's the matter, sugar?"
"I'm cold, Daisy... cold...an' I don't know... I don't know..." I slurred. I didn't know how I'd gotten where I was, and everything was damn cold.
"Open your eyes, honey." Daisy took my hand.
I opened my eyes and looked around the room. Everything was kinda blurry, but I knew that Daisy was there 'cause she was talking to me.
"You okay, Bo?" Daisy turned my face towards her.
"Still cold." I replied, closing my eyes again.
"Let me have one of your blankets and I'll warm it up for ya." Daisy pulled a blanket from me and left the room it it. She brought it back all nice and warm and laid on on me.
"Better?" She asked.
"Yeah, thanks." Daisy kissed my forehead and I fell right back to sleep.
The next time I woke up, I was freezing cold and it was raining. I was laying on the ground and I knew I had to get home so, I started crawling. There was a huge drop-off that came out of nowhere. I crawled as far as I could, then I heard Luke's voice and the rain started to fade out.
"What're ya doin'?" Luke knelt down next to me.
"Gotta get home they's all lookin' for me..." I mumbled and crawled further.
"Bo, you is home." Luke rolled me onto my back, ow, that hurt.
"Luke?" I opened my eyes and looked around, but most everything was blurry.
"I'm right here, Bo." Luke put his hands on my shoulders.
"Thank God ya found me I was gettin' cold." I slurred as I rolled over into Luke's lap.
"Come on, cuz, let's get you back in bed." Luke reached out to pick me up.
"Sounds good...warm..." I mumbled as Luke picked me up and laid me down in a bed.
"Ow..." I mumbled quietly upon being laid down.
"I'm sorry, I reckon I hurt your ribs..." Luke gently ran his hand over my left side. "But, crawling around on the floor probably didn't help them neither."
What was that s'posed to mean? I've been trying to get home!
"Are we home yet?" I slurred. I didn't know what he was talking about so, I just decided to see if we were home.
"Yeah, you're home, cuz." Luke pulled some blankets around me.
I didn't know what the heck just happened, but I was home and Luke was there so, I fell asleep. Later on, Luke explained that whole thing to me: apparently I was in bed and I fell out and crawled around on the floor for a while. I thought I was still lost, but I reckon I was just dreaming.
The next time I woke up, it wasn't so freezing cold anymore.
"How do ya feel?" Luke knelt next to my bed on the floor. He was in his sweatpants and it was just getting light outside so, I figured it was morning time.
"Better than last night or whenever that was..." I scratched my head. Had I been sick?
"You got lost in the rain and ya got hypothermia. You've been resting for about a day or so." Luke explained.
"Now it all makes sense!" I replied.
"Maybe to you, but not to me. What all happened anyway?" He asked me.
I told him everything that happened on the day that I got lost and about what I thought had happened the past 48 hours. He filled me in on what really happened and forced me to take some pills. ew.
After a few days of forced resting by Luke I felt much better. The goat came home on it's own when the rain started, thank God. Everyone fussed over me for about a week, then they made me go back to doc's place for a 'final look over'. Doc said I was fine (much to my relief) and my family took my leash off. I'm thankful to have them around. If it weren't for them I'd never recover from anything, I'd be right back up much too soon. I'm also grateful for such a great friend as Cooter. He hung around and helped out and gosh, he found me that day.
CHAPTER OVER, THE END, EL FIN, DONE, ZIP IT THATS ALL... ANYWAY I HOPE YA LIKED IT, I STAYED UP ALL NIGHT TO WRITE IT! :)