1963. I DON'T OWN THE DUKES OF HAZZARD. THERE IS A SHORT JESSE POV SECTION TOWARDS THE END OF THE CHAPTER.

The ambulance arrived at the hospital. Doctors and nurses took Bo in and showed his family where to wait. Jesse called Mary's mother and asked her to watch Daisy for a few hours until he or Lavinia could come pick her up.

The three Dukes sat in the waiting room for an hour until a doctor came out.

"Parent or guardian for Bo Duke?" He asked.

"That's us." Jesse and Lavinia stepped forward, Luke between them.

"Lets go to my office to talk." The doctor led them to his office.

"My name is Dr. Ben Howard. I have been treating your son Bo." He offered the Dukes chairs to sit in.

"My name is Jesse Duke. This is my wife Lavinia, and my nephew Luke. Bo is not my son, he's my nephew, but me and Lavinia are his legal guardians. Now how is he?" Jesse asked.

"He's stable." Dr. Howard replied. "It seems he was kicked in the chest and stomach, and hit pretty hard in the face at least once. That's not all I'm afraid." The doctor sighed.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Luke had tears running down his face.

"He should be alright in a few days, don't worry, son." The doctor patted Luke's leg.

"What else is there, doctor?" Jesse pressed.

"I'm afraid your nephew has asthma." Dr. Howard said.

Jesse'd been afraid of this happening sooner or later: his baby brother, Bo's father'd had asthma as a kid.

"What? No!" Lavinia cried.

"Can we see him?" Jesse asked, placing an arm around his wife's shoulders.

"After we discuss treatment. He's going to need a prescription for an inhaler."

"Well get it for him, I want to see my boy, come on!" Jesse stood up.

"Yes sir, room 304." Dr Howard opened the door.

Jesse, Lavinia, and Luke walked to Bo's room and went inside.

"Why is there a pipe in his mouth, Uncle Jesse?" Luke whispered.

"So he can breathe." Jesse answered. He'd seen this many times with Bo's father.

Lavinia pulled up a chair next to the bed and took the small child's hand. Jesse kept his hands on Lavinia, trying to sooth her. Luke stood holding his Uncle's leg, starring at the whole situation.

"What are we going to do, Jesse?" Lavinia cried quietly.

"We'll find a way, darlin'" Jesse wiped his wife's eyes.

"This is all my fault." Luke mewled.

"No it ain't, son." Jesse put his arm around his eldest nephew.

"Yes it is! I should have protected him." Luke cried into Jesse's leg.

"He had asthma anyway, kiddo." Jesse stroked Luke's hair.

"I'm going to go drive out to pick up Daisy." Lavinia stood up and went off to get her niece, and her mind off of her nephew's new problem.

When Lavinia arrived to pick up Daisy, Mary's mother said that she was sorry to hear about Bo. Lavinia stayed for a few minutes to talk and then drove off with Daisy, back to the hospital.

"Is Bo gonna die, Aunt Lavinia?" Daisy asked. She'd only overheard some of the conversation.

"No, he's going to live. He's just a little sick." Aunt Lavinia sighed as she tried to explain to the 6-year-old what asthma was.


That night, Jesse went out on the porch. He couldn't sleep: he was too worried.

Jesse's POV:

I sat on the porch of that old house. The porch that I'd sat on with Bo and Luke in my lap, Lavinia next to me holding Daisy telling them stories and showing them constellations.

I remember sitting on this porch when my brothers and sister passed away that one horrible day five years ago. My eldest brother, my baby brother and my sister, who wasn't more than a year and a half older than me, all passed away, leaving me and Lavina with their children.

I remember wondering how I was ever going to care for three kids, but I knew that I was going to love them with all that I was, just as if they had been my own. Bo weren't nothin' but a little baby, then. He never got to meet his parents, that he remembers, anyway.

He's always had trouble catching his breath, but we all thought that was just a kid thing. I can't believe he's got asthma. Why would God do that to my baby? I guess I should count my blessings, though: asthma ain't nothin' to sneeze at, but cancer's much worse. Thank you God, that my baby boy don't have cancer.

Jesse went back in the house and back to bed.

The next morning, early, Bo woke up alone in a cold room with a pipe down his throat. What would you do if you were five-years-old, alone, cold, and found a pipe in your throat? Bo knew what he was going to do about it: remove this horrible torturing device from his airway. He got a firm grip on it with his small dimpled hands and started pulling. He found that it was very secure and had a plastic mount that kept it securely on his face. Tears poured down his face as he longed for one of his family members to tell him where he was and what was wrong with him. The Dukes had been sent home last night, seeing as how visiting hours were over. Bo started to cry, the sound slightly suppressed by the tube in his throat. A nurse came in to check on him.

"What's the matter sweetie?" She coaxed. Bo continued sobbing and pulling at the tube.

"I'll get that out for you." She promised, reaching around to the back of Bo's head to undo the mount that kept it on his face. "Cough on three: One, two, three." The nurse removed the tube, but Bo didn't breathe.

"You need to breathe now, honey." She put oxygen in his nose. Eventually she helped Bo to start breathing, but he wouldn't stop crying.

At the farm, the Dukes woke up rushed through the chores, pilled into their truck and headed to the hospital. When they arrived, the nurse told them that Bo was hysterically crying and was making his lung condition worse. Jesse was sent in to calm the child down.

"Uncle Jesse!" Bo rasped, reaching his arms out.

"Hi, son." Jesse hugged his nephew.

"Why did you leave me here? They's mean to me!" Bo asked hoarsely.

"You got hurt yesterday. This is a hospital, they're helping ya." Jesse cleared the thick blonde hair from Bo's eyes.

"Where's Luke an' Aunt Lavinia an' Daisy?" Bo asked.

"Waiting out there. You want to see 'em, too?" Jesse asked.

"Yes." Bo smiled. Jesse went out and retrieved the rest of the Duke family.

"How do you feel, honey?" Lavinia stoked his cheek.

"I jus' wanna go home." Bo whined.

"When can he come home?" Daisy complained.

"In a few days, I think." Jesse replied.

"You alright?" Luke approached the bed.

"I'm jus' fine." Bo smiled proudly.

"Bo there's something I want to talk to ya about." Jesse pulled up a chair.

"Okay, but then let's go home." Bo agreed.

"The doctor said that you have something wrong with your lungs. You have something called asthma. It means that sometimes it will get hard to breathe, like yesterday." Jesse explained.

"All the time?" Bo whined.

"No, only if you have whats called an asthma attack." Jesse reassured.

"How many will I have?" Bo asked.

"I'm not too sure, but there is a medicine you can take to help with it." Jesse smiled.

"Okay, fine. But I want to go home now." Bo complained.

"You can go home as soon as the doctor says you can." Jesse patted Bo's leg.

Dr. Howard knocked and walked in. "How you feeling, kiddo?" He asked, approaching the bed.

"There he is Uncle Jesse! He's the one that's so mean to me!" Bo turned his head away.

"He ain't mean to you, he's taking care of you." Jesse took Bo's hand.

"Let me listen to your lungs, please, Bo." Dr Howard put his stethoscope on Bo's back.

"Make it quick." The five-year-old snapped in such a cute way the the doctor couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Yes, sir." The doctor laughed. "I have good news for you... you can go home at the end of the day!" Dr Howard smiled at the child.

"Thanks so much!" Bo hugged the doctor.

"No problem, sonny." He ruffed Bo's hair and took Jesse to the side. "He's improved very much. He should rest at home for about a week. Then I want him to see you family doctor once every two weeks to check on his Asthma. When you leave today they will be a prescription for some inhalers for him. You can take him to your family doctor to learn how to use it." Dr Howard instructed.

"Thank you, sir." Jesse shook his hand and returned to his family, filling Lavinia in on the details.

Later that day, the whole Duke family went home, picking up some inhalers on the way, dropping by doc Appleby's to learn how to use them, and finally heading home. Luke called Cooter to tell him that Bo was ok and to thank him for helping him stand up to Tom.