IN THIS CHAPTER IT IS 1972, LUKE IS 16, DAISY 15, AND BO IS 14
It was mid-summer in Hazzard. It had been a long day of work and all of the Dukes had gone to bed early. Bo had been acting kind of sluggish and weak as the day had gone by, but he had forced Luke to let him keep working. Luke and Jesse'd decided that one more day of work before falling sick wasn't going to kill him, so they let him get away with it. But, Luke knew that he was going to have a hell of a night taking care of him when he developed a fever.
"Luke?" Came the shaky voice that Luke had practically been waiting for, asking for the much needed help of his older cousin.
Luke got out of bed and stood over Bo, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"You feel sick now, cuz?" Luke asked softly. He didn't dare say 'I told you so'. He'd planned on saying it all day, but seeing how miserable Bo was, he didn't have the heart.
"Yeah…" Bo mumbled into his pillow before biting it, shaking and tensing his muscles against the pain that seemed to be everywhere.
"Lemme see ya." Luke gently rolled him on his back, then he ran his hands through Bo's hair in an attempt to calm him before leaving to get the thermometer.
"Let me go get the thermometer, okay?" Luke stopped touching him and stood over him for a few seconds. Then, seeing that he was gonna be alright alone for a few seconds, Luke made a mad dash to the bathroom and returned with the thermometer.
"Let me see." Luke put it in Bo's mouth: 101.5
"You've got a fever, but it ain't too high." Luke pulled the blankets back up to Bo's face. He stood and stroked his hair for a few minutes as Bo slowly moved into a fetal position and started coughing.
"What is it?" Luke put a hand on his arm. He needed to know if it was pain or nausea, because if it was nausea, he'd better get Bo into the bathroom, fast.
"Everythin' hurts… real bad…" Bo moaned, then added some involuntary coughs.
Everythin' hurts real bad? He must be powerful sick to tell me that. Luke sighed to himself.
"Come're." Luke pulled Bo up against himself and held him while he decided what to do.
"I'm gonna go ask uncle Jesse what to do." Luke decided.
"Don't leave…" Bo coughed.
"You need help, Bo." Luke laid him down again and pulled the blankets over and securely around his shivering, pain racked body.
"No... don't leave me..." Bo mumbled, weakly grabbing Luke's arm.
"I'll be right back, I swear." Luke promised.
...
"Uncle Jesse?" Luke shook his uncle awake.
"What's the matter?" Jesse woke with a start.
"Bo's in pain and he's got a little fever." Luke told him.
"How bad's he hurting?" Jesse asked as he got his robe on.
"He says that everything hurts him real bad." Luke replied as they walked out of the room and into the kitchen.
Jesse grabbed the emergency shine and followed Luke back to the boys room, where Bo lay curled up shivering, jolting in pain and wheezing.
"So he is sick, huh?" Jesse asked as he knelt next to the bed.
"I reckon so." Luke mumbled.
"I'm gonna give you some shine to take the pain away." Jesse explained as he lifted Bo's head up. Bo did as he was told and Jesse poured a healthy amount of the shine in his mouth, tipping his head back and instructing him to swallow.
"Where are you hurtin'?" Jesse asked as he felt his forehead.
"Everywhere…" Bo mumbled.
"It can't be everywhere, Bo. Is there a main place where it's the worst?" Jesse asked softly.
"My back an' my stomach." Bo replied, taking the hand that Jesse offered him.
"Please tell me the truth, Bo: how bad does it hurt?" Jesse asked calmly.
"Too much...all over..." Bo coughed.
Jesse, like Luke'd been, was surprised at how much pain Bo was admitting to being in. "You're gonna be alright." Jesse put his hands on Bo's shaking shoulders.
"Luke, you'd best call the doc." Jesse looked over at his eldest.
"Yes sir." Luke went to the phone in the living room and called the doctor.
"How long've ya been feelin' this way, Bo?" Jesse asked.
"Been tired and sore all day..." Bo mumbled.
"Alright, just hang on. Doc'll be here soon." Jesse soothed.
"Hows he doing?" Luke asked as he re-entered the room. Jesse just looked up at Luke and shook his head.
"Doc says he'll be here in about 20 minutes." Luke said as he sat at the foot of Bo's bed.
"Alright, hang on for 20 minutes, Bo." Jesse ran an old calloused hand through Bo's hair.
"Uncle Jesse..." Bo's voice was shaking and he was having trouble speaking.
"Shhhh... you'll be alright. Just lie still and relax." Jesse held him closer.
Jesse an' Luke sat with Bo for several minutes, until they heard his breathing worsen.
"Can't b-breathe..." Bo wheezed. Jesse looked at Luke, wordlessly ordering for him to find an inhaler, which Luke did, and handed it to Jesse.
"You said he has a fever?" Jesse asked Luke after a few minutes of the inhaler not doing much good.
"Yeah, 101.5" Luke replied.
"Maybe he's got malaria." Jesse reasoned.
"What's that?" Luke asked.
"Daisy had it a couple summers ago, remember? It comes from certain types of mosquitoes." Jesse explained.
"So he ain't having an asthma attack?" Luke asked.
"Well, the inhaler don't seem to be helping as much as it should be." Jesse removed it from Bo's mouth and put it on the side table.
"Ya'll alright in here?" Daisy walked in to the room in her robe and slippers, scratching her bedhead.
"Bo ain't feelin' so good. We called the doc already he'll be here directly." Jesse replied.
"His asthma?" Daisy approached the bed.
"I don't think so. Probably a summer cold." Jesse told her.
"Uncle Jesse, this ain't no summer cold, he's in pain." Luke stated.
"Bo?" Daisy crawled onto the other side of the bed and took his hand. Jesse was holding Bo, but Luke didn't want to let go of his baby cousin so, he rested a strong hand on his shaking leg.
"How long has it been since you called doc?" Daisy asked.
"About 12 minutes. He said he'd be here in 20." Luke replied.
While they were all sitting around him, holding him, and worrying over him, Bo had fallen asleep in his family's protection. It didn't mater that it hurt too much to sleep, Bo felt safe. And he'd had about half a pint of Jesse's finest.
Jesse, realizing that Bo had fallen asleep, decided to lay him down in bed properly. Daisy held up his head and eased it on to the pillow as Jesse and Luke gently man handled him into a laying position. Then Daisy knelt next to the bed and took his hand, stroking his hair with her other hand.
"I hear doc's car." Luke ran to the door and opened it.
"Hi, Luke." Doc shook his hand. Luke led him to the boys room.
"Daisy, move over to the other side so that I can take a look, but whatever you do, don't let go of him." Doc knew how Bo hated being alone with doctors, even if it was their trusted family doctor.
Daisy moved to the other side of the bed and took Bo's other hand. Luke and Jesse stood at the foot of the bed and watched.
"Has he been bitten by anything?" Doc asked after a thorough examination.
"Not that we know of, why, is it malaria?" Jesse asked.
"Seems like it." Doc replied. "How is he sleeping in that much pain?"
"We gave him some of uncle Jesse's finest." Luke chuckled a little.
"That'll do it." Doc laughed. "I'm gonna wake him up and see exactly how he feels." Doc gently shook his shoulders until his eyes fluttered open for a few seconds.
"Where does it hurt?" Doc asked him.
"Pretty much everywhere... more in my back an' stomach, though." Bo slurred, not fully awake.
"Are you dizzy?"
"Yeah."
"Nauseous?"
"Mhmm." Bo slurred.
"You having trouble breathing?"
"Aren't I always?" Bo mumbled groggily.
Doc turned and looked at Jesse and Luke.
"Definitely malaria." Doc wrote a prescription and handed it to Jesse. Get this as soon as possible and start giving it to him as directed. Other than that just take care of it like it was the flu." he told them.
"Alright, thanks." Jesse took the paper and showed doc to the door.
"Alright you heard him: I'm driving up to the 24 hour pharmacy in Atlanta right now. Luke and Daisy, you stay here and take care of him as best you can. Give him some more shine if it gets real bad again, just don't make him drunk. I'll see y'all in a few hours." Jesse walked back into the boys room and looked at Bo for a few minutes before taking off into the night.
"I hope he drives safe." Daisy commented as the two eldest cousins watched Jesse drive off.
"Don't you worry, he'll come back safe." Luke patted her shoulder. Then they both proceeded to look after their youngest, which their uncle had left in their care.
...
Luke and Daisy were having a snack in the kitchen: good ol' late night cookies and milk. It was around 1:30am when Jesse left for Atlanta, and now it was 2:15. Bo hadn't asked for anything in that time, he had a good bit of shine in his system, making it easy to ride out the pain and get some sleep.
"I don't think I can keep my eyes open much longer." Daisy yawned, stretching her arms.
"Me neither." Luke rubbed his eyes and stifled his yawn.
"Luke? Uncle Jesse? Daisy?" Came the raspy calls from the boys' bedroom. Suddenly, Luke and Daisy weren't tired anymore: they both rushed to Bo's bedside, Luke on his knees and Daisy right behind him.
"I'm here, cuz, what's wrong?" Luke put a hand on Bo's shoulder.
"Gonna throw up..." Bo mumbled, not even opening his eyes.
"Get some towels, Daisy." Luke ordered as he took Bo's arm and laid it around his shoulders. Bo understood and latched on for dear life. Luke put one arm around his back and the other under his knees and carried him into the bathroom.
"Get the thermometer, too." Luke requested as he set Bo down on the bathroom floor.
"Assume the position." Luke chuckled as he helped Bo struggle to his knees and over the edge of the bathtub.
"Cute." Bo coughed, before beginning the laborious task that he hated so much, yet had to do so much of.
Luke could hear the strained sounds of pain that came with Bo's heaving and with his every breath so, he offered as much comfort as he could by rubbing Bo's back.
"Here's the towels and thermometer. I also got a big bowl of cold water, I figured you forgot to ask for that." Daisy set the things down.
"Alright, as soon as he's done here, we'll clean him up and take his temperature." Luke decided.
"Easy, cuz." Luke calmed Bo, who was now groaning instead of heaving, but still coughing and attempting to heave. Luke didn't understand what Bo was doing, but he could tell that he needed to calm down.
"Ahhhhooww..." Bo gave Luke an agonized look before curling up into his older cousin's safe arms.
"What's hurtin' ya?" Luke ran a hand through his sweaty bed head.
"Everythin'." Bo replied, breathlessly.
"You want some more shine?" Luke asked him as he started to wipe his face off.
"Not yet." Bo wanted to wait as long as possible.
"Let's see how your fever's comin' along." Luke put the thermometer in his mouth. 101.7
"About the same." Luke stated as he took one of the large dry towels Daisy'd brought and wrapped Bo up in it, since he was shivering.
"You wanna go back to bed, honey?" Daisy ran her cool soothing fingers over the top of his sweating hand.
"Reckon so." Bo replied.
"Alright, let's go." Luke reinforced his grip on Bo and got to his feet, carrying his cousin back to bed.
Daisy tucked him in and took a wet rag to his face for a few minutes before, seeing that he was in a lot of pain, asked if he wanted the shine now, which he did.
"Luke, can you grab the shine please?" Daisy called to Luke, who was cleaning up the mess in the bathroom, and it was some mess.
"Is he alright?" Luke ran into the kitchen and brought the shine into the bedroom.
"I'm fine." Bo managed. Daisy gave Bo a few good sips and before long he was sleeping again.
Luke and Daisy took turns napping and watching over their youngest, who slept for most of the time.
By 3:30, Jesse was home. He walked into the house to see Daisy sleeping in Luke's lap on the floor in the doorway of the boys room, Luke's eyes glued to Bo, who was wheezing with every breath, but sleeping pretty peacefully considering.
"I'm home." Jesse whispered, placing a hand on his eldest's shoulder. He knew he could trust that boy. He'd done a great job: Bo and Daisy were sleeping.
"You lay down and get some sleep, son." Jesse eased Daisy off of Luke, who woke up.
"Is he alright?" Daisy's head jerked up and tangled, fluffy hair flew in every direction.
"He's fine." Luke soothed.
"When did you get home?" Daisy looked up at her uncle.
"Just now. Y'all get on to bed now, I'm gonna give him somma this and put him back to bed." Jesse said. "Thanks for taking care of him. I knew I could trust you." Jesse smiled at his eldest kids, before heading over to Bo, placing a hand on the back of his neck, slipping his fingers up through the curls on the back of Bo's head.
"I got ya yer medicine, Bo." Jesse caressed his neck until he awoke, tired eyes fluttering open before remaining at a lazy half open state.
"Uncle Jesse?" His voice was raspier then before.
"Hi, son." Jesse smiled at him. "Time to take some pills, then I'll let ya sleep." Jesse eased Bo into a sitting position and fed him the pills, sending them down with some watered down shine, to keep pain at bay for the rest of the night.
"Thanks." Bo slurred before re-obtaining his comfortable sleeping position. Jesse kissed his forehead and retired to his room.
Just because he was in his room didn't mean he could sleep...
JESSE POV:
I laid down in my bed, finally. It had been a long drive up to Atlanta, and a long night in general. I was tired but I couldn't sleep. I was so worried that it turned to anger:
Lord, why do you do such terrible things to my Bo? What's he done to You to make You this mad at him? You took his parents away from him while he still feedin' offa his mother, he was less than 4 months old! He never got to meet his parents, that he remembers. As if that wasn't enough for a body to handle, You done give him asthma. Why would You want to give anyone the burden of not being able to breathe? Of being so scared that you're gonna die on a weekly basis?
I love that boy so much. You ought to know, You're the one who done give him to me. I'm thankful for them kids, since me an' Lavinia never could have none of our own. I love them boys more than life itself! Why would You do that to him? I hate seeing him suffer so. It ain't fair to give one person so many problems. It ain't fair that you orphaned them three kids before they was even old enough to remember their parents.
I sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking of all the hard times our family had had. But then it got me to thinking: I just said that 'I love them boys more than life itself'. I reckon that's one thing this family's got goin' for it: love. Then I remembered what I always told them crazy kids when they would get to being upset about how poor we were: 'Us Dukes ain't got much. But we got out family. We treat each other with love and respect...'
I'm sorry, Lord. I got carried away in my worry and it turned to anger. Thank Ya so much for my family. My boys, my Daisy, and my late wife. Thank You for the life that I did have with my siblings, and that I get to raise the next generation of 'em.
And, with that I was so tired that I couldn't keep my eyes open so, I didn't. I finally got to sleep. I good, deep, refreshing sleep.