Garrett Duke

CHAPTER SEVEN Bo Duke awakes with pain screaming loudly throughout his entire body and a loud and irritating beeping and hissing screams in his ear. Only to send a rush of confusion and questions racing rapidly within him of what had happened? Where was he? Why did his entire body throb in violent pain? And why was his vision so dark and everything seeming to spin around him? Questions that only frustrates him and sends fear rushing thickly through his entire body. Minutes seems to last years before his vision slowly clears and the world around him seems to come to a halt, his breathing remains difficult and painful. Thankful for his vision clearing he slowly glances around the small room to come to the conclsuion that he is in the hospital. The beeping comes from the monitors and the hissing comes from the air tank that breathes air into his nose from the small clear tubes. Struggling to breathe, Bo attempts to sit up only for the sharp pain to send him lying back down upon the bed. The pain in his chest and his head quickly refreshes his memory and he once again sees the gun man staring through the bars at him. . . Exhaustion runs thickly through Bo's numb body as he sits silently upon the old ratty cot within the jail, his thoughts remain focused upon the sheriff. The sheriff who lies in the hospital fighting for his life after he had rolled his car in the ditch. Rolled his car in the ditch after trying to pull Bo over for supposedly robbing the jewlry store. And in Bo's mind, he was at fault of the accident. If only had pulled over, he'd be in jail for his framed robbery, but the sheriff would be alive and well. And Bo wouldn't be in jail for attempted manslaughter or murder. It was all the same to Bo. And despite his uncle's and cousin's stern order to lie down and get some sleep and to eat some food, he has yet to eat much of anything other than a couple of bites last night and has yet to truly fall asleep. And now he is paying for refusing to listen to his uncle and cousin. But with his guilt eating deeply within him, sleep wasn't an option. Even if he wanted to sleep. Sighing heavily, Bo glances down at his feet, wishing Luke was here. Luke always knew what to do. What to say. And Luke was always there and willing to listen to Bo when he needed to talk. And now that Bo is alone, he wishes Luke was nearby to talk to. Bo glances up as heavy foot steps fall upon the ceiling from the sheriff's station and jumps in surprise as a couple of loud noises echo from upstairs. As if something heavy was being dropped or being thrown. A moment later a door is opened and more unknown noises come from upstairs to force Bo to realize that it couldn't be Enos or Boss. It had to be someone else. But wh o and why? Not that it should matter to Bo. Bo was where he was suppose to be. In jail. So if someone was upstairs that wasn't suppose to be there, that was Boss' and Enos' problem. Bo shakes his head and lies down, listening to the noises die away for a long moment. Closing his eyes, he focuses upon Rosco, his guilt, of what may lie ahead of him now. In a few days, they'd be transporting him to Altanta to the state pen where he could be spending years locked behind bars for either attempted murder or murder of a law officer. Of Rosco. The only reason he wasn't already there, was because everone was still too occupied worried about Rosco than to make the phone call to get him picked up. Only to send chills racing up and down his body. Just at the thought of spending years behind bars with hardened criminals at the pen. Deep down, he believed he deserved to be there, but also doubts he'd be able to survive to be locked away in the pen. With people who were known murderers. Which is what he now was. A muderer. Or an attempted murderer. Bo abruptly sits up as the foot steps are now moving down the steps and a moment later a tall and muscular man steps down off the stairs, a gun man pointed at Bo. "Well, well, well," the man grins, "the old man's nephew lies in jail. For something I was hired to do. Ain't life funny?" "What. . .what," Bo stutters, "you talking about?" The man shrugs smugly. "Hogg hired me to rob that jewlry store to frame you wtih it. And here you are," he grins before shaking his head, "hey guess what?" Bo stares at the gun man, his mind now on his uncle as the man's words didn't escape him. "You ain't gonna ask. Oh well, I'll tell," the man waves his gun at him, "I've got your uncle locked up at my hiding place. Your uncle and your commissioner. I was gonna kill you since you are an unwanted witness, but my baby brother would hate me for killing you. For some odd reason. So, I'll tell you what, I'm going to give you a preview of what could happen to your uncle if you were to open that ugly mouth of your's." Fear penetrates deeply within Bo as he jumps to his feet with little thought. His thought remains focused upon Jesse, his fear aimed for his uncle despite the evil gun pointed at him. "Now wait a minute mister! You won't get away with this! My Uncle is loved by all and -" he yells at the gunman, taking a step forward. "Just watch me," the gun man grins as he pulls the trigger and a second later Bo screams out in soaring pain as the bullet throws him violently into the brick wall before he slides down the wall and onto the floor. Blood instantly flows down his face from his head, and down his chest from where he was shot. "Better hope someone gets here soon. Otherwise, you'll bleed to death." The gun man pauses as he takes a step towards the stairs, "Just remember, Bo, one word and the old man is dead. I meant to miss with you, I'll make sure not to miss with your old man. You have a chance to live if you're lucky to get help in time. He won't be so lucky." Bo eyes him for a short moment before the gun man turns around and runs up the stairs and out of sight. Bo tries to yell out for help only for the pain in his lungs to explode and nothing comes out and the world is quick to go black. A sharp sneeze is quick to pull Bo out of the flashback that has brought him to where he lies now and he glances to the right to find Luke standing silently still at the window. Luke's back is facing Bo as he stares out through the window, recovering from his sneeze. "Luke," Bo weakly states, relieved at seeing Luke at the window, only feet away from him.

All things considered, Kyle probably did get off pretty easy. He still may lose his driver's liscense, but wouldn't affect his racing any since they don't need a driver's liscense to race on track. On another Kyle Busch matter, NASCAR finds that Kyle Busch did not violate his probation during the altercation between him and truck/car owner Richard Childress. Childress punched Kyle in the altercation and will most likely face penalties for his actions on Monday. Childress is able to be at the track for today's Sprint Cup race, but with limited access at the track. (Richard Childress owns Kevin Harvick's car in the Sprint Series who had punched Kyle Busch at Darlington which is w hen Kyle and Harvick both got placed on probation...)

Just read a couple of small articles that read that there was an altercation after today's truck race between truck/car owner Richard Childress and driver Kyle Busch. Supposedly, Childress' driver Joey Coulter and Busch was racing each other for fifth place late in the race. No contact had happened, but afterwards, I guess Busch slammed Coulter into the wall and later truck owner Richard Childress supposedly had a fight with Busch. It said there was a physical altercation between the two...don't know who started it, but the article made it sound like Busch was the loser in the fight. Could be wrong about that, but that's what it made it sound to be. Kyle Busch is on probation in all three tiers of NASCAR until June 15th and NASCAR is now looking ino the altercation.

"Dukes," Jesse Duke jumps in surprise at hearing his name called despite having seen the doctor walk into the room a secong ago. Saw him slowly walk in and yet hadn't thought anything of it, too lost in thought over his young nephew in the ER. Of what he had gone through. Of what he must have thought and felt when the gun man pulled that trigger. Too lost in thought to really give much thought about a doctor walking into the room despite the fact that he could be the one to shed some light to his concern and questions over Bo. "How's my boy, Doctor?" Jesse is quick to ask as he quickly approaches the doctor, followed by the rest of his family and Cooter. "I'll be Bo's doctor. I'm Doctor McSnaw," he states, readjusting his dark rimmed glasses, "I take it y'all are family." Jesse eyes him impatiently. "Of course we're his family!" he snaps, "We've been waiting on word on him for three hours now and all you care about is if we're family?!" "Jesse," Daisy states through a sniffle, "he's only following his instructions. We've been through this before." Jesse nods and sighs as his thoughts fall back onto another long wait in the waiting room when Bo was fifteen due to him wrecking Jesse's truck when he tried racing a friend. "Yeah. Sadly we have," he admits as the old memory sends chills up and down his back at the thought of how close they came to losing Bo then. Looking back at the doctor, he inhales deeply to regain his composure. "Yeah. We're family. I'm his uncle, these two are his cousins, and he there is a close friend. Might as well be considered family." Doctor McSnaw nods briefly. "As she pointed out, it's only regulations that we ask, sir. I don't mean anything by it, but I do understand you being upset," he slowly states in a way of an apology, "I am sorry for your long wait. I know that has to make that much harder on you, but it had taken us that long to treat Bo in a fashion that would benefit him the most." Jesse nods. Impatient with the small talk. "Ok doctor," he states, his voice etched with his harsh emotions, "now that we got that covered, how's my boy?" "Well at the moment, he remains unconscience, but is stable," the doctor states, taking everyone in, "He was shot just above his right chest and the bullet must still be at the jail because it's not in him or in his clothing. It was a through and through shot. It tore through some muscle and had scraped a lung, but it hadn't gone through any vital organs or anything. Except for scraping his lung, it should cause some discomfort for breathing for awhile, but should be treatable." He pauses once more, listening to the ticking of the clock. "He hit his head pretty hard on something that was hard. Probably the wall behind him when he fell or the ground where he fell. Either way he has a bad concussion and now has twenty-four stitches in the cut. "But our main concern with Bo when he was rushed into the ER was the amount of blood he had lost. It was apparent that he had been left there awhile to bleed. Left much longer, he'd have bled to death," once more, McSnaw pauses to allow the family to digest all that he has said, "so once we got the bleeding covered and taken care of, we had to find blood matching him and give him a blood transfusion. It took him awhile to react to it, but after a half hour or so, he started to regain some of his complexion back and his heart rate and breathing had increased to safe amount." McSnaw finally finishes his description and awaits a long moment before Jesse asks, "So, you're saying he's going to be OK?" McSnaw nods. "He should be. We'll have a better knowledge of his condition once he wakes up and all. As I said, he was still unconscious when I had left his room. I'm sure he won't be feeling his best once he wakes up, but my guess is, that he'll be out of here within a few days. A week at the max. Have a nice scar and story to tell his grandkids." The Dukes all seem to let out an audible sigh of relief. "Thank you Doctor. That's the best news I've heard all day," Jesse states with a smile, "well not that he got shot and is injured, but that he'll be OK." he pauses to look at his family. Looking back at the middle aged doctor, asks, "Can I see him?" McSnaw nods once again, a look of sympathy in his green eyes. "Yeah, but I'm asking only for one visitor at a time for at least today. Perhaps tomorrow you all can go in, but for today I would like to limit the stress on him by limiting his visitors to one at a time." Jesse nods. Looks at Luke, Cooter, and Daisy and back at the doctor. "I'm first," he states. "Follow me," McSnaw states as he turns back around to walk down the hall he had entered from. After a couple of long minutes of silence they arrive at the closed door t hat holds a card plastered on the wall besides the door that reads: BO DUKE. "He is hooked up to IVs that helps feed him and gives him his pain killers. There is a tube in his nose to help aide his breathing. In other words," he pauses as he pushes open the door, "it looks worse than what it is." "OK, thank-you doctor," Jesse states as he walks into the shadow covered room, the beeping of the monitors loudly greet him as the doctor closes the door behind him. Walking up to Bo's bed to see him lying silently still on the hospital bed, his head tightly wrapped in a thick bandage that is tickly stained with blood where his injury lies. Thin clear tubes is in his nostrils and runs behind his ears to an air tank that hisses behind Bo's bed. And his complexion is still deathly pale, yet a shade better than it had been when he last saw him being rushed into the ER. "Bo," Jesse states, feeling a tear escape his eye and down his cheek. He was heavily relieved with the doctor's news on Bo's condition and Jesse is full aware that the news they got on Bo was probably the best they could hope for with Bo's injuries. Yet he remains deeply troubled seeing Bo lying almost dead like in the bed knowing it had came at the hands of Tristian. Troubled knowing that Bo will have to suffer with the pain, nightmares, and with the scar reminding him of it all the rest of his life. Only so that Tristian could rob Hogg of all of his greedy money. "Hi Bo," Jesse says leaning over to gently brush a lock of hair out of his eyes, "it's gonna be alright, Bo. It's all over." He is answered by the beeping monitors and the hissing of the air tank and Jesse takes a seat next to Bo's bed, silently watching him sleep. Silently praying for a strong and healthy recovery for Bo.

Doctor McSnaw stiffly and silently walk out of the small patient room and into the brightly lit hallway as his mind slowly reviews his notes over his current patient. Only to send a pang of sadness and dread deep within his tired and numb body only to remind himself of the golden rule that he had often heard in college. Never get emotionally attached to the patient. No matter what. But despite that rule and the deep consequences behind disobeying the rule is, he can't help but to feel great pain for each of his patients that is rushed into the ER. Each patient that arrives in the ER is a loud reminder to him of just how precious life is. Of how quick one's life can dramatically change. A reminder to him to live life to the fullest. Every day. To never take anything for granted. Staring at the info that he has written for a long moment despite already knowing each description by memory. Bo Duke. Age twenty-five. Shot while locked in jail and charged with attempted manslaughter of a law officer and of robbery. Before this afternoon, Bo Duke's main concern and worry had most likely had been about the charges that were brought up against him and of the jail timehe could be serving for that. Until the gun man had entered the jail area and shot him. Shot a defensless man who had been locked away in jail and had no way of defending himself. Worse yet, the gunman had to have been a polished gun man in McSnaw's opinion to shoot the young man where he had. From McSnaw's experience and knowledge, the location of the shot and how he had been shot loudly explains that the killer knew what he was doing, knew where to shoot. He shot Bo with full intentions of not killing him instantly, but shot him where he would slowly bleed to death if he didn't get help. He shot him more for an example, a threat of what he could do to him. Or someone he loves. Bo Duke may have been charged with some pretty serious charges, but that mattered very little to McSnaw. That was not his category and his emotions ran heavily within him for the young Duke. Sure thanks to his cousin arriving whe he had and his quick and instant help he gave Bo, Bo should be OK. To make a full recovery. But all the same, his life has been changed, altered. It only made it worse knowing it had came from someone else's hand. That some had all that anger and violence locked within them to do this to another person. And now he was to walk into the waiting room and face his family. To face their harsh emotions that they must be feeling at the moment. Deep down, he knows it won't be as bad as other times in the past when he had to give love ones the horrible news that their loved one was no longer with us, that they died in the ER. Or on the way to the ER. Or the times he had to tell them some gut wrenching news that their loved ones was in a coma, didn't know if they would wake up or not, survive or not. Or that their loved one was paralyzed or brain dead. It could be a lot worse for the Dukes than what it is. And McSnaw was sure they'd be relieved when he tells them how Bo is doing. But once again. Life has been changed and altered for all of them. Their safe little world has been shattered at the hands of another. By a single bullet. Sighing heavily he reminds himself of the golden rule once more. Never get emotionally attached. Never. If he had followed that his entire career, perhaps he wouldn't be so emotionally tired every day. But he couldn't help but to feel something for each of his patients, for their situation. It helps fuel his need to help people, fuel the reasons behind why he has to be a doctor: to help people. If he were to detach himself from them, it would only drain him much more and would give him little reason of going to work every day, give him little hope of ever achieving happiness with his career. Taking a long last look at his paper work, he slowly walks through the hallway and to the waiting room where he finds an older man sitting staring at the clock over the nurse's station. Tears are apparent in his clear blue eyes. A young woman with light brown hair sits next to him, staring down at her feet while hugging on tightly to the older man's bent arm. While a man a few years older than her sits next to her with grease stained clothes, staring ahead at nothing. And tall muscular man looking to be aged between the woman and the younger man stands at the window, staring out and probably not seeing anything that is out there. "Dukes," he says in a loud and clear voice to grab all of their attention and within a second he is surrounded by them all, their eyes locked in on him, demanding answrers of how Bo is doing.

That is a catchy tune, Hoss. Thanks for the link. Well figured I'd give y'all a break with the NKOTB and go to a genre of music I am more familiar with. NKOTB is the only rock band I really like or follow. I generally listen to Country and Christian Rock. Kenny Chesney is one of my favorite artists!

OK I am seriously cheating wit this one but I had to post it! It is the New Kids on the Blocks singing with Backstreet Boys...they have combined several of their songs toghether into one great song. It has me even more excited about my concert in two weeks when I get to see 'em both in Chicago! Was and am still a huge New Kids fan, though I do remember owning the BackStreet Boys' first album and remember some of their songs, wasn't as big of a fan of them as the New Kids; but it is great to see or hear them together like this. Or at least to me. Sorry to cheat on the thread, but had to post it...to excited not to. Just a warning, towards the end they do have a few unappropriate dance moves . And as not to get my character a bad rep or anything...Garrett is only a screen name. HA HA.

Don't know if I posted this one or not, but love this song! Great emotion behind it. Plus, I had to post something NKOTB...exactly two weeks from today I am going to Chicago to see them with BackStreet Boys. I am soooo excited! (Sorry Hoss, don't mean to make you jealous or anything. ):escape: Anyone else watching "Blue Bloods" with Donnie Wahlberg and Tom Selleck in it? Donnie is one of the New Kids and is great on the show. Makes a great detective of police officer. Love the show! Donnie is the first guy that is shown in the video listed above.

Eeyore

Gotta love Tigger. Rabbit

Daisy stares dreadfully out her passenger door, questions rapidly within her. Why had Cooter so urgently yank her out of work? Why wasn't he answering her questions? What was so wrong? "This is killin' me Cooter, what's wrong? What's going on?" she finally asks, turning to look at Cooter, silently demanding answers. "I tol' you. I got orders to pick you up. Luke will explain everything when we get there," Cooter responds with the same answer he had said a few minutes ago, refusing to look at her. Daisy rolls her eyes and as she goes to glare out her window notices with horror that he is pulling up into the hospital's parking lot. Only to send her imagination to run rapdily within her of who it could be. Cooter said Luke would explain everything. Meaning he was OK. Bo was in jail. So it had to be Uncle Jesse. Perhaps all this stress of Rosco's harsh accident and Bo sitting accused of it in jail was too much for him. Perhaps he had a heart attack. "No, no, no," she states as tears already sting her eyes before even knowing what had happened, "Jesse?" she looks at Cooter for support. Cooter sighs as he parks in the closest parking spot. "Let's go in and see how everyone's doing," with that he climbs out of the truck and Daisy slowly follows suit and meets him at the grill of the truck before they begin to walk towards the front door of the hospital. A gust of cool air hits them as they enter the hospital and the strong smell of Lysol, disinfectant, and sick sweat greets them. Though Daisy barely recognizes it all as she begins to think of the worse. Of Jesse's funeral. Of a life without their patriarch. Of where that would leave everyone. Following Cooter into the ER's waiting room, Daisy slowly takes in the scene in front of her in sheer confusion at seeing Jesse sitting in a chair, staring blankly at a magazine and Luke standing restlessly at the window. Relief and excitement floods within her at seeing Jesse and she is forced to hold back her excitement and running to her uncle to show her relief. She holds it all back knowing that even if Jesse's fine, something was wrong. Deadly wrong. But what? Bo was in jail. Luke was standing at the window. And Jesse was sitting in the chair. They all looked fine to her. "Luke, Jesse," she states and both men look up at her and Luke is first to reach her as Jesse slowly and stiffly stands up from his seat, "this ape," she points to Cooter, "is refusing to answer my questions. He won't tell me what all this is about. Or what is so important and urgent to pull me out of work. Hogg will be hot when he finds I left early," she pauses as Jesse stands next to her, "What's going on?" Luke inhales heavily knowing Daisy will take it hard. Harder than he had imagine as she already seems to be upset about it before even knowing what had happened. "Bo's been shot," Luke blurts out, not knowing any easier way to answer her question and she loudly gasps in fear, tears sting her eyes. Jesse hugs tightly onto her, letting her cry onto his shoulder as Luke calmly explains all that had happened. From what Jesse had said had happened from following Hogg to the hide out to Jesse getting caught and Luke showing up and onto their rush to the jail to check on Bo. "When they took him into the amublance, he was unconscious. He lost a lot of blood. Looks like got shot right above his right chest and he hit his head pretty hard on the wall. Probably a concussion." He finishes. "No. Not Bo," Daisy breaks her silence after a long moment of silence after Luke's story. "I thought it had to be you, Jesse, when Cooter pulled into the parking lot. After all, he said Luke would explain it all. Meaning Luke had to be fine. Bo I figured was in jail. That left you." Jesse shakes his head with intense grief and fear. "Would have been better off if it was me," he states, his own tears clear in his eyes, "I'm fine." Silence is quick to flood between them as a doctor's name is called over the intercom. Everyone facing the harsh emotions that floods through them over what had happened, their thoughts stuck on Bo who remains in the ER. "Hey Lukas," Cooter breaks the silence to bring Daisy's attention onto Luke and for the first time sees the blood thickly staining his pants and shirt and she is struck in horror with realization that it's all Bo's blood, "we all know how long it may take 'em to get things figured out before the doctor comes out with word on Bo. Why don't you go home and change clothes? With all that blood on you one of the doctors is bound to see you and think the blood's your's and think you're hurt or somethin'. I could call you if -" "I don't give a damn about what a doctor may or may think of my clothes or what's on my clothes! I ain't going home until I hear word on Bo and see Bo with my own eyes!" Luke uncharacteristically snaps at Cooter before he steps away from the group returning to his window he had been stationed at when Daisy and Cooter had walked in. "It was only a suggestion," Cooter sighs as he glances at Jesse and Daisy and shrugs before they all slowly finds a seat on the bench seats alongside the wall. As silence welcomes it's awkward way into the waiting room, the loud ticking of the clock above the nurse's station echoes off of the white walls.

Pooh (Winnie the Pooh)

Well I have to humbly admit that I am not perfect and that sometimes I make mistakes...even when it comes to NASCAR. Shocking, I know. LOL. And now I am here to admit to my mistake...though honestly, it's not my fault. Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Kansas will be at one EST as I had said it would, but it will be on FOX. And NOT TNT as I had posted in my earlier post a couple of days ago. They will be racing on Fox on Sunday for the last time this season and next Sunday they will be on TNT. I am sorry for giving y'all the wrong information about the channels! But as I said, this time, it's not my fault. I bought NASCAR Illustrated 2011 Season Preview at the beginning of the season that gives fantasy picks and driver and track info. I then subscribed to NASCAR illustrated and got my first magazine last week...Anyway, they both have schedules in it with the channels it will be on. In the season preview it says that they will be on TNT this weekend. While my newer magazine says Fox on it...I just checked NASCAR.com and it says the races is on FOX. I am very glad to get another race on FOX with Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Hammond and crew. I missed last week's prerace show and was disappointed to miss thier last pre race show (I really like their prerace show!) and am very glad to get another last chance to watch them. I am sure glad that I caught that mistake on the magazine part...I would have been very upset if I turned it onto TNT to watch the race and it not be on and all. We are entering race number thirteen - halfway through the regular season before the chase starts. Hard to believe...at least for me. Meaning Gordon has thirteen more races to get his act together and start winning races. At least do better than he has been if he is wanting to have a chance at making the chase this year. REMINDER: SPRINT CUP RACE AT KANSAS ON JUNE 5 AT ONE EST. ON CHANNEL FOX!

Disbelief, anger, and fear violently wash over Jesse's heavily numb body as he stares silently down at his blood covered nephew. Watching the trained paramedics work at cutting off Bo's bloodied shirt and hooking him up to IV's and reading the monitor, Jesse can't help but to feel as if he is trapped in a horrible nightmare. A nightmare that he is half expecting to be thrown awake from the beeping of the alarm clock next to his bed. Instead, the only beeping comes from the irregular beeping sounds coming from the monitors that is now hooked to Bo's chest. The paramedics talk about themselves in an language that seems foriegn to Jesse, throwing out numbers and medical terms that is way above Jesse's level of medical knowledge. Only to make things worse for him. "What's all that mean? Is he going to be OK?" Jesse breaks his silence from the corner of the cab, the paramedics not even allowing him close enough to touch his nephew. "We don't know sir," the youngest paramedic patiently responds, "the bullet wound looks to have gone in and out. Which is good. Means it's not lodged into something vital or anything. But we won't know for sure until we get to the hospital and do farther tests." He pauses for a short moment, listening into what another paramedic was saying before turning back to Jesse and saying, "Right now, our biggest concern is the amount of blood he has lost. It looks like he has lost a lot. Which means he had been lying there awhile before y'all showed up to get him help. He has a small and irregular heart beat and his breathing is slow and shallow. Another big concern is his head injury. You can tell by looking at his eyes that he has suffered a decent sized concussion. But once again, we won't know for sure how much blood he has lost or how bad of a concussion he has until we get him into the ER and the doctors can do farther tests on him." The young paramedic gives Jesse a sympathetic look for a moment before he turns back around to help his collegues with Bo who remains silent and still on the stretcher; his complexion has gone a bluish white color. Jesse falls back into staring at his nephew as tears streak his cheeks, running freely into his thick beard. Bo had always been the one he worried the most about. But he had always thought if something were to happen to him, it'd have something to do with a car and racing. Not shot while sitting in jail for something he didn't do. But now sitting in the back of the ambulance with the sirens wailing above him, the only thing telling Jesse that Bo was even remotely alive was the beeping of the monitors, the hissing of the air tank. To Jesse's bare eyes, just to look at Bo, Bo looks dead. The thought send harsh shivers down his back. He has lost a lot of loved ones in his past. His parents. All of his brothers. His wife. He doubted he could survive another great loss of a close family member. Like Bo. "We're here," another paramedic calls out as the ambulance seems to come to a halt and Jesse dares to look away from Bo and up at the paramedic as he throws open the back doors. Sighing heavily, he falls back into heavy prayer for Bo as they carefully pull his stretcher out of the back of the ambulance before he stiffly climbs out after them. "Sir," the paramedic stops him at the sliding open doors that leads to the ER, "you're going to have to go through the main doors over there. Go right and it'll lead you to the ER's waiting room. They'll have you fill out his paper work and the doctors will come out and talk to you as soon as they are able to stabalize him." Jesse shakes his head and goes to argue but the paramedic pats him on the shoulder and is quick to turn around and follow Bo and the other paramedics in through the sliding doors. "Bo," Jesse hears himself say as he watches them disappear from sight and Jesse slowly follows the paramedics instructions. ******************************************************** Staring down at the paper work that the clerk had handed him minutese ago, Jesse finds it hard to concentrate upon the paper work at hand, finding it hard to make out the words or to understand what they are asking. His whole body seems to be paralyzed in fear as his thoughts remain focused upon Bo as he had been in the ambulance. His vivid imagination draws up vivid scenes of what the doctor may be telling him in the near future, of having to put on another dreaded wake an funeral. For his youngest nephew. It just wasn't fair. What did Bo ever do to deserve this? What he even do to the gunmen that they felt like they should shoot to kill him for? All Hogg's money was upstairs, Bo was down stairs and wouldn't have been in their way at all. The only answer Jesse could think of was that he had done it to get at Jesse for following Hogg and being witness to their hideout and what they did to Hogg. If only Jesse had listened to Luke and had allowed him and Cooter to investigate everything, perhaps Bo would still be alive and well in jail . . . Jesse's thoughts are interrupted as Luke walks into the room and Jesse's eyes are instantly fixated upon his blood stained clothes. Bo's blood. Only to send more chills racing rapidly across his numb body and more tears to melt down his cheeks. And he is reminded of what the paramedic had said...Bo lost a lot of blood. "Luke. . " he lets his words drop as he weakly stands up to greet his nephew and notices that he is alone, "where's Daisy? I thought I tol' you to pick her up?" Luke sighs heavily, unable to look at his uncle. "You did," he slowly states, "I called Cooter. Enos has the prisoners in tow and are on their way to jail with Hogg riding shot gun. So I asked Cooter to pick her up and bring her to the hospital. Told her to tell her I'd explain it all to her once she got here." Anger is quick to radiate in Jesse's blue eyes at Luke's bold refusal to follow instructions. "If I wanted Cooter to pick Daisy up, I'd have asked him to do it! Did I ask Cooter to pick Daisy up?!" Jesse's voice rises in anger to cause the secetary to look up at them from her desk. Luke shakes his head quietly. "No I didn't. I asked you to do it! Why can't you follow one simple instruction? Huh? It's not like you'd be missing something here...other than sitting and waiting as I am now! And look at you!" he pauses, his eyes remain on Bo's blood, "You walk in here with his blood all over you. You think everyone wants to see that?" "I don't have any other clothes and I'm not about to take time to go home and change," Luke boldly states unmovingly. He knew Jesse was upset and had to take it out on someone and he'd be more than glad to be that someone if it'd help vent out some of Jesse's raw emotions that seem to be locked within him. "and we may just be sitting and waiting, but I'd rather be here waiting on word than in the car when I knew damn well that Cooter would be going past The Boar's Nest. That he was closer to Daisy than I was. Plus," he sighs heavily as a heavy wave of exhaustion washes over him, "I thought it'd be better on Daisy to get somewhat a warning that something was wrong from Cooter than for me to walk into the Boar's Nest like this and say something's wrong with Bo. She'd assume the worse." Jesse exhales heavily and takes a step back and shakes his head. "She may be correct assuming the worst. They said he lost a lot of blood. Was obvious that he had some sort of a concussion. He was lying like that for a while before we came in," Jesse pauses as he eyes his paper work, "well if you are so anxious to be here to wait on word, you can fill out his paper work. I can't concentrate long enough to read a single word on the damn page. I just keep seeing him..." he goes silent as he sits back down in his seat and hands the board to Luke who slowly accepts it. "I can fill out his paper work," Luke sighs sitting down next to him and looks down at the paper attached on the clipboard to see that Jesse hadn't filled anything out, not even Bo's name. Looking at Jesse he states, "I don't care what some paramedic had said. He just said the obvious. I could have told you that. But that don't give you or anyone any right to give up hope on Bo. He's tough. He can fight this. I refuse to give up on Bo." Jesse slowly nods as they go silent and Luke goes to Bo's paper work, his mind remains focused upon the scene he had walked in on at the jail of Bo lying in his own puddle of blood. His imagination drawing all that he had gone through, what all had happened, and what Bo must have felt and was thinking. Only to enforce anger and hatred towards the evil person that did this to him. His worry and fear runs thick through him for what the doctor will have to tell them once he walks into the waiting room despite what he had just said to Jesse.

Well Roger - I was rooting for Jr to win after Johnson's engine blew and Gordon was all the way back where he was. Too bad for your friend...he got to see a lot of action though. As for the language that Chad had used...I didn't hear what he said or realized he swore until the announcers apologized for him. Hoss is probably right, he didn't know he was being monitored on TV. Though people can pay to listen into their radio so that doesn't make him safe from kids not hearing them. And I imagine, especially with some of the drivers out there, there is a lot of cussing going on on their radio and people listening into their radio should be prewarned about it. Chad was upset and said it while upset. I don't see NASCAR or anyone penalyzing him for it since it was on his radio and not to a TV announcer or something like that. I remember the year Juan Pablo Montoya first came to NASCAR, he cussed Gordon over his radio for not letting Montoya pass Gordon (Gordon was a lap down trying to get his lap back, Montoya was on the lead lap...second or so )...after the race, Montoya cussed Johnson out during a post race interview on TV for not allowing Montoya to pass him to win the race . NASCAR didn't penalyze Montoya at all. I remember Harvick and Stewart cussing on TV and nothing... But a year or two before all that...back when Jr was winning. He won a race and was excited afterwards and said the s word. He got fined twenty five points. Last year at Texas, Kyle Busch was caught speeding on pit road. He got mad at the NASCAR official who was holding him back and gave him the bird. He got held for two laps, fined, and put on probation until the end of the year. (Same race that Gordon got into a shoving match with Burton...) It may not be appropriate for kids to hear such stuff, but Chad was upset over what had happened and had no way of knowing that FOX was airing what he was saying on the radio. I highly doubt that NASCAR will say or do anything about it. I remember a couple other times where soemthign like that happen and the announcers apologizing for it. Drivers get upset...as do the crews...and things are said out of emotion. I guess I would feel differently about it all if he had said it to the TV reporters knowing kids would be watching on TV. As Montoya, Harvick, Stewart, and Jr had done. Don't understand how NASCAR can penalyze a driver like Jr who says it out of excitement and even admitted he wanted to see what they would do and not to Harvick who was upset or Montoya who was disappointed with his second place finish. NASCAR seems to have double standards when it comes to penalying people...

Well it is only Tuesday night and I am already ready to talk about the upcoming race - perhaps it is my vague attempt to forget all about the horrible race that was Charolette (my opinion) and to move forward. While the Nationwide Series will be racing at Chicago, the Sprint Cup series will be racing at Kansas at one EST on Sunday. . .on TNT. Which is another sore point with me. I really enjoy the announcers on Fox. I like Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond. I like the other announcers as well. They are fun, informative, and are positive about all the drivers on the field. Not that the announcers on TNT are bad. They are alright. I like Kyle Petty and it will be good to see him again...as well as the other announcers. I just like the FOX reporters and announcers better than the other announcers they have on the scheduled other channels and really wish they would keep it on FOX all year long instead of switching channels and announcers...they will switch to ESPN in the middle of July. In other words, if you turn in on FOX this upcoming Sunday for the race, you will be watching something else and missing the race...and who'd want to miss the race? Don't know about y'all, but am hoping for a better race than Charolette for ALL of my favorite drivers...perhaps to shed some hope on the rest of the season.

"We're here," Jesse states to penetrate through the piercing silence that had screamed back at them since they had began on their way to town, "hopefully we're not too late." Luke nods as he unsnaps his seat belt and throws his door open just as Jesse shoves his truck to a quick halt in front of the court house. He hears his heart racing within him as his adrenaline shoves him forward towards the front doors of the court house. Halfway to the doors, with Jesse shortly behind him, the ambulance's sirens become audible, screaming in the distance. Throwing open the court house doors and walking into the hallway, everything is as it should be. Giving Luke a premature feeling that everything should be OK even though deep down he knows it isn't. Even if the gun man had been lying about dealing with Bo, which Luke doubted that he was, the single fact that Bo was locked away for all of this was wrong. Reaching the door to the sheriff's station, he steals a glance back at Jesse before he cautiously opens the door and steps in to find everything a mess. Desks and chairs are tipped over, paper work is on the floor and Hogg's office door's window had been shattered is lying open. Ignoring Hogg's normally shut door, Luke quickly reaches the stairs and races down the thin stairway to where they had locked Bo up at. Reacing the floor of the jail, with Jesse just reacing the top of the stairs, Luke's heart comes to a painful halt as he finds Bo on the cold floor, leaning back against the brick wall. His once yellow shirt is drenched in his blood that flows from a bullet wound just above his right chest pocket as well, blood flows from a harsh wound on the right side of Bo's head; presumably hitting his head on the brick wall behind him when he had been shot. "Bo!" Luke hears himself state before turning back to Jesse, stopping him halfway, "Jesse I need you to go back and flag down the ambulance. Show them the way. You don't need to see him like this." "He's my nephew, Lukas! I don't need your protection," he is quick to snap before he realizes Luke isn't going to let him down in order to see Bo, "Move, Luke! I need to see him!" "Protection or not, someone needs to be up there to help the paramedics," Luke states, knowing Jesse'll be upset at him for all of this, "it would be faster for you to go out there to help them and for me to go in and help Bo than if we switch. We are wasting time that Bo doesn't have." Jesse eyes his nephew with venom for what he is doing and knowing that he is right. "Fine I'll be out there with for the paramedics, but I'm riding to the hospital with them, with Bo," he snaps at Luke, "and before I go, at least tell me, is he..." not able to finish his question. Luke shrugs. "Looks like he's only unconscious right now...he's still bleeding so his heart at least is still pumping some blood," Luke responds hesitantly before he turns away from Jesse and goes to the thick set of keys that is hanging up on the wall opposite side of the cells; knowing he doesn't have any time to lose or waste arguing with Jesse. Turning to the cells with the keys, he hears Jesse walking back up the stairs to go flag down the ambulance that seems to be close, if not outside the court house. "C'mon Bo," Luke states as he urgently unlocks the door and throws it open and takes a couple of steps to Bo where he painfully drops to his knees to place a couple of fingers to Bo's neck, feeling for his pulse. Feeling a slow and hesitant pulse, he sighs deeply in small relief as he pulls out his handkerchief from his pocket and he carefully places it against Bo's chest, where he had gotten shot at. Upon putting pressure to the gun wound, Bo moans in pain and his head twitches slightly to grab Luke's attention. "C'mon Bo. It's going to be OK," Luke states to get another moan and a moment later, Bo's eyes slowly open only to force more grief within him at seeing the pain and fear clouding Bo's baby blue eyes, "It's gonna be OK, Bo. Help is on it's way." Bo jerks his head towards Luke and momentarily there is hope within Bo's clouded eyes and a brief smile crosses his blood soaked face at seeing his cousin there. "I'm sor-" he begins to state before he begins coughing up more blood. "Shhh Bo," Luke hushes his cousin up at seeing the pressure he is putting on himself in order to talk. Bo shakes his head and his right hand lands on Bo's right forarm momentarily in his weak attempt to pull him away from him before Bo's hand weakly slides down. Luke glances down momentarily to find his sleeve where Bo had put his hand at to be covered in blood from Bo's hand to force Luke to think of all that had happened. "They got Jesse," Bo quickly blurts out before Luke could stop him farther, "they got Jesse and Hogg. He said. . .he said -" he is cut off with more coughing before his eyes goes shut. "Bo!" Luke yells out in panic as he hears running feet above them, "Bo wake up!" Relief slowly hits him as Bo forces his eyes open and tears melt down his cheeks, "Help is here, Bo. Help is here. You just gotta hang on buddy, you think you can do that?" Bo silently nods as the foot steps move down the stairs and the urgent talking between the paramedics become audible to grab Luke's attention away from Bo. "See Bo, here they -" he begins to say as he turns around to face Bo again to find his eyes closed and that he is barely breathing. "Bo!" "OK sir, we can take it from here," an paramedic states, tapping Luke on the shoulder, "you need to move so that we can take care of your friend here." Luke solomnly nods as he quickly stands up and moves to the opposite corner of the cell in order to give the paramedics enough room to move in with the stretcher. Luke watches as they carefully work as a team to put his cousin on the stretcher and places an air mask upon his bloodied face. As they roll his cousin out of the cell, Luke eyes the puddle of blood that lies on the floor where Bo had been sitting and the blood splattered wall to force Luke to wonder if help had gotten here in time. If the bullet hadn't killed him, if the amount of blood that he lost would... Saying a small prayer, he follows the paramedics up the thin stair way up the sheriff's station where Jesse waits and joins him. As Jesse sees Bo on the stretcher, Luke notices Jesse's complexion instantly turn ghastly white and a look of terror to cross his face. His uncle seems to say "Bo" yet no words come out of his mouth. "What happened, Luke?" Jesse sternly asks Luke, seemingly to find his voice. "He was shot above his right chest, he looked like he hit his head pretty hard on the wall. I assume as he had gotten shot," Luke firmly answers, "the gunman must have told him that he had you or Hogg. He started to say they had you and Hogg before he passed out again." Jesse nods as they make it to the hallway and move towards the front door where the driver stands, holding the door open. "Damn it. Damn it," he cusses as tears fall from his eyes and they follow the paramedics and Bo out through the opened door and to the ambulance where they watch quietly as they carefully place the stretcher into the back of the paramedics. "I'm riding with my nephew." Jesse states to the paramedics and climbs in before they can argue with him. Looking out at his older nephew, he states, "Go get Daisy and meet me at the hospital." "Yes sir," Luke states before the last paramedic climbs in and slams the door shut. With the sirens screaming loudly, the ambulance peels away from the curb and races towards the Tri-County Hospital. Luke watches it momentarily before he gets into Jesse's truck and picks up the CB to call in, "Crazy Cooter. You out there?" "Crazy Cooter here," Cooter answers quickly, "how's Bo?" "Not so good, Coot," Luke dryly states as he eyes his blood covered shirt, "Enos there yet? The scene under control?" "That's a big ten-four. Enos and Hogg has the two criminals in cuffs and on their way to the jail as we speak. I'm sitting and waiting on word from you where you parked The General at," he responds, "How bad's Bo? Is he alive?" Luke sighs. "Yeah, but looks like he lost a lot of blood. I'll tell you more later. Right now, I need you to swing by and pick Daisy up and meet us at the hosptial," he slowly responds, his thoughts paralyzed on thoughts about Bo. "Can you do that? She should be at work right now. Just tell her she needs to go with you and that I'll explain everything to you both once you get to the hospital." "That's a big ten four Lukas," Cooter states, "I'm gone." Luke nods and throws the CB handle down besides him before he starts Jesse's truck knowing he was only halfway following Jesse's orders by telling Cooter to pick Daisy up. But Cooter was closer to the Boar's Nest than he was and he was anxious to get to the hospital even though he knew he may be spending the next couple of hours in the waiting room, waiting on word on Bo.

Luke abruptly stands up to attract everyone's worried attention onto him and Luke is quick to turn his back to them as he makes his way to the boarded window. Peering in between the thin cracks his thoughts accelerate his worry deep within him. He had thought his plan to come here was bullet proof... "What is it, Luke?" Bo asks behind him, eyeing Gordon and then Luke, "What's wrong?" "I don't know yet," Luke halfway lies to his cousin, not wanting to place un needed worry on him or on Gordon, "just thinkin'." "Don't lie to me, Luke. Something is obviously wrong or bothering you...whether or not it is just a thought," Bo calls him on his lie, "now what is it?" Luke shakes his head, knowing his younger cousin won't let it go. Turning around he states, "What if Rosco does get help? There's several farmers in town he could blackmail as we were talkin' about that do know how to work and fire guns. Heck, if he gets help from other people, he may not be limited to just his dang car either." "You mean like a boat or something?" Bo questions shaking his cousin away, "You worry too much. No on in town would give Rosco a second thought. After what he's done to them, why would they want to help him for?" "As I said, he'd blackmail 'em," Luke is quick to respond. "Even so," Gordon slowly mentions, looking at his clock and up at the boys, "you said no one would even think of this place. Of him. So why worry?" Luke nods slowly. "Probably right on that one. I just don't want to over look anything," he slowly states, "better be prepared." "What you thinkin' 'bout Luke?" Bo questions, not liking being left in the dark in any of Luke's plans. Luke winks at him. "You'll see," with that he moves to the closed door and slowly opens it and steps out and closed the door behind him before walking through the shadow filled shack.

CHAPTER SIX Bo Duke hears himself gasp in pain as he slowly awakens from the dark blackness of his unconscienceness to find his entire body throbbing in harsh pain. Pain like he had seldom felt before. And as his eyes slowly adjust from blackness, to blurred, before becoming clear questions explode in his throbbing head. Questions of where was he, what had happened, and why everything hurt so badly. Only for the answers to clearly hit him as he glances down and finds his once yellow shirt to be drenched in his own blood. Instinctly, his hand goes to his upper chest, to where the blood is continuing to drain from, and his hand is quickly covered in his own thick blood and his mind rewinds several minutes ago to seeing the gun man standing outside his bars. To hear his harsh threats to be spoken evilly to him. And chills rushes down his throbbing body only to induce more pain. Bo glances around the empty jail room as he moves his hand from his chest to his head, where he had hit the wall at when he had been shot, to find more blood flowing down the side of his face. Only for fear to instantly hit him. Fear at the fact that if he don't get help soon, he'll die. He wasn't afraid of dying so to speak. Everyone has to die sometime. He just didn't want his time to be now when everyone, he felt, thought he was responsible for Rosco's accident. He didn't want his last moments with his family to have been stuck in guilt and silence as he had tried to ignore them in fear of seeing and hearing their own accusations towards him. Inside, he knew they didn't blame him, but he was so wrapped up in his own guilt, that he was convinced that they would have to blame him as well. Would have to hate him for what he had done. And he did anything possible to ignore them in order not to see their disappointment or anger at him. So he had ignored them. Pushed them away. And now, as he sits up against the brick wall, feeling his own blood pour out of him and every inch of his body throbbing in intense pain, he is facing the thought of never seeing them again. Never able to tell them sorry for what he has done. Never be able to tell them thank you for all that they had done for him. Never be able to tell them how much he loves them. Those thoughts force him to ignore the pain and he yells out, "Someone. Help -" he abruptly stops as he is thrown into a coughing fit, coughing out blood that only accelerates his fear, his pain, "help me!" He is answered by thick and eery silence as blackness once again threatens to overcome him and he grudgingly fights against it. "Please. I've been shot!" he cries out and is soon to realize that if someone was up there, they would have been able to hear the gun shots. His cry of pain when he had been thrown against the wall. If someone was upstairs, they too could have been shot. And perhaps dead right now. Leaving him to deal with his despair at the thought of dying now without being able to tell his family, his friends good bye. Leaning his head back against the wall, he is no longer able to fight against the blackness that threatens to consume him and tears flood down his cheeks. Tears of pain, sadness, and fear. As his eyes closes, he instantly sees the evil smile of the gun man as the gunman's violent threat echoes in his ears just as he loses consciousness once more.

hot

Well did anyone get to watch the Coca-Cola 600 last night? Talk about a wild race! For this Gordon fan, it was an up, down, up, and down again night. Very frustrated with how it had ended... The first half was kinda uneventful...Jr raced from 25th starting place to fifth place only for the gas man to fall in pits to slow him down, then he spun the tires during the restart to send him back to eighteenth or so for awhile, but he was able to race himself up towards the top of the field by the end of the race. Landon Cassill...from Cedar Rapids, IA (only a few miles from where I live ) had a wild ride when he went down the track in front of Regan Smith, Smith was already there and bumped Cassill into the grass that sent him sliding and flying through the infield grass and into the concrete wall. Mark Martin had raced himself up the field only towards the last half of the race for David Gilliland to race besides him, he tried giving Carl Edwards on the bottom of the track room and ended collecting Mark Martin. And when I say collecting Mark Martin, I mean he collected him...their cars became stuck together as he slammed Martin into the wall and the ran into Ryan Newman who got hit a couple of hard times. Martin had to climb out in between their two stuck cars and the tow trucks had to litterally tear the two cars apart from one another. Luckily no one got hurt. Felt bad for all three drivers, but especially Newman who was the innocent party of the bunch (he always seems to get caught in the big ones...) Kyle Busch had an up and down night. He led several laps and at one point was the car to beat. But the last half of the race, his car must have started to act up or something. He spun out by himself three times. The first one he was able to save it pretty good and continue on. Second one he had to go to the garage for a while, and the third one he parked it I think. Very unusual for him to have a rough night like that. (But it was a VERY UNUSUAL night for racing at Charolette.) Johnson had his own up and downs. His pit stops weren't the best. On the last pit stop, they left a wrench in the back window and he had to go back in and get it out. Right after that, his engine blew and he had to go to the garage. As mentioned earlier, Gordon had an up and down, up and down night. He started eleventh. Went back and hung out in twentyth spot for A LONG time. He waited to pit long enough to lead a few laps when the caution went out and he was able to make a caution pit stop...to stay in the top ten. Then he was leading again with twenty or so laps to go and had to pit with only a few laps to not run out of gas and ended up finishing twentyth. Ricky Steinhouse Jr made his cup debut last night racing for Trevor Bayne who was still out due to his illness. He hit the wall three times at least throughout the race, but believe he was able to finish eleventh which is great for a first race! And then the crazy finish. Everyone was either going to run out of fuel with a couple of laps to go or just make it to the finish. Greg Biffle who at one point was a lap down and his coolant in his helmet was out (it was 90 degrees before the race. In the car, they said would be as hot as if you left your car windows shut and the heater on in the summer...) so he had a hot ride for 600 miles. Was leading the race at the end...but ran out of gas. With two laps to go everyone was wrecking due to people running out gas (NASCAR should have put a caution out...if it was any other time, they would have. -In NASCAR, once the white flag drops, and a caution is out, the race is over. Which is the only reason I can think of that they didn't put a caution out then...) Anyway, Jr was leading when the white flag dropped only for him to run out of gas halfway to the checkered flag. Kevin Harvick went on to win his third race of the year so far. Here is the top ten finishers of the race: 1. Kevin Harvick 2. David Ragen (best finish of his career ) 3. Joey Lagano 4. Kurt Busch 5. AJ Allmindinger 6. Marcos Ambrose 7. Dale Earnhardt Jr 8. Regan Smith 9. David Reutimann 10. Denny Hamlin (who was having engine problems in the first half of the race, they fixed his carborator during a caution without missing a lap to fix the problem.) And since today is Monday and the points are official....I will post the top ten in points here: 1. Carl Edwards 2. Kevin Harvick 3. Jimmie Johnson 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr 5. Kyle Busch 6. Kurt Busch 7. Matt Kenseth 8. Clint Bowyer 9. Tony Stewart 10. Ryan Newman And if anyone is wondering...Jeff Gordon has dropped down to 16th in points now. Very frustrated with his finishes as of late and his points. The only thing he's got going for him is his win at Phoenix and that he is the only driver between 11th and 20th with a win...if it stays like that he'll get to make it into the chase on the wild card option for eleventh or twelveth. He needs some wins...some better finishes. Something! LOL We are going to Kansas next Sunday...another mile and a half track.

Bears

Well this isn't big NASCAR news, but thought I would mention it. Kyle Busch was pulled over for speeding in N.C. on Monday...going 125 mph in a 45 mph speed zone. Read that with that high of a speed, he'll have to have a court date and could be fined up to a thousand dollars...which is pocket change to him. Guess he couldn't leave his racin' on the track...just a little interesting info.

Carrot