Jump to content

To Keep On Keepin' On


DaisyMaeDuke

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 1.1k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Daisy swallowed but nodded. "Uh, yeah...sure." Quickly she went to the cabinet getting out two sleeping pills from the bottle and then went and filled a glass with cold water, handing them to Bo. "Here ya go sugar," she said eyeing Luke worriedly.

Luke just stared at the floor every so often wiping at his eyes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And Luke was injured- not physically but emotionally broken. He didn't move as Bo forced him to swallow, still staring blankly at his hands, tears welling up in his eyes once more.

Luke Duke had never been one to shed tears. In fact, he had always told Bo that he couldnt stand to see a grown man cry.

It stood then, to reason, why he could no longer stand himself. Cry was all he ever did anymore.

Daisy's lip quivered. Something was wrong- very very wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Helping Luke to drink some water, he then gently and silently got Luke to his feet and guided him to their room. Sitting Luke down on his bed, he took his older cousin's boots off and got him changed into his pyjama bottoms before guiding him to lay down in the bed and tucking him in softly under the warm covers, watching his older cousin sadly.

He didn't understand at all how things had gotten to this...sure the situation with Jesse was bad and it was true that his days were severly numbered...limited to a week at best the doctors had told them. But it was something that had always been inevitable. Jesse was not a young man anymore and neither did he have the ability to last forever. Nothing ever did. He could understand Luke's being ashamed at freezing on the spot when Jesse needed them, Bo would be feeling the same....but why oh why did Luke have to go and push himself away from everyone else to seek his own solitude in his mind and deliberatly torture himself some more over it. Why couldn't he just go and tell someone, let them reassure him...why if he cared this much about Jesse couldn't he go to their Uncle in the hospital and talk to him before it was too late.

Since everything had happened, Bo and Daisy had rarely left their Uncle's side during the allotted visiting hours...but Luke had always refused to come. In fact the first time that Luke had said it, he and Bo had near come to blows over the fact he wouldn't. It killed Bo and he was sure Daisy too, to see their Uncle's eyes roam around the room when he woke to find only Bo and Daisy...and to see his eldest missing. It wasn't doing Jesse any favours because now he would worry about Luke too and that was the last thing he needed to be doing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tears ran continually down Luke's face as Bo pulled off his boots and helped him change. Luke felt like a baby, a helpless baby that did nothing but cry all day. He was ashamed of himself, and he knew in his heart that Bo was too. Luke was the big brother, the one in charge when Jesse was away. Soon, he would be the...patriarch. The very thought of it made him sick to his stomach.

Sure it was true that he and Bo both could run a farm in his uncle's absence. Luke knew all about what crops to plant when, what to do in case of an uncommon Georgia frost, and about when to sell the produce and when to store it. He knew all the book-learning about crop rotation and he knew how to make a 30 year old tractor stay running for another decade.

He didn't know how to hold his family together, not when piece by piece he was falling apart.

Luke thought all of these things in a matter of seconds. He thought about death and wondered if it was the enemy he had always thought it to be. Maybe it was a friend...a misunderstood friend. After all, death would surely take the pain away he was feeling. He would have no more worries, no more tears...no more Bo and Daisy. He sighed heavily growing sleepier as the pills began to take effect. His eyes gradually closed against his warm tears. He wasn't cold, but he shivered nonetheless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As Luke closed his eyes, Bo finally let his own tears spill down his cheeks - his own frightened, childish tears that he had bravely been fighting back so as not to upset Luke more. It wasn't until Luke was completly asleep that he got off the bed and left the room, leaning against the wall in the hallway with his head in his hands. He was so tired...so upset....so...everything. He was starting to think that instead of just losing his Uncle now he was going to lose Luke too and then everything would be left down to him to deal with - something he had never ever done well.

With Luke by his side, yeah he could do things as well as Luke and his Uncle...but left to himself with just Daisy to help...even the thought of it made him tremble. He had never had the pressure of running a farm by himself, looking after a family by himself...was Luke really going to just leave and let Bo deal with it all? Was that actually what Luke was afraid of...being alone and running everything? If that was the case then where was the old pact that he had made with his older cousin long ago...that no matter what happened they would do everything together...that neither of them would ever be alone.

If Luke did leave with his Uncle...then it would just be him and Daisy...but then what would happen when Daisy married...she couldn't stay around on the farm forever and Bo certainly couldn't sit there and let her either no matter how much she might protest against it. Eventually she would find someone and fly the nest...and then it would truly be down to him. The worst thing was though...that Bo just didn't know how to help his older cousin. He had no chance of stopping Luke doing what it was he seemed determined to do...he could worry...he could stay up all night and spend every waking minute watching Luke and talking to him but likely it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference. If it was advice Luke needed, he would go to his Uncle...or Steve - his best friend next to Cooter...or Cooter...never to Bo. Bo was too young to understand what Luke was thinking, Bo didn't have enough worldly understanding to be able to say anything that would soothe his older cousin.

Sliding down the wall as all those thoughts ran through his head, he choked on a sob into his hands, his shoulders shaking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bo sniffed hard, trying to get his tears under control so he could talk to Daisy properly without worrying her more. He knew that he had to be the strong one now, the one that held all his own feelings in and supported everyone else...maybe that was how it would end up eventually...

Swallowing, he lifted his head and said softly, looking down at the floor.

"Found Luke...at Widow's Peak...sitting...on the very edge...wants...he wants t'..."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bo rubbed a hand across his aching head. Dealing with Luke was one thing but now dealing with Daisy's anger at Luke and having to defend his older cousin was another and in all truth it was scaring him more that maybe he would have to deal with all this one day by himself.

Shaking his head, not willing to argue it out and talk reason right now he got up and headed to the kitchen, pulling out a glass and the bottle of medicinal shine from under the sink.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Stuff..."

Was all that Bo replied, drying up his glass and putting it away before heading outside to do his and Luke's chores as he had been doing since Jesse had been hospitalized. Slowly this was all already grinding him down though he was trying to steel himself against all the emotions that were building inside him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.