No Ordinary Sheriff

WHEN CASH ARRIVED in Ordinary, he glimpsed Austin Trumball, his Little Brother, sidling into the laneway at the edge of town, his manner secretive.

Twelve-year-old Austin was a good kid, but lost these days. Cash was always on the lookout for him. He had a bad feeling about Austin, that without a little guidance, he could end up in trouble.

The only place that laneway led was the alley running the length of Main Street behind the businesses.

Why was Austin going back there? Over a year ago Cash had caught him dumpster-diving, starving and scrambling for food thrown away by the restaurant. Cash had applied to become his Big Brother the next day. He tried to feed him a couple of real meals a week.

If Austin was looking for food, Cash needed to know. He’d give him twenty bucks to go to the diner for a burger.

He parked the truck in front of the cop shop and walked back to the alley.

He found Austin behind Chester’s Bar and Grill. Smoking. Damn.

Why couldn’t Cash protect the boy from all of the bad temptations in life?

When he saw Cash, Austin dropped the butt and stomped on it.

“Don’t move.” Cash grabbed him by the collar and eased him against the brick wall. He bracketed the boy with an arm on either side. The pungent scent of marijuana hung in the air.

Crap. It hadn’t been just a plain cigarette.

Puffs of air crystallized into vapor as the boy panted. He looked at everything but the sheriff towering over him. Cash could see that sharp little brain working—calculating the odds of getting away.

Cash thought they’d developed a real strong bond in the past year, but apparently not. Austin had been on a great upswing after Cash had taken him under his wing. Something had changed though. For the past month something had been wrong. Cash shook his head, so damn discouraged that he hadn’t gotten through to the boy.

“Where’d you get it?” Cash asked, angry that he couldn’t protect Austin better.

Austin, caged between Cash’s arms, looked up at him with all the defiance such a skinny boy could muster. He shook his head, the mulish jut of his jaw evidence that he wasn’t about to give Cash an answer.

Cash worked hard to keep himself from shaking the answer out of the boy.

With the unpredictability and speed of youth, Austin slipped under Cash’s arm to run. Cash snagged the tail of his filthy jacket and pulled him back. He heard Austin’s breath whoosh out of him. He didn’t want to hurt the kid, but needed Austin to understand how serious this was. Austin was headed down a road that would one day lead to a jail cell.

Cash leaned close and lowered his voice. “I know all the moves a kid like you can make.” His fear for the boy made his tone hard, unsympathetic.

He saw Austin’s dilated pupils, the dark bags under his eyes, and the sunken cheeks of his thin face. For a while under Cash’s care, Austin had begun to look good, but man, this was regression.

Austin had classic golden boy good looks and the smile of an angel the rare time one could be coaxed out of him.

“Where’d you get the marijuana?” Cash asked again, his tone more demanding.

A flash of fear lurked beneath Austin’s defiance. “I—I found it.”

“C’mon, Austin, you’ve never lied to me before. The truth this time.”

“Screw you, man.” Austin looked like he wanted to either fight or cry. Why was adolescence so hard for some kids? “Why don’t you leave me alone?”

Because the haunted look in your eyes tells me you want to be rescued.

Cash placed his hand on Austin’s shoulder, but Austin shrugged it off. The boy squeezed his lips shut and shook his head. Cash knew he’d gotten as much out of him as he was going to. For stubbornness, Austin was hard to beat. Except maybe by Cash himself.

An image of Austin’s mother flashed into Cash’s mind—a sweet but helpless woman who reminded Cash of his own mom—and Cash didn’t need a psychiatrist to tell him why he’d chosen this boy to care for.

Cash hadn’t given up on himself. Even during the toughest days, after Dad had lost his job as Commissioner of the San Francisco police force, his house and his car to bankruptcy, and his wife and son to separation followed rapidly by divorce, sixteen-year-old Cash had pulled himself and his mom through.

Later, after he’d studied to become a police officer, he’d left California. He couldn’t work where his father had hammered his sterling career into lead.

Austin deserved a chance at a good life, too. Cash wouldn’t give up on him.

He grasped the front of Austin’s thin ski jacket and shook him gently.

“Austin, get your shit together or you’ll end up a drug addict. Or unable to take care of yourself. Like your mother.”

Austin trembled, probably as much from fear as the cold.

“Is that what you want?” Cash asked, knowing Austin was terrified of exactly that fate.

“You’ve gotta stop pushing your luck.” Cash let go of Austin’s jacket, more frustrated than he could say. Maybe he should give Austin a taste of what jail time felt like, give him a really good scare. Yeah, putting him in jail was a great idea.

Decision made, he ordered, “Follow me.”

Austin’s gaze shot to Cash’s face. What was going on with him these days? Who was Austin hanging out with who were getting him into this kind of trouble?

“Where to?” Austin asked.

“To the Sheriff’s office.”

“Wh-why?”

“I just caught you in possession of marijuana, didn’t I?”

Austin nodded.

“I’m a cop, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, but you’re my Big Brother.”

“That doesn’t give you a free pass to commit crime. Is that why you wanted me in that role?”

Austin mumbled, “No.”

Cash hadn’t really thought so. At the beginning, they’d had too much fun together. Not lately, though.

Austin should be in school, but at the moment it was more important to teach him this lesson than to drive him there.

Cash herded him out of the alley and onto the sidewalk of Main Street.

Austin tried to wrench his arm free of Cash’s grip.