Rocky Mountain Justice (The Legend of Camel's Hump) by Jeff Noonan

Author:Jeff Noonan [Noonan, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781630018672
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2013-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:

The Missing Woman

The new house was coming together swiftly. The Fourth of July crowd outside was thunderously loud, providing a cheerful background for the men working on the house. Jerry and Ray were inside, helping with the construction of the window frames. The children had been playing games all weekend while the women watched then and the men took turns working on the house. Everyone was in a festive mood, with the rat-a-tat drumming of the hammers being interrupted regularly as the workers opened more beer.

The only real conversation in the house was about the quality of the beverages provided for the workers. Both Otto and the bar owner, “Honest Tom” Cochran, had donated beer. Otto had donated Olympia beer, and Honest Tom had donated Great Falls Select. If the chatter in the house was any indicator, both beers tasted suspiciously like equine urine. But somehow the stack of beer bottles in the front of the house kept growing and the work went on.

The men in the building had become accustomed to the noise of the crowd in the field. Then Dawn and Red came thundering onto the porch, with Dawn’s voice raised above the crowd. “Jerry! Jerry! Where are you?” The obvious concern in her voice stopped him in mid-stride and he hurriedly went to the door, shouting, “Over here! What’s the matter? Is everyone OK?”

Dawn was breathless as she responded with, “Yeah, but we have to talk. A lot has happened today.” She dove into Jerry’s open arms and clutched him frantically. Jerry was shocked. He’d never seen Dawn so worked up. He said, “Dawn, calm down, Honey. You’re shaking like a leaf. Calm down and tell me what’s going on.” “Not here, Jerry. Can you and Ray get away anytime soon?” The answer came from behind him, from one of the older workers who had been working in close proximity to the Olympia cooler all day, “Sure they can go! If I was your age and knew a young lady that looked like you, I wouldn’t have been here at all, let alone this long!” This set off a barrage of good-natured ribbing as the two boys put their tools away and moved toward the hole in the wall where the door frame was to be installed. It was late afternoon anyway and they had already put in more time than most of the workers. As Jerry moved toward the outside, he hollered back over his shoulder. “You guys take it easy on that near-beer, will you? I don’t want to spend all day tomorrow fixing your screw-ups in there!” Then he broke into a run, laughing, as one of the workers threw a half-full beer bottle at him. He loved the feeling of being accepted by the older men on the job. He was going to be seventeen soon and, for the first time, he felt as if he was really growing up.

Jerry, Dawn, Ray and Red all crowded into the old coupe and headed for Jerry’s home.

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