Star to Deckhand by Ed Nelson

Author:Ed Nelson [Nelson, Ed]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 30

Friday was the big day. I had been waiting for this Camporee all year. I was so adrenal charged that I think I set a record on my run. I still couldn’t run fast by football standards, but did very well for me. I wondered what my life would have been like if Coach Crowley had said I was fast enough to play football.

I was ready to leave by ten o’clock, two hours early. William and I had lunch. I only had to pack my uniforms and shaving kit, along with my sleeping bag. I realized that William didn’t have a sleeping bag and offered to take him to the Army-Navy surplus store to buy one. He laughed and told me he was roughing it. He made a reservation at one of those new Holiday Inns. Sharon was staying at the same hotel so when he was done for the day she would take him there and back in the morning.

Wimps! I hoped I wasn’t like them when I was old as they are. They must be thirty!

The car was loaded. I put my gear in the back seat. This included my pistol, which I checked to make certain it was unloaded. It was, and finally laid my sword on top. I was looking forward to wearing it around camp. Being fifteen is good.

I put on my civil war uniform for the trip. My main job this weekend was to be the liaison between the Scouts and the 6th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. William rode with me. Sharon was driving separately as she had mysterious publicity things to do.

They were at least mysterious to me, as I hadn’t bothered to ask. She knew her job and I didn’t, so I would get out of her way. When it was time I would know what she had been up to. At least once a week, she updated me on her activities. So far, there had been nothing to give cause for concern.

It was another lovely day, so we rode with the top down. At a stoplight in Urbana, I received a hard look from a deputy sheriff. I pulled away and the next thing I saw was a red flashing light from his gum ball machine. When I pulled over I realized that he looked faintly familiar. He asked for my driver’s license.

He really perused it and finally handed it back.

“I thought it was you, do you remember me giving you a ride last summer when you were hitchhiking?”

Now I knew where I had seen him before. We talked for a few minutes. William took a picture of us together and got his home address.

The deputy, John Dougherty had recognized my picture when it first came out and had followed my career. I told him that I would follow his career now. He would be sheriff one day. He told me he had been there and done that. He liked being a deputy. It seemed like he had been doing it forever but still enjoyed it.

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