Tastes Like Misery by Melody Calder

Author:Melody Calder [Calder, Melody]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2022-05-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Sheriff Frank Hinton

The call came over the radio, Claire could barely contain her laughter as she sent me out to the McMillan farm. Johnny, that drunk, had himself in a heap of trouble again. I felt bad for his wife, always needing to bail him out. Heidi was a proud woman, always holding her head high as she took his drinks away at the town functions. A good, God-fearing woman who didn’t deserve a drunk like Johnny.

When I pulled up, Homer McMillan was standing by the barn in his worn overalls, his dirty hair askew as if he had just woken up. No doubt in my mind he hadn’t been up long considering he was lazy as all getup. His oldest son stood behind him, shoulders sagging. The teen looked like he’d taken a roll in the mud and I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. The family had a good setup, with acres of alfalfa and a herd of cattle. If only Homer inherited his father’s work values, this farm wouldn’t have fallen into hard times. I could see the piles of hay laying in the field waiting to be baled and sold to the local cattle ranchers. From what I’d heard, he was behind on delivering orders and ranchers were tired of it, ready to go somewhere else. If they weren’t careful, they’d lose all their customers.

Whatever I felt toward Homer, I had to put aside as I climbed out of my car and made my way over. I had a job to do, and I prided myself on keeping my personal feelings out of it. “Good morning, Homer. I hear you have a little problem in your barn,” I greeted the man, not offering to shake his hand. It wasn’t a personal visit, or at least that was the excuse I went for.

The man looked shaken and nodded, “Yep. You go see for yourself. You can’t miss it. I’m not going back in there until he’s well and gone.”

The call over the radio didn’t prepare me for the sight of Johnny laying over the backside of a cow with his pants around his ankles. “What in the hell?” I swore, something I tried not to do in general. There wasn’t much that shook me, and I thought I’d seen it all. This was by far the craziest.

His snores were loud, and as I approached, the smell of booze assaulted my nose. No surprise when it came to Johnny, but his position was a first. Usually, he passed out in his car, which was nowhere to be found. I’d have to call a search party to see if he crashed it in a field.

Poking him hard on the shoulder, I raised my voice, “Wake up, Johnny.” He moved only the slightest, so I tried again, this time harder. I could throw a bucket of water over his head as I’ve done in the past, but I didn’t want to scare the animal. “Get up and explain,” I shook him, taking care not to spook the animal.

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