Where Would I Be Without You - By CJ Hawk Page 0,69
waitress dropped off the four light beers in a bottle and four cold frosted glasses. Not a one of us worried about the glass. Katelyn wanted to, but Jodi was already holding hers up for a toast. "To Kia. May her last disaster, be her last and all her others be forgotten. May luck shine upon her face as the wind blows all her bad luck away. May those that have been misfortune to cross her path forgive you and those that are still recovering, be steadfast and strong."
Our bottles clinked and the three cheered. "Here. Here." I just guzzled the entire beer down in one long drink. I slammed the empty beer bottle against the table and let out a ferocious belch. Just then, one of the local deputies walked by shaking his head in disgust on his way to the men's restroom. I wasn't sure which, but I figured that was my clue to end lunch soon and get as fast away from the law as possible. I had enough of them in the last week and one man in particular, Sheriff Cleat, was finally well enough for me to visit. It wasn't like I tried to blow him up, but I guess that man had spent a lifetime of rescuing me from catastrophes and the last one just almost did him in.
How was I to know that after Sheriff Cleat pulled me up from the rock ledge I had slipped down while hiking by myself, was also located next to an old coal mine? How was I to know that the funny pipe sticking up out of the hillside was also an old airway for miners? Furthermore, I had never smoked a cigarette in my life, but I found a pack with a lighter while I sat there contemplating how I almost died falling over that edge, and if it wasn't for Sheriff Cleat being out on a call for minors - children - tagging a historic rock with spray paint - I might have died. Therefore, I did what any logical person might have done. I grabbed that pack of cigarettes just calling my name, pulled a cigarette out of the pack and lit up. It was then, that all my gagging and coughing got Sheriff Cleat off his radio and rushing to my side once more. It was also then, that I flicked the cigarette away as fast as I could, because I didn't want to be smoking by the sheriff. Not that it was illegal; I just did not want anyone to see me do something I had never done before. It felt sinful to me at the time. Once I assured the sheriff that I swallowed a bug, he took the few steps back that landed him right above where that funny pipe stuck out of the ground. Right where that lit cigarette fell down that four-inch hole. Put two and two together, and add my luck, and you can only imagine what happened next.
Yup, that's right. Old Sheriff Cleat needed his own rescuing. The cigarette blew up the old coal; the hillside fell out from beneath the sheriff's feet, and the kaboom could be heard countywide. Lucky for the sheriff, a broken arm, broken ribs, a few black and blue marks and some singed hair, and he was marked for early retirement by the county. The terrible concussion that left him unconscious for a few days was the tip of the iceberg. When he came to, the county told him they needed a much younger able person to handle the job, and the rest of the county staff agreed. Old Sheriff Cleat saw his last rescue with me. He got a very nice retirement package, and I got a case of the guilt that still needed to be cleansed.
My next stop after lunch was the hospital where I had a brand new fishing rod and reel, wrapped up in a silver paper and a blue bow, along with a gift card from my employer Sports Emporium, for a very friendly amount. Being an inventory manager had its benefits, especially when a sportsman like old Sheriff Cleat keeps coming to my rescue.
Katelyn's comment caught my whirlwind of thinking back off guard. She grabbed a small bamboo basket with a handle that was on the floor next to her and put it on the table. "Since you're going by to see the sheriff at the hospital after this, I thought I might just bake