Читать книгу Cat - R C Hilty - Страница 6

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Cat stood in front of the bench awaiting her fate.

The judge hit the bench hard with his gavel and yelled, “Who do you think you are, poaching wildlife in my county? You will spend thirty days in jail no visitors, and I’m going to keep your rifle. Bailiff, put the cuffs on her and get her out of here, now!”

Cat couldn’t believe it. All this for just a few squirrels? As she was taken away, she could hear her mom yelling from the back of the courtroom, “Caaaat… Caaaat… Cat!”

All of a sudden, Cat sat straight up in bed, eyes wide open. She looked and saw Mom hovering over her.

“Honey, you okay? You need to get up and get ready. You and your dad need to be at the courthouse at nine.”

Cat replied, “Uh, yeah. I’m fine. Coffee made?”

“Like every other morning. You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I am fine. I hope the hearing this morning goes better than the one last night.”

“Bad dream?”

“You could say that.”

“Go ahead and get a cup of coffee. Your dad’s on the porch. Breakfast is about ready.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

*****

Dave and Cat walked into the courtroom. Cat signed in then sat down beside Dave. It looked as though hers was the first case of the morning.

Cat whispered to Dave, “I hope the judge had a good night’s sleep.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

The bailiff said, “All rise. The Honorable Judge Paul Bean, presiding.”

Everyone stood up. The judge entered and sat down. The people sat down.

The bailiff said, “Court’s in session.”

The bailiff handed the Judge Bean some papers. He read them over than nodded to the bailiff.

Cat was called up to the bench.

Judge Bean said, “I see you’re a minor. Is there a parent or guardian here with you?”

“Yes, Your Honor. My dad is here with me.”

“Very well, let’s get started. How do you plead?”

“Guilty, Your Honor.”

“Let’s see, Officer Conrad caught you coming out of the school’s habitat area with a rifle and five squirrels.”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“You have violated several laws, hunting in prohibitive area, firearm on school property, among other state, local, and federal laws. Why were you hunting there? There are plenty other areas that are legal for you to hunt.”

“Your Honor, to be honest, I couldn’t see any harm in it. The area is far enough away from the school. There were no other students in the area. Not only that, there are so many of them, plus they’re so fat.”

“So you figured why not, who’s gonna notice?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“That’s all you have to say?”

“I really don’t see the use of telling you that my family moved down here from New York because my dad lost his job. My parents don’t have a lot of money, so I use my hunting and fishing skills to help my parents with the food costs. Like I said, the squirrels there were so plentiful and fat it didn’t take long for me to get the next day’s supper. I will accept whatever the court decides.”

Dave was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Judge Bean just found out what Dave had learned a long time ago with Cat. Don’t ask her to explain herself. Just give her the punishment you believe is fair. She’ll take it in stride and move on.

In a way, Judge Bean was impressed with Cat. There had been plenty of juveniles that went through his courtroom. Most of the time they’d try to lie their way out of trouble. There was just something about Cat that he liked, the way that she accepted responsibility for her own actions. It was kind of refreshing to see a young person that was so honest and didn’t try to blame others for her actions. He had heard the rumor that she had broken Bob’s nose. Bob had been in court more than once. He was sure Bob had asked for it.

Judge Bean stroking his chin stared at Cat. He looked down at the papers on the bench. His stare then went over to Dave, then back to Cat, not saying a word. The silence was deafening to Cat. Her thoughts went to the dream she had last night.

After just a couple of minutes, but what seemed like hours to Cat, Judge Bean broke the silence.

“Young lady, I have several options on a case such as this. Like I said, you violated local, state, and federal laws. You seem to be a good kid. You also take responsibility for your actions. I checked with the school. The teachers say you are a hardworking student. You seem to do your best to help your parents. I am going to drop all the charges except hunting in an unauthorized area. You were caught with five squirrels. I see no sense in fining you, as your parents would end up paying the fine. Therefore, I’m sentencing you to eight hours of community service. I walk by the town park every day. The benches need a good coat of paint. You will show up at the courthouse at eight thirty Saturday morning wearing appropriate clothing. I’ll take you down to the town garage where you will be given the tools and supplies you need.” He looked at Dave. “It’ll be your reasonability to make sure she is here.”

Dave replied, “Yes, Your Honor.”

“Are there any questions?”

Cat asked, “When may I have my rifle back?”

“When you have completed your service.”

“Thank you.”

“There are some papers for you and your dad to sign, and then you’re free to go.”

Dave and Cat walked over to the table, signed the papers, and left the courthouse. As they walked toward the truck, Dave asked, “You hungry?”

Cat smiled. “Yeah, a little.”

“I don’t like it when you say a little. That always means you’re starving. We might as well stop over at the diner. I’m sure your mom will want to know how it turned out. After we eat, I’ll drop you off at school.”

“Okay.”

*****

Betty knocked on Cat’s door. “Honey, you need to get up. Breakfast will be ready pretty soon. You don’t want to be late, might make the judge mad.”

“Saturday morning already?” asked Cat.

“Yes, it is. It’s supposed to be pretty nice today, sunny, around seventy degrees.”

“Great day to paint park benches.”

“I think you got off pretty easy.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Coffee ready?”

“Yes, you better get a cup pretty soon. Your dad is on his second one.”

Cat rolled out of bed went to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. She walked out onto the porch.

“Morning, Dad.”

“Good morning, Cat, ready to do some painting?”

“’Bout as ready as I’ll ever be.”

“It won’t be too bad, nice day to paint.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m gonna finish getting ready. See ya at breakfast.”

“Don’t take too long.”

“Yes, Dad.”

*****

Judge Bean was looking over some paperwork when Dave and Cat walked into the courthouse. He looked up.

“Good morning, ready to get to work?”

Cat replied, “’Bout as ready as I’ll ever be.

“That’s the spirit.” He looked at Dave. “Drive your pickup?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Good, we can put the stuff she needs in that, and you can drive it over to the park. Meet me at the town garage. It is just down the street next to the fire house.”

“Okay. See you there.”

Dave drove his truck down to the garage. Judge Bean, Dave, and Cat loaded the paint and equipment into the truck.

After it was loaded, Judge Bean said, “Go ahead and drive over to the park, and park along the street by the benches. I’ll be there shortly.”

Dave replied, “All right.”

Dave parked his truck by one of the groups of benches. It was a nice little park, plenty of shade trees, picnic tables, grills, and benches. People would bring their families for a cheap afternoon getaway.

Dave said, “Well, Cat, pick out the one you want to start on, and I’ll help you carry the stuff over.”

“Might as well start on the one that is in the shade, that way I can just follow the shade as the sun moves.”

“That’s my girl, always thinking.”

Cat started scraping off the loose paint. One thing her dad taught her was that any job worth doing was worth doing well, even if it wasn’t for herself. Not only that, she didn’t want to do it over.

Judge walked up to Dave. “Let’s go over to the diner and get a cup of coffee while she gets started. We can come back and check on her later.”

Dave looked at Judge Bean a little hesitant. “Well, okay.”

“She’ll be all right. I asked the warden to keep an eye on her.”

“Cat, I’m going with Judge Bean to get a cup of coffee. I’ll be back. Your water jug is in the back of the truck.”

“Okay, Dad, you know where I’ll be.”

*****

Judge Bean and Dave walked into the diner and sat down at a booth. The waitress came up to the table.

“Morning, Judge, the usual?”

“Yeah, no sense changing now.”

The waitress turned to Dave. “And what can I get you?”

“I’ll just have coffee.”

“Okay, hon, I’ll bring that right out. Cream, sugar?”

“No, black.”

Judge Bean said, “I hope you like strong coffee.”

“The stronger the better,” Dave replied.

“So you lost your job in New York?”

“Yeah, I was the vice president of a big bank. I held on after 9-11, but when the housing bubble broke, that’s all it took. They had to downsize.”

“You inherited Jeff Brewer’s place?”

“Yeah, he had wanted me to move down here before, but I had a steady job. He said this was like going back in time a hundred years, only with modern conveniences. He also said life was at a slower pace here. You could actually enjoy life.”

“I bet your daughter is a handful.”

“That she is.”

“I have had a lot of people come through my court. I am semiretired now. I just take misdemeanor game violations, traffic, and juvenile cases. That helps free up the county courthouse. All the felony cases go there. The most we do for that is hold them overnight till they’re transported. I’m enjoying my retirement. It gives me time to get involved with the people and hopefully keep some of the young people from getting into big trouble.”

“How long you’ve been retired?”

“A little over five years, the county was going to close this courthouse. We had a town meeting and came up with an idea to keep it open. We sent the plan in, and the state agreed to let us try it for a year to see how it worked out. The only full-time law officer here is the game warden, and he is paid by the state. All we have to do is keep an office here for him.”

“Seems to be working.”

The waitress brought Judge Bean his breakfast and refilled their coffee cups. “Can I get either of you anything else?”

“No, that should do it,” Judge Bean replied.

Dave replied, “No thanks.”

Judge Bean turned to Dave. “Like I said, I am a pretty good judge of character. I would say your daughter has strong convictions and will probably do about anything to help her family and anyone else that needs help.”

“Oh yeah, she’s a real good kid, although she has her moments. She’ll help anyone that she can, even if it means bending the rules a bit.”

“Noticed that. I talked to the school, they said that she does real well in class. Haven’t had any problems with her. Although rumors have it that she knocked Bob on his ass.”

“That was probably true.”

“I am sure it was, but Bob’s pride wasn’t gonna let him say anything.”

“I talked to his dad. That’s what he figured. He said that maybe his son would watch his mouth from now on.”

“I take it that Cat likes to hunt quite a bit.”

“Yes, she also enjoys fishing, trapping, and camping anything that has to do with the outdoors and the wild. She is a very determined child. Very confident and bullheaded…will take anything that is thrown at her in stride. I know her dream is to get into competitive shooting. She is reading everything she can get her hands on that pertains to long-range shooters. Whether it is military snipers, competing, or whatever, it doesn’t matter as long as it has something to do with firearms. She is just fascinated with how a target can be hit from so far away.”

“I heard she was doing well in rifle club, putting some of the seniors to shame. There’s a local contest coming up pretty soon, entry fee isn’t much. It is limited to rimfires.”

“She’d love it.”

“I’ll give her rifle back to her today when she is done. Ya know, I have to say, I haven’t seen many rifles like that with a scope.”

“She would put a scope on a slingshot if she could. She’ll be glad to hear she gets her rifle back. You’d thought she lost a family member when the warden kept it.”

Judge Bean laughed. “Well, we’d better get back and see how she’s doing.”

“Yeah, I guess we’d better. Thanks for the coffee.”

“You’re welcome.”

*****

The benches were in need of new paint. Cat scraped off the loose paint, sanded the rough spots, and put on a good primer coat. After she applied the finish coat, she stepped back admiring her work. Talking out loud, “That looks a lot better. I did a good job, if I do say so myself.”

She looked at the other benches, which really looked terrible now. “I might as well start on the next one.” She placed a “WET PAINT” sign by the bench she had just finished and moved all her stuff over to the next bench. There were a few clouds in bright sunny sky. She went to work on the second bench. The temperature was rising. It was definitely going to beat the seventy-degree mark forecast. Sweat kept getting in her eyes. A nice breeze would be welcomed about now.

An old man carrying a newspaper walked up to Cat and rudely asked, “What are you doing?”

Cat thought to herself, You blind or what? She turned toward him and asked, “What’s it look like? I’m building a doghouse.”

“No, you’re not! You’re painting the benches!”

“Then why ask?”

“Don’t get smart with me, girly. I come to town every Saturday morning, buy a newspaper, sit on this bench, and read my paper. Now you’ve painted it, and I can’t sit there. You must be new here because everyone in town knows my routine on Saturdays.”

Being called girly was one sure way to get Cat riled up. She really didn’t want to be here in the first place. The bench looked real nice, and all he could do was complain about it. The thought of wishing she had not put the sign up crossed her mind. She also thought to herself, Sometimes it is difficult to give respect to older people as I have been taught.

She looked at the old man and replied, “It’s not like that’s the only bench in the park.”

“I always sit on that one.”

“Well, you’ll just have to pick another.” She held back calling him an old goat.

“Oh, all right, just remember, that’s my bench.”

“You want me to paint your name on it?”

“Just stay away from me.”

“No problem, have a nice day.”

The old man walked over to a bench as far away from Cat as he could get and still stay in the park.

Judge Bean and Dave walked up to Cat just as the old man was leaving.

Dave asked, “Well, Cat, how’s it going?”

“Not too bad till that old man came up and started yelling at me for painting his bench. I wish I hadn’t put up the ‘wet paint’ sign, then he would have really had something to complain about. Who is that old coot anyways?”

Judge Bean answered, “That would be grumpy Mike.”

“I’ll say.”

“He lives not too far from your place. It is really a nice place, well kept, has a three-acre pond…has plenty of game there also. It is hard to see his house, the driveway is pretty well hidden. He used to let people hunt and fish on his place. After his wife died, he wouldn’t let anybody on his place except his son. He wasn’t always that way. After he retired, he and his wife used to come to town every Saturday morning. They would stop by the diner and get a newspaper, a couple of doughnuts, coffee, and sit on that bench. He really enjoyed that.”

Cat was starting to feel bad.

Judge Bean continued, “He was a sniper in the Marine Corp, served three tours in Vietnam. After he was discharged, he built a gunsmith shop. He enjoyed long-range precision shooting. He would go to Camp Perry every year to compete. His son would make it a point to go with him every year after his wife died. He was the only family Mike had left. Five years ago, his son was killed by a drunk driver. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He became very bitter. His son joined the service after the Towers got hit, served in Afghanistan and Iraq, then came home and got killed by a drunk driver.”

Cat asked, “Did he still go to Camp Perry after that?”

“He competed the next year. The year after that he went, but didn’t compete. After that, he quit going. He stays home now, only comes to town on Saturdays to get what he needs. He has a routine… He drops his grocery list off at the store, buys a paper, and reads it in the park. When he’s done, he stops at the store, picks up his groceries, and goes home. Don’t see him again till the next week.”

“Does anybody ever visit him?”

“People have tried but given up. Some are scared of him. I go up and check on him once in a while. He just wants to be left alone till he can join his wife.”

“That is so sad. Would he hurt anybody?”

“No, his bark is worse than his bite.”

“So he is a good shot and knows a lot about long-range shooting?”

“When Mike was competing in the local shoots, the best anyone else could place was second.”

As Cat was working on the second bench, she was beating herself up on how she had treated Mike. Not only did she make him even bitterer, but here was a guy that could probably teach her everything she would ever need to know about long-range shooting and then some. Again, her temper got in her way.

*****

Judge Bean stopped by in the afternoon. Cat had finished four benches.

He said, “I’ll have to say, you did a fine job. These benches never looked better. It sure makes the rest of them look bad.”

“Thank you.”

As Cat was putting the stuff back into the truck, she started thinking to herself, I probably did too good a job. I am sure they will find some reason for me to do community service till all the benches are done.

Dave came back. “Well, Cat, ready to drop this stuff off at the garage and head home?”

“Yeah, this has been an eventful day.”

“That it has. Want to stop and get some ice cream on the way home?”

“Aren’t you afraid that will spoil my supper?”

Dave laughed. “No, I ain’t seen anything to spoil your supper.”

Cat grinned. “You know I kinda feel bad for that old guy.”

“Well, you didn’t know.

“Yeah, I know. I would sure like to get to know him.”

“Your conscience bothering you, or is it because he knows a lot about shooting?”

Cat smiled, “A little of both.”

“I see. If there’s a way, I’m sure you’ll find it.”

By the time they got home and had supper, Cat was dead tired. She didn’t have any trouble sleeping that night.

*****

A few weeks had passed since Cat’s community service when she entered a local shooting competition. She took second place and won twenty dollars. That hooked her. There wasn’t a contest within forty miles that didn’t see Cat and her trusty .22. On a few occasions, she had been disqualified from a match. It took a bit for her to get used to following the rules and safety policies of the contests.

Cat liked and enjoyed shooting her .22 rimfire. Her dream was shooting center-fire rifles. Being able to hit a target at six hundred to one thousand yards, now, that would be some serious shooting. She knew that could only be a dream for now. It would take a lot of money for a good rifle and optics. Neither she nor her parents could afford that. Maybe if she could get to know Mike, he would teach her about long-range shooting.