Chapter 223

Yeah I felt like a dumb ass while I waited the hours in a cold house for the emergency delivery of propane. I could have brought the small commercial cooking burner in the house to get some heat, but I chose to heat the small box in front with a ceramic electric heater. It didn't get warm but if I sat right in front of it, I didn't freeze either.

The delivery man came after lunch, but that was okay. I couldn't be pissed at him for my stupidity. He left me with a bill for $376.00 it was interesting to know what a full tank of propane cost me. In the dead of winter the tank required filling once a month but it was usually less than $300. I had learned a valuable lesson from the experience.

I loaded the micro- minivan with several of the items from each crate. I wanted Jeremy to know what he was up against. I drove off in the van with no thought whatsoever of riding the bike that day.

"So here are a sample of the rest of your items," I suggested.

"I have already got your stuff on line. I went with ebay for the electronics and itsy bitsy for the other stuff. I expect to sell something today." Jeremy said.

I felt like he was overly optimistic, but said, "That certainly would be nice."

Every day when I went into town I carried some of the product with me. I loaded the micro-van and unloaded it behind Mary Ellen old boutique building. The top floor became a storage space for the things we were going to sell on line. While the bottom was more a browse shop. I had a very small space in the store for a cheap jewelry display and I kept my tools there in case I ever wanted to make jewelry again.

Time just kind of drifted by. I had lots of things going on but nothing that really seemed to hold my interest for more than a few hours. I was bored even though something or other always seemed to demand my attention. If it was Jeremy and that part of the business, I was calls from my moonshine customers begging me to go back into business. I even had to have the cruiser checked twice for running really rough. It also was having the oil light come on every week at least once. Even I knew that wasn't right.

I began thinking about a new car. My first thought was a little sports car. Then I learned they were somewhere between 50K and 200K and I decided against that. I gave electric some thought, but knew better than to even consider that. Maybe in ten years but not now. The problem really was I liked the cruiser but the engine was really starting to give me trouble. I mean, it might be something I did or the last driver, but it only had ninety thousand miles on it. I had replaced the timing belt, and a bunch of other parts on the outside of the engine. I guess I just wanted a different car.

Even with all that going on I couldn't get motivated. I just walked through each day like I wasn't really there at all. It was a lot of 'whatever' attitude. Jeremy actually called me every other day it seemed to tell me how much he had made on something. He was getting to be a real business man. I thought he wanted to paint, but he had lost that urge in his desire to chase the almighty dollar. His reports were part of the 'whatever' world. I mean I had more than broken even on the damaged crates and I was bored.

The only thing that brought me out of the boredom was the board of elections decision to have a town hall meeting with all the candidates for office present. Mostly there would be a couple of minutes at best per candidate. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I went.

It started at six with opening statements. I really hadn't planned anything, so I just winged it. "Hi, I'm Sylvia Porter and I want to be your new Sheriff. I guess you want to know what my experience is, so let me tell you a little about me. I was a deputy here for a years or so. The state police borrowed me to be an undercover drug runner for a local dealer who was a major distributor. After a year we shut his ass down. Then the state had to hide me out for the year it took to get the subjects of that investigation to trial. They hid me in a game warden job at the edge of the the great dismal swamp.

Believe it or not we got involved with some other drug dealers, and I got hit by some flying Cypress tree splinters and lost almost 50% use of my left hand. They wouldn't renew my LED certificate and without that you can't work for Law Enforcement anywhere. That is unless you get elected Sheriff. After my forced retirement, I did some security work for a private company and that's kind of my total six year experience in the law enforcement field. Thanks for listening and I hope you will vote for me.

A couple of other people got up and made their speech before Chief Deputy Webster Retired made his speech. They all had prepared remarks and pretty soon it was over. Then the questions began.

"Miss Porter, Debbie Messer here with Chanel 8 TV. Could you tell our audience how many people you have killed."

"Yes Ma'am, I killed all I could, that were trying to kill me." I said. The crowd burst into laughter. "And none who weren't."

"But can you give us a number." She insisted.

"Well I really can't. You see I fired a, 50 Caliber machine gun into some rocks when the Taliban tried to kill me and my fellow airmen. I have no idea whether I hit anything or not. I do know it got quiet after a while."

"How about in Vera Cruz," she asked.