Page 31 of JoyRide

“Hope not.”

“Let’s park and grab a beer before we saddle the horses.”

“I’m for that,” said Tammy.

I followed Tammy into the house, and she went straight for the fridge and grabbed three beers. Travis was hollering for Billy, and he wasn’t answering.

“He wouldn’t be upstairs,” said Travis. “Can’t do the stairs.”

“I’ll check the barn.” I set my beer on the kitchen table, ran through the house and out through the woodshed at the back. No sign of Billy.

The horses are in the corral.

I opened both barn doors and left them open. We had chores to do. Billy wasn’t in the barn. “Billy, where are you?” I hollered loud so he could hear me if he was outside.

Tammy came running out. “His truck is here. He can’t be too far.”

I came out of the garage. “Check the bunkhouse. That’s the only place I haven’t looked.”

Tammy ran ahead of me, and the door of the bunkhouse was open. Tammy screamed and I knew it was bad. She was no wussy.

I ran to the bunkhouse, and she was standing over Billy staring down at him and crying. He was sprawled on the floor all beat to hell and he looked pretty much dead.

I dropped down on one knee and felt his neck for a pulse and he was warm and breathing. “He ain’t dead, Tam. Run and tell Travis to back the truck up to the side of the barn. I’ll carry Billy.”

She took off like a shot and I had Billy over my shoulder walking past the winter wood pile when Travis backed across the compound.

He jumped out and opened the back door for me, and Tammy helped me get Billy inside and lying down on the back seat.

“I’ll sit in the back with him,” said Tammy. “He’s out cold. Not moving. There’s a lot of blood.”

“But he’s breathing?” asked Travis.

“He’s warm, Dad,” I said. “He ain’t cold or stiff.”

“Let’s go. We’d better step on it.”

Travis slid behind the wheel, rammed the truck into gear and we were out of there.

Cut Bank Hospital.

Ten minutes to get to Cut Bank Hospital with the siren screaming and the strobes flashing. Travis had his pickup outfitted with police equipment same as the squads. We always were needing an extra vehicle.

When we got there, Travis ran inside and got an orderly. The guy in blue scrubs lifted Billy out of the truck and put him on a stretcher.

After Billy was wheeled inside and taken to an emergency room, we had nothing to do but drink coffee for an hour until a doctor came to talk to us.

By that time, Billy’s parents had arrived from Shelby. Travis called them. He kind of eased into it so they wouldn’t be too shaken up or upset. Billy’s dad had a bad heart.

They asked too many questions, and we had no answers for them.. We had no fuckin clue what happened to Billy, but they kept on asking us anyway. Kind of like we knew, and we weren’t telling them.

The doctor came to find us and gave us the low-down on Billy’s condition. I tried to catch all of the medical stuff, but it was tough to understand.

“The preliminary examination has been completed along with a set of x-rays and bloodwork. Sheriff Johnson’s damaged leg has been further injured and that’s going to cause trouble for him, cuts and bruises will heal, but what I’m most concerned about is the head injury.”

“He has a head injury?” His mother started to cry.

The doctor didn’t try to comfort Mrs. Johnson, just kept going. “Sheriff Johnson was struck on the head with a heavy object, and I have no idea how long he was unconscious, andhis brain was deprived of oxygen. More tests will have to be run tomorrow.”

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