The Sheriff

Back at the jail, Jerry and Herb got comfortable. They took their cowboy hats off and hung them on a tall coatrack made from curvy antlers. Sheriff Herb looked down at the envelope in his hands. He was thinking. He walked over to his large wooden desk and sat gently into a sturdy chair.

Jerry could barely contain his curiosity. “Well, aren’t you going to open it?” He had an excited look on his face as he quickly pulled another chair over next to Herb. When he sat down, he leaned toward the desk and waited with as much patience as he could muster.

“Don’t ya wanna guess who it is?” Herb said as he looked over to his friend and grinned.

Jerry smiled back. “Nope, just rip ‘er open, and let’s take a look at it.” He was never really into guessing games. Besides, how would he ever know who was going to be on the posters? It could be just about anyone.

Herb chuckled and started to open it up. He had it halfway open and then stopped. He looked back up at Jerry. “Sure you don’t wanna guess?”

“Aw, come on, Herb. You’re killin’ me with suspense,” Jerry said as he grinned back at the sheriff and slapped the desk with his big hand.

“Okay.” Herb had a big smile on his face. He thought it was funny seeing Jerry so fidgety. He tore the last little bit off the top of the envelope and then paused. “Maybe we should have some coffee. I think I’ll make some before we look at these.” He pushed away from the desk a little and pretended to get up.

Jerry couldn’t help himself. “Herb, you gotta open this thing!” he said with a big smile and a laugh as he leaned over to grab the envelope. “I wanna know if we get to chase a bad guy today!”

Sheriff Herb was laughing uncontrollably now. He and Jerry loved to tease each other. With that, Herb reached into the envelope with his left hand and began to pull out the posters. “Looks like we have a few today,” he remarked

Jerry leaned forward again, trying to see who was on the first poster. He was like a kid in a candy shop. If the guy was from their area, he would probably get to help Herb try to catch him.

The sheriff laid the posters down on the desk. He looked at the first one. It was a velociraptor with one eye covered by a patch.

“Hmm,” Herb said, reading the details. “Nope, not in our area.” He slid it across the desk to Jerry. “Sheriff McKenzie will like that one.”

Jerry looked it over. “Takin’ sarsaparilla from little kids outside a soda shop. That sure isn’t nice.”

“No, but Jack’ll deal with him.” Herb thumbed through a couple of others. The criminals were guilty of a variety of other things they shouldn’t have done, but still nothing was in his local area.

Herb was starting to forget about his earlier concerns. Maybe he would be spending another quiet day down at the soda shop with Jerry. Suddenly, Herb stopped shuffling the pages, and his broad smile melted from his face. He sat there just staring at the last “Wanted” poster in the stack. He slowly lifted it up so he was looking straight at it. “Oh, no way!”

Jerry looked up. He had been reading another poster Herb had given him. He was obviously concerned. “What? ”

Sheriff Herb’s face was blank. “It’s not possible!” Emotion was beginning to rise in his voice.

Jerry saw the concern in his friend’s eyes and tried to get his attention. “What is it, Herb?”

The sheriff looked over to Jerry and turned the poster so both of them could see. A portrait of a skinny compsognathus was printed on it. “Do you recognize this guy?”

Jerry suddenly became just as straight faced as Herb. “It can’t be!” He held one side of the poster.

Sheriff Herb let out a deep sigh. “It is. It’s Jesse!”