Chewing Rocks (26 page)

Ben shrugged, “I am under contract to go where she goes.”

McNally all but shouted. “I can’t go anywhere; I am strapped into this freakin’ box.”

Kramer looked at Sheriff Bob. “Well, Boss. You seem to be the only one in here who doesn’t have a purpose.”

Bob shrugged and turned to go.

McNally shouted. “No. Sheriff
, you gotta stay. You can’t leave me alone with those three. They already killed Cooper and Franklin. I need your protection. They will kill me if you leave me alone.”

Bob shrugged and s
at in a chair next to the med-box. “There you go, Kramer. It looks like I get to stay too. Maybe you should go check on Miss Queene.”

Kramer looked around the tent. “Yeah, I don’t guess I have any reason to be in here either if the sheriff is going to stay on protective duty.”

McNally looked as if he had won a small victory. “Yeah, the sheriff has to protect me.”

Sno smiled coldly, “His protection won’t last forever.”

Sheriff Bob looked down at McNally. “She is right. Once a doctor certifies you as fit then you will face her in a duel. Or you can call for arbitration and then face her in a duel.”

McNally said, “Wait. Not so fast. How about me mak
ing a deal?”

Sheriff Bob raised an eyebrow at Sno. “Her call
. What do you say, Miss Whyte.”

Sno said, “What’s the deal
, McNally?”

“I can give you Evelyn Queene.”

Sno laughed. “I already have Evelyn Queene. She is locked up in here with us.”

McNally said, “Yeah, but she is slippery and smart. I can testify she was helping Fr
anklin, Cooper, Hunter and me. Her and that Wallace guy worked to set the whole thing up.”

Hunter
said, “She doesn’t need you for that. I’ll testify against them both and against you. I am not even asking for a deal.”

McNally said, “Yeah, but listen, Sn…I mean, Miss Whyte. You need me for corporation in the trial.”

Ben said, “It is corroboration during arbitration, not corporation.”

The sheriff nodded. “McNally is right.
Hunter is good, but you can’t lock Queene down on just one guy’s say so. It takes at least two in a group of co-conspirators to witness against a third.”

Sno said, “So what makes you think Queene will ask for arbitration?” At the look on the faces around she snorted. “Yeah, stupid question.
What do you want in return, McNally? And before you respond, try to remember that just a few short weeks ago you had me strapped naked to your galley table. Because believe me, I have not forgotten that.”

McNally looked around him, “I don’t know what you got. I don’t want to die. Prison?”

Sheriff Bob shook his head, “No prisons on Ceres. Duels to whatever level the complainant calls for, to the death, first blood or anywhere in between.” He starred pointedly at Sno, then continued, “There are money damages, but you are broke. There is indentured servitude, but I don’t know who would want you.”

McNally looked puzzled, “Indented what?”

Sno answered, “Slavery, doofus. Maybe for life, maybe for less. But the sheriff is right. Who would want you?”

McNally cast his eyes about him. “Um. I can work in your warehouse?”

Sno shook her head, “Nope. Whyte Mining is automated or Dad does it.”

“Mining
crew?”

“I wouldn’t put you with any decent crew that works for us and I sure as
pigskin would not take you on a ship with me.”

McNally became desperate, “Okay,
I can clean floors, windows, toilets. I don’t care. Sell me to someone else. I just don’t want to die.”

Sheriff Bob said, “So you want to call for arbitration and then throw yourself on Miss Whyte
’s mercy?”

McNally said, with relief in his voice, “Yeah. That’s it.
If I gotta go down, at least I am taking Queene and Wallace with me.”

Sno nodded. “Okay
, I’ll bite. I am not feeling very merciful right now. I may change my mind later, but I am willing to see where this goes.”

Kramer called from just outside the tent. “Doctor
is on his way from the gate. Queene is calling for him first, but I’ve got to send him in here first.”

Sheriff Bob looked stricken, “Queene? What is wrong with her?” The
sheriff hustled out to the tent.

They could hear Kramer’s voice f
ading in the distance. “Not a blessed thing, she is just claiming she needs something to calm her nerves.”

Ben called out, “Hey, Doc Brown. In here.”
The doctor ambled into the tent as if he was not in a hurry and had no particular place to be.

A gravelly voice said, “Hi, Ben. How is Toby? Strapping young boy; good set of lungs. Good you let him get birthed on Earth. Better for early development com
ing into life in full gravity.”

Sno snorted, “Quack.”

Doc Brown replied, “Don’t that beat all? Sno, I haven’t seen you since you bit Rodney Leffert in the leg. You were about six?”

Sno said, “No, you old goat. I bit Rodney Leffert’s tongue last year. He tried to kiss me and put his tongue where it didn’t belong. I bit
Carlos Morales in the leg when I was six.”

Doc Brown chuckled. “So, who did you bite this time?”

Sno held up her left arm. The blood soaked bandages were evident. “Small knife wound, Doc.”

Doc Brown said, “You
’re responsible for that mess in the street? I stopped by to certify the cause and time of death on the way in here.” He began to peel away the crude bandage job that Hunter had applied.

Sno shrugged. “Yeah, t
hat was mine.”

Doc Brown asked, “I also saw a body over by the men’s tent. I haven’t checked it yet. That yours too
?” He opened his medical bag and began to repair the cut.

Sno nodded with a look at
Hunter, “Yeah, it is as much my fault as anybody’s.”

Doc Brown said, “You got the whole place in an uproar. Half of the town is outside the gates waiting for something else to happen. Half of the town is down on your docks. The other half of the town is down at city hall clearing things up for a mess of arbitration hearing
s. Though it doesn’t look like we need as much arbitration as we did an hour ago.”

Ben laughed, “Doc, you got three halves in there.”

Doc Brown harrumphed, “That is a figure of speech. Didn’t they teach you nothin’ in school on Earth?”

Ben laughed, “Nope. Nuthin’.”

Doc Brown said, “All done, Sno.”

She looked at her arm. “No stitches?”

Doc Brown shook his head. “Not this time. All you required were some coagulants to stop the blood flow, some anti-scar gel and a little duct tape to hold the edges of the cut closed.”

Sno said, “Yeah, it looks like duct tape.”
The doctor had taped the cut shut with a clear strip of three inch wide tape.

Doc Brown replied, “Quack
, quack. And what about the man in the medbox? Did you put him there?”

Sno shook her head. “No. It was probably my fault, but I didn’t touch him…yet.”

Doc Brown leaned over the med-box. He punched a few of the buttons on the control panel. “Yeah, well. It looks like you can get out of there anytime, sir. This box has done all it can for now. You have a full load of nanos working their magic on your injuries. Let’s see, knees, right? Well, they are going to take a few days to heal. Your legs hurt?”

McNally said, “Yeah, Doc. They hurt like
someone drove a tank over them.”

Doc Brown nodded. “Good. That’s how you know the
nanites are working. Just stay off your legs for at least four days. Use the wheelchair in the corner.”

Kramer stepped into the tent. “
Boy howdy! This is the busiest day I have had since I don’t know when. Even money bets are to see if I don’t’ quit this mess and go get a real job.”

Sno said, “Problems, Deputy?”

Kramer said, “It has been that kind of day. Doc, if you are done here, I need you to check on a woman prisoner. She says she is having a heart attack, but it just looks like a panic attack.”

Doc Brown said, “You a medical man now
, Kramer?”

Kramer shook his head, “Nope, but she has the same look Mabel got when she heard my mother wanted to move in with us. And Doc, when you are done with her check on the body by the men’s tent. I need you to certify cause and time of death.”

Doc Brown asked, “Cause?”

Sno said, “Cause is most likely a skillet to the skull. Last we saw the skillet was still in the grass.
The whole thing should be on video for review, if you need it.”

Doc Brown said, “Skillet, huh? At least it is not a boring day.”
The man closed his medical bag and hurried from the tent.

Kramer nodded
, watching the mea cut across the compound to the women’s tent. “Getting more exciting by the moment.”

Sno said, “What’s up, Deputy? More problems?”

Deputy Kramer replied, “Nope. Hopefully, we just got a way to fix all of our problems all at the same time. An arbiter has been chosen already. They are setting up folding chairs down at the city hall for some of the crowd.”

“
An arbiter has been chosen already?” Sno asked. “We haven’t had time to call for arbitration yet.”

Ben said, “I beg to differ
, Miss Whyte. You called for arbitration between you and the sheriff back on the docks.”

“I did?” Sno looked baffled.

Ben nodded, “When you arrested Sheriff Bob. If you hadn’t, then one of our fathers would have done so to clear the air as soon as possible.”

Sno said, “Well, so be it. Hey, Kramer, did they say who the lottery picked
?”

Arbiters
were selected at random by drawing a name out of a hat. The city kept a list of qualified civic-minded individuals willing to listen and pass judgment. Arbiters could only disqualify themselves if they felt there was a conflict of interest.

Kramer said, “Yep
. It should be good for you…I think. Therese Cleasemount drew the lot.”

“Damn
,” Sno said.

Ben nodded, “Damn, indeed. There isn’t a person in Arizona City
who doesn’t know she badmouths you every chance she can. I don’t know why, but she really doesn’t like you.”

Sno said, “Well
, it is kind of embarrassing, but she was my second grade teacher.”

Ben smiled, “Mine too. Although
, I seem to remember finishing the second grade. You didn’t finish if I recall.”

Sno grimaced. “Yeah, Miss Cleasemount and Dad kind of started
a thing that year. Dating, you know. It had only been a short while since my mother had left us and I guess I was kind of a snot.”

Ben gave an obviously fake look of surprise, “No! Really? Chastity Whyte acting like a little snot? How shocking!”

Sno stuck her tongue out at Ben, “Yeah. I guess I came between them. Dad even had to take me out of school and home school me from then on.”

She turned to the
deputy. “Hey Kramer, you said this would be good for me. Everybody knows she hates me. Shouldn’t she excuse herself from the duty?”

Kramer laughed, “
Bless me, no! Your history doesn’t go back far enough on Therese Cleasemount. She was married when she and your dad had a thing going.”

Sno looked surprised. “Married? I didn’t know that
. I guess I was too, well…too young to know.”

Ben laughed, “Young
? Yeah, we could go with that or we could say that you were just caught up in your own problems. Your dad knew, but he was going through a rough patch of his own.”

Sno chuckled, “Yeah, I am beginning to realize my mother left us both, not just me. Okay, so Miss
Cleasemount was married, so what?”

Kramer
began laughing so hard enough his eyes were beginning to water. “She is Sheriff Bob’s ex-wife. She was messing around with your dad because Sheriff Bob had some little hoochie on the side. I’ll be creamed, poached and scrambled if I know for sure who Therese hates worse. You for messing with her plan to humiliate her husband or Sheriff Bob for publicly humiliating her. I put my money on Bob losing that bet.”

Sno laughed. “Oh
man! I love living in a small town. Everybody knows who did who if they didn’t do them themselves. Yeah, Kramer, I think I would bet I come out on top. But, as much as she doesn’t like Sheriff Bob or me why doesn’t she excuse herself?”

Ben said, “Civic duty, Miss Whyte.
Just like you said this is a small town. There probably isn’t any long time resident who hasn’t bumped heads with you or Sheriff Bob over the years. Plus, Therese Cleasemount didn’t back down when she got called up about six years ago. I remember when her sister was under warrant for spousal abuse. She put her feelings aside and rendered a true judgment. Even her sister would agree that she got what she deserved. Right Kramer?”