Patience County War (Madeleine Toche Series) Read Online Free Page A

much.”
    “Well, he may not be a real goat fondler but he’s pissing me off just the same.”
    Great, then let’s sink the bastard, Sam thought as he nodded in response to Koot’s statement.
    “I had words with him over it. He got his cattle back in when I fired a few rounds into the air. He understood that.”
    “Well, he kind of mentioned it, Mr. Koots. You seem calm now, let’s go see Mr. Dupree and see if we can get this thing under control.”
    Both men walked over to the squad and Sam drove the short distance over to the next farm. The house was an old clapboard with a fresh coat of paint. There was a nice garden, a barn, a pen with cattle and a small flower garden with a little headstone. The American flag fluttered in the breeze right next to it. As Koots exited the car he immediately noticed the flag.
    “Sam, how old is this guy?”
    “I think he’s about your age, sir.”
    Koots nodded and followed Sam up to the front door. Sam knocked and it was quickly answered by an older man, standing tall and straight. He looked right past Sam and addressed Koots.
    “You gonna shoot? Because I will shoot back.”
    It wasn’t a threat or delivered in a macho boasting way, it was a statement of fact.
    “No, sir.”
    “Then I suppose you men want to come in?”
    “If we could, Mr. Dupree,” Sam’s Southern manners told him not to come right to the point. Men of this generation would get to the point in good time. These were Southern gentlemen and manners were expected. Sam liked it that way. It gave a little more order to a world where there was enough confusion, enough meanness.
    Dupree moved aside and Koots and Sam walked into the entry way. The home was neatly kept. There was a smell of freshly baked cookies in the air and a clean, homemade rug under their feet, and a little dog curled up in the corner. It was a place where haste and hurry were left at the door.
    Dupree showed them through the entry way into the sitting room. As he walked into the room Koots passed an upright cabinet with medals, pictures, and a few maps displayed on top.
    “Were you with the 101st at Bastonne, Mr. Dupree?” Koots asked.
    “Nobody remembers that. Yah, I was there.” Dupree said in a faraway wistful voice.
    “Me too,” Koots said quietly.
    “What! I didn’t know you were Airborne.”
    Without hesitation, the men walked towards each other, embraced, and met like old friends who started talking a mile a minute.
    Sam’s jaw hit the floor. These men had just traveled through time. They weren’t pushing eighty anymore, they were fire-eating Airborne Rangers again.
    Sam sighed a little in relief. Apparently neither man had any carnal designs on the goat and chicken populations of Patience County. If they did, Sam was certain that they would restrict their activities to the animals they raised for breeding purposes. Sam laughed out loud at his own bad pun, thinking how dangerous random rumors could be regardless of how far-fetched.
    Sam said, “I’ll leave you guys to work it out then.”
    Neither man seemed to notice at all, so Sam just walked quietly out the door and over to his car. People are amazing, he thought. Not only had he brought two neighbors together, but he was sure these guys would be best of friends. Even though he hadn’t really done much, it made him feel damn good to see it. The exchange had been just the thing to see the sunny side of things.
    Sam jumped back into the squad and headed to the Sheriff’s station for his routine check in. His office was housed in an old concrete building on the far end of town from the shops and business offices. He passed friends on the street, making the required head nod or finger wave. He and his buddies often joked about it when they passed a farmer on a tractor and got the single digit lifted off the steering wheel salute. He smiled when he pulled up to the squat ugly concrete and cinder block building that looked more like an errant fortification than a city