“I don’t like it when you say a little. That always means you’re starving. We might as well stop over at the diner. I’m sure your mom will want to know how it turned out. After we eat, I’ll drop you off at school.”
“Okay.”
*****
Betty knocked on Cat’s door. “Honey, you need to get up. Breakfast will be ready pretty soon. You don’t want to be late, might make the judge mad.”
“Saturday morning already?” asked Cat.
“Yes, it is. It’s supposed to be pretty nice today, sunny, around seventy degrees.”
“Great day to paint park benches.”
“I think you got off pretty easy.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Coffee ready?”
“Yes, you better get a cup pretty soon. Your dad is on his second one.”
Cat rolled out of bed went to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. She walked out onto the porch.
“Morning, Dad.”
“Good morning, Cat, ready to do some painting?”
“’Bout as ready as I’ll ever be.”
“It won’t be too bad, nice day to paint.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m gonna finish getting ready. See ya at breakfast.”
“Don’t take too long.”
“Yes, Dad.”
*****
Judge Bean was looking over some paperwork when Dave and Cat walked into the courthouse. He looked up.
“Good morning, ready to get to work?”
Cat replied, “’Bout as ready as I’ll ever be.
“That’s the spirit.” He looked at Dave. “Drive your pickup?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Good, we can put the stuff she needs in that, and you can drive it over to the park. Meet me at the town garage. It is just down the street next to the fire house.”
“Okay. See you there.”
Dave drove his truck down to the garage. Judge Bean, Dave, and Cat loaded the paint and equipment into the truck.
After it was loaded, Judge Bean said, “Go ahead and drive over to the park, and park along the street by the benches. I’ll be there shortly.”
Dave replied, “All right.”
Dave parked his truck by one of the groups of benches. It was a nice little park, plenty of shade trees, picnic tables, grills, and benches. People would bring their families for a cheap afternoon getaway.
Dave said, “Well, Cat, pick out the one you want to start on, and I’ll help you carry the stuff over.”
“Might as well start on the one that is in the shade, that way I can just follow the shade as the sun moves.”
“That’s my girl, always thinking.”
Cat started scraping off the loose paint. One thing her dad taught her was that any job worth doing was worth doing well, even if it wasn’t for herself. Not only that, she didn’t want to do it over.
Judge walked up to Dave. “Let’s go over to the diner and get a cup of coffee while she gets started. We can come back and check on her later.”
Dave looked at Judge Bean a little hesitant. “Well, okay.”
“She’ll be all right. I asked the warden to keep an eye on her.”
“Cat, I’m going with Judge Bean to get a cup of coffee. I’ll be back. Your water jug is in the back of the truck.”
“Okay, Dad, you know where I’ll be.”
*****
Judge Bean and Dave walked into the diner and sat down at a booth. The waitress came up to the table.
“Morning, Judge, the usual?”
“Yeah, no sense changing now.”
The waitress turned to Dave. “And what can I get you?”
“I’ll just have coffee.”
“Okay, hon, I’ll bring that right out. Cream, sugar?”
“No, black.”
Judge Bean said, “I hope you like strong coffee.”
“The stronger the better,” Dave replied.
“So you lost your job in New York?”
“Yeah, I was the vice president of a big bank. I held on after 9-11, but when the housing bubble broke, that’s all it took. They had to downsize.”
“You inherited Jeff Brewer’s place?”
“Yeah, he had wanted me to move down here before, but I had a steady job. He said this was like going back in time a hundred years, only with modern conveniences. He also said life was at a slower pace here. You could actually enjoy life.”
“I bet your daughter is a handful.”
“That she is.”
“I have had a lot of people come through my court. I am semiretired now. I just take misdemeanor game violations, traffic, and juvenile cases. That helps free up the county courthouse. All the felony cases go there. The most we do for that is hold them overnight till they’re transported. I’m enjoying my retirement. It gives me time to get involved with the people and hopefully keep some of the young people from getting into big trouble.”
“How long you’ve been retired?”
“A little over five years, the county was going to close this courthouse. We had a town meeting and came up with an idea to keep it open. We sent the plan in, and the state agreed to let us try it for a year to see how it worked out. The only full-time law officer here is the game warden, and he is paid by the state. All we have to do is keep an office here for him.”
“Seems to be working.”
The waitress brought Judge Bean his breakfast and refilled their coffee cups. “Can I get either of you anything else?”
“No, that should do it,” Judge Bean replied.
Dave replied, “No thanks.”
Judge Bean turned to Dave. “Like I said, I am a pretty good judge of character. I would say your daughter has strong convictions and will probably do about anything to help her family and anyone else that needs help.”
“Oh yeah, she’s a real good kid, although she has her moments. She’ll help anyone that she can, even if it means bending the rules a bit.”
“Noticed that. I talked to the school, they said that she does real well in class. Haven’t had any problems with her. Although rumors have it that she knocked Bob on his ass.”
“That was probably true.”
“I am sure it was, but Bob’s pride wasn’t gonna let him say anything.”
“I talked to his dad. That’s what he figured. He said that maybe his son would watch his mouth from now on.”
“I take it that Cat likes to hunt quite a bit.”
“Yes, she also enjoys fishing, trapping, and camping anything that has to do with the outdoors and the wild. She is a very determined child. Very confident and bullheaded…will take anything that is thrown at her in stride. I know her dream is to get into competitive shooting. She is reading everything she can get her hands on that pertains to long-range shooters. Whether it is military snipers, competing,