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snorted out a laugh and tried to cover it with a cough. Libby went ahead and laughed, making the Sheriff raise an eyebrow. “Since the victim wouldn’t answer any of my questions I had no choice as to not file any charges.” Libby let out a relieved sigh at the news. The Sheriff leaned against the door, a wicked smile on his face.
    “But trail riding without the proper equipment, now that’s a ticketable offense.” The Sheriff continued to smile as Libby sucked in a shocked breath. “First of all, your headlights aren’t working which is illegal regardless of where you’re driving. Second, trail riders are required to have a working C.B. in case of an emergency.” He pointed at the jumble of wires lying where the radio should have been. “Third,” he added before Libby could make any excuses. “If you’re close to the road, you need to slow your ass down. You could’ve hit me, Libby, or anybody else for that matter. And to top it all off, neither one of you are wearing your seatbelts.”  I grabbed for my belt the minute the words were out and he just shook his head at me.
    “Now I could write more than a few tickets for you today and the fines would add up to quite a bit,” Both me and Libby started to protest but he held up his hand for a third time. “But I’ve decided to let you off with a warning since I did the same exact thing when I was your age.” He rubbed his jaw as we both let out a collective sigh. “Except,” he added, eyeing me. “I was the one driving and the girl was riding shotgun.” I blushed, completely un-manned.
    “You two had better be careful from now on,” he lectured, chuckling at my red face. “No sense in getting hurt for having some fun when it’s muddy. And we wouldn’t want your parents finding out either.” Libby cringed. “Now get on home before you get into some real trouble.” Libby buckled her seatbelt and reached down to shift into gear.
    “One more thing, Libby,” the Sheriff added, coming back to her window. “You sure throw one hell of a punch.” He tipped his hat and went back to his cruiser. Libby blushed at the unexpected complement and slowly pulled away, making sure to use her turn signal.
    I watched the Sheriff from the side mirror as he got back into his car. He always caught us when we were doing something wrong but we never seemed to get into any trouble. Libby drove carefully and when we couldn’t see the Sheriff’s cruiser anymore, I looked back at Libby with a cocky grin on my face.
    “Better driver than me, my ass.” I taunted. We laughed the rest of the way home.

Chapter 5
     
     
    Later that summer, we were helping her Pa bale hay for extra cash. It was a hot, sticky task that we didn’t enjoy but we kept our mouths shut and worked until sunset. Libby would catch the hay as it fell from the baler and I would stack it behind us. I could tell Libby was getting tired, we’d been working almost eight hours, and I knew she wasn’t about to ask her Pa for a break. I tapped her shoulder and told her to take a water break. She nodded, wiping the sweat off her forehead and reached for the jug. When she came back instead of handing her the bales to stack, I hauled them past her and stacked them myself. She gave me a hard stare and started to argue.
    “Don’t worry, Lib. We’re almost done,” I told her. She finally leaned against the stack of bales, letting out an exhausted sigh. I worked like that for another hour, making Libby sit back down when she tried to start stacking again. As we got to the end of the field and the tractor slowed, I reached for the last bale of hay, glad to be done.
    I heard the ghostly rattle before I saw the snake. I froze, the hay bale in mid-toss, every nerve in my body screaming in fear. From the corner of my eye, I saw Libby jump up with a scream.
    “Pa!” She yelled for her father while stepping towards me.
    “Don’t,” I shouted, my muscles quivering from the weight of the hay I was holding up.