4 Chapter 4

“Nope. Courage.” The sheriff smiled. “Don’t argue with me. I’m bigger and older and I’ve been around the block a few times. Here.” He took a card from a holder on his desk. “This has my office phone number and my cell phone. If you need someone to talk to, once you find a place to settle, give me a call. Do you have a phone?”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t have any minutes left. It hasn’t for a while.”

The sheriff took out his wallet and handed Kip some cash. “Buy some minutes and use the rest for food until you get wherever you decide to go.”

“This is too much,” Kip said, when he saw it was three twenties, trying to hand them back

“Keep it. Consider it my attempt to save at least one kid from ending up in jail, or worse.”

Kip thanked him profusely. “I will call, I promise.”