Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Carl Meece was sheriff of Casey County, Kentucky when I was a teenager. He was a good sheriff, in rough county. Carl stood about five foot eight and looked fat. He wasn’t. He had earned the reputation as the baddest man in the county. I don’t mean he was evil or mean, you just didn’t want to mess with Carl. He would chase a fight like a greyhound after a rabbit. If you were caught breaking the law, but did not resist when caught, everything was fine; but a bad ass, that resisted arrest, made Carl’s mouth water.

Dad had a neighbor friend who was always often in trouble with the law, to avoid embarrassment I will leave his last name out.  He was a very likable fellow, but he did not think things through.  I felt sorry for him, when he was in trouble, even though I knew he deserved everything that came his way.

We were out on my Grandpa Choate’s porch late one evening, when the young man came running up. “Kit, can I hide out here? Carl is looking for me.” Grandpa just looked at him and said “You know I won’t lie for you, but go on about your business, and I won’t volunteer any information. If I don’t know where you are, I can’t tell Carl.”

He took off around the house, and we sat out enjoying the evening breeze. After ten or fifteen minutes Carl drove up. He got out of the car and walked up to the porch. He looked at grandpa “Howdy, Kit.” “Howdy, Carl.”

Carl says “I’m looking for ____. Do you know where he’s at?” Grandpa goes “Well, I can’t rightly say.”

Carl stood there for a minute then asks “Do you mind if I look around?” Grandpa just shook his head and said “No, help yourself.”

Carl went around the house and out to the cornfield in back. After about a half hour Carl comes back and says “Thank you, Kit. Ya’ll have a good night.” Grandpa looked at him and said “Welcome, Carl. Night.”

A little while later, Dad's friend came up out of the field, white as a sheet, and stumbled up to the porch. He sat on the stoop, head hanging. Grandpa just looked at him. “Ya’ll right?”

He nodded, took a deep breath and said “I was hiding in the corn patch when Carl came out. When he started toward me I was on my knees, and started to move away. I heard a buzzin'.  I looked to my right and a rattler was right beside me. He was buzzin’ on my right and Carl was comin’ on my left. I didn’t know where to go. After a while Carl stopped, like he heard the rattler, and headed back to the house. I was afraid to move, in case the rattler got me. After a while it went away, too.”

He took another deep breath, and said “Lordy, Carl on my left, a rattler on my right, and me in the middle not knowin’ which was the meanest!”