The Hesitant Hero Read Free

him?”
    “You don’t know him?”
    “No.”
    “That’s Oliver Blalock. He’s a district attorney. He’s got lots of pull with the judges. You picked the wrong man to hit, young fella.”
    “But he started it!”
    The policeman had a red face and a battered countenance. He grinned as he pulled Tyler out of the crowded room. “Don’t matter who started it. He’s the man with the weight. Next time be more careful who you bust.”
    “It’s not fair!”
    “ ’Course it ain’t fair,” the officer answered. “Most things in this here world ain’t fair. If things were fair, we’d all be born to rich people. But I didn’t make the rules and looks like neither did you. That’s why you’re going to the slammer and Oliver Blalock ain’t.”
    Tyler glared at the policeman but knew it was hopeless. His head was splitting, and all he could think of was what his parents would say when they heard about this little escapade.

CHAPTER TWO
    Flunking Out
    By the time the squad car had reached the hospital and Tyler had been led to the emergency room by the policeman, Tyler had sobered up considerably. He had a splitting headache, and the blood that trickled from the cut in his scalp had stained his white shirt. He had put a handkerchief on it to staunch the flow, but it had become sodden.
    “Go ahead and find some lunch or something, Dan,” the officer told his partner. “This could take a while.”
    “All right. I’ll be back in an hour.”
    The officer got out of the squad car and helped Tyler get out of the back seat. “That’s a bad cut you got there, Winslow,” he said as he led Tyler into the emergency room. “I reckon you’ll have to have some stitchin’ done.”
    Tyler’s head hurt too much for him to reply, and, in truth, he was ashamed of himself for the whole incident. His temper was a fearful thing, and he had struggled most of his life to control it. Now he knew there would be no way to keep this from Chance, and inevitably his parents would hear of it.
    The officer went to the desk and said, “We need to get this guy fixed up right away. He’s bleedin’ to death.”
    The woman behind the desk gave him a wry smile. “This is an emergency room, Officer Murphy. Everybody’s bleeding to death in one form or another.”
    “Ah, come on, sweetheart,” Murphy said. “Give us a break. We ain’t got time to wait.”
    “All right. Sign him in, and I’ll see what I can do.”
    The paper work took little time, and before long an attractive woman was leading Tyler and Murphy through a door that led down a corridor and then through a door in which there were six beds, two of them occupied.
    “Now, what can I do for you?” the woman asked Tyler.
    “I guess I’ve got a pretty good cut on my head,” he said as he pulled the handkerchief away from his forehead.
    “All right. Take this bed here.”
    “How long is this gonna take?” Murphy asked.
    “It shouldn’t take too long, Officer.”
    “Okay, I’m going to go get something to eat, but I’ll have to lock him to the bed. Come on, Winslow, put yourself down here.”
    Tyler gloomily lay down on the bed and watched as Murphy took out a pair of handcuffs, clamping one side to his wrist and the other to the bed rail. “You stay here and let the doc patch you up, then we’ll be goin’ downtown.”
    “What did he do, Officer, rob a store?”
    “No, he just got into a fight and busted the wrong guy.”
    Officer Murphy left as the woman bent over Tyler. Her brown hair was pulled back off her forehead and gathered in a bun. “Does it look bad, Nurse?”
    “It’s going to have to be stitched, and incidentally, I’m not a nurse.”
    “So you’re a doctor?”
    “Not yet.” She stood up. “I’ll need to shave part of your scalp before I can put the stitches in.”
    Tyler lay on the bed feeling worse by the moment. He shut his eyes and wished fervently he had not gotten himself into such a situation. He was certain he would not go to jail,