“We need to get that checked out.” I opened the door for Benj, and Chloe was walking slowly around the back. “Are you guys okay?”
“I’m fine.” Benj’s hair was twisted at strange angles from being asleep, but he looked unscathed.
“I don’t know yet,” Chloe said. “I think my stomach is back up there on the road.” She leaned against the car.
We squinted at each other in the dim light coming from the car’s interior and headlights.
“How many drinks did you have?” Jodie was staring straight at me across her folded arms.
“Only one at the bar, like three hours ago. A couple at the park before. I swear I am fine. I wouldn’t have driven if I wasn’t. There was an animal in the road, a deer, I think.”
“I didn’t see it.” Jodie turned to Chloe and Benj. “You guys. Have you smoked anything today?”
“A little, but we’re not driving,” Chloe leaned against the car.
“I know, but if the police come to help us, you could be put in jail.”
“Man, you’re paranoid.” Benj searched our faces.
“She’s right. It’s Idaho,” I said.
Jodie scoffed. “Whatever. But if they get you for possession in Idaho, you’re screwed. If you got anything on you, you better get rid of it and away from this car.”
We stood there for a minute, and Benj walked a dozen yards away and shoved something under a dirt clod.
“Should we …”
“You need to call the police. I’m calling my dad. I promised him I would call him if this kind of thing ever happened.” She slipped her phone out of her pocket and hit a speed dial button. “Hey, Dad. I’m alright.” She walked away from the car, leaving me with the doped up duo.
I called the Emmett City Police Department, but a Gem County Deputy showed up about the time we had walked up to the road.
He sat in his car for a moment, called dispatch, and wrote something in his log. He got out, carrying a flashlight. I took a step toward him. “Is anybody hurt? Do you need medical attention?”
“I think we’re all okay. Jodie hit her head, but she seems to be alright.”
“We’re fine.” Chloe and Benj chimed in.
The officer was over six feet tall and towered over me like a moose. I held my hand out, and he reluctantly shook it. “I’m Billie Hatcher. I swerved to avoid a deer, and we went off the road.”
“Ma’am. I smell alcoholic beverages on you and your passengers. How much have you had to drink tonight?”
I almost crapped my pants. “No, officer. I mean, yes, my friends have had a lot to drink. I had one drink several hours ago. Like I told you, there was a deer.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He looked over at the others. “Jodie? Jodie Miller?”
“Yes, Mr. Stinson. It’s me. I’m okay. We were just coming back from Boise. I didn’t see the deer, but - ”
“Okay,” he interrupted. “Would you three please just have a seat over there?” He pointed his flashlight to a small hill a few feet off the road. “Ma’am, please come with me.”
He holstered his flashlight and headed back to the front of his police car, the lights still flashing an announcement of our predicament to the entire world, which for now, fortunately, was a few dozen cattle, a raccoon or two, and maybe a nearby farmer with insomnia. He reached into his front pocket and pulled out a pen and notepad.
“I know I already asked you, but can you tell me again where you were headed from and to tonight?” He clicked his pen and started to write.
“Yes, we were just coming from Boise and were headed to my house in Milepost, a few minutes down the road from here.”
“But you’re headed the wrong direction.”
“Er. Yes, we were headed towards my house, but Jodie wanted to go home. I turned around in a driveway, about a mile back.”
“You came from a drinking establishment in Boise?”
“No, we were at one earlier, but the last place we were at was a pizza place.”
“But you have consumed alcohol tonight? How long ago was that?”
“As I said, I had a drink several hours ago, maybe three. I ran off the road because I swerved to miss a deer, but I clipped it. You’ll see all that when you look at the car.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He wrote some more in his notebook. “Ma’am, you do have the smell of an alcoholic beverage on you, and at this time, I would like to perform a horizontal gaze nystagmus test. It is only a diagnostic test and does not confirm any impairment. It only helps me know if further action is necessary. Would you please stand with your feet close together and your arms at your side?”
“Okay.” I did as I was told.
He held his pen, a chrome Bic, about a foot away from my face. I glanced at all the patches on his uniform and saw his silver name tag that read James B. Stinson.
“Without moving your head, please follow the pen with your eyes.” He made several passes from side to side with the pen, pausing briefly on each pass. I was tired, and it was hard to keep my eyes on the pen, but I managed it.
I heard a car pull up behind us and the door open and slam shut, but I couldn’t see who was there. I could only hear heavy boots tromping through the gravel along the roadside.
“Jim! Where is she?” Deputy Stinson pointed the man towards Jodie, where she was sitting on the hill behind us. It was Russ.
He did not break stride and ran straight to his daughter. She’d barely stood up and started to dust herself off before he had his arms around her. She backed up,
