20/20 - The Book

© 2007-2020 BY B SHAWN CLARK - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED (AS TO WEBSITE CONTENT & REFERENCED NOVEL)

The young guy reminded me of a character who played a skinny, inept deputy on an old TV series set in a small town in rural America.  I forget the name of the show.  “Barn” is what the wise sheriff who ran the town affectionately called him, as I recall.  “Barney” (as in “Now, Barney, why’d you have to go and do that for”) is what the sheriff called him when he made another bone-headed move.  I saw the Barney Character slap Peabody on the arm and heard him tell him “you can’t say that!”

I started ruminating about the standoff at the OK Moat with Peabody and Barney the Deputy, which then led me to start rummaging through some of the manuals in the study at the Hermitage to refresh my recollection on the whole silly incident that happened that day.  

At the head of the room was a table with Peabody sitting in the middle; two other older guys I recognized as being from the neighborhood sat on either side of him.  There was also some sort of coast guard or other guy in a uniform standing almost at attention near the table.  I wondered how he could keep his composure in that straightjacket, boiling in the heat.  Deputy Barney was also there.