I stood around too nervous to drink. I drank a ton of really bad coffee before the first results came in. I could have cared less about the school boa...d and county commissioners. It was all about the run for Sheriff. First results had it a close three way race with me and the retired chief from Dobson in the rear. But the largest precinct to report was near Dobson. Dobson wasn't in Warren County but it was on the edge, and that area had reported, so they thought the retired police chief was. Bill and Ann talked for quite a while. The conversation flowed easy. Both were about the same age and shared a lot in common. Bill told Ann about the death of his wife. Ann related her story about how her husband had left her and how difficult she often found it to be on her own. She admitted to Bill how hard it was for her around the holidays and she found herself crying often at this time. Bill fully understood.“Do you remember the days when life seemed so new and it seemed like we had. How long will it take you to get from the airport, out past Spenard, to your friend’s place in Muldoon; on the other side of town? Twenty minutes. How long will it take you to run up to the corner store? Twenty minutes. When you spend a good portion of the year waiting for your vehicle to warm up enough to drive, it’s a safe estimate. Anchorage is a city, but everyone thinks of it as “town.” (I wonder if it’s related to the twenty minutes that every pissed-off customer has been waiting. You. I didn't really want to fuck a sheep.I didn't go looking for the flock the next day; I was scared of my thoughts. Instead I hunted down a soft-skinned melon, bored a hole in it, and heated it over the fire for a minute or two to get it nice and warm. If I wanted something warm and wet to fuck, I didn't need a sheep. I would just use the melon and think about women and everything would be fine. I told myself all this and more as I pushed the warm melon into a mound of sand and began stroking.