The Sheriff called me at about 4:30. Seems like we had had some trouble-makers in town and he just wanted to let me know about them. The Town Council was out of town and it had been a slow day for me so I decided to go down to the Jail and check these hoodlums out.

When I get to the Jail, I see Manny’s Mom in one cell and, sure enough, there in the other cell was Manny himself! Both of them were snoozing away, Manny in what I call the ‘Sphinx’ pose, and I thought to myself, “Oh goodness, this isn’t going to be pretty!”

I knock the Sheriff’s legs off his desk which brings him out of his slumber. At first he goes into a tirade about who would be waking him up in the middle of the day like this but then he wakes up enough to realize who it was. “Mayor,” he says with the deep voice of sleep, ”uh… what are you doing here?” I told him I had just come down here to the jail to meet his prisoners. Then I asked him to explain to me why he had the infamous Manny the Cat locked up with his Mommy in the other cell.

“Well, Boss, I found these two good-for-nothings stretched out on the front steps of the Post Office cat-napping in the sun in the middle of the day and arrested them for vagrancy.” Our Sheriff reminds me of a little of Sheriff Lobo from the Dukes of Hazard, except he’s not quite as bright. “Sheriff,” I sarcastically replied, “sort of like I just found you doing right here in your office?”… “Well, Boss, I wasn’t in public in the broad daylight though!”

I could tell I wasn’t getting through to him. Since ZwebbyVille was set up to appoint a Sheriff rather than elect one, I was sort of stuck with this guy since someone in his family had been Sheriff in ZwebbyVille since the day it was founded. Most of the time I found myself stepping in to maintain the law and order in Town and letting him think it was his idea. “Tell me the whole story, Sheriff”

“Well, these two come be-boppin’ into town in a bright yellow Hummer with the bass thumpin’ and the chrome wheels spinnin’… That one,” he says pointing to Manny, “has his sunglasses way down low on his nose and a look in his eyes like he owns the place, and, after checking out the whole town, park their rig and start walkin’ round. Next thing I hear, they had stretched out on the Post Office steps and started cat-nappin’ so’s I arrested them right away and brought them here.” The grin on his face made me realize he thought he was the cat who had eaten the proverbial canary… no pun intended…

About this time I hear Manny’s Mom stirring from her little jail-house nap and starting to spout one legal case after another about improper incarceration and constitutional rights and all other manner of legalese that I start to get worried about the Town’s liability in this matter. Face it, our Sheriff hasn’t always been known for his hardened criminal catching abilities…

I walk over to the cells and ask Manny’s Mom and Manny himself if they’d like to have a cup of coffee with me at the diner. Manny lazily stretches and acts like this whole event is a daily occurrence for him while his Mom starts berating me about citizens rights. You’d think, by the way she talked, she was a lawyer or at least involved with law somehow…

Two cups of coffee, a Danish and an apology later… the two of them climbed back into Manny’s yellow Hummer. This was quite the rig by the way! You’d think he was popular enough to be named to Best of MSN Spaces or something by the way he acted. The only thing missing was the typical posse…

As they drove out of ZwebbyVille, I thought to myself, “If that cat could talk I bet he’d have quite a story…”

(continued on www.manohmanny.com)