Jefferson McElroy silently stole down the path to his favorite fishing hole. He had cut school to engage in his number one hobby. If his dad or mom caught him skipping school, it would probable cost him a little hide, but it was a nice spring day and he didn't really care. Like most fourteen year old boys he wasn't interested in the future. Today is what he lived for. He rounded the bend around a thick brush patch two hundred yards from his spot. A faint mewling sound like a wounded cat attracted his attention. His senses were finely attuned to the normal sounds of the woods and this didn't sound normal to him. His body and mind came to full alert and he started to track the mysterious sound. It was coming from the center of the thicket. He laid his gear aside and started through the brush very quietly. About ten yards in he saw a piece of yellow cloth. Approaching carefully and not knowing what it was, he stalked it. Soon he could see that it was a very young girl in a yellow skirt crying in the brush. He slipped up close behind her.
"What's the matter?" he asked in a low tone.
She jumped like she'd been shot.
"Please don't beat me! I'll be good. Just don't hurt me any more," she cried.
"Nobody's going to beat you. What are you doing way out here in the woods crying?"
"They beat me bad," she whimpered.
It was then that he noticed that her skirt was torn, her shirt was in rags and she had bruises over most of what he could see of her body.
"Who beat you?"
"My brother and my daddy. I was lucky to escape or they would have raped me. They were drunk and out of control. Please don't take me back to them. They might kill me. I don't want to die. Help me!" she entreated.
The girl was only about ten years old. From the scars on her it was obvious that this wasn't the first brush with the men in her family.
"I'll take you to some place safe where they can't find you. You can't stay out here. There are bears and mountain lions. What's your name?"
"Elizabeth Moultry. Please don't give me back to them!"
"I'm not taking you to them. You are safe now. Just follow me down the mountain. I'll take you to my house."
She meekly followed him out of the thicket and down the mountain. His house bordered the Coeur D' Alene National Forest where he had found her. They walked to his back door. Looking inside he saw that his mother, Betty, was home.
Well, time to take my medicine, he thought as he opened the back door and brought the young girl into the house.
"What are you doing home at this time of day? You're supposed to be in school!"
"I cut school to go fishing."
"I hope you caught a bunch, 'cause they're gonna cost you."
"I know mama. But it's lucky I did. Look what I caught."
His mama stared at the girl. She immediately saw that she had been ill treated.
"You're off the hook Jeff. Where did you find her?"
"Up on the mountain by Trapper Creek. She was crying and hiding in the brush."
"Her name is Elizabeth mom. She's been beaten."
"Come here honey," mama said to the girl. "Tell me all about what happened to you."
The girl started crying and mama took her to her bedroom. When they came out of the bedroom mama was crying too. Jeff looked at them.
"Well?" he said.
"We can't let her go back home that's for sure. Your father will be home tonight. We'll decide what to do then. Come on honey, you look like you could use a good meal." And mama took her to the kitchen where Jeff could hear them talking and crying again. After a while the sniffling stopped and he could hear the sounds of lunch being consumed.
Jeff's father, Jim, returned about four o'clock. He was a logger. He stood about six foot two and had no fat on him. Jeff, at fourteen, was already five foot ten. He was in as good a shape as his father. Mama took Papa aside and explained what had happened.
"We're gonna get the sheriff to bust those assholes!" Jeff's dad shouted. "And if the sheriff won't do it, I'll bust them myself!"
He stepped to the phone and called the sheriff who appeared about thirty minutes later.
"We can't let her go back to her family," Jim stated. "Yeah, you got a point there. I'll get child protective to come out and take care of her," the sheriff said.
"NO!" screamed Elizabeth. "They'll take me back to my daddy. I won't go!"
"Why don't you just leave her here for a while until you can deal with her father and brother?" asked daddy.
"Okay, but I'll still have to notify the bureau."
The sheriff got into his car and got on the radio. "I need all the available deputies up here ASAP!" he told the dispatcher. "We'll get 'em sir, don't worry. I'll set up a court date for you. Maybe you can keep her if you want her."
"Hell yes we want her! I've always wanted a daughter and my wife has too. This one is perfect. I'll get a lawyer on it first thing tomorrow."
"Okay, well, I've got to go bust some assholes," the sheriff remarked and he drove away.
True to his word, the sheriff and eight deputies tried to arrest the criminals but they came out with guns blazing and the sheriff and his deputies blew them away.
"Give me a couple of your t-shirts," mama said to Jeff.
"What for?"
"She's got to have something to wear besides that dirty, torn rag until we can get her some decent clothes. Now hop to it! And throw those rags of hers away!"
It looked like mama meant business, so Jeff immediately produced a couple of his best t-shirts. She took Liz to the bathroom and gave her a long, hot bath. Jeff's t-shirts reached mid-thigh on Liz. It was just about right. Jeff was in the living room when she finished. Walking over to him, she suddenly hugged him.
