Read No Country for Old Men for Free Online

passin a shotgun out the window
     to the old boy settin in the bed of the truck. I'll tell you right now I hit them brakes
     with both feet. It skidded the unit sideways to where the lights was goin out into the
     brush but the last thing I seen in the bed of the truck was the old boy puttin that
     shotgun to his shoulder. I hit the seat and I just had hit it when here come the
     windshield all over me in them little bitty pieces they break up into. I still had one
     foot on the brake and I could feel the cruiser slidin down into the bar ditch and I
     thought it was goin to roll but it didnt. It filled the car just full of dirt. The old boy
     he opened up on me twice more and shot all the glass out of one side of the cruiser and by
     then I'd come to a stop and I laid there in the seat, had my pistol out, and I heard that
     pickup leave out and I raised up and fired several shots at the taillights but they was
     long gone.
    Point bein you dont know what all you're stoppin when you do stop somebody. You take out
     on the highway. You walk up to a car and you dont know what you're liable to find. I set
     there in that cruiser for a long time. The motor had died but the lights was still on. Cab
     full of glass and dirt. I got out and kindly shook myself off and got back in and just set
     there. Just kindly collectin my thoughts. Windshield wipers hangin in on the dashboard. I
     turned off the lights and I just set there. You take somebody that will actually throw
     down on a law enforcement officer and open fire, you have got some very serious people. I
     never saw that truck again. Nobody else did neither. Or not them plates noways. Maybe I
     should of took out after it. Or tried to. I dont know. I drove back to Sanderson and
     pulled in at the cafe and I'll tell you they come from all over to see that cruiser. It
     was shot just full of holes. Looked like the Bonnie and Clyde car. I didnt have a mark on
     me. Not even from all that glass. I was criticized for that too. Parkin there like I done.
     They said I was showin out. Well, maybe I was. But I needed that cup of coffee too, I'll
     tell you.
    I read the papers ever mornin. Mostly I suppose just to try and figure out what might be
     headed this way. Not that I've done all that good a job at headin it off. It keeps gettin
     harder. Here a while back they was two boys run into one another and one of em was from
     California and one from Florida. And they met somewheres or other in between. And then
     they set out together travelin around the country killin people. I forget how many they
     did kill. Now what are the chances of a thing like that!' Them two had never laid eyes on
     one another. There cant be that many of em. I dont think. Well, we dont know. Here the
     other day they was a woman put her baby in a trash compactor. Who would think of such a
     thing? My wife wont read the papers no more. She's probably right. She generally is.
     
     
    Bell climbed the rear steps of the courthouse and went down the hall to his office. He
     swiveled his chair around and sat and looked at the telephone. Go ahead, he said. I'm here.
    The phone rang. He reached and picked it up. Sheriff Bell, he said.
    He listened. He nodded.
    Mrs Downie I believe he'll come down directly. Why dont you call me back here in a little
     bit. Yes mam.
    He took off his hat and put it on the desk and sat with his eyes closed, pinching the
     bridge of his nose. Yes mam, he said. Yes mam.
    Mrs Downie I havent seen that many dead cats in trees. I think he'll come down directly if
     you'll just leave him be. You call me back in a little bit, you hear?
    He hung the phone up and sat looking at it. It's money, he said. You have enough money you
     dont have to talk to people about cats in trees.
    Well. Maybe you do.
    The radio squawked. He picked up the receiver and pushed the button and put his feet up on
     the desk. Bell, he said.
    He sat listening. He lowered his feet to the