A couple days ago, I came back to Mayberry. I parked my car in the driveway and found the house empty. I went to the mailbox and found the mail waiting for the mail to be checked. I was happy to be back home in Mayberry but enjoyed my stay in Milwaukee with my friend, Sheriff Cline. I knew it had been years since I had last seen Sheriff Cline. I saw in the mail I had gotten a letter from Sheriff Cline. I opened the letter from Cline.
It read:
Dear Andy,
Thank you for helping me solve the cold case on my deputy. I appreciate your help on solving the case. It means a lot to me. If you never helped me at all on this case, I would have never known it was Tony who was the star witness behind this whole thing. Now we know who did the murder on my deputy, they are going to court next week and getting their sentence there.
Tony isn't going to court because he is still too young. All Terry and I decided what was best for Tony since you made him spill the beans to me is that I am taking him to the courthouse and he will have to write his statement on what he saw and the court will read Tony's statement on what he saw twelve years ago. Thanks again for your help.
As for myself, I went to the doctor the day you left. We talked about my depression treatment. Since my therapy treatment never worked, we thought best I stopped going there. I am off of those medicines and I am sticking with one medicine (Cymbalta). The best thing the doctor thought was to help my treatment was for me to try supplements with my medication. Back then when Andy was murdered, I hardly ate anything. I didn't eat my first entire meal until you came to the house.
Now the case is closed, I am starting to do my activities again. I still want my driver's license back, but that won't be happening. My wife and son will still drive me around. When Terry and Tony aren't home to drive me around when I want to go somewhere, I have to call somebody who will drive me around. Somebody like my neighbors or my friends or whoever is with me. One more thing. I am starting to sleep better at night but I am sleeping with a machine that helps me sleep better during the night so that won't disappear either. I'm sorry but I have to leave. Hope to hear from you again soon. Give my love to Opie and Aunt Bee.
Your friend,
Jeremy
"Ain't that nice," I said as I opened the front door to my house.
"Andy, is that you?" Aunt Bee asked when she saw me walk into the house.
"Yes, Aunt Bee," I said, mail in my hands.
"We saw the newspaper the other day and your name was mentioned. Clara said she saw you on the ten o'clock news," Aunt Bee said.
"You mean the cold case, right?" I asked.
"Right. How did you do it?" Aunt Bee asked.
"Just like the paper and the news said, it's true," I said.
"That's good. I'm sure Jeremy is feeling better," Aunt Bee said.
"He is. I just got a letter from him," I said.
"What did it say?" Aunt Bee asked.
"You can read it," I said.
"All right. Opie and the girls are still in school," Aunt Bee said.
"That's fine. I'll pick Opie up. I want to talk to him," I said.
"Is it about the case?" Aunt Bee asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Don't worry about the girls, Andy. I think Martha and Laura are going to be with their friends after school, so you and Opie can have your private talk," Aunt Bee said.
"Thanks, Aunt Bee. I want to make it a private one," I said.
It was time for Opie to get out of school. He sure missed playing football after school. He remembered he was still grounded. Opie was surprised to see my car in front of Mayberry High School a few minutes later. Opie was happy to see me again. Once Opie saw the car, he went straight to the car and got into the passenger's seat.
"Hi, Pa!" Opie said.
"Hi, Op. Mind if we talk?" I asked.
"About what?" Opie asked as I drove away from the school.
"Your punishment," I said.
"What about it?" Opie asked.
"I have news for you," I said.
"What news?" Opie asked.
"Will you just let me talk?" I asked.
"Sorry, Pa."
"I visited my friend in Milwaukee, Op. The boy you met when you went there for your football game confessed he was the star witness to the murder case," I said.
"He did? What are they going to do now, Pa? Ground him?" Opie asked.
"You don't punish somebody who is the star witness to a murder case, Opie. When somebody is a star witness in a crime, that means they are the hero to the whole thing like the boy you met," I said.
"You mean he wasn't fooling when he told me? You mean he was tellin' the truth?" Opie asked.
"That's right," I said.
"Wow," Opie said.
"Now we have the murderers who killed his pa's deputy, the murderers are going to court next week and getting their sentence. The boy you talked to won't be at the trial because he is too young. All he is going to do is write his statement on what he saw," I said.
"How come he can't go to the trial, Pa?" Opie asked.
"If he went to the trial, Op, it would be too murderous for him. His ma and pa have decided it would be best fro him to have an oral. When he is eighteen he will start going to trial and everything," I explained.
"Now about your punishment, Op. As for you, since you talked to the star witness himself at your football game, this case is now solved. You are now no longer punished. I hope you learned your lesson about stealing evidence in a murder case that was twelve years old," I said.
"I sure did, Pa. Does that mean I get to drive again?" Opie asked.
"Yes, but we'll have to get your license at the courthouse where I left if. We'll go there next," I said.
"Okay," Opie said and the two of us drove to the sheriff's office in office.
Once we made it to the sheriff's office, me and Opie parked next to the squad car and got out of the car and locked the car and walked into the sheriff's office. Once we walked into the office, we found Barney.
"Ange! I didn't know you were home. Welcome back," Barney said surprised.
"Hi, Op," Barney said.
"Hi, Barney. Barney, guess what?" Opie said with a smile on his face.
"What?" Barney said.
"I'm not grounded anymore," he said happily.
"That's good. I sure hope you learned your lesson by stealing evidence in a crime scene. You should know at age sixteen that's a no – no," Barney said.
"Pa told me that already," Opie said.
I gave Opie his driver's license.
"Thanks, Pa. I'm going to call Cassie and see if she wants to go out tonight," Opie said.
"Dating rules don't start until Friday," I said.
"Why? I thought they started tonight," Opie said.
"That's part of your punishment, Op. You can start playing football tomorrow but dating doesn't start until Friday," I said.
"Shoot," Opie said as he left the sheriff's office.
As soon as Opie was gone, Barney said, "I have news myself, Ange."
"What's that?" I asked.
"Thelma Lou and I are back together. She's now speaking to me again after what happened on the night I messed up the tango," Barney said.
"That's good to hear. You won't believe all the people I met in Milwaukee," I said.
"What are those people like, Ange?" Barney asked, relieved that he and Thelma Lou were talking again.
"A lot of them are just like the folks out here," I said.
"Really? Any of them like me?" Barney asked.
"I didn't meet any of you out there but I'm sure there is one of you there," I said.
"Did you meet any Goobers and Floyds out there?" Barney asked.
"You bet I did. You would have to come with me next time and see for yourself, Barn. Goober out in the city is also a mechanic. He's pretty strange," I said.
"Does he were strange hats like Goober out in the small town does?" Barney asked.
"No. He likes sports hats better," I said.
"That's different," Barney said.
"Tell me about Floyd in the city. What is he like?" Barney asked.
"Pretty much the same as the one here," I said.
"That ain't a surprise, Ange. Tell me about the Cline house," Barney said.
"You don't want to know, Barn. It was kind of a nightmare," I said.
"Why?"
"It's changed since he and I have lost contact with each other. They don't have things you and I do, Barney. Their technology has changed. For example, their TV set is different from ours. You don't have to get up to change the channels anymore. You can sit down and change the channels," I said.
"That's different. How do you change the channels at their house without getting up?" Barney asked.
"They have this thing called a remote control to change the channel," I said.
"I've never heard of those."
"Now you have, Barney. They look like fun but they don't use the TV much," I said.
"What else has changed since our time?" Barney asked.
"The record player. They don't have those anymore. They have these things called iPods and CD players that replaced the record player so you could still listen to music whenever you want," I said.
"I've never heard of those either," Barney said.
"Me either, but wait until we don't use the TV to switch channels and stuff," I said.
"Whenever that'll be," Barney said.
"Yeah, Barn. We'll just have to wait till the time comes."