In Case of Emergency

by M.B. Manteufel

About the Author: M.B. Manteufel is a freelance writer with published credits in a variety of print and online magazines. A former federal law enforcement agent, she has always been drawn to things dangerous, deviant, and disturbing. In her current incarnation as a writer, she now enjoys indulging those interests worry-free of being shot, stabbed, maimed, or sued. She makes her home on the dry side of Washington State.

Excerpt

My father always told me to keep a twenty-dollar bill in my wallet at all times. “You never know when you’ll need it,” he’d say. That Jackson was not to be touched under any circumstances, save for an emergency. Being down to my last quarter didn’t even qualify, according to him. “You got a quarter, you got enough for a packet of ramen noodles. Save the Jackson for a real emergency. It might just save your life someday.”

Several times during my childhood he showed me the neatly folded bill he kept in his black leather bi-fold, in an inside pocket behind the family photos. “Remember, Mikey, it’s only for emergencies,” he’d say in that low, serious voice he reserved for those life-lesson occasions, like teaching me and Henry how to outsmart a finicky bass hiding in the weeds or how to squeeze the trigger on a hunting rifle with a whitetail dead to center in the sights. Sometimes he used that voice when punishing us. He knew that yelling wouldn’t do any good. But sitting us down, forcing eye contact, and expressing his disappointment in measured, steady words barely above a whisper … that got our attention.

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