"Comes with the job. Had to help ole Eli Tillman and his dumb as dirt boys get themselves pulled out the mud a good bit back from where I was coming from. That's mostly what I do out here this time of year. Heck, they didn't even give me a gun when they swore me in."

John realized he hadn't seen Kitty since back before he became a deputy, or at least she hadn't seen him. He saw her a few months ago right after he got deputized, coming out of Strom's Drugstore down at the square. He waved to her with a wide smile on his face, but she hadn't seen him and he felt a bit embarrassed when his uncle snapped at him and said he looked like a damn idiot, waving and smiling like that. 

"Umm..., so, how have you been? I've seen Jack around town, we kind of travel in the same circles nowadays, but I haven't had a chance to ask about you. You been keeping well?"