In this collection of true-life stories, we follow a young deputy sheriff in his adventures patrolling the sprawling heat of Imperial County, California, in the 1970s. From the humor of the town drunk to the tension of pursuing illegal immigrants, this book covers the gamut of a life in service to community and family. With police actions ever more under the microscope, these stories give the reader a broad look at police life and decisions. We ride along with rookie Deputy Pennings as he consoles the grieving, he dodges bullets, and he arrests the bad guys-and in a rural county of more than 4,400 square miles, back up was never near. Join the author in his earliest days of a life in law enforcement and learn the meaning of Desert Law.