The sun is sinkin’ behind the horizon in a burst of oranges, reds and yellas. Looks like the heavens are paintin’ a picture and tellin’ me it’s all gonna be okay. I’m sittin’ here on my porch in my rockin’ chair drinkin’ lemonade just tryin’ to keep cool. Fields of wheat and corn sway in a kind'a graceful dance, movin’ with the gentle, hot breeze. Often times it lulls me to sleep in my chair, and I wake with a crick in my neck. This evenin’ the wheat is singin’ a song of sorrow for me.

Although the initial setting is well painted, You are not starting the story where you should. It sounds like your character is about to tell us the story from the beginning - this is just you trying to warm up.

Just MHO...

Also, your first 13 is setting up for your entire story to be a flashback. It can be done, but with the ever-so-critical first 13, the only thing I got was that there is a southern person (nameless and genderless) who is about to be arrested. Without knowing more of the story, I'm not sure of my opinion on whether or not it works.

You might better clarify this to the reader by beginning the story with line 3: "I’m sittin’ here on my porch in my rockin’ chair drinkin’ lemonade just tryin’ to keep cool."
This places us directly and clearly with the protagonist from the get-go. You could then add the "color" of lines 1,2, and 4, setting the tone and retain the image you give of an elderly, or merely more sedate and content, narrator.

"Deputy Billy Rae Colin" does, however, seem like a Southern cliche, a bit heavy-handed, like ... great-uncle Rabbi Irving Hayyim ben Levi Jewison. Kapish?

Otherwise, I feel you set the scene and your protagonist well and enticingly hint at a change in the gentle repose with the pending discussion of a conflict.

I’m sittin’ here on my porch in my rockin’ chair drinkin’ lemonade just tryin’ to keep cool. Fields of wheat and corn sway in a kind'a graceful dance, movin’ with the gentle, hot breeze. Often times it lulls me to sleep in my chair, and I wake with a crick in my neck. This evenin’ the wheat is singin’ a song of sorrow for me.

You've really bitten off a big piece of apple - you are using strong dialect markers in first person present POV, which might be the hardest way to write a story next to second person present or future perfect. This type of story is typically more successful for previously published writers, but more power to you.

I would suggest you start with the setting in this instance - where are we? Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee? Ground the reader and continue from there. Details would be beneficial.

Avoid the three "W's" (weather, waking, and white rooms) when starting a story - these tend to be viewed as cliches.

Avoid early flashbacks - this tends to indicate you started in the wrong place.

Know about what you write (which is different from write what you know). I don't know if this is a period piece or what the socio-economic conditions are for this person, but I don't know many people in the South that sit in rocking chairs on their front porches while drinking lemonade. It would be like me assuming that all the people in New Jersey hang out around broken concrete steps, smoking pot, and listening to boom boxes placed on their shoulders. No offense.

Edited to add: white rooms - couldn't remember the third earlier.

Yes, I think I've chewed off almost more than I can chew, but I love to learn and what better way to learn than to start with the hard stuff.

I assumed when the reader read the story, he/she would fill in where the story takes place from his/her imagination and interpretation. Is that a wrong assumption?

The dialect reads a bit thick, but spoken aloud it flows. I'd suggest reading it aloud in the drawl you want to see how it works if you haven't already. I think maybe it's the proliferation of apostrophes that breaks it up, e.g. "kind'a" as opposed to "kinda." Little things like that trip me up as a reader.

"I’m sittin’ here on my porch in my rockin’ chair drinkin’ lemonade just tryin’ to keep cool."

I wonder if this could be improved by taking it out of the passive voice and moving some of the descriptors into the next sentence?

"I take a swig of lemonade and rock a lil faster, tryin to keep cool. I see them (wheat/corn/tobacco/cotton/spaghetti plant/whatever)fields swayin in the breeze in a kinda graceful dance, but on the porch all I feel is the heat."

Note: I originally typed "swigga" there. I like it with fewer apostrophes as a narrative, used for possessive case or maybe really big contractions. I have no idea how strict editors get when you write in verbal dialect. The first one to read Riddley Walker must have had an aneurysm.

I also agree that the "I reckon I should fill you in" bit seems out of place. He's not writing a journal or dictating to a stenographer; he's doing a present tense thought model. Maybe the deputy (named whatever) tells him it's time, he says "Ahyup" and then thinks back on how all this got started? (insert line break and past tense flashback)

Edit: If you want you can just hit the little email icon by my name and send it in an attachment.