Village Squire, 1979-11, Page 22tin cans or paper targets pinned to an old orange crate in the
dimly lit cellar? The victory of my air rifle was a hollow one.
That night, even though the light was fading fast by the time I
arrived home from school, I took the gun outside and sat on the
snowy back steps beside the path of discoloured snow from the
manury boots that made their way from the barn to the back
porch of the house. Up in the old cherry tree a score of house
sparrows were chirping wildly as if the noise itself would help
them fend off the chilly January breezes that swept inland from
the lake. I aimed at a sparrow on the nearest limb and pulled the
trigger.
The little gun made its funny spitting noise and the pellet
cracked through the frozen limbs of the tree. In an instant, the
birds were no longer chirping in the tree. They scrambled into
the air like a flight c: Hurricanes during the battle of Britain as
they were in my imagination from reading the war books.
1 waited for them to come back to the tree. A minute then two,
five and finally a lonely scout circled and set down on the top
branch of the tree, testing the safety. I waited, and a second
arrived and another and another. But by the time the tree was
full and the birds were feeling safe enough to perch on the lower
branches within range of the gun the light had failed so that I
could not distinguish the birds from the knots on the misshapen
old tree.
I was back on the step on Tuesday night. Again, a single
unsuccessful shot and the birds fled not to return before the
darkness closed in. It was the same on Wednesday. And
Thursday. And Friday, I was back on the step again, smarting
from my defeats; hearing the brags about the sharp shooting of
my friends and rivals; doubting my own ability to compete.
The tree was again full of sparrows. I tried to remember all the
techniques I had heard about. I braced the barrel of the gun
against the door frame. Squinting one eye, I aimed the shot high
and just to the right of the nearest bird to allow for drift and
compensate for the lack of power on the long shot. I took a deep
breath and squeezed the trigger. The gun chugged.
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