By Scribe
It took a while to adjust to
not having Mark around. I had only known
the boy for a couple of weeks, but in that short time, he had worked his way
into my heart. I was happy that he was
now living in a safe environment with his brother, but I was also sad that I
wouldn’t see him very often.
He had, however, left me the
surprise of my life. When Josh and I
returned home from dropping him at the airport, I went down to my apartment to
catch up on some homework. I pulled out
my desk chair and sitting on the chair was a coiled up length of thick, yellow
nylon rope with a note attached to it.
Puzzled, I picked up the note and read it. I was dumbfounded at what the note said:
“Dear Tommy (dad #2), you’re
probably wondering what this is for.
I’ve told you many times that you’ve done a lot for me, but you really
don’t know the full story. Before I met
you, I was depressed and I was feeling really bad about myself. Other than Josh, I didn’t have any real
friends. I always felt out of place and
unwanted because of the weird feelings that I was having about other boys. When my father caught me looking at dirty
pictures of other boys and beat me up, I felt worthless. I figured that I had to be a really bad
person if even my own father didn’t love me.
That night, I went to the hardware store and bought this rope. I was going to use it to hang myself from the
beam in the basement of my father’s house.
I spent a lot of time sitting in the basement with this rope in my hands
but I couldn’t find the courage to do it.
On the day we met at the Y, I had finally decided that I was going to do
it. I finally felt that I had no reason
to go on. The love and
kindness that you and Josh showed me changed my mind. I want you to know that I am alive today
because of what you did for me. I also
want you to know that I no longer feel like hurting myself. Thank-you again for
everything. I love both of you
and I will never forget you. You can
show this to Josh, but please don’t tell anyone else about it. Love, Mark (your other son).”
I sat down heavily on my desk
chair and stared at the note. A million
thoughts were going through my mind. I
was sick to my stomach when I contemplated what might have happened had Josh
and I not shown up that morning or had I not shown the boy those few simple
acts of kindness. My dislike of Mark’s
father intensified to raw hatred at that moment. It was that monster’s fault that such a
wonderful boy damn near ended his life before it really began. Josh thundered down the stairs with a large
bowel of popcorn and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me.
“What’s wrong?” He
asked. I could tell that he was worried
that I was having another bout of depression over the shooting.
“Read this,” I mumbled and
handed Josh the note and the rope.
Josh looked questioningly at
me for a moment and gingerly accepted the rope as if it were a poisonous
snake. He furrowed his brow as he
started to read and by the time he was done, his eyes were wide as saucers and
the colour had drained from his face. “He was really going to kill himself?” Josh asked quietly.
“It looks that way,” I
replied. I could tell that Josh was just
as sick over it as I was.
“I should have known
something was wrong. I was his friend,”
Josh replied in a vacant tone.
“Josh, sometimes it’s hard to
notice the warning signs. Because of the
abuse, Mark was ashamed of who he is.
Because of that, he believed that he had to hide the true Mark from
everyone, including his close friends.
You see, when a parent mistreats a child, it has a profound effect on
them. Mark’s father made him feel
worthless, so he believed it.”
“But he isn’t worthless. I would have missed him and so would his brother. So would you now that you know him,” Josh
said.
“I know Josh, but Mark didn’t
see it that way.”
“There should be somewhere
for kids like Mark to turn when things like that happen,” Josh said firmly.
“Well, there are but they are
often not all that responsive. There is
the Kids Help Phone, but they can only do so much, and Mark might not have
known about it.”
“What would have happened to
his father if Mark had called the Help line?”
“Probably
nothing, Josh.” I replied sadly.
“What? That sucks.
A parent can drive a kid to kill himself and not got to jail?” I could tell Josh was angry. More and more, I could see a real fire in his
eyes when he contemplated the injustice around him. “Someone has to change that.”
“Unfortunately, it isn’t a
priority for most politicians. They’ll
budget token amounts to the Kids Help Phone and convince themselves that
they’re doing enough. Many people don’t
want to talk about teen suicide and even fewer want to consider the fact that
parents may be responsible for a lot of it.”
“Kids have to be the top
priority. Kids are the future. What kind of future will we have if parents
are allowed to turn their kids into basket cases or drive them to kill themselves?”
“I agree Josh, far too many
kids do kill themselves and an unusually large proportion of those who do, are
gay and lesbian teens. I hope that now
that he’s with
Josh and I put the rope and
the note in the fireplace and we burned them before sitting down on the sofa to
watch TV. Once again, unbeknownst to
either of us, Josh had taken yet another step towards his destiny that
afternoon. I watched him as we sat on
the sofa and channel surfed. I could see
that while he was trying to watch the movie, his mind was going over the
injustice and cruelty that he was beginning to notice in the world at large and
desperately wanted to fix it.
Mark called my cell phone
within minutes of landing in
“Marky,
I found what you left me. I want you to
know that if you ever feel like that again, you can call me day or night. You can also talk to
“I know. I wanted to leave that with you because I
wanted you to know exactly how much you really did for me.”
“I’m glad. It would have been a real loss had you
carried out your plans. I’m happy that I
could be in the right place at the right time.”
We said our goodbyes and hung up.
As promised, the day after
Mark left, I paid Arnold Callahan a visit and delivered to him his copy of the
custody documents along with the $5,000 in cash. After reading Mark’s note, it sickened me to
do it, and it took all my self-control not to beat the shit out of him
again. When he opened his front door in
a drunken stupor, he actually flinched when he saw me. I was glad.
I was glad that I had put such fear into his heart because it was at least
one small measure of justice for what he had done to Mark. That same day, I shipped the four moving
boxes containing the remainder of Mark’s belongings west to
Aside from attending our respective
schools, Josh and I continued our preparations for the upcoming trip. We spent a whole week-end at the local Red
Cross earning our Standard First Aid and CPR certifications. Both of us did really well on the course
which wasn’t surprising. I had
previously been certified as a requirement of my position as a camp counselor,
and I had taught much of the material to Josh.
I also invested $500 in a fully loaded, professional grade first aid kit
for the Jeep. It contained everything
that could possibly be required to handle any medical emergency which we could
potentially encounter on the trip.
Josh’s driving lessons were
going very well and by May, he was good enough that I’d have no fear riding
with him on any highway. Of course, the
plan was not to have him drive, only to be able to drive in an emergency.
I continued to see Dr.
Pollard and while I was learning to deal with the shooting, I still had my good
days and my bad days. For the most part,
I was on a pretty even keel, but there were still sleepless nights and feelings
of guilt and depression. Thankfully,
those incidents were getting less severe and less frequent all the time.
Life was pretty much routine
or at least as routine as it could be with Josh in my life. As always, he was a bundle of energy. I was busily acing my university courses and
Josh was getting close to graduating from middle school. In the fall, he was due to start 9th
grade – high school. He was both nervous
and exhilarated at the prospect.
We were pretty well prepared
for the trip. All that was left was the
planned purchase of a couple of rifles.
For that, I simply had to wait for the Canadian Firearms Centre to hurry
up and process my license application.
It was the week before the
Victoria Day holiday and I had just written my final exam, which meant that I
was done with school until the fall.
That afternoon, I returned home to an unusually excited Josh.
“Dad, we both got letters
from the Governor General today,” Josh said excitedly.
“From the
Governor General?” I asked.
“Yeah, the return address is Rideau Hall in
“Did you read yours yet?” I
asked
“No, I was waiting for you so
we could open them together. Lets open
them now, I’m dying to find out what they say,” he enthused.
I slipped off my shoes and
Josh handed me the envelope bearing my name.
I looked at the envelope and noted that it was constructed out of a high
quality paper and it bore my full, formal name: Thomas Ryan Davis. I glanced at Josh’s envelope and, like mine,
his bore his full name: Joshua Michael Chambers.
We sat down together on the
sofa and opened the envelopes. I read
the enclosed letter, shook my head, and read it again. It took me a moment to comprehend what it said. The first paragraph of the letter read:
“The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of
It went on to include the
citation for the medal which read recounted the basic facts of the robbery and
the shooting.
“Does this mean they’re
giving us medals for what we did?” Josh
asked incredulously.
“Yeah, buddy, it does. They’re giving us
“This is so cool!” Josh crowed.
“It’s pretty amazing,” I
agreed. “Once we’re awarded the medals,
we can add the initials ‘SC’ after our names on formal documents and things.”
“Are we even going to be in
“I doubt it. I guess we’ll have to make sure we get
there,” I replied. I wasn’t about to cut
short the summer adventure for any reason, not even to receive a medal from the
Governor General. “I’d have to check the
travel plans, but I think we’re going to be in
“SHIT!” Josh exclaimed.
“What?” I asked in a started voice.
“What about Mark? They probably sent his letter to his father’s
house,” Josh exclaimed.
“Damn! You’re right.
We had better get on the phone to
I smiled as I listened to
Josh excitedly tell Mark all about the medals and my idea of how to get us
there. After a few moments, he handed
the phone to me. “He wants to speak to
you,” Josh said.
“Hey Mark, how are you
buddy?”
“Fantastic! This place is so cool.
“I know kiddo, I miss you
too. Don’t worry, Josh and I will be leaving
for our trip in another month and we’re going to get to see you and your
brother when we’re in the west.” Mark
and I chatted for a few more minutes and he filled me in on the details of his
new school and the friends that he was making.
He promised to fill
“He sounds really good,” Josh
remarked.
“Yeah, he sounds like a new
person. I’m glad. He’s a special kid and he deserves to be happy.”
“Oh, I forgot,” Josh said as
he slapped his forehead. “This came for
you too.” He handed me an envelope
bearing the logo of the Canadian Firearms Centre.
“Cool! This is my firearms license,” I said as I
tore it open and removed the plastic card.
“This means we finally get to go shopping for a rifle. After supper tonight, we’ll go to LeBaron and see what they have. We’ll load up on fishing gear while we’re at
it.”
“Great!” Josh crowed as he jumped up and gave me a big
hug. “I can’t wait to learn how to
shoot.”
I could understand Josh’s
excitement. Boys
tended to take to guns and shooting like ducks to water. I was hopeful, however, that having seen the
effects of gunfire, he would be a safer, more cautious shooter.
That night, when Susan
returned home from work, we showed her the letters from the Governor
General. She was flabbergasted. “I’m so proud of both of you boys,” She said. “I hope I can make it to
I truly hoped that she would
be there for Josh. I hoped that some of
my family could attend as well.
Before we departed for LeBaron, I called my mother and brothers and filled them
in. To say that they were ecstatic was
the understatement of the year. Andy
promised to be there and so did my mom.
James and Anne said they would do their best and that if they could make
it, they’d bring the twins with them as well.
While I had James on the
phone, I had a great idea. “Jim, do you
have any plans for the long weekend?”
“Nah, Anne has me painting
the outside of the house. Why do you
ask?”
“How would you like me to
take the boys off your hands for the weekend?
Josh has been bugging me to take him fishing and I thought maybe I’d
take him and the twins for a weekend campout and fishing trip,” I replied.
“They’d love that!” James said with a chuckle. “It’s fine by me, but I had better confirm
with Anne. I doubt that she’ll
object. Where were you thinking of
taking them?”
“I thought
“Oh yeah, Dad used to take us
all there. The boys will love it. Hang on while I speak to Anne,” James said as
he set the phone down. I could hear the faint
sound of voices in the background followed by James hollering up the stairs for
the boys. The next thing I heard was a
loud cheer from a pair of small boys who then raced to the phone.
“Uncle Tom, are you really
taking us fishing this weekend?” Matthew
asked. People often wonder how I could
tell the boys apart. The truth was that
while they looked the same and sounded almost exactly the same, each had a very
distinctly different personality from the other. Matthew was the quieter more introverted of
the pair and Richard was the more outgoing and adventuresome. Of course, I didn’t have a favorite and I
loved each of them equally.
“I sure am. It’ll be the two of you, Josh, and me. We’re going to camp out and everything, so
you want to make sure that you pack all the fishing gear I bought you, your
sleeping bags and some warm clothes.”
“Cool!” Richard crowed. “Mommy wants to talk to you now.”
“Hey sis, how are you?” I said with a laugh.
“I’m fine Tom, but I think
you’ve lost your mind. Are you sure you
can handle both of them?” Anne chuckled.
“They’re little angels,” I
replied.
“They sure have you
fooled. They sure love their Uncle Tom,
I’ll grant you that.”
I spoke to Anne for a few
more minutes and then finalized the arrangements before hanging up. I turned to head up the stairs to find Josh
and ended up bumping right into him. He
wore a mile-wide grin and his eyes were sparkling. “Did I hear that right? We’re going camping and fishing this
weekend?” He asked.
“You sure did,” I said with a
chuckle. Before I could say anything
else, I had Josh wrapped around me administering one of his boa-constrictor
hugs. All I could do was grin and hug
him back.
When Josh finally let me go,
I grabbed the LeBaron gift certificate and headed upstairs
to speak briefly to Susan. Susan, who
had plans of her own for the weekend readily agreed to let Josh go along. I thought his head was going to split open
from his massive smile. I loved seeing
him that happy; it warmed my heart.
We arrived at LeBaron about 20 minutes later. LeBaron was always
THE place for outdoor sports. No matter
what you needed, they could get it for you.
They carried a large selection of rifles and ammunition, fishing gear
and camping gear. I planned on stocking
up on each of those things. The first
order of business was rifles. At very least, I wanted to purchase a high-powered, large bore
rifle that could be used for hunting as well as protection against potentially
dangerous wildlife. We had no
plans to do any hunting on the summer trip, indeed, not much would even be in
season, but we would be in regions frequented by potentially dangerous animals
and we wanted to be prepared.
Josh and I resisted the urge
to stop and drool over all the displays of camping gadgets and made our way to
the back of the store where the firearms were kept. Both Josh and I were gadget nuts and could
easily lose ourselves in that store.
Fortunately, on that occasion, we had a mission to keep us focused.
“Can I help you, sir?” Asked the middle aged man
behind the counter.
“You sure can. I have this,” I said showing him the gift
certificate, “and I just got this,” I continued showing him my new firearms
possession and acquisition license. “I’m
looking for a large bore, high-powered rifle for deer and moose hunting and
also for protection against dangerous game in the arctic.”
The man’s eyes lit up when he
realized he was in for a big sale, “Looks like you’re all set and I think I
have just what you’re looking for,” he said.
“I’m also looking for a .22
rifle to be used primarily as a less expensive practice firearm. It will also likely be used for small game.”
“Well, let’s start with the
big boy,” he said with a smile. “Any
preference as far as caliber goes?”
“I’ve had a lot of experience
with .303 British and I was in the military so I have experience with 7.62 mm
NATO. If memory serves, the .308
“Good choice. They’re both solid rounds with a lot of power
and range to spare. Are you thinking
semi-automatic or bolt action?”
“No
preference really. Probably bolt action but I’d be willing to
look at a solid, well built semi-automatic.”
Josh’s eyes were large as he gazed at the wall-to-wall racks of rifles
and shotguns.
“I think I have the perfect
rifle for you,” he said. “It’s a
semi-automatic .308
“Sounds good, let’s take a
look.” I could see that Josh was wearing
a huge grin once again.
The man went to the gun rack
on the wall behind him and returned with a gorgeous looking rifle. It was made out of blued steel and had a
highly polished walnut stock. He removed
the magazine and checked the action before handing it to me.
I shouldered the rifle and
looked through the scope. It was
extremely well balanced and it felt comfortable against my shoulder. The stock and fore-stock were perfectly
molded and ergonomic. The rifle felt
comfortable to hold.
“It’s the Benelli
R1. It has a six round capacity and it’s
designed to be fired by right handed shooters only because of the ejection port
on the right hand side. You can fire off
all six rounds just as fast as you can pull the trigger. It’s an extremely reliable rifle.”
I handed the rifle to
Josh. “Try this out, Josh. Make sure you point it in a safe direction,”
I said. I had pretty much decided to
purchase that rifle, but I wanted to make sure that it would be suitable for
Josh to handle. It looked like a good
fit. Josh handed it back to me and I
handed it back to the salesman. “Looks
good to me, how much?”
“Well, this one’s top of the
line. It’ll set you back $1,059 plus
taxes.”
I didn’t even have to think
about it. “Done. I’ll take it.
I also want 3 extra magazines, two boxes of
standard load
For a second, the salesman
stood there gape mouthed. I was pretty certain
that he expected me to look at a less expensive rifle. Instead, I not only agreed to but the top of
the line rifle he offered, but also a second rifle along with all the
accessories for both. “Hot dog! This is going to be a record month for me,”
he said with a smile.
As he began the paperwork,
Josh and I went into the main part of the store and loaded up on new fishing
and camping gear. We picked out new
fishing rods, matching fishing vests, and Cadpat
style ‘boonie caps’.
We also picked up a new Coleman gas stove with six propane cylinders, a
new cooler, a new set of camp pots (with plates and cutlery) as well as a bunch
of smaller gadgets. By the time we left
the store, my Jeep was loaded down and I had dropped almost $2,000.00.
The first order of business
upon returning home was installation of the gun safe. The floor of my apartment was concrete so we
had no trouble drilling down and firmly anchoring the safe in the back corner
of my closet. I set the digital
combination lock and stowed the rifles and ammunition away. Jason, the sales rep, was so happy that he
doubled the order of ammunition for both rifles and threw in cleaning kits for
both at no additional charge. Having a
military background meant that I was almost religious about keeping my rifles
clean and that was a habit that I fully intended to pass onto Josh.
“Okay kiddo, tomorrow we’ll
hit the range and do some shooting, but tonight I have to teach you about
firearms safety. First, I’m sure I don’t
need to tell you this, but you must never handle these or any other firearms
without proper supervision.”
“I know, Dad. I know they aren’t toys. I saw what happened to that guy you
shot...” He stopped himself right there
when he realized what he had said. “Oh
shit. Sorry Dad, I didn’t mean it like
that,” he continued gently as he leaned into me and gave me a hug.
“It’s ok Josh, I know what
you meant. I’m glad that the shooting
gave you an appreciation for the danger firearms pose in the wrong hands. Let’s hope that neither of us ever has to see
anything like that again,” I said wanly.
“I should have thought before
I said that. I can see that it upset you
a bit.”
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get on with the lesson. When it comes to handling firearms, there are
a few golden rules. The first rule is
this…. you must treat every single firearm as if it is loaded until you see
differently with your own eyes. That
means that if I pickup a rifle, see that it is unloaded and then hand it to
you, you must check for yourself before you accept that it is actually empty.”
“Got it. That ensures
that nobody makes a mistake, right?”
“Right. No matter how
much you trust the person who told you it was unloaded, you must always check
for yourself. The second rule is that
you never hand anyone a loaded firearm.
If you are going to hand a rifle to someone, you must remove the
magazine, ensure that no rounds are chambered, put it on safe and then hand it
over.”
I could see that Josh was
taking me seriously and was committing the rules to memory. I was glad because following these simple
rules can prevent most accidents.
“The third rule is that you
never point a firearm at anything that you don’t intend to shoot. The fourth rule is that you always be sure of
your target. Never shoot at anything
that you haven’t positively identified as a valid target and never shoot unless
you know you have proper backstop in case you miss.”
“Make sure that nobody’s in
the way, right?”
“That’s part of it, but you
also want to make sure that you’re not about to fire in an unsafe
direction. For example, you would never
fire a high powered rifle in the direction of a busy highway.”
“That makes sense,” Josh said
with a smile.
“The fifth rule is that you never
store a firearm which is dirty or loaded.
When you’re done shooting, you unload the rifle and store the ammunition
separately from the rifle. You also have
to field-strip the rifle and clean it completely before you put it away. A dirty rifle is an unreliable rifle,
especially when you’re dealing with semi-automatics like the ones we bought
tonight.”
I spent the next hour
teaching Josh how to safely handle firearms.
I went through the complete operating procedures for both rifles and
taught him how to break down and reassemble both. I even tried to trick him a few times when it
came to checking the rifle each time I handed it to him or he picked it up, but
I never caught him. Finally, I went and
got Susan and brought her down to show her how much Josh had learned about
firearms handling. Susan wasn’t all that
enthusiastic about Josh handling rifles or about having them in the house but
by the time Josh and I completed our safety demo, she was a lot more at ease.
“Still don’t like those
things, but it looks as if you’re doing a great job of teaching Josh how to
handle them safely. I’m glad that he’s
learning from a professional,” Susan said before she went back upstairs.
I took a moment to call
Robert Harris, a friend of mine from school who was also a member of the
Brampton Gun club. I had previously
spoken to him about my desire to purchase rifles and he had offered to arrange
for Josh and me to use the club range.
He was agreeable to meeting us at the club the following day
(Thursday). He was quite excited about
the Benelli and wanted to try it out.
Before retiring for the
night, Josh and I spent about 45 minutes properly cleaning both rifles and
removing the excess packing grease. By
the time we were done, both rifles were cleaned and ready for use. The only thing left to do was to sight in
both scopes. We’d have to be on the
range to get that done.
“Good night, Dad,” Josh in a
sleepy voice as he gave me my goodnight hug and a peck on the forehead.
“Good night, son,” I said
warmly as I returned both his hug and forehead kiss before sending him on his
way.
The next day seemed to drag
on. I was looking forward to hitting the
range just about as much as Josh was.
Other than the shooting incident, I hadn’t done much shooting since leaving
the military and I missed it. I had
always been an exceptional shot, and I was looking forward to passing on the
art of marksmanship to Josh.
We were both just about
floating by the time we pulled into the parking lot of the gun club and met
Robert.
“Robert, how are you? Thanks a million for arranging this for
us. I’d better take out a membership
myself in the near future,” I said as I shook hands with my friend. “This is Josh. Josh, this is Robert.”
“Nice to meet you,” Josh said
as he offered his hand to Robert
.
“So this slug’s gonna teach you how to shoot, eh?” Robert joked.
For a second, it looked as if
Josh as about to try and defend my honour, so I put a
hand on his shoulder and gave him a subtle look. Given my relatively fragile emotional state
after the shooting, Josh was more than a little protective of me.
We went inside and Robert got
us signed in, then we made our way to the large bore rifle range. The plan was for me to
sight in both rifles and then teach Josh how to shoot. Once that was done, we were all going to do a
little target shooting. Robert was
really looking forward to trying out the Benelli
R1. Much to my excitement, he had
brought along his FN rifle. The FN set
the standard for battle rifles. It was a
solid Belgian made rifle that fired the NATO 7.62 mm round. It had been the standard rifle of many armies
from the 50s all the way to the late 80s.
It had been retired from Canadian military service in 1989. Robert had purchased a British version just
before it became prohibited under the new firearms laws. Under a grandfather clause in the rules, he
was allowed to keep it. I was looking
forward to firing it.
The range bay in which we
were situated had a small rifle rest that we could use for sighting. We setup a checkered sighting target and sent
it down range. Josh was going to man the
spotting scope and call my shots for me.
I started with the Benelli which would be
sighted in at 100 yards. I demonstrated
the procedure for loading the magazines to Josh and then loaded and cocked the
rifle.
We were all wearing ear
defenders all ready so it was time to shoot.
Josh and I were in the prone position and Robert was standing behind us
with binoculars watching the target. I
aimed the rifle, steadied my grip, took a deep breath then let it partially out
and held before gently pulling the trigger.
The big rifle bucked hard in my hands and I felt the familiar and not
unpleasant kick of a high-powered rifle.
“Two inches high and 4 inches
right,” Josh said and Robert agreed.
I adjusted the knobs on the
scope and fired a second round.
“One up and one right,”
Robert said.
“Same here,” Josh replied.
I made another adjustment to
the scope and fired again.
“You’re just a fraction low
and about half an inch left,” Josh said.
“Just tap it this time, Tom,”
Robert said.
I made a couple of tiny adjustments to the
scope and fired a fourth round.
“Bull’s
eye!” Josh said excitedly.
I fired the last two rounds
in fairly rapid succession and Josh called “Bull’s-eye” both times. I set the safety on the rifle and removed the
empty magazine. Josh handed me a second
while Robert reloaded the first. I fired
all six rounds in fairly rapid succession scoring a bull’s-eye each time.
“Nice shooting, Dad!” Josh said excitedly.
“Not bad at all, Tom. Good to see you haven’t lost it!” Robert said.
Robert changed targets as I
prepared to sight in the .22 rifle.
Given the smaller size and significantly lower power of the .22 round,
we decided to sight it in at only 50 yards.
I could see that Josh was chomping at the bit to try his hand at
shooting. “Don’t worry Josh; this just
takes a really steady hand. You’ll get a
turn in just a few minutes,” I said to reassure him. He rewarded me with his wide, dimpled
grin. It took me all of five minutes to
get the Remington sighted in. After
firing the Benelli, the Remington felt like a BB gun
but it was a solid and accurate rifle.
“It’s your turn now, Josh,” I
said with a smile as I handed him the Remington. I smiled with pride as I watched him properly
prove the rifle after he accepted it from me.
I could see that Robert was impressed.
“Okay Josh, do you remember when I told you about a concept called
‘Habit’?” I asked.
“Yeah, I think you said it
meant holding, aiming, breathing and trigger control.”
“Bingo, exactly right. I’m going to teach you to shoot from four
different positions. The easiest is
prone.” I adjusted the position of his
legs and torso and got him into a proper prone position. “This is the prone position. It’s the easiest position to shoot from
because it gives you the most stability.
No matter what position you shoot from, ‘HABIT’ always applies. First, relax and hold the rifle firmly but
don’t tense up. Tuck it right into your
shoulder and pull it into you. It’ll
give you more stability.”
“Like this?” Josh asked as he adjusted his position and
pulled the rifle in tight.
“Right. Now, to aiming
a rifle with a scope is easy, all you do is put the crosshairs over the
target. One thing to keep in mind is
distance. Scopes are sighted in for a
particular distance. If you are shooting
from a different distance, you need to compensate. Depending on the distance to the target and
the type of round, you’ll need to aim higher or lower. With the Benelli,
if you’re very close or very far from the target, you’ll need to aim
higher. Over short distances, the bullet
will have a very flat trajectory to the target and will be below the aim point
at the time of impact. Over very long
distances, the bullet will arc up into the air and will drop below the aim
point before the moment of impact. The
scope on the .308 has a distance adjustment feature but it can be tricky to use
so we’ll save it for a later lesson.
Right now, we’re sighted for 50 yards with the Remington and 100 with
the Benelli so we’re right on.”
“Next is breathing. Aim the rifle at the target and watch what
happens as you breathe,” I instructed.
“The sight moves up and
down,” Josh observed.
“Exactly, so that means that
you need to hold your breath just before you fire to keep the rifle on
target. I like to take a deep breath and
let it about half-way out before I adjust my aim and fire.” I watched as Josh tried it.
“Excellent. Now the final consideration is trigger control. You want to use just the very tip of your
finger to pull the trigger and you want to gently squeeze it rather than pull
it. If you pull it too hard, you’ll
throw your shots off to one side or the other.”
“I think I’ve got it,” Josh
said. “Can I shoot now?”
“Go ahead and load a magazine
and then fire when ready. Take your time
and try to get a good grouping. One more
thing, don’t get too close to the scope.
If you do, you could get a nasty eye injury from the recoil. A .22 doesn’t have much recoil but the Benelli does.”
Robert and I watched as Josh
loaded the rifle like a pro and began to shoot.
His first shot was a bull’s-eye but the next few were a little
wild. I could tell that his excitement
was getting the better of him. He got
three more bull’s-eyes before he exhausted the magazine.
Robert reeled in the target.
“Not bad, son,” I said. You got four bull’s-eyes and your grouping
isn’t too bad. It looks like your
breathing is good but you’re pulling the trigger a little too hard. Try another magazine,” I instructed.
Josh reloaded the rifle and
fired another 10 rounds. This time, he
got seven bull’s-eyes and the other three were close. “Nicely done,” I said and patted him on the
back.
“This is so cool,” Josh said
with a grin. I’d never met a boy who
didn’t enjoy shooting, and Josh was learning really fast. Every time I taught him something, he picked
it up immediately. It was sometimes
scary how quickly be learned things. I
knew he was intelligent, but I was beginning to realize that he might actually
be far more than just above average.
Shooting is very much a mental discipline and after only 20 rounds, Josh
was shooting better than the average person.
We let him burn through
another 50 rounds and he managed perfect scores on the last two magazines. It was time for him to graduate to the Benelli. “Ok Josh,
it’s time for the big boy,” I said with a smile.
“Cool,” Josh replied with a
smile.
“Remember, the principles are
the same but this is a larger and far more powerful rifle. It will kick a lot harder so you have to be
prepared for it and you have to be careful of the scope.”
Josh accepted the rifle and I
handed him the first magazine. He
slipped it into the rifle and cocked it.
His first shot was perfect – dead centre but the recoil surprised him a
bit. His next five rounds were a little
wild. It was as if he was flinching a
bit in anticipation of the recoil.
“How do you like that
one?” I asked.
“It’s cool but it kicks
hard,” Josh said as he rubbed his shoulder.
“Just tuck it a little
tighter and don’t flinch – that’s why your shots were a little wild.”
Josh nodded and inserted a
fresh six-round magazine. He began to
settle down quickly and by the time he’d fired 20 or so rounds, he was doing
just as well with the Benelli as he was with the
little Remington. I looked at him and
thought that the grin on his face was permanent.
I took half an hour or so to
teach Josh how to shoot from sitting, kneeling and standing positions. He did well from all of them but he did best
from prone. The other positions would
just take practice.
I gave Robert chance to fire
the Benelli and he let Josh and I fire his FN. The FN had iron sights so I took a moment to
explain how they worked. Josh was amazed
when he watched me score 10 near-perfect bull’s-eyes from a standing
position. He fired from prone and
despite the greater weight and lack of a scope managed four bull’s-eyes.
Before we packed it in for
the night, I loaded up a few magazines with the .308 Winchester Magnum rounds
just to get each of us a feel for the heavier loads. They performed just about the same and the
recoil was only slightly stronger. I was
happy to see that Josh would have no problem handling the more powerful rounds.
On our way out, I completed
the necessary paperwork to apply for a full adult membership for myself and a
youth membership for Josh. Robert signed
off on both applications to attest to the fact that he had observed our safety
and shooting skills and that we met or exceeded club standards.
Like a schoolboy bringing
home drawings for his mom to hang on the fridge, Josh brought a number of his
best targets home to show Susan. He was
understandably proud of his accomplishments.
I was, as always, proud of my son.
When we arrived home, I
reminded Josh of rule number five and we spent the next hour cleaning the
rifles before locking them safely away in the gun locker. Josh was amazed at the amount of carbon that
built up inside the rifles in such a short period of time.
I spent most of the next day
getting ready for the camping/fishing weekend.
I wanted to spend a lot of time with my nephews because I knew I
wouldn’t see much of them during the summer, and I was going to miss the little
tykes. Some people find it tiresome
dealing with such small kids, but I loved my nephews a great deal and I enjoyed
spending time with them. James was a dad
in every sense of the word, but he was a lot less adventurous than I was, so
the twins didn’t get to do much outdoorsy stuff unless Andy or I took them. I had to live up to my billing as the
fun/favorite uncle and they were getting old enough to enjoy the outdoors, so I
decided to make a point of taking them camping as often as I could.
I went to the grocery store
and bought all kinds of camp food that the boys would enjoy. I figured we’d end up with plenty of fish to
eat but I also stocked up on hamburgers, hot dogs, and all the necessary
ingredients for a nice lumberjack style breakfast each morning.
With the Jeep loaded, I
headed off to Josh’s school. He was
waiting for me out front and virtually jumped into the Jeep. “Hi Dad,” he said happily as he leaned over
and gave me a big hug.
“Hey bud,” I replied and gave
him a brief peck on the temple.
“I’ve been looking forward to
this all day. I could hardly concentrate
in class,” Josh laughed.
We drove to James and Anne’s
house and were met by two very excited twins.
We barely got out of the Jeep before they set upon us. Richard launched himself at me and wrapped
his small arms around me in a big hug while Matthew did the same to Josh.
“Hey little buddies, are you
guys all ready to go?” I saw Anne walk
out of the house smiling and shaking her head.
She was carrying the twin’s backpacks.
“You boys be
good for your uncle Tom and Josh, ok?”
She said firmly.
“We will!” my adorable little
nephews replied in unison as then went and gave their mom a hug and kiss.
“Jim’s still at work,” Anne
said. “You guys have a great time and be careful.” It was
the first time that the boys had been away from her for more than a day or
so. I could see that it was a little
tough for her.
“Don’t worry, sis. They’ll have the time of their lives,” I said
with a smile as I gave her a kiss on the cheek and said goodbye. By that time, Josh had loaded the twin’s gear
into the back of the Jeep and figured out how to extend the built in booster
seats and get the boys strapped in.
By the time we pulled out and
started the nearly two hour drive, Josh had fired up the GPS and plotted out a
course to get us to our destination.
Josh did his best to keep the boys entertained during the long drive and
we stopped at MacDonald’s for dinner just beyond the halfway point. If I had thought the boys could have waited
to eat, I would have delayed stopping until we passed Webber’s a little farther
along. People came from all over the
place just to stop at Webber’s for their famous hamburgers.
Webber’s was
located right along side the highway and was so popular that some nut-cases
would actually run across the highway to buy their burgers! The city finally installed a pedestrian
bridge over the four-lane highway to allow people to cross and buy Webber’s
burgers.
We finally arrived at Trout
lake and setup camp. We got the tent put
up and setup our sleeping bags. We put
the twins side by side in the middle with Josh and me on either side. We took a few minutes to go to the campground
office and purchase some firewood and to rent a boat for the next morning. By the time everything was set up and ready
to go, it was getting a little dark so I built a big campfire. It was still a little cool at night so we all
changed into long pants and long sleeve shirts for the evening.
The four of us sat around the
campfire and roasted marshmallows while I regaled the boys with ghost stories. I also told the twins all kinds of stories
about growing up with their dad and they got a real kick out of hearing about
their father when he was a little boy.
Eventually the twins were
starting to nod off so we decided to put them to bed. I picked up Matthew and carried him to his
sleeping bag while Josh did the same for Richard. Carefully, without waking them up, we got
them changed into their pajamas and tucked them in.
Josh and I sat outside by the
campfire for another hour or so after tucking in the twins and just enjoyed
each other’s company. We sat snuggled up
together on the bench of the picnic table and talked about life.
“I can’t believe it’s only
another month before we leave on the trip,” Josh said.
“Me either. This is going to be the adventure of a
lifetime,” I told him.
“I have a feeling that there
will be more to this trip than just a vacation,” Josh said thoughtfully. “It almost feels like something that we’re
meant to do. It feels more important
than just a vacation.”
“You know something; I get
the exact same feeling. I can’t quite
place it, and I can’t explain it, but I do feel some greater purpose in this
trip.”
As we chatted, Josh began to
get drowsy and before long, I had another sleeping boy to carry to bed and tuck
it. After I got Josh undressed and
tucked snugly into his sleeping bag, I hugged him and kissed his forehead
before going to put out the fire.
With the fire safely out, I
returned to the tent, climbed into my own sleeping bag, and zipped up. I was asleep before I knew it.
The next morning, I awoke and
realized that I was not alone in my sleeping bag. I looked down and saw that Richard had
climbed in with me and was cuddled up against my side. I looked over at Josh and saw that he had
Matthew snuggled up with him in his bag.
I figured that the boys must have been a little cold at night and sought
some extra warmth. I didn’t mind and I
doubted that Josh would mind either.
Carefully, without waking
Richard, I climbed out of my sleeping bag, dressed, then
made a quick stop at the bathroom facilities before starting breakfast. Within two minutes of dropping the bacon into
the frying pan, Josh was awake and poking his head out of the tent.
“Smells good!” he said with a
grin.
“Morning
Josh! Throw some clothes on and then give me a
hand,” I said
Josh grinned and did just
that. “Morning Dad. I love you,” Josh said as he climbed out of
the tent and gave me a hug.
“I love you too kiddo,” I
replied. “How does bacon, scrambled
eggs, beans and English muffins sound for breakfast?”
“Sounds great and smells even
better,” Josh replied. “I’ll get a fire
going.”
As I continued to prepare
breakfast, Josh built a small fire. It
was just after