Allen was my next door neighbor and he was several years younger than me. When I was a third grader he was in kindergarten but we still had a lot of fun, doing things that we mostly should not have done. We didn’t do horrible things just things that often got us into trouble. Hmm, in fact that was kind of a pattern or theme for me.
One day Allen and I were in his back yard doing a little target practice with his BB guns. We would take empty “COKE” cans and place them on top of his burning barrel (which just owning a burring barrel in the city probably violated some sort of city ordinance or law). We would place a board across the top of the barrel and set up cans one by one in a straight row. Once they were in place we would move toward his house, face the barrel, and take aim. This was a great past time of which we became quite skilled.
On this particular day we had successfully knocked down several rows of cans each and managed to diminish almost an entire container of ammunition. After several months of doing the same thing we were in the mood for something different, something challenging, something exciting. Without realizing it we were about to get an opportunity that we could have only imagined.
As we approached the barrel one more time to set up our prized targets, we heard a noise in the woods behind Allen’s house. What was it? It was more than an animal. We heard teenage voice in the distance. I looked at Allen and said, “Hey, lets load a BB in your air rifle and shoot it into the woods near those boys and see if we can scare them.” At that moment Allen thought I was a genius, I quickly heard an elated “yes”. Being quite proud of the idea myself, I skillfully opened the chamber of the gun, carefully chose the best BB of the bunch. I loaded Allen’s gun and pumped it. The instructions of this particular rifle specifically request that the rifle not be pumped more than 10 times but being that this was such a unique and special occasion I lost count at around 25, oops. Gradually raising the gun into the sky, I directed my sites toward the noise and listened intently. After about five seconds a happily began to squeeze the trigger of the weapon.
And Fired! The woosh of air from out of the barrel was a beautiful noise as the BB cut through the atmosphere.
A split second latter we heard a horrible, blood curdling scream from the woods. I looked at Allen, he looked at me and said, “idiot, What did you do?” I thought in my head, “I am going to Juvie, I just killed some one and I am going to Juvie” I had heard other kids talking about this jail for kids who do bad things called Juvie. I suddenly realized that this was my future.
I threw Allen his gun and we ran into his house. I kept saying my mind, “I am going to Juvie, I am going to Juvie”, and Allen kept saying, “I can’t believe you did that, that was so stupid. “Allen, 3 minutes a go you thought I was a genus and now you think I am an idiot, you wanted me to do this”. I emphatically told Allen not to tell any one and then I left for my house.
I snuck into my house, through the living room, and into my room. There I closed the door and sat up against it as if to lock myself away from the world. As I sat against my door I continued to chant my mantra, “I have just killed some one and I am going to Juvie”. Continuing this religious phrase, I slowly convinced myself of and readied myself for a life of prison.
About 20 minutes had gone by when I heard a knock at the door. Dread filled my heart and mind as I realized that Allen had told his mother what had happened. My mother called to me, “Jimmy” pause “Jimmy”. Having prepared myself to face my doom, I opened my door and crept into the living room. Allen had indeed told his mom what we had done. A she stood in our door way explaining how she had gone into the woods, up the hill of the old dam, she found two young teenage boys building a fort in the trees. Through dialogue with them she discovered that one of them had hit his thumb with a hammer the precise second I shot Allen’s gun into the forest.
Any thoughts on a moral to this story?
