Optional But Recommended
Now watch me close, Frank said. You got your magazine clip, fully loaded. Put it in the grip, ram it home. Make sure it’s in there good. This pin releases it, see? It just drops right out. Put it in there and pull the slide back. OK, it’s cocked. You got a round in the chamber, so aim it at the floor. Don’t put your finger inside the trigger guard unless you intend to pull the trigger. Otherwise keep it outside and straight like this, see? When you want to fire, put your finger on the trigger, aim, hold your breath, and squeeze. Now you’re going to get a little kick so hold your left hand around your right hand tight, like this, so you’re ready for the recoil.
The gun popped. Across the garage a tiny hole appeared in the black silhouette where the bullet hit the concrete bunker. Dead center head shot. He handed the gun to his boy.
OK, he said. Now you try it.
Jason took the pistol. It wasn’t his first gun — he already had a revolver and a carbine — but this was his first 9 mm, the one he had wanted for his birthday — a Beretta. The gun felt different with the full clip and he had to get used to the heaviness of it. He got it level, pointed it at the silhouette, held his breath and squeezed the trigger, missing the target high to the right.
Sorry dad, he said. Yeah, his father mused. Not like shooting the Zombie — their nickname for his Taurus 85 polymer revolver, a lighter weapon he could handle more accurately.
Give it another shot, his father said. Run the clip.
Jason aimed the Beretta and fired, allowing enough time between shots to realign his sighting. He got the shots down onto the paper and scored a torso hit before he pulled a click.
You’re getting it, his father said. OK, break it down.
Jason’s father had already showed him this part a few times and he was getting better at it. He dropped the empty clip, found the disassembly lever, pulled the slide back and eased it forward until it lifted off the frame. He separated the guide rod, recoil spring and barrel from the slide. His father showed him how to clean and oil the pieces then watched as Jason worked backwards, putting the Beretta together again. He shoved in a new clip and pulled the slide back, loading the chamber.
Good job, Frank said. Go get the Zombie. We’ll shoot it off after lunch.
In the kitchen Rose Marie had set a bountiful table. They went at the food voraciously, talking through packed mouths about wheel guns and clip loaders and the different kinds of ammo they could shoot.
For my next birthday can I have an AK-47?, Jason chirped up, slurping hot soup. His mother gave his father a sidelong look.
That is completely out of the question Jason, she said, pouring them glasses of apple juice, spilling it. She eyed him in a way that told him she wasn’t going to back down this time. Not this time. She had had enough.
A hunting carbine is one thing, and I even went along with the pistols — both of them — but this is too much, she said. You’re not bringing an assault rifle into this house.
Frank dumped a big spoonful of mashed potatoes on his plate. Did I say he could have it?, he said, stuffing some into his mouth.
You didn’t say no, she said, glowering.
Well, look, why don’t we wait and see?, Frank said. I mean, it’s just another gun, and any gun is safe as long as you handle it safely. What do you think we’ve been doing all morning?
She flared.
A house full of guns and I can’t trouble you to even buy a gun lock because you think it’s unmanly.
Frank raised his finger. Unnecessary. Nobody I know uses those things, and you don’t need them if…
She slammed her fist down on the table. You would actually consider bringing a war weapon around our children?
It was then that she looked around and noticed the empty place.
Where’s Tara?, she said.
I thought she was in here with you, Frank said, woofing down casserole.
She walked over to the garage door. Her three-year-old was standing at the workbench staring down the barrel of the Beretta. She screamed. Jason and Frank looked at each other at the same time and thought the same thing in the same instant that Tara put a round through her eye.
