What's That?

Posted Sun Sep 6, 2009 in Stories

Wife and I were sitting at the table a few minutes ago, talking about “stuff.” The wind is blowing today and I’m disappointed. I intended to shoot this morning, but didn’t feel like dealing with the wind and the target stands. So, I’m still at the house.

In any event, I noticed motion that was not part of the wind. “What’s that?” I asked… “Something moved out there along the fence.”

“Was it a bird?” Wife asked. She looked out the window too.

“Nope, it was something else… There it is! It’s a squirrel!”

“Where?”

“Look at the bird feeder, then top of the fence left about a foot.”

She looked, and he moved, so she spotted him. “You know what that is, don’t you?”

Her eyebrows went up. “You can’t!”

“Sure I can… It’s a target!”

“You can’t shoot here!”

“Airsoft,” I grinned evilly.

“No! I like to watch them and you can’t shoot them.”

“I won’t hurt him.”

“He’ll be all stressed. No, you can’t.”

We watched him try to work his way down toward the feeder. They know what bird feeders are and they know they contain forage. So, he tried. In the end, however, he settled for the fall-out on the ground and foraged around for a few minutes — long enough for me to grab a camera and make a couple of images.

“You know, I have hunter’s eyes.”

“Yes you do.”

“There aren’t many who do, but I know a couple of them. Your dad, for one.”

Motion, especially unusual motion, catches my eyes, still. Even though I’m no longer an active hunter, I still have the eyes for it.