Cat liked and enjoyed shooting her .22 rimfire. Her dream was shooting center-fire rifles. Being able to hit a target at six hundred to one thousand yards, now, that would be some serious shooting. She knew that could only be a dream for now. It would take a lot of money for a good rifle and optics. Neither she nor her parents could afford that. Maybe if she could get to know Mike, he would teach her about long-range shooting.
3
After breakfast Cat and Ben went squirrel hunting in the woods behind their house. Ben liked to hunt once in a while but the computer used up most of his spare time. When he did go, Cat would always get the first squirrel. This irritated him a bit. Cat not only was a better shot than Ben but a little quicker and spotted the squirrels first. It was going to be different this time. Ben placed a piece of black tape over the lens of Cat’s rifle scope then put the lens cap back on. He could barely keep from laughing because he knew he was going to get the first squirrel this time. It wasn’t long until Cat spotted a squirrel sitting on a branch. Cat took aim, but she couldn’t see anything through the tape over the end of the scope.
“What the…?”
Ben saw the squirrel and shot it. He started walking over to pick it up, laughing all the way. Cat removed the tape. She took careful aim and shot Ben’s knife off his belt. She reloaded and put a bullet in the handle while it was on the ground.
Ben turned around. “What the hell are you doing? Trying to kill me?”
“Never mess with my rifle or anything else that is mine. I ain’t trying to kill you, or you’d be dead. Besides that, ain’t got time for a funeral.”
“You ruined my knife. I just bought it. It’s brand-new!”
“You can still use it, the blade’s fine. Just sand the handle down. The bullet will give it character. Maybe when you use it from now on, you’ll remember not to touch my stuff.”
“I guess.” Ben picked up his knife and the squirrel.
Betty knew something was up when the kids came back so soon and with only one squirrel. She cornered Ben and asked him what was wrong. Betty was not at all happy when she found out what happened.
Betty yelled, “Catherine, get in here!”
Cat knew that tone, plus Mom called her Catherine. I’m in big trouble! “Yes, Mom.”
“You sit there,” pointing to a chair. “Ben, over there.”
Betty walked over to the door and yelled at Dave, who was working on the lawn mower. “Dave, get in here!”
Dave walked into the house. “What’s up?”
“Do you know what your daughter did?”
“My daughter?”
“Yes, your daughter. She almost killed Ben.”
“Mom, if Cat was trying to kill me, you’d be making funeral arrangements instead of yelling at us.”
Dave was doing his best to keep a straight and serious face. Ben was right, but it was a stupid stunt. It wasn’t easy raising an “Annie Oakley.” It didn’t matter what punishment Dave came up with. It wouldn’t be good enough for Betty. She was more scared than mad. The kids were her life. If anything would happen to them…well, Dave didn’t want to think about it.
“All right, Cat. You know better.”
“I do, but Ben made me mad.”
“You’re going to have to get your anger under control. If you don’t, it’s going to get the best of you.”
Cat put her head down. “Yes, Dad.”
“And, Ben, you know that Cat doesn’t like anybody messing with her stuff.”
“But, Dad, she is always trying to one-up me.”
“Oh, the joy of sibling rivalry.”
“Cat, you gonna do another stupid stunt like this again?”
Cat looked down at the floor. “No, Dad. I’m sorry.”
“Ben, you gonna stay out of your sister’s stuff?”
“Yes, Dad.”
“All right then. Cat, bring me your rifle. Ben, get your laptop.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
Ben got his laptop and Cat her rifle. Dave took them. “You’ll get them back in a week. That should give you time to think about how stupid you two were.”
Cat and Ben both wailed, “Daaaad.”
“You wanna try for two weeks?”
“No.”
“Very well, now get out of here.”
Betty said, “Is that all?”
“What you want me to do, give ’em twenty lashes?”
“I give up.” Betty shook her head as she went back to the kitchen. It looked like there was going to be a lot of bake goods around.
Cat never pulled a stunt like that on her brother again. Ben thought it best to leave Cat’s stuff alone.
*****
Cat found herself in front of Judge Bean again.
“Well, Cat, I see you decided to try fishing in the habitat area. I’m sure you have read your student handbook. You know that the only time fishing is allowed is during the parent-student picnic weekend or other days specified by the school, right?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“So what did you take out of the pond?”
“Two bass and three catfish.”
“You know, you did such a good job at the park, I think I will sentence you to eight more hours of community service. Keep this up, and all the benches should be painted before winter.”
“Yes, Your Honor. Saturday morning, eight thirty?”
“That will be fine. Tell your dad it’s his turn to buy coffee.”
“Okay.” She left the courthouse. I knew I was doing too good of a job.
*****
Mike came into town and dropped off his grocery list. He bought a paper and a cup of coffee. He walked over to the bench he always sat on. On the back of the bench painted in black letters was his name. The bench looked real nice, as did all the ones Cat had painted. As he went to sit down, he noticed a bag. He opened it. Inside were a doughnut and a note that read, “Sorry.”
Cat was watching from a distance to see what the reaction would be. Mike just sat the bag back down and began reading the paper. Every time he took a sip of coffee, he would look at the bag. When he was just about done with his coffee, he opened up the bag, took out the doughnut, and ate it. He wadded up the bag and threw it in the trash.
As Mike walked toward the store, Cat met him.
“Good morning.”
“That’s what you think.”
“How are you today?”
“Ain’t none of your business.”
*****
Cat was reading the community bulletin board to see if there were any rifle contests coming up. Judge Bean walked up.
“Good morning, Cat.”
“Hi, Judge.”
“Hey, I would like to talk to you, if you have a minute.”
“I ain’t in trouble, am I?”
“Should you be?”
“I’ll