The Shot

The Shot

 

     I had wanted to take that shot, badly. It would have been convenient as I was standing on my porch and the buck was not thirty yards away, unaware of me one foot outside and the other just inside the crease in my front door. I knew I could take him, and that I could boast for days upon days about my triumph as a man and I could share the meat with my friends and family for weeks on end; our bellies full, testosterone and all that is natural for a man to feel satisfied and drunk. The dog would have his fill of bones and scraps, and the rest of humanity would hate us all, as if we would give a damn. I set my gaze down the sights and clicked the safety off, took a breath. It occurred to me in that instant that my freezer was full, and so were those of the men that I knew. I exhaled and made safe my gun as I lowered it, the deer still unaware as he slowly wandered off down into the valley below my house to take a drink from the spring ebbing from a rock face at the bottom. I sat the rest of the morning drinking my coffee, disappointed in a fashion only a few know, but full. That Buck would return as he always did, and I would be hungry then. 

Reviews

[Marie]

I don't hunt; would never kill a deer.

But I could tell what it means to you in this story. And what it meant not to do it at that time.

[A.J.]

thanks for reading Marie. as I told Sami in his review, to most hunters, the trophy lies in the full bellies of their loved ones. and the meat tastes the better for it.

[Jennesis]

Excellent! I love the line, 'that buck would return as he always did, and I would be hungry then.' The imagery is rich in the whole piece.

[A.J.]

well thank you! lol. I try to keep my imagery styles different in my short stories from my poetry.. but I guess it leaks through.

[Sami Khalil]

I take it that the narrator hates killing game for the sport of it but in ultimate necessity. At least that is what I get in the gist...Excellent, sir...:).....

[A.J.]

that is most definitely the gist. the trophy lies in the bellies of his loved ones, not on his walls.

[Sami Khalil]

Wow. You are welcome...:).....................