A Good Guy With A Gun (3 page)

“Nice shooting Clay!” came a voice from the back. “Too bad we can’t start shooting at the
real
targets. I hear they have about two dozen of them over at that high school you been babysitting!”

The man who spoke stood in the shadows. He was slender but well-built. He wore a blue work shirt with sleeves cut off exposing tattoos on both forearms. The one on his left read
Die Niggers
, and on the right,
White Power
. His greasy hair was down to his neck and he reeked of motor oil and body odor.

Shupe said “This is Billy, he wants to learn about guns and how to shoot”

The other man said, “Ya’ gonna teach him about the other stuff too Clay? Like why we need the guns to protect ourselves from the
niggers
!”

Shupe turned and shot the man a glare. The man turned and walked away.

Shupe took Billy into the shack and showed him how to load the six rounds into the magazine and then slide it into the grip of the gun. He made sure that Billy knew where the safety was, and that it was in the safe position.

“Let me show you the proper stance for shooting a pistol, and how to steady the gun with both hands.”

Standing behind him supporting Billy’s arms, Shupe’s fingers moved to the gun and slid the safety to the off position.

“Okay, now sight down the barrel and squeeze the trigger”

Billy squinted then pulled the trigger. A loud bang accompanied by the recoil that sent Billy’s arms flying over his head. Shupe had anticipated this and braced Billy so that he didn’t go careening backwards with the gun flying out of his hands.

Billy stood for a moment shaking his head and letting the ringing in his ears settle down.
He
had fired a gun, and a very powerful one at that! After a few more tries, Shupe told him to try it himself.

Billy steadied himself like Shupe had shown him and then slowly squeezed the trigger.

The first time the recoil flung his arms up, but by the third round, he was able to control it to the point where he actually hit the target.

“Wow! That was fantastic”, said Billy, “Can I shoot some more?”

Shupe loaded six more rounds in the Glock and carefully handed it to Billy. This time, Billy knew exactly what to do. He assumed the proper shooting stance with his arms extended and slid the safety to the armed position. He squinted down the sight and fired six more times in succession. He hit the target three out the six times.

As Shupe cleaned his weapon at the table in the shed, Billy asked him about other guns Shupe had. Shupe told him all about the different types of hand guns he owned and about the semi-automatic assault weapons he owned. He told Billy about banana clips that could hold more than 30 rounds and allow a person to fire off 30 rounds in the span of 26 seconds. Billy listened to all this totally transfixed. Nothing in his life ever seemed as powerful and captivating as this.

As they drove back, Billy turned to Shupe and said, “What did that man mean by what he said about needing guns to protect against the
niggers
?”

Shupe kept looking straight ahead. “Pay him no mind, Billy. That Jess Banks just don’t know to keep his big mouth shut.”

“Does he own the range?”

“Naw, he’s just the caretaker. The whole property is owned by a bunch of us guys.”

“Like a gun club?”

“Exactly”.

They drove on in silence for another five minutes. Then Shupe said, “Did it bother you that he used the word
nigger
?”

Billy wasn’t sure how to answer. He’d always accepted without question the word of his teachers that the term was insulting. The publically correct term was
African-American
or
Blacks
.

Shupe said, “You have any friends who are
ni….-
Black?”

Billy snorted. He didn’t have
any
friends—good, bad or otherwise. To Shupe he said, “No, not really.”

They had reached the street where Billy lived.

“I’ll leave you off at the corner and you can walk home” uttered Shupe .

“Sure, and thanks again, Mr. Shupe. This has been really cool.” Billy replied.

“Just remember, Billy, this is just between you and me.
No one
else knows! You got it?”

“I promise Mr. Shupe”, said Billy, “Can we do this again?”

“We’ll see - maybe next week - Maybe I’ll let you fire my assault rifle next time.”

“Wow! Would that ever be great!”

“See you then Billy – Remember
not a
word!”

Billy walked the short distance to his home in a trance.
Wow was that ever great!
He thought to himself. He could just imagine over and over in his head the feel of power in his hands.
Shupe is an OK guy
, he thought, he’s not creepy at all!

Shupe pulled his pick-up into the driveway of his one story double-wide trailer house on the outside of town. He walked in and placed his gun in the locked cabinet in the hallway.

“Where you been Shupe?” His wife called out from the kitchen, “I had dinner an hour ago without you!”

“You been at one of your secret meetings again?”

“You shut the fuck up about that woman! Mouthing off like that is going to get you nothing but a lot of trouble from me – and you don’t want that kind of trouble!” He growled threateningly.

“Now get me a beer! And where the fuck is that slut of a daughter or yours!”

Madge was a small mousy woman. She was afraid of him for good reason. He had beaten her on more than one occasion, and twice the police had been called but no formal charges were ever filed. Her daughter, Stephanie, was a love child by another man. Stephanie was eight when Madge met Shupe after he got out of the Army. He and her daughter didn’t get along much. Once he caught her flirting with an older Black boy and he beat her. In any case, he certainly was capable of anything. She’d made up her mind that she’d do what she had to do to protect her daughter.

Madge knew very little about the secret meetings that Shupe went out to from time to time. She just knew that they were with people she had no desire to ever meet. She had no idea what they did at those meetings or what they talked about, nor did she ever wish to. At least when he went to those meetings he’d be out of the house and she and she and her daughter would be safe.

Billy could not keep the pistol shooting lesson Shupe had given him out of his mind. He could hardly wait to see his new found friend again and maybe learn more about the guns he had. It was all he could do to keep from telling Melissa about it, but he kept to his promise.

The day after they’d been to the range, he spied Shupe at the school entrance.

“Hey Shupe! How’s it going!” Billy yelled

Shupe strolled up to Billy. In a quiet, menacing voice said “Listen Billy, when I am at school, you don’t know me! You got it!”

Billy gulped, “Okay Shupe”.

Shupe modulated his tone “Look kid, it’s for both of our own good. You keep your distance while I’m on duty and I’ll still keep my promise about going to the shooting range with you”.

Billy sighed, relieved that he hadn’t offended Shupe.

“Ok, I’ll keep my distance at school!”

After a while Billy ditched his one o’clock class and headed for his usual perch. After a few minutes Melissa came over to where he was sitting and plopped down next to him.

“God I hate this school!” she let out. “If it weren’t for arts/music class I’d die!”

“What’s up with you Billy? – You seem like the cat that ate a canary. Do you want to tell me about it or let me guess?”

“Billy just grinned and said. “Sorry, its nothing I can share with you Melissa, it’s sort of personal.”

“What! Do you actually have a
date
or something? Maybe even a
real
girl friend?” Melissa teased

“I just
can’t
say!” Billy said barely containing a grin.

“Anyway Billy, I need your help. I want to do a video of some new dance moves I’ve been working on and I need you to handle the video equipment”

“I don’t know how to use that stuff!” protested Billy

“It’s easy”, Melissa countered, “I’ll show you how to set it up and tape it, and then transfer it to DVD. They have a whole studio full of equipment in the dance room. You’ll get the hang of it in no time!”

“When did you want to do it?” Asked Billy

“We can sneak in there after school. The room is supposed to be locked, but Mrs. Watson usually leaves it unlocked for me to go practice in. So are we on for later today?” pleaded Melissa

“Okay”, replied Billy

Later that day, he kept his word and met up with Melissa after everyone had gone home. They opened the unlocked studio door and walked into the darkened room. Melissa turned on the lights and Billy stood astounded by the large mirrored dance studio before him.

“Wow! I’ve never been in here before! It’s huge!”

“Come over here Billy”, said Melissa.

Melissa went into another darkened room with a large glass window that faced into the dance studio. She turned on the lights revealing a large computer console and a video camera on a tripod.

Billy walked over the equipment.

“What do I do?” He inquired

Melissa showed him how to manage the computer sound system, and then how to operate the video camera. After a couple of tries, Billy got the hang of it. She then showed him how to transfer the recorded video from the camera to a DVD in the computer.

Leaving Billy in the room to operate the camera and sound, she went back into the dance studio and twisted, turned and arched her body in warm up moves.

She called to Billy, “Okay, I’m ready. Cue up the music.”

For an hour, she performed her hip hop dance moves to the music, and then dropped into a chair, perspiration dripping from her forehead.

Billy came over with the DVD he’d made.

After they played it, Melissa threw him a high-five. “Great, Billy! Thanks.”

LeVon Ralston was a junior at Emory High. He had transferred there a year before when his family moved to Orange Grove from Cleveland, Ohio. He was tall, athletically built and very suave with the girls.

The previous year he had gone out for the football team and made first string varsity. That same year LeVon was involved in an incident at an away football game at another school that resulted in their team’s suspension for
the rest of the season.
After one of the opposing players repeatedly made racial slurs aimed at him, he began throwing punches. Other players on both teams got into the fight, and so did some spectators from the stands. The incident became a full scale riot and the police had to be called in to finally break it up. After that many of the White members of the team resented LeVon for starting the fight that resulted in the team’s suspension.

LeVon had grown up in Cleveland, Ohio. His family had only recently moved to Orange Grove after both of his parents got promotions at the insurance company they worked for. With their new higher incomes
they were able to afford a recently foreclosed home in Orange Grove.

LeVon’s upbringing in Ohio left him with intolerance for racial slurs. This was not entirely shared with his fellow Black students who had grown up in the Old South. By now they were inured to the occasional “dissing” to which they were subjected.

LeVon associated mostly with other black students. The one exception to this was Melissa whose enthusiasm for Hip Hop and Rap dancing made the two compatriots for whom the color line was erased. Their dance moves were met with enthusiasm by impromptu audiences of the other black students.

“Hey girl!
Wassup!”
He said as Melissa came trotting up to him.

“You been working on those new dance moves I been teaching you?”

Melissa gave him a high five hand slap.

“Yeah,
homeboy
! I’ve been working on ‘em. What you been doing with your
Black ass
lately?”

To that the small group of black students let out a howl of laughter.

“Boy, don’t she even talk like a
homey
now!” one of them exclaimed.

“I heard you got in trouble the other day after a run in with Shupe?” said Melissa.

LeVon cursed, “
Sheeeet!
There’s something not right with that dude. He been ragging on
all
the brothers here. I tell you that guy’s is a
redneck
and a racist
cracker
!”

“Anyway, what you got to show me girl?”

Melissa took the DVD that she had made out of her backpack and handed it to LeVon. “I made this last night in the Dance studio. Check it out.”

“I will girl! Right after I get home, I’ll do just that”

Billy raced to the rendezvous place to meet up with Shupe, who had promised to take him to the shooting range again today. All he could think about this past week was what it felt like to shoot a gun.

Shupe’s pickup rolled up right on time and Billy hopped in.

“I got a surprise for you today, Billy”, he said

“How’d you like to fire a semi-automatic assault rifle today?”

Billy’s eyes lit up, “Wow, you bet I would!”

They rode the rest of the way in silence. Billy mostly just thought about what he had learned the last time from Shupe. When they got to the run-down shooting range, Shupe brought out a large oblong gym bag and placed it on the table. He unzipped it to reveal an AK-47 with a large banana clip attached just in front of the trigger and pistol grip. He released the clip and showed Billy the 30 rounds it held.

“I faced down quite a few of these babies in Iraq and Afghanistan— mostly on the receiving end from a bunch of
towel-heads
who wanted to send me to
Allah
” he said. “I replied back in kind with my M-16 — which is why we’re talking here today”

“They used to make these babies
fully-automatic
, but ever since those gun hating liberals in Washington got in, they had to all be converted to
semi-automatic
. They even banned them
outright
for a few years until they repealed the law. Now they want to ban them again along with a whole lot of other weapons! Well not if I can help it!” he exclaimed.