The Son by Philipp Meyer

Author:Philipp Meyer
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-04-03T16:00:00+00:00

AN OMINOUS SIGN: immediately after seeing Glenn and Charlie off, received a call from the postmaster. The Lewis gun has arrived. After several mint juleps with the Colonel, decided to test the gun.

We took the largest drum—nearly one hundred rounds—and after laboriously loading it and figuring out the winding mechanism, which is much like a pocket watch, we were ready to send some prickly pears to the next world when the most unfortunate group of javelina on earth walked into view.

They were nearly a quarter mile away but the gun was advertised as effective at three times that distance for “area fire.” The Colonel could barely make them out so he suggested I do the shooting while he looked with field glasses. I was lying on the ground behind the gun while he stood next to me. I saw a shadowy figure waving in the distance.

We elevated the sight and I fired a quick burst, perhaps five rounds.

“Son of a bitch, Pete, you missed ’em by near thirty yards.”

“Must be the wind.” My ears were ringing. I pretended to adjust the sight.

“All right, they’re back to rooting. You gonna shoot or piss your pants?”

I aimed into the sounder of pigs—which at that distance looked like a brown patch against the green of the brush—and pulled back the trigger. It was like holding on to a locomotive. One does not aim so much as direct the gun like a fire hose.

“Left,” he was shouting, “right, right, walk ’em right . . . now left, more left, left left left left!” I did as he asked, seeing the bullets kick up dirt among the running brown shapes.

“Put on that other drum, there are some still kicking.”

I attached the second drum.

“Son of a whore,” he was saying, “I wonder is that really four hundred yards . . .”

I drowned out his talking with the noise of the gun.

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