Memories ~
From Falls Church to Kilmarnock
© 2007 Abilini's Computer Services
Spotlighting
(1965’ish)
“Spotlighting
(shining a light, on an animal at night, with a gun in the vehicle) is illegal.”
Enough said!
Ricky, the oldest, was the hunter in this family. If it was alive, and not a
current pet (he had many pets: squirrels, snakes, lizards, cats, dogs), then he
would hunt it. One night, when my parents were not at home, Ricky told us to
get in to the car (his idea of babysitting). He got up on the roof of the
station wagon, with his rifle. Nancy (second oldest girl) was driving, Gail was
‘riding shotgun’ (she was in the front passenger seat). Donna, Anne and I were
in the back seat. Ricky would shout to Nancy the directions: Left, Right, High
beams, Low Beams.
Rick yelled, “Slow down!” Nancy, either didn’t understand what he had said, or
wasn’t paying attention, she slammed on the brakes. Ricky flew off the roof,
skimmed the hood of the car and hit the gravel payment (Roads weren’t paved in
asphalt, still aren’t), all of this while holding on to the gun. Needless to
say, words of a foreign language were screamed at Nancy.
A normal person would not get back on the roof of the car, at least not with the
same driver. However, Nancy was the only person, other than Ricky, with a
driver’s license. Ricky got back up on the roof, and said, “Pay attention this
time!”
Nancy crying - while driving (always a bad combination), followed his
directions, again. We are now back on the main road, headed towards our road,
when all of a sudden Nancy slammed on the brakes and starts screaming, “Oh my
God, did I hit it? Did I hit it?” Super Rick goes flying, again! This time,
though, Nancy jumps out of the car, first, before Rick can say anything,
screaming and crying, “Oh my God, I killed it, I killed it!” Rick, probably
realizing he was an idiot to get back on the car, with her driving, limped over
to what she was screaming about and picked up a very dead rabbit and said, “Yes.
Not only did you kill it, you skinned and gutted it, too!”
Calmly he placed the gun in the back of the wagon, got in next to Nancy and
Gail, and drove back to the house –mumbling to himself, the whole time. As he
pulled down the driveway, Rick told all of us, “You will not tell mom and dad
what we did tonight, or you will look like that rabbit, when I’m done, with you.
Understand?” Everyone said, “Yes.” Ricky then looked at Nancy and said, “Didn’t
you see that dead rabbit, when we passed it going out?”
A long the same line, but worse!
I came down to the Kilmarnock house, one Friday night and noticed on the side of
the road, at a stop sign a whole bunch of broken glass. I asked around and no
one knew where the glass came from. The next day, I was talking to a neighbor in
town and I mentioned the glass and he told me what had happened. He said, “One
of his hunting buddies, Jack, had been hunting all day and never saw a single
deer. It was the last day of the Deer Hunting Season. On his way home, after
dark, a deer crossed in front of him and stopped at the Stop sign. Jack thought
smart deer (stopping at a Stop sign)! So, Jack pulled his gun out from behind
the back seat and shot the deer, from his driver’s seat. Well he didn’t kill the
deer, just scared it. He didn’t, because he didn’t, put the passenger window
down!” And then Jack told me, since he didn’t think before he acted; he called
his insurance agency and explained what happened. The agent said, “When did this
occur?” Jack said, “just now.” The agent said, “are you still at the scene?”
Jack said, “Yes sir.” The agent said, “We have a estimator in your area, he
should be there in a few minutes.” Jack said, “Great. I’ll be waiting right
here.” Ten minutes later, the estimator arrived, in his Deputy Sheriff’s uniform
and in a county Sheriff’s car. He wrote Jack a ticket for firing a weapon from
inside a vehicle. He wrote him another ticket for “Spotlighting” and then wrote
him a warning ticket for “Hunting Out of Season,” as the season ended at dusk.
Then the officer then explained to Jack, “The insurance agency does not cover
‘Stupidity’. You have to pay for the window yourself.”