Are you Carrying?
Pete stopped next to Stormy on his way out. “Are you carrying a gun?”
“No.”
“You should be, and with your connections I’m sure it could be handled pretty quickly.”
“It’s not going to happen,” Stormy replied. Pete shrugged and walked out.
Monica stepped closer to Stormy and watched the door close behind Pete. “I’m happy you don’t want to have guns around, but I’m a little surprised, and you’re so adamant about it.”
Stormy sighed. “When JD and I were younger – in our early twenties – we used to go out to the Mojave Desert and target shoot. Mostly .45 caliber, single action revolvers and rifles, like the old cowboys shot. A friend of ours from high school, Todd Castle, he used to go with us. Todd was a practical joker – always looking for ways to pull our leg. Well, one day Todd was playing around with his gun, pointing it at the car, at the sky, and even at himself. JD told him to stop messing around, but Todd wouldn’t stop, and started taunting JD. The more JD kept on him, the more erratic Todd became. Finally, Todd pointed his gun at JD’s truck and pulled the trigger.”
“He shot JD’s truck?”
“Not really; it sounded like it and a lot of smoke came out, but no slug.” Monica waited. “Todd had loaded his gun with blanks. I thought JD was going to kill him.” Stormy shook his head. “Todd shot his gun a couple of more times – once at the ground and once in the air – to show JD that the gun was loaded with blanks,”
“I’m guessing JD didn’t see the humor.”
“No, and JD’s got a pretty good sense of humor, but not when it comes to guns. So he’s yelling at Todd to put the gun down. But instead of putting it down he points the gun at his stomach and says, ‘Come on JD, there just blanks,’ and pulls the trigger.” Monica’s eyes went wide, when Stormy shook his head. “The shot knocked him on the ground and blew a hole through his stomach.”
“Oh Stormy, I’m so sorry. What happened to him?”
“It took JD and I, a minute to realize what had happened, at first we thought it was one of Todd’s pranks, but when we saw the blood we knew it wasn’t. So we loaded him into JD’s truck and headed for the nearest hospital in Lancaster – an hour and a half away.”
“Did you make it?”
“No, he died before we could get there.”
“Monica wrapped her arms around Stormy’s waist and held him tight. “How did he shoot himself if the gun was loaded with blanks?”
“When the police investigated, they found that one of the six rounds was live. Unfortunately, we’ll never know if it was an accident or if Todd was playing a sick game of Russian roulette.”
