…a split second after Ben’s rifle went off, his son saw one of the men convulse, then lay still. It was a little bit unnerving to see someone die.
By now, Ben’s other son had the other rifle configured in .308 and it was ready to go. Ben told him to just stand ready and make sure another magazine for his rifle was handy in case it was needed though he didn’t figure it would be.
Looking through the spotting scope, you saw Al look down at his buddy, appear to yell something, then start shooting wildly. The third guy just got up and ran, leaving all his stuff right there.
Ben, looking through his rifle scope, saw Al shooting wildly not really aiming at anything. He was about to squeeze the trigger when Al, having emptied his magazine, shouted something, then ran off into the trees.
Ben and his son stayed there for a few minutes looking through the scopes until it appeared that the threat was gone. Once they were reasonably sure no more threat existed for the time being, they sat back and took a few deep breaths. It was amazing to them how fast it had all happened. Time lapse wasn’t more than five minutes from the first shot.
They got up leaving the rifle and scope where it sat to go check on the rest of the family at the house…and call the police.
Later on, a patrol car pulled into the driveway. John got out of his car, looked around, straightened his cowboy hat and walked up to the house.
The officer said, “I’m the chief of police in this town.”
Ben said, “I know who you are John, what do you want?”
The officer said, “Yeah, well, we have a complaint that you’ve been shooting at folks Ben.” It was like deja vu.
“Come on now John,” Ben said, “what do you expect me to do when someone is shooting at me and my family?”
“Well, tell ’em you’ll call me out here,” John said.
“Why would that even enter my mind? You haven’t done anything about it before.”
“You could have at least warned them,” John replied.
“So, someone is on my property illegally…shooting at folks, which is illegal too…and I’m supposed to WARN them that they shouldn’t be doing this?!” exclaimed Ben.
“It might have gone a long way with the neighbors. They are all upset now that someone is dead and they wanted me to come over here and do something about it.” John said in return, “why don’t you just give them that property and maybe they won’t shoot at ya no more.”
“Seriously?!” By now Ben is getting kinda irritated. “You are saying that, if I GIVE them property that is mine, that MAYBE they won’t shoot at me no more? That’s like bribing a mugger not to mug you. It makes no sense John.”
“Somebody died here today Ben.”
“And it wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t been shooting at me,” Ben said.
“Someone has to be held responsible for this,” said John.
“Well, Al’s your man. Go see him,” Ben replied.
“I can’t do that. He just lost his brother Ben. That was his BROTHER you shot,” John said.
“You haven’t even went out there and looked. How do you know?” asked Ben.
“‘Cause he told me,” said John. “I just came from over there at his house.”
“How come you went to his house first? We were the ones who were being shot at and called 911,” Ben said.
“They had someone die been.”
“Is that your reason for sanctioning their actions?” Ben asked.
“I am NOT sanctioning their actions!” John exclaimed.
“Well you durn sure ain’t doing nothin’ to discourage it.” Ben replied.
“I’ll have a talk with them Ben.”
“Talk don’t stop bullets. Now, unless you are going to do the job you swore an oath to do, you can get off my property.” Then, Ben turned and walked back across the yard to the barn leaving John standing there awkwardly…
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