Chrome Plated BBs
She wasn’t a crack shot, could barely hit the broad side of a barn, as they say. But she enjoyed shooting at things and listening to the ping of the ricochet. Paint ball, air gun, and 22 caliber were her play things of choice. Leaning out the passenger window of a speeding pick-up on a winding, gravel road; she found her jollies at the expense of deer crossing signs and mail boxes. You know her type. Or maybe you don’t. When she discovered the chrome plated half tube, a playground slide, that deposited thrilled children into a mud puddle, she recognized the possibilities immediately. After the park emptied she went to the pick up truck and pulled her air gun from under the synthetic-leather, driver’s seat. Into the ammo reservoir of her trusty Daisy, she poured the contents of a special tube. Regular BBs are copper, or copper clad. These were chrome plated. The sound of chrome striking chrome was musical to her ears. She emptied the chamber of the small silver balls and in the fading light, fell to her hands and knees. She sought and retrieved as many chrome clad balls as she could find and stuffed them into her pockets. She hadn’t lost as many as she thought. By her calculation, the number of missing BBs was comparable to the quantity of silver coated sugar balls she sprinkled over the dessert of strawberries and chantilly. These silver balls made no pinging sound, left no dents.
sk11/25/09