The BB Incident – Growing Up in Dublin, Texas

One hot summer day I was outside our house on 502 Thomas Street. I had just came downthe steps of the concrete porch and was headed for the stockyard and pasture, where we would spend a lot of our time playing and what not, when something stung me right above my right eyelid. It was like, thump, sting, and then a tink of something hitting the sidewalk. I immediately grabbed my eye, and thought. “What the heck was that.” Remembering the sound of the tink, I looked down and there was a BB. By this time my eye had began to swell shut, but I was able to squint my other eye so I could focus on where the BB had came from, the pasture.

There was my Brother Ralph with one of the Whitehead boys, shooting his BB Gun toward the stockyard fence. Since he was responsible for watching over me, I walked across the dirt road, and then stretched the middle wire of the barbwire fence down, so I could climb through. I went to him and let him know that I had been shot.

He looked at my closed eye, which by this time had began to throb. He was a pretty smart kid, and immediately suggested we go back to the house so he could put some ice on it. On the way he explained that he was not shooting at me and the BB must have ricocheted off the post he was shooting at. Once in the house he got some ice and wrapped it in a wet wash cloth and I held it on my eye, while he called Mom.
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© 2006 Texas Tortilla Factory – Mike Vauthier

Tuesday, August 29, 2006