Chapter two

Cody sat across from Jennifer at lunch. They told each other every aching detail of their Christmas and once that was done Cody found himself distracted. He'd been watching videos on YouTube all night learning everything he could about his rifle and how to shoot it. The amount of information on the Internet was astounding. He was enthralled and he absorbed every slice and tidbit and speck of information he could.

I missed you! Jennifer said, snapping Cody back into the moment. He smiled and looked down at his food. She reached across the table and took his hand "really... It's just isn't the same without you". He listened and held her eye contact. He felt an ache that passed quickly. It would never be the same he thought. In that moment, to Cody, the world felt very small.

Not surprisingly Cody was tired. School was a grind, though it really always had been. He looked out the window scanning the top of a far hill with his eyes. This allowed his mind a few short moments quiet. He exhaled audibly. Then the bell rang.

The next few months were a blur for Cody. There were band competitions and spring bake sales. He signed up for the baseball team in the spring. He kissed Jennifer on valentine's day. The more he thought he realized she may have kissed him. Either way there was kissing and that's what's important. After baseball season came to a close Cody got a job at the local public pool. He hadn't thought it possible to ruin something as simply perfect as swimming. Turned out he was wrong. It felt like a job. He hated it. He did save someone's life though. No one was drowning but a fellow coworker, Lara, suffered an electric shock while trying to plug in a sketchy ice machine. Cody having taken a CPR class not a week prior went straight to work. He was in a near panic but the EMTs later told him it probably saved the woman's life. He even got his picture in the local paper.

Cody was able to take out his rifle a handful of times that summer. Just for some target practice. He would steal away to some public hunting land just outside of town. He would hang a milk jug from a stake at the base of this hill. He had ordered several books on the history of these rifles and how to shoot them. How to hunt with them. He also read endless articles and chatted with people about hunting techniques. It payed off, watching that milk jug swing with each hit. He enjoyed the process too
and could feel it getting smoother, faster. Three shots from 25 yards. Then three more from 50. He would then run a couple of cleaning patches down the barrel before firing five more shots from 100 yards. He would take friends out shooting sometimes and abandon the routine. Shooting from sometimes as far as almost 200 yards. He got pretty good. The rifle was quite capable. He wondered at how lazy people had gotten. That this method of shooting had been mostly left behind. Considered historical. Almost antiquated. Sometimes Cody would go shoot alone and just sit back. Imagining he was a pioneer mountain man. Hunting and trapping from the Blue Ridge to the Rockies. He'd encounter Indians and he'd trade with them, hunt with them. He'd have a horse or two and a mule. Sometimes he pictured a pale gray Appaloosa, or a chestnut color that looked liked it swirled in the sunlight. He imagined sitting in his saddle staring off into some snowy vista or a clearing in the woods. Rifle across his lap. Lifting a hand to shade his eyes from the sun.

Before Cody knew it he was shopping for school clothes again. As much as he'd suffered through it he was happy to have saved some money working all summer. He had hit a growth spurt and was in need of an entire new wardrobe. Nana bought him clothes all the time and it's not that they didn't fit... Nana just had her own style. Cody smiled thinking about her.