Freddy's Christmas Present - Nez

 Freddy’s Christmas Present

By Nez Nesmith

Christmas 1953. Freddy got a new pellet rifle for Christmas. He was really excited. It was exactly

what he wanted for Christmas. It was a really nice one. Freddy had dreamed about the new rifle

since he saw it in the new Sears Catalog. He had shown its picture to his dad. Dad had not been

very enthusiastic. Mom was certainly unenthusiastic. Yet here it was. It was an air rifle with a

lever pump action, so he could pump it up for more power and distance. He couldn’t wait to

show it to his friends when he got back home.

When Christmas dinner was over at his grandparents’ house Freddy got dad’s permission to

take his new rifle outside and try it out. He a whole box of pellets. His dad cautioned him about

being responsible with the rifle. “Remember, it’s just target practice. Nothing live,” dad said.

Freddy put some cans and bottles on fenceposts, took aim from about 20 yards away and hit all

of them on his first try. “Just like my BB gun”, he thought. He moved further away, and his

results were the same. He knew he was a perfect shot. He could hit anything. He decided that

stationary targets weren’t much fun. He really wanted to try to hit something that was moving,

maybe a rat, a squirrel or a rabbit or opossum.

Freddy went to his grandpa’s barn and made noise hoping to scare a rat or something out from

hiding. No luck. Probably wouldn’t find a rabbit or squirrel either, just machinery. Too cold.

Besides they probably wouldn’t be in the barn. Leaving the barn Freddy headed for the chicken

house. Maybe he would scare out a rat or something there. In the chicken house he found

dozens of chickens, some in their nests, others strutting about, clucking and eating from their

feeders. Wow! He didn’t know grandpa had so many chickens. He just knew that grandpa

wouldn’t even notice if he shot a couple, so he shot three strutters. Dead. Oh! Freddy decided

he had better get out of there and quickly left the chicken house but forgot to latch the door.

Freddy made his way to the road in front of his grandparents’ house searching for something to

take a shot at with his new air rifle. The only thing he saw was a kid on a bike about 100 yards

away. Freddy pumped up his rifle and took aim and squeezed the trigger. A second later the kid

on the bike yelped and stopped and checked his shoulder. Something had hit him there. His

coat sleeve had a hole torn in it. He looked up the street and saw a kid with a rifle. He knew

that kid. That was Freddy, the Hagen’s grandson.

Wayne went in the house and showed his mom his red shoulder and torn his coat sleeve. He

told his mom that he saw Freddy up the street with a rifle. His mom looked and Freddy was still

out there, shooting at things. Wayne’s mom phoned the Hagens to ask if Freddy got a new rifle

for Christmas. Mrs. Hagen said he did. Alan’s mom asked them to check on him. At that same

time Mrs. Hagen saw that their chickens were out in the yard. She yelled for Mr. Hagen to go

put the chickens away. As he did that Mrs. Hagen asked her son-in-law, Freddy’s dad, to check

on Freddy and his new rifle. Freddy’s mom got on the phone with Wayne’s mom, an old friend,

and learned that Wayne had been shot. However, he only had a red spot on his shoulder, and a

torn coat sleeve. Thank God for that. That was enough for Freddy’s mom.

Minutes later Freddy’s grandpa came back into the house carrying three dead chickens. They

had been shot. Freddy and his dad came in the front door then and his mom asked Freddy if he

shot the chickens. He looked down and didn’t deny it. She asked if he shot at a kid on a bike.

Again, Freddy did not deny it. Freddy’s mom took his new rifle, emptied it of pellets and air and

threw it into the fireplace’s blaze. Freddy’s dad said, “I told you, ‘nothing live’ remember?”

Freddy’s mom and dad took him to Wayne’s house to offer their apologies.

The next day Freddy’s grandparents also went to Wayne’s house to apologize and brought

Wayne a new coat, the one they had bought for Freddy for Christmas.

Freddy’s Christmas present.

Nez Nesmith

August 2023