After the dispersion of Daniel's performance, Jack took the guys out to the garage. There was a locked cabinet, which contained his hunting rifles, cartridges and bullets, mostly an assortment of rifles.
He unlocked the cabinet, and handed rifles to Jim, Daniel, and Nicolas.
Nicolas took the gun, a bit nervously.
"Jack, do you really think Nick needs his own gun?," asked Jim.
"You okay with that, Nick? It's not loaded. We do that later."
"Yeah, I'm good," Nick responded.
"Grandpa," Daniel began, "I don't think Mom would want Nick using a rifle. She's really protective, and - "
"Oh, Daniel, c'm on, how many times does he get to go hunting with his old grandpa?"
Daniel and Jim just looked at one another, and shrugged. Nicolas was just exploring the gun, in a curious way, but he seemed okay with it. Jim was thinking he may have to protest, if Jack starts to insist that Nick really fire the gun. He was looking forward to this, but at the same time dreading it. Lizzy had not really left the boys with him much, since they had been dating. Although, he knew Daniel was grown and in college, it had usually been when Nick was at his friend Sky's house, that she had come to hang out with him, in his apartment in Burlington, and had only spent the night if Nick was spending the night at Sky's. He had only spent the night at her house a couple of times, and although he had spent time with Nick, and talked to him, she had not left him with him at all. He had not even spent much time in Lizzy's house yet. He started to worry. He did not have kids of his own. What if Nick did get scared of the gun shots, or was it really responsible for Daniel to be hunting with bad eyesight? He suddenly felt over his head, and a bit bewildered, but he figured if he could run a bar, with a bunch of drunks every day, he could handle a damn hunting trip with Gramps and Lizzy's kids. Still, he felt nervous about things, even though he put on a calm demeanor, which was his style, anyway.
"Do we need hunting jackets, camouflage?," he asked.
"Yeah, I got some jackets and overalls you guys can wear."
They piled into the Hummer, the boys in back, and Jim up front with Jack.
"We'll be going to Dover," Jack announced. "It'll be a little while to get there."
He turned on the radio, easy listening '70's music.
They pulled into the hunting park, and Jack had to show his hunting license from his wallet.
"You're good to go," the guard told them, and off they went.
When they parked, Jack pulled the rifles out of the back. Jim helped him load them with cartridges, thinking 'what is the point in hunting foxes, anyway?' The liberal tree hugger in him, was fighting the macho, anything goes, hunter, tough guy in him, that wanted to impress his possibly, future father in law. He purposely, did not load Nick's gun, but gave it to him unloaded, knowing that Jack would not know the difference.
They began walking slowly through the woods, towards a rather empty field.
"There's a whistle you use," Jack whispered. He demonstrated the fox whistle. Jim imitated the sound. He had been game and deer hunting, as well as fishing, but not fox hunting. He thought kings and princes did this kind of thing on horses, like playing polo, and hunting of the aristocracy. Or, perhaps the rednecks.
Daniel knew that Nick's gun was not loaded, so this made him feel a little easier. He kept looking at his brother, in the oversized overalls and jacket. His own were just as baggy, since Nick was as big as he was, just skinnier. He was a bit on edge, remembering the time when Nick was nine, and he was thirteen, and Nick had freaked out when the gun went off. That had been the last time he and Nick had both been with his grandfather.
Jim and Jack were doing the fox whistle, trying to attract a red or gray fox. It was a bit suspenseful. Daniel was straining his eyes to see better. He could see during the day, but he had tunnel vision, and if the fox were out of his visual field, he would have a disadvantage, and that was a pretty big one, since his visual field was only five degrees, whereas a normal person had one-hundred, eighty. He wondered how he managed, but he was used to it. His acuity was only 20/60, and not correctable with glasses, which was why he did not wear glasses. He had as a child, but they really did no good. People did not understand his vision, because people think of legally blind as 20/200,
non-correctable, or 20/200 or worse, with glasses, but did not understand about tunnel vision, or night blindness.
Just then, in the middle of his thoughts, a red fox came into sight. A gun fired, and he did not know if it was Grandpa or Jim.
Grandpa yelled, "damn it!!!," at the same time exactly, that Nick began screaming, bloody murder. What the hell?
Grandpa and Jim turned around. The fox had made its getaway. Grandpa had fired. Jim had been about to, but Grandpa missed, and Nick was totally freaking.
"Nick, calm down," Jim said, "it's okay, just a gun. Nothing's wrong. You're okay, Buddy." But, Nick kept shrieking, and Grandpa Jack was bewildered and confused. Daniel did not know what to think. He was feeling bad for his grandfather now.
"Nick!," he shouted, "stop, it's okay!"
But, Nick did not stop, and before they knew it, he was having a full blown seizure, of which Daniel had witnessed only once, and was not sure what to do. They did not have a tongue depressor. The biggest danger, was him biting his tongue.
It finally subsided, and Jim and Daniel got on either side of Nick, and helped him to the truck.
"We need to take him to the emergency room," Jim said, knowing that was probably the right thing to do. "Do we have his medication, Daniel?"
"No, he only takes it at night. It's not an emergency thing, a systemic kind of med."
"Oh, Jeesh," Jack muttered, feeling bewildered, and not wanting to admit he was disappointed at the screw up of a hunting trip with his only grandsons.
They drove to the nearest hospital in Dover, and went straight to the emergency room.
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