A slip can be deadly

Have you ever shot anyone? Let me rephrase that. Have you ever nearly shot anyone? More than two score years have passed, but when I think back to that May evening when I was allowed to carry a loaded gun for the first time, I can still feel the shock and horror at what I so very nearly did.

Detailed to finish off a wounded crow, my eager thumb drew back the hammer on the old .410. The awful suddenness of the shot, the tragicomic leap of alarm of the man and the hole in the turf inches from