Saturday night we had a small group of friends over. As the evening went along we talked about a lot of different things and somehow the subject of guns came up. We talked about what guns we had or didn’t have and what kind of ammo was good to use for what. Well somehow lane got on one of her story telling trips. Here is the story lane told and she hopes you enjoy it as much as our friends did.

My daddy used to have a bunch of chickens; A whole chicken house full of chickens. It was my job lane says to make sure all the chickens were all up and not any left out cause if any was left out a wild animal might catch it. Daddy’s chickens started disappearing and for a long time he didn’t know what was catching them. So we decided to watch and see if we could find out what it was that was catching our chickens. A few days went by with nothing to report and then a few more days went by with nothing yet. Then out of nowhere we heard the chickens cackle. Daddy and I ran up to the barn to find out what it was and lo and behold it was a big red fox that was catching our chickens. Daddy said something had to be done cause once a fox starts catching chickens it won’t stop till it catches all of them. That is unless you stop him first and that is exactly what lane and her daddy set out to do.

We decided to lay and wait for this chicken thief up in the apple orchard cause that’s the way he was traveling. We hid behind an old apple tree and watched. Daddy told me to be real quiet and not talk or we wouldn’t be able to see him cause daddy knew how hard it was for me to be quiet cause lane/I really do like to talk.

Well the first couple of times we watched for him we didn’t see anything but on the third day there he was strolling right along on his way to catch another chicken. He was a big red fox. The biggest red fox lane has ever seen. The sun was shinning on him and he was beautiful. Such a pity to have to kill him for the chicken thief he was.

When daddy saw him he felt in his pocket and brought out a shotgun shell. He said he’d been saving it for a time such as this. I/lane had never seen anything like it. it had a round ball in the end of the shell. Daddy called it a punkin ball. Daddy waited till the fox was close enough to shoot. He cut down on that fox, bam. The fox fell over and then he got up and ran. Daddy said he didn’t believe it after shooting the fox with that punkin ball he figured it would be impossible for him to get up and run off.

So we took off after him. We trailed blood all up the side of the mountain and never did find that fox. Daddy said it must have made it to his den but we never saw it again and we didn’t loose any more chickens.

Sitting here writing this story has brought back many memories. Lane says she can still see daddy as he squatted down behind that apple tree and the gleam in his eye the way he always smiled. My brother wayne does that too lane says and she can still see that red fox with his fur glistening in the sun. It makes her heart feel full and she feels warm all over and sitting here she is smiling too and thanking god for having the ability to remember.