The Ballad of a Young Davey Crocket
Young Davey Crocket stood on the porch of his ma's house with a mission. His namesake the Real Davey Crocket is said to have killed a bear when he was only three. Here it was Young Davey was already six and he hadn't even SEEN a bear yet. In the woods next to his house he heard a familiar deep growl.
"Well, I reckon I ain't gonna ever see me no bear that wasn't in the zoo, so I guess I need to go get me something else big".
Movement in the woods drew his attention and he automatically swiveled his spring powered BB gun and began to track on the movement. Though he knew the standing position wasn't as accurate, he had to act fast, he inhaled and held it, he had never fired on a moving target before, but it was so big and moving so slow surely he could get the kill. The great lumbering beast purred as it broke the tree line, he had the shot and he fired!!! The rear passenger window of the Nissan Murano before him exploded in a shower of glass, over the sound of the glass he heard a voice. A woman's voice. An ANGRY woman's voice. Frozen with fear, the barrel of his gun only managed to dip a few inches as the ramifications of what he had done started to sink in. "Dang it! I only winged it, now its mad as hell!"
As he starred a man in goggles burst from cover behind the vehicle, removed a child seat from the door that had been shot out and presenting as small a target as possible returned to cover behind the vehicle. While this went on the passenger door opened and what appeared to be the Angel of Death stepped out and locked eyes with the Young Davey Crocket.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING DON'T YOU KNOW THAT THERE IS A BABY IN THIS CAR. YOU SHOT AT A BABY" She took a powerful stride towards him and all he could manage was a hurried, "I didn't mean to" before retreating into the house.
The man in the goggles. stepped back around to the passenger side of the vehicle holding a smiling baby. He was trying to get her to let go of the double handful of glass she was gripping, expressionless he announced, "She looks OK." Call the police.
Many long minutes later the police had still not arrived and the door to Davey's house opened. He was unarmed and he was under the watchful gaze of his grandmother. By this time the Angel of Death was holding the smiling baby and her form had shifted slightly into something more human in appearance. Babies have that effect on mothers as it is well documented.
Young Davey Crocket and his grandmother took a position a safe distance from the Angel of Death placing a ditch between them and the abyss. The grandmother explained that he slipped the gun past her, and though he is allowed to have a gun, he knows he is not allowed to use it unsupervised. The Angel of Death struggled to keep her rage under control while she again interrogated the boy on why he did it. The man in the goggles was expressionless. He appeared just as likely to kill as go fishing. They avoided his gaze, instead concentrating on maintaining the safe distance with the ditch between them. In the distance they heard sirens, and the Angel of Death announced, "Oh yeah, I called the cops. They are coming." Through all this the baby was smiling and relaxed, her gaze flitted from tree branch to tree branch as the sunlight trickled through and birds and squirrels frolicked oblivious to the danger below, while tiny shards of glass sparkled over her entire body making her look like a jewel in human form. (or a cheesy vampire)
With the impending arrival of the police the boy and his grandmother beat a hasty retreat back into their house with the promise that they would call his mother and get her there.
The sirens faded into the distance and quiet returned once again to the battle field.
Eventually a pair of sheriff's office cars rounded the corner and made best speed towards the scene of the crime. Once out of the car, the first thing they did was apologize for their slow response, the ambush took place at the very end of their world, and every one knew it, so there were no hard feelings. Next they asked what happened. The Angel of Death looking more and more human every moment explained what had happened.
"Where is the gun?"
"Inside with them."
The two officers exchanged a look and a hand signal jogged to the tree line and unholstered their weapons. The man in goggles quietly quipped, "I sure hope they don't call SWAT for a six year old."
Moving from cover to cover the officers took tactical positions the sergeant, by the door and the deputy by an open window. They knocked, the grandmother answered, and in the blink of an eye, both officers were inside. The Angel of Death and the Man in the Goggles listened for the sound of high powered pistol fire. The baby wanted to play in the grass. The two officers, the grandmother, and Young Davey Crocket were back outside on the porch when three more officers pulled up. They introduced themselves, and the Man in Goggles was taken to a pickup truck to give his statement. Cool heads make for better detail. Next the Angel of Death now fully human and shaking gave her statement. The deputies strongly suggested that EMS take a look at the baby to make sure no glass was in her eyes. It was agreed that this was a wise course of action. Sometime in the next 30 - 45 minutes EMS arrived and said that though they did not have the tools to check for glass they highly recommended the baby go to Moses Cone Hospital to have her eyes look at. The Man in Goggles ran to the house to prepare a bag with diapers, an outfit and food for the baby, as her diaper bag and lunch box were buried under a pile of glass all under the watchful eye of the CSI team.
When the Man in Goggles arrived back at the scene the baby was already loaded into the ambulance. The very last impression the Man in Goggles had of the baby was of her smiling face looking back at him from where she was regally strapped into the gurney. She was going on an adventure!
Walking back to the nearest shade he overheard two officers talking over the confiscated weapon, "He had hid it, but when the sergeant asked for hit he brought it out." The other officer responded, "These little spring loaded jobs have some serious power! I never would have guessed that it could do that damage from that distance."
They police released the vehicle back to the Man in Goggles and began to pack up as the mother arrived. She was well dressed, very apologetic, and very cooperative. The police told her that they would probably have the boy before the judge because it was a felony, but because the boy was only six, he would probably just be given a stern tongue lashing by the judge and force to do some community service scraping gum off of benches. This relieved the mother as well as the Man in the Goggles. She worked her way over to the Man in the Goggles, and tried to offer her hand, but he could not accept it because of the glass and blood on his hand from trying to clean the diaper bag and the baby's lunch box. Instead she offered sincere apologies and a list of contact numbers. She would pay for all expenses. The Man in the Goggles knew that the visit to the ER, and the Ambulance ride would be expensive, so he asked if she had any preferred glass shops. She did not, and she returned to the Young Davey Crocket who at this time was sitting on the porch of his house wondering what jail was going to be like and if he could make it on the inside.
The Man in Goggles had only just left the house to vacuum the glass out of the car, the car seat cover and soft toys were in the dryer the baby had been at the hospital for at least an hour by this time and he knew his time was running out. The phone rang, sure enough, they had been released. The baby showed no symptoms of having glass in her eye, therefore they weren't willing to risk putting the dye in. Three dollars and a score of tiny cuts later the car was free of the large pieces of glass. The tiny shards seemed to resist the vacuum and the glass dust was everywhere, but time had run out. The Man in the Goggles returned home please to find that it had not been set on fire, replaced the car seat on the other side of the car and booked it to the hospital.
They had only been home five minutes when the media began calling...




































