Miracle Shot
by Calvin Peters
“Three weeks.” The boy answered the man when asked. “I got my Dad to get it for me!” He was pretty proud of his little recurve; It had come with 3 arrows, a tab and an armguard too! It was a tiny little wood bow, with a moulded rubber handle. The 5-dollar kind. The kid had saved his allowance for weeks and he had finally talked his Dad into getting it for him.
The man had stopped by his families house to visit with the boy’s Father, something to do with business…but he had the courtesy to stop and offer to watch the young man shoot a couple of arrows in the yard, that and ask him how long he had been shooting.
The boy had been at it that day for hours…there wasn’t anyone to explain to him how the bow worked…and it had taken him a long time to work up to the 20 feet distance he had been shooting at. The price was high in other ways too.
He only had one arrow left. He had discovered that arrows will bury themselves under the grass so completely that you can never find them again! Being only 11 years old, it was going to take him a long time to save money to buy more. But non-the less…here was a real live Adult taking a little bit of interest in his archery!
“Watch this!” he said confidently to the man, as he walked to the sidewalk…this was easily 3 times farther than he had ever shot before. He wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but it felt right. Confidently he nocked an arrow, and sent it flying back towards the stuffed box he was shooting at.
“Whack” the arrow hit the box dead center! Now it may be just a matter of coincidence, but that was exactly where he was trying to hit. This was not expected! This was a shot he was sure that he would never be able to do again! He wasn’t even very good at short distances, but then again, the man didn’t have to know that!
There was only one thing to NOT do.
There was defiantly no way he could take another shot! Even at 11 he had a good idea when to quit! He hoped the man had seen enough and wouldn’t ask him to try it again…
Having made the shot of his life, and with a witness too…he calmly walked over to the man to take his kudos. As he figured, the man was impressed. He had probably never shot a bow in his life, but he had the presence of mind to praise the kid a little.
The kid was so happy he was just about “bursting at the seems!” It is hard to keep a grin to yourself sometimes…and sometimes you just don’t want to!
The boy figured the man would tell his Father about the shot when he got in the house, and they probably would both come outside to talk to the modern day “Robin Hood!” Maybe even pat him on the back a bit…perhaps acknowledge the fact that he mattered and all his practise might actually have paid off.
He was sure his Father would be proud of him at the very least.
The boy’s Father was a nice man. He was a hard worker, and a fair man. Everyone liked him. He had grown up in a real iron-fist Christian home, a home where God and hard work was respected, and not much else.
His own Father hadn’t paid much attention to him as a child, and as only 1 out of 5 children, it was best to be seen and not heard.
In those days the farm provided for almost all their needs. There was a lot to do.
He grew up with an undying work ethic…physical work ruled. There weren’t enough hours in the day to do all the things that needed done. This was life; this is the way things should be.
This is what people respected.
There was no time to go to children’s baseball games, or take them to the swimming pool…and certainly not enough time to watch them play with bows and arrows.
There is the yard work, home renovations…and hey, someone has to pay all those bills! Then there is all the volunteering at the church, and that board membership takes up time. Of course there is all the various committees. There is always more to do, and not enough time.
That is just the way life is.
“Work Hard,” that is the only way.
But he was a nice guy, and everyone liked him.
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The boy felt good when the man took a minute to watch his “Miracle Shot” and inside he knew that the man probably figured it was just a fluke. But he was pretty happy that for a minute at least, an adult had taken an interest in something that really meant a lot to him.
The man disappeared into the house.
After another hour of waiting for them to maybe come out and tell him how well he had done, or watch him shoot a couple more times…the boy accidentally missed his box and stuck the arrow into the wood at the bottom of the fence. It broke when he tried to get it out.
It didn’t really matter.
His Dad wasn’t coming out to talk about his shot.
Besides, it was starting to get dark.
Topic: Miracle Shot - by Calvin Peters (Read 3078 times)
