“Mr. Shaw... can I ask a question?”
A glance her way. Hannah’s eyes were wide and there was something conspiratorial about her smile. “Will you teach me how to shoot?”
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Dad got me a BB gun when I was twelve. I was good!” She nodded toward his waistband. “Your father’s rules—never be without a weapon, right?”
“Don’t need one. You’re with me.”
“ButIdon’t have anything.”
“Guns take lots of training.”
“I know how they work. I’ve seen all theMission: Impossibles... Just kidding!Youcan train me.”
“Your mother doesn’t like guns.”
“I’m herebecauseof my mother.” Hannah said this in an even voice that once again was laced with an adult edge.
Shaw debated, then drew the revolver from his waistband. It was an elegant weapon, the six-inch barrel and the receiver richly blued, the grip splendid mahogany.
The girl stared.
He pressed the catch and swung out the cylinder. He emptied the six blunt .357 rounds into his palm and pocketed them.
Closing the cylinder with a sharp click, he ignored her outstretched hand, which she lowered.
“Colter, listen to me.”
“Okay, Ash.”
The children are encouraged to call their parents by their given names. This draws curious looks from friends and family but is in keeping with the philosophy of self-reliance encouraged by Ashton and Mary Dove.
Colter is ten years old. This is a milestone year, he will later learn. It is the firearms age in the Shaw family. He and his father are alone, standing behind the cabin in the Compound.
“This is a revolver because... the cylinder revolves.” The wiry man with a bushy beard and wild hair spins it with a satisfying series of clicks. “It’s also called a wheel gun.”
“All right.”
Ashton opens the cylinder and displays the empty chambers.
“Is the gun loaded?”
“No, sir.”
“Yes, it is.”
The boy looks from the cylinder, which is as empty as empty can be, to his father’s stern face.
“Never assume a weapon is unloaded. Even if you see it with your two eyes, then close it up yourself, it’s still loaded. You understand?”
Not exactly, but: “Yessir.”
“What’s the rule?”
“Never assume a weapon is unloaded.”
Colter wants to take the gun and start pulling the trigger and shooting. He will learn he is a long way off from that.