Chinese martial arts weapons, Chinese throwing stars, numb-chucks, brass knuckles with spikes, etc.. My mother hated, and I mean hated guns. I was not allowed to have ANY toy guns as a child what so ever, no bee-bee guns, no toy guns, not even any plastic guns. I wasn’t even allowed to play like I was shooting anyone (cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians) when I was a child.
When Atari came out, my mother hated even the idea that I was shooting something in a video game (space invaders), as a result, she simply would not allow me to play certain games and she would not allow me to have them (I would play them anyway just over at a friends house). When I was in high school and Nintendo came out she would not allow me to buy the plastic gun which hooked into the game so I could play “duck hunt” or some police game.
When we would go to buy games she simply said: “it’s my money and I will not buy that game for you.” I wanted “the road warrior” or something and she wanted me to get “tennis” or “bass fishing” “you used to love to go fishing” she would say.
She really was something. With my father coming back from Vietnam a different man and having severe mental anguish about what happened over there and the whole experience, and after what happened to Mr. Johnson I can’t really blame her for her gun hysteria, I can only try to understand. BUT ANYWAY, here I was, a 19 year old kid and all of a sudden I got to fire all these these “really cool” guns, and they had all this “really cool” stuff like knives, killing wires, night vision goggles, and all of these ADULTS were running around as fast as they could for ME.
Running around, changing targets for ME, getting ME a sandwich or a drink and they all seemed so eager to do something for me, anything, anything I asked, anything I wanted they would run and get for me. They seemed so impressed with what I could do, I sensed they envied me, I also sensed they feared me. I felt like a celebrity, and I felt like a king.
All of the shooting took only about an hour or so I would estimate. After the first round, they never told me any of the results. All I remember is the atmosphere had a feeling of elation, euphoria, exuberance, everyone had these HUGE smiles on there faces, laughing, and admiration. Honestly, as we got further and further back, I don’t even know if I was hitting ANYTHING! All I remember is raising my arm and firing the pistol. I COULDN’T THINK, I COULD ONLY DO.
I would just fire the pistol at the target, step back, and they were always for some reason happier than pigs in shit. The thing is they liked me. If the atmosphere seemed “light” I somehow found myself suddenly speaking and making comments for no particular reason. When I spoke everyone would freeze and listen. I liked this fact, I liked it very much. I would make comments like “Should we be wasting all these bullets? They’re very expensive aren’t they?” (my mothers’ mother, the very frugal Grandma Angrstrom coming out of me).
And they would all start laughing hysterically. I remember Mr. Green saying to me with a tear in his eye from laughing so hard “Rhino, you can shoot as many god d*mn f*cking bullets as you want. It’s on me and I’m buying. Shit! I’ll get you bullets by the f8cking truckload if you want.” I said “Really? Are you sure cause that can really start to add up!” and they all burst out laughing again. After that comment is what I most remember specifically about this whole episode. I remember watching Mr. Green as he turned to someone in a long dark overcoat and saying “I f*ckin like that kid.. I f*ckin like him! I like how he thinks! as a matter of fact” and he turns and motions the man with the white hair and black leather coat over to him and a few others join him.