Saturday, November 22, 2008

Eat your heart out, Ralphie

redryderLike Ralphie in Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story," I always wanted a Red Ryder BB gun.

And my mother, just like Ralphie's mom, was concerned that I'd shoot my eye out. Her fear was reinforced by the fact that a boy in town about my age by the name of Billy Felix actually did lose an eye to an errant BB shot.

I supposed that Daisy's Red Ryder carbine had vanished into the mists of time along with Hopalong Cassidy and Captain Midnight stuff.

That is until this afternoon when Maria and I stumbled across a case of them on display at a local hunting and fishing joint. They're priced at $49.99, which is doubtless a lot more than Ralphie's dad paid back in the late 1940s or early '50s. But the current model doesn't have a compass in the stock.

Of course now that I can have one, I don't want it. I'm shopping for an AK-47 or an AR-15 before the government tells me I can't have one because I might shoot my eye out.

2 comments:

Lauri Shillings said...

Awesome. I expect a "Major Award" lamp in your window when I visit next time

Michael May said...

I don't have the Red Rider but back in 1987 I bought my daughter a BB Gun and taught her to shoot. We made targets and shot them in the garage. She went off to college and left the gun with me. Since we live in The People's Republic of Kalifornia, this is as close as I can get to an AR-15. Buy two they will be a good investment.