Heart of Brawlsteenian

 

THE SLING SHOT By Ronald Bunch

 

11/8/2024

 

Huey zipped down a steep hill in winter as the bitter cold bit his face. He dreamt of every detail in the past of 2023. His feet burned from frostbite not caring. He was focused on racing the other children up to the summit.

“Yay,” he cheered for the tenth and last time down near a party of gawkers, not wanting to climb up the hill again with sweaty snow pants. Huey’s mom was patiently watching all the sledders waiting for her son to finish.

When Huey awoke fresh from his slumber, he could smell carcinogens from cigarette smoke, drowning him. He habitually parted his chestnut-brown hair with a comb; then trudged downstairs to make sure the apartment was not on fire. His Caucasian dad, David, was the source of the fumes. He was smoldering in tabaco and fasting.

“Son, never smoke like me, or eat like your mother Lisa.” She was short and obese. “Get dressed for school.”

“Okay dad, I will put my action figure down. Can I get another one on my birthday?”

Huey’s dad ignored him.

***

 

After Huey’s went to school, he went to fly a box kite, a gift from mom and dad. He lost the kite in the woods where he went sledding.

“Mom, can we go to a store, so I can spend my five dollars? Sorry about the kite.”

Huey just turned ten today. He received the money in the mail from his Aunt May. It was Friday after school in autumn, now five o’ clock.

“Son, what would you like to buy?” Lisa inquired, also thinking about a massive chocolate cake with pecans and caramel icing. “You’re in trouble mister, that kite cost an hour’s salary.”

“We will see when we get there, let us go to a supermarket, so I can play free videogames, you know? Like fighting games, so I can play against other people,” Huey protested.

“Only because it’s your B-day.”

So, Huey and his parents drove to the nearest supermarket. They got off the expressway and passed by a crowded mall, then drove into the store’s parking lot. Huey was excited.

Huey and his mom walked for two minutes in the supermarket, then stopped to smell the aroma. This gave them a craving. Huey got in line with her mom at the snack bar, seeing how much the fried chicken would cost, but being poor and frugal, they did not have enough money.

His father waited patiently outside to enjoy a smoke.

“Come on mom, we have better places to explore.”

“Yes, show the way.”

Huey followed his mom past the clothing department and into a crossroad of aisles. He saw her look at building block castles and spaceships, he wished such toys were not so expensive.

Next, they headed past an aisle of locked-away rifles and other hunting gear, even bows and arrows, which Huey liked.

He walked one more aisle down and found video game consoles and games behind glass shelves. He looked in awe at the games he wished he could play, while he heard plastic buttons being mashed.

By the checkout table, two adults were playing a fierce fighting game. The characters threw spears, fireballs, and were martial arts masters. When Huey got a chance to play, he was relieved from waiting in line. He did not doubt his gaming skills, even though Huey knew how advanced the game the guy boasted of was. They played for thirty-two minutes, and Huey lost every round then complained: “That’s all you ever do is pick that fighter!” He was done playing and looked for something on sale to buy to ease his defeat.

“Mom, can I get this?” Huey pulled on Lisa’s sleeve, speaking impatiently after checking a shelf between the aisles. He held a sling shot with cardboard and plastic packaging. “It comes with bb’s and it’s only five seventy-five.”

“Put that back, we don’t have enough money.”

“But it’s my favorite,” he exasperated her with flailing arms and speech.

“I don’t have an extra dollar, the money is paid for, see, your father will pawn anything if we don’t buy him cigarettes.”

Huey thought, you would think dad would smoke less these days, in 2024, but he does not, even though cigarettes are price gouging. They used to cost a dollar…think of all the money I could be saving for my future, and to mention, the sling shot.

“Huey, put that back!” Lisa scolded, unable to pry it from his football grip.

“No!” He refused to give her the sling shot. “I’m going home with this one way or another—”

Huey pulled the sling shot from Lisa’s grasp after stomping on her foot.

“Ouch!”

Her son ran off into a throng of an arriving girl scout group. They were allowed to sell cookies at the supermarket, they were following their leader.

Huey’s mother was wincing in pain and when she looked for her son, her anxiety was skyrocketing.

First, Lisa backtracked, looking down each aisle until she found the precious sling shot on the tile floor without Huey.

“My son, he’s missing!” Lisa repeated, over and over in dismay.

 

***

 

Fifteen minutes later, David saw his wife lying on white tiles with his son trying to wake her. Huey had tears in his eyes…he was glad the girl scouts resuscitated her. Huey ran off, not knowing his mom had fallen. He followed one of the girl scouts, holding a box of cookies, wanting to satisfy his sweet tooth, he dropped the sling shot after tripping, not caring his shoes were untied.

“Mom, I am sorry I…I should not of ran away, I went to dad, you can give me the dollar, he did not need the cigarettes, he is going to quit just for today. Mom do not die…please wake up.”

“Is this true Dave?” She turned her head and felt the swollen lump on the back of her noggin.

“Yes, I will chew gum instead, I did not know how bad Huey wanted that sling shot. I am such a terrible parent,” he made a fuss, “cigarettes were all I could think about…could you ever forgive me Huey?”

“Yes!” Huey declared and smiled while nodding when Lisa sat up.

“I must’ve passed out when I thought…” She could not finish her sentence. “I am glad you are safe Huey. I still have that extra dollar; let us have you master the self-checkout—”

Huey detested the thought of AI for shopping like his schoolteacher Anna Marrie.

“But I hate those!”

***

 

All Huey could think about on the drive home to Martindale Street was how he would use the sling shot he bought, and he wanted to show it off to his friend Emmanuel. They played every day together, inventing their own games such as hockey-soccer, where you smash the ball into a goal with a hockey stick. This way you did not need to be an accomplished ice skater. The boys loved to play hockey video games at Emmanuel’s upstairs apartment. Huey would feel embarrassed when his mom would dust the ceiling, sometimes she would poke and jab, intentionally, especially when poor Huey could hear the roar of music or Emmanuel’s parents making love.

It got dark early because it was fall, now 6:50 P.M. in USA, Michigan.

When the car was in the driveway, his father took the sling shot from Huey.

“You have chores to do son.”

“Okay dad, but when do I get to shoot the sling shot?”

“Tomorrow. But for tonight, we will have a late dinner, then we will go to work in the house.”

 As Huey laid in bed at 9:00 P.M. he pondered about what he did. “Hmm…” He put the knuckles of his right fist under his chin. I did help dad assemble our new dining room table, then I watched an anime about a talking cat, until my mom told me to study for the class spelling bee, but all-in-all, I enjoyed my steak with yams.

As Huey dozed off, he thought about showing the sling shot to his friend Emmanuel, who lived in the apartment too.

The next day, an excited Huey folded his blanket and sheet off and looked for the weapon, until he saw it resting on the new glass table.

“Great! I will show it to Emmanuel.”

Huey knocked on the locked door leading upstairs, but no one answered.

Huey walked away with his head held down. Then he heard Emmanuel’s chortle, brightening his mood.

“What do you want Huey?”

“Oh, I just thought I could come over and show you my sling shot. I will be right back; I need to find the metal bb’s.”

“I must eat breakfast, or my dad will be angry. He just fried me raspberry pancakes soaked in maple syrup,” Emmanuel said unintentionally slamming the door to his balcony.

Huey hurriedly went back into his apartment and caught a glimpse of dad pouring coffee in the kitchen. David never spilled, unlike Lisa when she drank alcohol.

“Huey, the pellets are on the counter,” dad said. “Let me teach you how to aim, load, and shoot.”

Huey sat in a chair in the backyard, with an ingrown tree exploding out of the fence, while David placed an array of beer and soda cans on an old weightlifting bench. His dad began shooting down the aluminum cans with copper pellets like he had the favor of God.

Huey whispered, “Okay King David,” seeing his dad’s boasting.

Next, Huey had a turn. He could not quickly pull the band back half foot like David did gloating. Huey found out later he took after his father. Huey decapitated one of the plastic army men, which was set up. Ready to load and fire again.

“Did you show Emmanuel your sling shot, son?”

“I did, dad, but Emmanuel needed to eat breakfast. But can I try it outside the gate?”

“No, stay in the yard, don’t get trigger happy.”

After his father left, Huey saw a squirrel, but first he aimed at a pigeon that was cooing in a distant view.

Two pigeons were overlooking the backyard when Huey loaded the ammo with a straining pullback. The pigeons flew off and there was a loud snap. The pellets rolled down the roof after the sling shot band broke. It flung into Huey’s left eye impairing him.

Huey saw a curtain close moments later—assuming that was Emmanuel’s room, and he heard the sling shot break.

Huey not thinking, at once tied the broken band back together, turned, loaded, and shot multiple times at a squirrel digging into the dirt. It had stolen a walnut.

Huey missed every shot, except for his own eye, which was bruised, red, and swollen. The critter escaped into a hole under the wooden fence.

***

 

Huey did not give up on his mischief and left the backyard through the gate.

He rode his rusty bicycle outside the apartment and into an empty parking lot. He scanned with his eyes looking for adventure, seeing grasshoppers and crickets. He rode between two curbs then in circles around the lot.

 

***

 

Thirty minutes later, Huey huffed and puffed, stepping on his brake. He decided it was not safe to be alone and wanted to see Emmanuel.

Hornets were chasing and swarming Huey. He was stung twice on his bottom lip, it was swollen. Huey barely escaped the hive with his life, he overexaggerated, thinking he would die from venom. Before his race home, he shot at a hive of angry hornets. He knew they were in a mound of leaves outside the fence.

Huey got off his bike and saw a lady furiously approaching him…she was looking at his sling shot.

“Did you damage my car?”

“No, of course not.”

“Explain the hole in my windshield!”

Huey looked across the street, “There’s no way I could shatter a whole car window—”

She took the sling shot from him and he was heartbroken. After wrongfully accusing him, she left with Huey’s weapon. All he could think about was how to get it back, then Emmanuel came.

“She took my sling; can you believe it?” He was bitterly crying.

“Don’t worry, at least you can’t go to juvey right?”

“I do not know…I do not know. I will see you at school on Monday,” Huey panicked, and ran to his house, leaving his bike and best friend behind. Huey wished he could have played a new game with the sling shot. Emmanuel and Huey were determined to get it back.

Huey did not have an allowance, so he could not buy a new sling shot. David spent all his toy money on cigarettes. Later, Huey made a bow and arrow with sticks and copper wire from branches near the hornets’ nest. Huey cheerfully played with Emmanuel, to see who could shoot the highest.

Huey would never get his sling shot back despite telling David and Lisa to call the police. Huey thought the lady broke the law by confiscating his sling shot. He spent the night hurt, crying on his pillow smelling cigarette smoke.

When it was Monday, Huey did not want to go to school. He was ugly from the black eye. It made him think of Black Friday. He remembered telling Emmanuel he would meet him at school. Huey ate two raspberry pancakes and got everything ready for school, feeling hostile and alert.

Lisa drove Huey to school. In the parking lot he finally got the nerve to ask his mother a question, “Can I get a new sling shot at Black Friday mom?”

“Absolutely not!”

Huey became depressed then walked with Emmanuel as the bell rang. They told each other knock-knock jokes about the pecan caramel cake, and they strolled to school. When the classmates came home, they shoveled down the pecan cake.