I've Been Shot!

Day 345

Twenty more days!

For some reason Autumn always reminds me of mischief. Perhaps it is because of Halloween and all the trouble I used to make that night.

I used to fill up squirt guns with gasoline and shoot at neighbor's Jack O' Lanterns. I would hide in the bushes and jump out and scaring the crap out of unsuspecting kids. We would throw eggs and rotten tomatoes at cars on the highway. I remember one particular night I was with Damond and we were looking for some trouble and one of our friend's, Justin wanted to create some trouble for another kid that lived in our town whom we all called Chunk. We drove to his house and suddenly Justin sprung out this large hunting knife and he ran towards Chunk's house. Right in front of Chunk's home were about four-five large bags of leaves. We had all heard Chunk complaining about all the leaves he raked earlier. Justin stabbed each bag and ran all over the lawn dumping out all the leaves! Damond and I about died with laughter!

We also used to toilet paper homes. We did this more during the summer than we did in the fall but if the weather was nice enough we would do it anytime.

This is an epic example of toilet papering done right!

The first time I went toilet papering I thought I was going to die. Back in Canada, we never did this. Toilet papering was a completely foreign concept to me. But one late evening I was invited to go do it to one of the old crotchety guys in our neighborhood. Everything was going good, I was having a good time wrapping that poor man's house in toilet paper when suddenly I heard this:

I turned my head and saw someone coming right at us. Then my one of my friend's yelled out "RUN!"

And I ran. Then suddenly I heard a loud BOOM and my friend hit the ground. I thought he was shot dead. I didn't look back, I ran even more faster than I thought was possible. I could hear my friend call out "I've been shot!"

Is this what they do here in the States? Is this what they do to kids when you live in a rural area? Did that guy really shoot my friend with a shotgun?

The answer to the last question is yes. He was shot with a shotgun but I learned the next day that he was shot with rock salt and not with a normal shell filled with buckshot. Shotgun pellets penetrate as a direct result of the "mass" of the individual pellets. Rock salt is much much lighter and therefore will not penetrate. But it will burn like nothing else. And that is what happened to my friend. He was shot in the back with rock salt, enough to make him grab his back in pain but not enough to do any damage. Maybe a few scrapes and scratches but that is it. I learned that a lot of farmers in the area would make and use rock salt shells to shoot at stray dogs or cats or other animals. It is enough to scare them but not enough to harm them.

But I didn't know that at the time. All I heard was a shotgun go off and then heard my friend yell out he has been hit. I was scared out of my wits.

We never toilet papered that old man again.