Photo by Phyllis Stokes
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper’s “digs” was the scene of a big gun/fishing-tackle deal on a recent morning as he–the keeper handed off to his heirs the tools of his life-long predation on the lesser creatures.
From the BB gun that killed the first sparrow, to the 30.30 and the deer, the shotgun and the grouse, the fly rods and reels and the trout and redfish, it all went out the door in the hands of descendants who—figuratively and practically, carry the predator genes of the keeper.
No apology was offered for the keeper’s recall of the pleasures and excitement the killing tools had provided him through his many years; and no lectures were necessary to remind his heirs of their responsibilities at the top of the predatory pyramid where there is no such thing as “kill and release.”
The family handoff did not include any of the NRA gun stupidity as it saturates the culture and facilitates school shootings and a 100-victim daily gun toll: it was, instead, passing along the devices that are used to make games out of being a predator, a circumstance that bears constant examination in an increasingly hi-tech and crowded world.
Now the keeper is like the toothless old lion who waits for the zookeeper to come around with something for him to eat, and he is okay with that: it is the way of his predatory species to delegate most killing, so he no longer needs the tools for it.
But, damn, the brutal truth is that it was a lot of fun while it lasted!
