Jacob is still holding the gun and Uncle points at him and cries out “step right up boys and girls! Win a Kewpie doll for the lovely lady! Knock this can out of the air and win a prize! Heya heya heya! Step on up!” Jacob takes a shell out of the pile and puts it in the tube and has to fiddle with the knob to get it right but it moves forward and clicks into place like what Uncle showed us.
He ain’t holding it against his shoulder like how Uncle did but at his side instead with his hand on the barrel and he’s pinching the trigger with two fingers but Uncle shrugs, finishes off his can and flings it in the air. Jacob squeezes the trigger and I cover my ears but it ain’t go off and the can clinks to the floor.
“First try and you didn’t even take the safety off first! Haw Haw!” and we don’t know about no safety and Uncle says it’s the red switch on the side and now Jacob is down to two tries. Jacob switches the safety and Uncle grabs up the can and goes “onetwothree!” and it hits the ceiling and clanks off sideways and Jacob closes his eyes and the gun goes off but the bullet is wild and only catches the edge of a picture frame over Cole’s head what splinters down on him.
Cole scrambles up but Uncle shoves him back down. “Just some wood chips, don’t be a little bitch.” Uncle picks the can back up and says, “get ya prize here! Last chance to impress the lady!” and Jacob pulls back on the knob of the gun and the shell flings out and lands on the table next to me and it’s smoking and hot to the touch.
He loads another shell into the pipe and clicks it in better now and he’s checking the red safety because he ain’t going to miss this time. Uncle swings his arm back and forth and goes “oneeeeeeeeee, twooooooo” then tosses it up before he says three but Jacob is getting the hang of the possibility for trickery and he’s ready. The gun is already aimed up for the can and the gun goes off again with a flash and a bang light lightening but it ain’t a hit and the bullet makes a neat hole in the ceiling next to an overhead light and plaster dusts down around Uncle.
“Aww, better luck next time. Now the little one’s turn!” and Uncle is clapping with a lit cigarette between his fingers and Cole claps along too and I hear clapping from outside as Sam and Joe probably ain’t want to get shot at again.
Jacob sets the gun on the table next to me and I heft it up and it’s heavy so I need to cradle it with both arms. I take a shell from the pile and set the gun and the counter and I have to pull with both hands to get it open so I can feed the shell inside the pipe and the spent shell pops straight up and lands on the counter and rolls next to the cow cookie jar.
I put in a new one and clicks it in and I check careful the safety for I’m a fast learner and Uncle has the can again and I’m holding the gun out, but it’s swaying from the weight and he tosses it up without counting at all. The can hits the ground before I get to pulling on the trigger and the gun goes off and I stumble back with the force of it and Uncle jumps out of the way and now there’s a hole in the rag carpet where Uncle was standing.
“Almost winged me! Haw Haw! Not the first time I got shot at and it does get the heart pumping! By God I do believe I have a slight erection. Here she goes again! Take a good look at the can! Watch it all the way!” I get the gun reloaded and Uncle has the can wrapped in his hand and is about to throw it and I’m aiming at the can already, getting ready for the throw but my hands are sweaty and my finger slips and the gun goes off before Uncle has a chance to throw it. “Hot Fukkin’....!”
Uncle is hopping around holding his hand and they’s blood dripping from it and one finger looks like it’s holding on by a thin piece of meat and it’s dangling around like a finger shouldn’t oughta. Uncle is shouting at Cole to get him his kit and Cole jumps up and runs into a back room and comes back out with a green duffel bag. Uncle tries to unzip it but uses the hand with the dangle finger without thinking about it and the finger comes all the way off now and thumps to the ground and rolls like a little sausage that fell off of a breakfast plate.
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“Get that finger! Grab it up! Dust off the lint and hairs and whatnot!” Uncle says through gritted teeth and Cole picks it up and wipes it on his shirt, then just kind of holds on to it since he’s at a loss as to what’s to be done next. Uncle reaches for the bag again with the missing finger hand but stops just before trying to open it and says “shitfuck!” He reaches with the other hand and gets the zipper open and I see the bag is filled with bottles of water, and wrapped bars of food, and beige pouches. He takes out a little black bag and gets this one open too and there’s rolls of gauze and silver scissors and all manner of knickknacks.
“You best not lose that fukkin’ finger, Cole! They ain’t makin’ any more any time soon!” and he’s tearing into a pouch with his mouth and dumps a powder on his finger stump and takes out a wicked looking hooked needle and says “Cole! You get this in here! Put this here thred in the needle hole!” and Cole needs both hands for that so he puts Uncle’s finger in his pocket and gets the needle threaded in a few tries. “Now gimme! Gimmie my finger and gimme that needle! And gimme some suds! And light me a smoke!”
Cole runs to the fridge and grabs up another can of suds for Uncle and opens it for him and Uncle pours it over his finger stump and its pink and foamy running down his hand. “Fuck! Fuck! That’s just what I needed!” He takes a big swig of the can and flings it away into the corner of the room and the suds chug out on their own into a puddle and Cole hands him the threaded needle and takes Uncle’s finger out of his pocket and picks some lint off the raw part and hands it to Uncle.
“Now get the fuck away! Y’all get the fuck out of here!” and we all scramble but he says “Wait! My fukkin’ smoke! Light it!” Cole grabs a pack of matches from his pocket and lights one and holds it to the jittering tip of Uncle’s cigarette between his lips and Uncle’s eye is squeezed shut against the blue smoke and Uncle shouts “NOW you all can get the fuck out!”
We’re outside and standing on the porch and there’s yelling and swearing from inside and also some quiet, then more bellowing and crashing around. Cole looks at us and his face is open now and not mean and asks if we all got an Uncle too and we don’t rightly know and all we ever seen was Momma and Daddy and they was wacky sometimes but not like Uncle.
Cole says Uncle ain’t usually this wild but he been having dreams again like he’s back to killin’ people and wakes up and doesn’t know where he is. Cole says sometimes Uncle will play games with them like on a board on the table and cook them his special hamburger gravy what they eat with toasted bread and even took them to see a movie a while back, but that movie had a lot of killin’ and even though it ain’t real in the movies, Uncle forgot where he was for a while and they had to put him in jail after cornering him in the mall food court after he tried to attack a woman and her baby since he thought the baby was fake and was filled with a bomb.
Cole says he takes his nerve medicine but Uncle says it makes him tired and he needs to be sharp up here and on the lookout, so he ain’t take it for a while. Cole says they steer clear of the house when Uncle gets that way but they ain’t waited long enough this time he reckons. Cole wants to know about Daddy and Momma and how they is to us but there's Uncle calling from in the house and Cole’s face closes back up and he starts to head inside.
“Y’all can come on in if you want, I think Uncle has about had it for today.” Me and Jacob look at each other and don’t want no more of that Uncle but I seen food in that bag of his and maybe we would get some of it, for we was powerful hungry. We head in after Cole and Uncle is sitting at the table now, leaned back and comfortable, “There he is, the little boy that shot me when no one else shot me before. Take a look at what you did, boy. Good thing I know a thing or two about patching skin and bones up else I ain’t be able to grasp things right no more.” He holds out his hand for us to see and the finger is back on and is crisscrossed with thick black stitching. “Everything grows right back together if you stick it back quick enough” and we’re looking at his finger and something ain’t right but I can't exactly place what it is but Jacob does.
“Don’t the nail go on the top?” and Uncle looks at his finger and he done stitched it on upside down. He looks at it for a long while then starts laughing and holds his head with his good hand. “Stitched it on upside down! Ain’t that something!” and he takes hold of it with his other hand and bends it so it touches the back of his hand, and he chuckles. “Well. Fuck it I guess, maybe she’ll heal like this and I can win me a few bets at the bar. Also!” Uncle leans forward excitedly. “Check this out you little fukkin’ child of God!” and he holds up a can with his good hand and it’s dripping in blood and there’s a hole in it. “Shot that can after all! Right through my hand! You’re a born sharpshooter, Boy!” and he stands up and claps me on the back and says now it’s time to pay his dues.