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Maybe you think of “A Christmas Story” when I share the term, BB gun. Or maybe you remember wanting one yourself once upon a time. Hopefully you’re not a scaredy cat who’s triggered (pun definitely intended) by any use of the word gun.

Whatever you think of, I’ve got a funny story about a goofy BB gun.

Once or twice upon a time Dad brought home a pellet rifle, he’d found during his workday, and gave it to my younger brother and me. OK, you probably think, “Tony, you’re supposed to be telling a BB gun story. What’s that got to do with a pellet rifle?”

Gosh, aren’t you the little detective? Sure, I know the two guns aren’t the same. But they are the same KIND. Because they both use air to fire off the ammo.

Anyway…

Dad had to work on the little rifle’s pump and trigger to get it to work well enough to use. And he did a great job because the gun worked just right after he finished. He even bought us a box of pellets. And we had some target practice for a few days till the pellets ran out.

Then, my brother and I took a quick bike trip to the sporting goods store nearby to get some more. But we discovered something extremely important. BB’s were a lot cheaper than pellets. And we figured since an air rifle can shoot either one, we’d go for the BB’s.

And the only problem would be how to aim and shoot.

As long as we aimed at something straight across or up no problem. But we couldn’t shoot at anything that was down. Because, after loading a single BB in the barrel, it would just roll back out if it was pointed down.

Kinda silly. Right? Yeah, but hey. We saved who knows how many pennies by buying BB’s. So, it was totally worth it. And for a lot of the shooting we did, we could make do.

One time, during a bike and hike journey into the wilderness, we took the BB gun to get some practice shooting at bugs and limbs and other stuff. The wilderness was just some land that followed the path of a bayou down in South Texas. We had plenty of BB’s. And a couple of our buddies came with us. We all had a blast. And we were probably out there for a few hours.

But, as young boys often do, we all got hungry and knew it was time to go home. My brother discovered his bike had a flat. I told him I’d watch it for him, after one of our friends offered to give him a ride home to get a tire patching kit. So, he jumped on the bike with his buddy and they rode across the trail.

When they were about 75 yards away, I got a crazy notion to just aim the BB gun in the air and shoot in their direction. In my young mind of mush I had pictured the BB landing in the dirt somewhere just to spook ’em.

But wouldn’t you know? (I sure wouldn’t.)

The BB fell out of the air and hit my brother on his neck. It wasn’t flying fast enough to break his skin. But I know it stung. Because he flew off the bike, turned around and saw me, and started running back at me yelling bloody murder.

If you were ever an older brother, or if you’re one now, you know how hard it would be to not laugh. Darn near impossible. But if you were ever the younger brother, or you’re one now, you can probably remember the frustration (and pain) of dealing with an older, bigger brother. Ah, good times.

OK, the morals of this story are:

• Don’t turn a pellet rifle into a BB gun
• Make sure you have a bike tire patch kit, especially if you’re a younger brother
• Never fire any kind of gun in the direction of someone you don’t intend to hurt
• Make sure your loved ones know you love them (because crazy things happen in life)

Well, there you go. An epic story of adventure from back when epic stories of adventure happened daily. Hope you enjoyed it. If you say no, I’ll go see if I still have some BB’s around here somewhere.

Take a second and join the growing body of believers who’ve already signed up for the Tony’s Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotional. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, I’ll send you download links to 2 of my books and 2 songs, right away, that grownups AND kids can enjoy. Then, I’ll do my best to encourage you to sing a new song with the power of God’s love.

Stay tuned,