didn’t know, laughing with a group of public school kids, wearing big
white shoes, khaki shorts and a wide grin. He wasn’t in the play, but
there wasn’t much to do in town, and I saw him several more times
that week when he turned up to visit his friends. Then one night, when
I was wandering alone in the dark wings backstage, I turned a corner
and found him sitting on the wooden crate that was a favorite haunt of
mine. The crate was isolated—that was why I liked it.
He shifted to the right, making room for me. I sat slowly, tensely, as
if the seat were made of needles.
“I’m Charles,” he said. There was a pause while he waited for me to
give my name, but I didn’t. “I saw you in the last play,” he said after a
moment. “I wanted to tell you something.” I braced myself, for what I
wasn’t sure, then he said, “I wanted to tell you that your singing is
about the best I ever heard.”
—I CAME HOME ONE AFTERNOON from packing macadamias to find Dad and
Richard gathered around a large metal box, which they’d hefted onto
the kitchen table. While Mother and I cooked meatloaf, they assembled
the contents. It took more than an hour, and when they’d finished they
stood back, revealing what looked like an enormous military-green
telescope, with its long barrel set firmly atop a short, broad tripod.
Richard was so excited he was hopping from one foot to the other,
reciting what it could do. “Got a range more than a mile! Can bring
down a helicopter!”
Dad stood quietly, his eyes shining.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s a fifty-caliber rifle,” he said. “Wanna try it?”
I peered through the scope, searching the mountainside, fixing
distant stalks of wheat between its crosshairs.
The meatloaf was forgotten. We charged outside. It was past sunset;
the horizon was dark. I watched as Dad lowered himself to the frozen
ground, positioned his eye at the scope and, after what felt like an
hour, pulled the trigger. The blast was thunderous. I had both palms
pressed to my ears, but after the initial boom I dropped them, listening
as the shot echoed through the ravines. He fired again and again, so
that by the time we went inside my ears were ringing. I could barely