Apparently it's true. I know I do. I had just returned from Mexico and was going through culture shock for the second time. I had received the thing my heart most desired, as a birthday gift, for my thirteenth birthday, and it made me proud. The object of my desire. A Daisy BB rifle. A weapon.
The other object of my desire was Pammy Sue, who lived across the highway from the little clapboard house that I lived in. Pammy Sue was from Al La BAM Ah, at least that's the way she said it. She was a whole year younger than me and I was fascinated. But right now the BB gun was what had my attention. I was destined to become a hunter. And the first thing I was going to hunt was a bird. I didn't have any skill with this new toy. Sorry, this new weapon! But practice makes perfect and I was ready to hunt me some BIRD!
I headed to Pammy Sue's backyard. Nobody was home. So much the better, they might spook the prey. A
blue sky with
puffy white clouds was always a welcome sight in the rainy Pacific Northwest and that was what we had that day. Perfect weather for hunting. Feeling a bit euphoric, I crept toward the apple tree in Pammy Sue's backyard. A songbird was singing to the blue sky and the puffy white clouds. As I took aim, I expected a feather, maybe two, if my aim was true. The bird sang on happily. I pulled the trigger and the gun went "thump". The singing stopped abruptly and something fell to the ground under the apple tree. At first, I was excited. Then, I walked over to the ball of feathers that had been singing so merrily only a moment before.
The silence was accusing. This didn't have to be. I bent down and looked closer.
You know how birds have their eyes on the sides of their head? This one didn't. Have eyes. Empty sockets stared back at me. My carelessly aimed BB had entered one eye and exited the other. A perfect kill. The blue sky and the puffy white clouds were still there but the singing wasn't. I backed away from my quarry slowly, then turned and went home. My enthusiasm for hunting birds was cured. From that time on, my targets were inanimate objects.