Michael的小作品

Michael英文課
每人要寫篇文章
他的文章內有用到一些此地的地名
還有這當地說話語氣和用字..等等

他寫完以後給Tom看
Tom當編輯幫忙修改一點
我聽他們倆在那唸
好像很不錯
我自己還沒唸過
經過Michael的同意
我將他的文章放上來
有興趣的可以唸唸

An Illegal Day In The Woods
by Michael Lock


It's a beautiful Sunday morning in Juniata County. Three older men love to meet up at the game commission office and share stories over a cup of coffee on days like today. And sure enough, they are standing outside of the office chatting. The man on the left is Charlie Watson, the previous game warden who retired not too long ago. Charlie patrolled the county for over 25 years. The other two men are locals, Bob Bowler and Chet Thomas, who enjoy hearing the stories of Charlie's glory days. Today Charlie recalls a story from about ten years ago about a man hunting out of season.

“ I'll never forget when good ol' Sam Everest tried to pull a fast one on me.” the retired warden says with an amused chuckle.

“How'd he try that, Charlie?” Bob asks, obviously excited about the prospect of another good poaching tale.

“Well,” began Charlie, “it was a nice Saturday morning and I decided to go out for a drive up the Gap in my pick 'em up truck. I went past Sam's home and I thought I'd stop by to get the latest scoop, ya know? I knocked but he never opened the door, so I went out back to see what I could see. He wasn't around, but I saw a box of .243 bullets open with eight bullets missing. Now see, I wouldn't have to investigate if it was deer season, but since it was out of season and the .243 is mainly a deer rifle I had to find out what he was doing out there with that type of rifle. I didn't want to go out and walk through the woods and disturb anything, especially with Sam out there with a gun, so I took a seat to wait for him. It wasn't too long til I heard a couple shots from aways over the hill past the crick. A little while later, there was Sam, coming out of the woods with his .243 slung over his shoulder.”

“What happened next, Charlie?” asked Chet, intrigued by the story. The three men moved to a nearby picnic table. Chet took out a large thermos and pulled three foam cups from his pocket. He began to pour coffee for the three men. “Did you have to shoot 'em?” he asked, laughing at his own joke.

“Ahhh! Of course not!” Charlie answered, clearly not picking up on the joke. “I never had to pull my sidearm in all my years of service!” he exclaimed proudly. “I asked him, 'What are you doing out there, Sammie? Was that you I heard shootin'?'”

“Sam looked at me kinda sideways and mumbled 'Huntin' for rabbit.' With a .243 Winchester? I said. 'It's the only gun I have bullets for,' he said. Now, at this time, the old store in East Wuderfurd was still around and everybody knows you could get anything there from a loaf of bread to shotgun shells.”

“Ain't that the truth,” Bob said, smiling. “I loved that place! But Sammie wasn't very well off, as I recall, Charlie. Maybe he didn't have the money for shells.”

“That's just what he said when I asked him, Bob! Were you there, hiding behind a tree, poaching with good ol' Sam?” Charlie joked.

“I'll bet he was there, Charlie!” Chet teased. “You just didn't see him. You always had the eyesight of a mole in springtime!” he laughed and slapped Charlie on the back.

“Alright, aright, settle down!” Charlie snapped. “Youins wanna hear the rest of my story or what?”

“Yeah, yeah, Charlie. Go on. Don't pay Chet any mind. From the looks of his wife, he doesn't have good eyesight either!”. The three friends laughed as Charlie continued his tale.

“'You shoot anything, Sammie?', I asked. 'Nope, no luck today,' he said. 'What do you say we take a walk back the way you came, I can see your tracks pretty well'. Sam mumbled something about it being almost supper time and he was hungry, but I insisted. So then me and him turn around and begin to go into the woods the exact way he came out. I could see the faint path that he created on his way in and out. Then he strikes up a conversation with me trying to distract me, he was trying to get off his own path. I knew he was hiding something, I had to prove it.”

“What do you reckon he was hiding?” asked Bob.

“What do you think? Deer of course!” answered the veteran warden. “He kept trying to get off the true path but I would not let him go. He tried to tell me it was getting too dark and we should turn around. And right there about 150 yards ahead I could see 'em. Two deer shot dead, looked to be gutted as well. So I said to him, 'Exactly what I was expecting Sam. Come on, its not deer season, what were you thinking?' He kept quiet after that, he knew he was caught red-handed!”

“What'd they do to him, Charlie?”, Chet asked.

“ Well, he was fined, of course, lost his rifle, and was barred from hunting for seven years.”

“Hey, what do you say we take this to the Corner Deli?” asked Bob, his stomach growling.

“Good idea! I'm starving!” said Charlie.”I'll drive and you buy!” he quipped as he jumped off the picnic bench.

As the men walk away, its around dinner time, the temperature is rising, the birds chirping. A wonderful day to share stories with old pals in Juniata County.