Admitting My Ignorance

My night in the comm room/P-car. Was looking forward to a fairly calm night with no drama.

I got that, for the most part. Except for one small incident.

Brother D is out for a hunting vacation and they sent some new kid up there. I say "kid" because he looks like he's about fifteen. I know he has to be over twenty one because it's a requirement to get the job. But man, he don't look it. I was half tempted to card him when he came in the door. Young and chipper and full of energy.

Heck, he still had that "new smell" on him. (grin)

At any rate, when I went to swap him out in the P-car I decided to check and make sure the shotgun was loaded and correctly. I know they carry out so many rounds and they are counted twice and someone watches the loading when they first get in the car. When Brother D is there I know there are so many in the side saddle shell holder and so many extra in the case so there are six rounds in the weapon. That way I don't need to completely unload and reload it to check.

But this new kid was an unknown so I decided to check. And while I was unloading the weapon I saw something fall out of one of the shells and down into the open chamber.

I said "What the snap? Oh, this aint good."

Holding the shell over my hand I shook it and some more stuff fell out into my hand like a salt shaker. As a matter of fact, it looked like the salt they put on pretzels.

Right about that time Peggy Sue came up and she saw me doing that and said "Oh, that aint good!" And then I got another one of those fabulous squeezy hugs that helped me forget about it for a moment. That was nice. But then I had to shake myself and slap myself around some to get my mind back on my problem.

Called Sgt Puddle on the radio and showed him and he said "Oh, that aint good!"

There was this funny echo going on, apparently.

So I finished unloading the shotgun and cleaned a few grains of that mystery stuff out of the chamber the best we could. It looked like we got it all out. If that had been a rifle I would have handed it over and said "I'm not carrying this thing." But being a shotgun I figured it was probably okay.

But I have no idea what that stuff was. I know the pellets are round and gray and the powder is usually black and flaky. I know how to load it and unload it and how to shoot it and which end makes the most noise and which end never to put your lips on and that's about it.

I'm not a firearm aficionado, you see. I like guns and I like shooting for fun and if I had the time and the money I would have a few of my own to play with. But I would never be what you would call a serious hunter or anything like that. Just a weekend target shooter.

So if anybody has any ideas about those mystery grains of stuff, I'd like to hear what it was. For all I know, it could have been a salt shaker made to look like a shotgun shell.

Knowing this place, it wouldn't really surprise me all that much.

Thursday is going to be Poisoned Blackberries Day. Oh, that can't be good, either. It's also going to be VFW Day and National Coffee Day.

I'd shy away from any blackberry coffee, though.