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come?”
    “No, I don’t think so! I can tell you right now, I’m not
cleaning any fish, and we’re not cooking any nasty smelling fish in the house.
Y’all can cook those stinky things on that fancy new grill your dad bought last
summer,” Mom blurted out. Dad and I looked at each other and laughed. Mom couldn’t
stand the smell of fish.
    In the distance, I heard the rumblings of what sounded like a
motorcycle. Seconds later, two ATVs with a man and woman on each, pulled up in
the yard.
    “Hey, there’s that fellow, Fred, from down the road,” Dad
said as he stood up and walked to the steps to greet them. Fred and the rest of
the group got off their bikes and approached the porch.
    “Howdy, folks,” Fred said. “This is my wife, Dolores.”
Pointing to the other couple he announced, “This here is Ralph, and his wife,
Carol Mitchell. We thought we’d drop by and say hello. See if there was
anything we could do to help you get settled in.”
    Dad introduced us to our new neighbors. All greetings aside,
I couldn’t help but notice their appearances. Fred, dressed in camouflage pants
and a green, ragged T-shirt, was a short, rugged looking man with dark curly
hair and a deep scar on his right cheek. The scar led me to believe he might
have taken a nasty tumble off that bike of his at some point in time. Both men
had a gun strapped to their hips and small coolers strapped to their bikes,
obviously packed with beer, since both of them simultaneously pulled one out
and after offering us one, began to drink. Dolores was short, a little plump,
had a pretty face and a head full of the most beautiful red hair I’d ever seen.
I was instantly envious. Carol and Ralph was a head taller than their two
friends and much more slender. Carol had short, black hair, legs that never
stopped and an attitude to match. She knew she was pretty. Ralph was at least
6’3", slim, and had brown hair, tied back in a short ponytail. His
mannerisms were charming and I got the impression he was a womanizer. He had
blue eyes that appeared to bore right through you. At least, they all had their
teeth, which killed my theory about mountain people not having a full set. Live
and learn.

Chapter 4
    After
an hour of
conversation, I learned that Fred and Dolores had two teenage girls, fourteen
and sixteen years old, while Ralph and Carol remained childless—by choice. Both
couples had moved to the mountains around ten years ago from different states
and have been friends ever since. What a crew. After talking to them, I was
convinced they were honest, easy going, and interesting people. I’m going to
have to stop going by my first impressions. I know looks can be deceiving.
That’s what Mom always said.
    As they got on their bikes to leave, Fred yelled out to us,
“We’re going target shooting up at Ralph’s place. Why don’t you guys come with
us?”
    Not wanting to tell Mom and Dad that I’d purchased a gun a
few months ago when someone tried to break into my apartment, I just said, “I’m
afraid I don’t know how to use a gun properly.”
    “Come on, and we’ll teach you,” he offered.
    I glanced over at Mom, and to my surprise she said, “Go
ahead, Jesse. It wouldn’t hurt for you to learn how to shoot a gun.” She then
smiled at Fred. “I think Mack and I’ll stay here. We still have some unpacking
to do.” She looked back at me. “Your dad and I purchased a gun last year and
had been taking lessons at the shooting gallery in Hampton , until we moved here.” I was
speechless. My Mom owning a gun was a shock. She never said a word to me about
buying a gun. All of a sudden, I had this picture of her and my dad with two
cowboy guns strapped to their hips, like something out of a Roy Rogers and Dale
Evans movie. I hadn’t been in the mountains two full days and I was already
getting an education. What next?
    “Let me get my purse and I’ll follow you in my car,” I said,
figuring I could hide my little Saturday night