Shooting Match

It was the early part of June, 2005, when Howard T. Hallowell walked in as Gloria was sweeping the store. He watched for a moment and then said, "Swabbing the floor, huh?"

"Deck," Gloria said.

"Huh?"

"It's a deck, not a floor." Gloria straightened and then added, "and, no, I'm not swabbin' it, I'm sweeping it."

Howard chuckled and said, "You know Andy Zimmerman, the Sheriff in Carrolton?"

"Not really. I saw him a few times in Carrolton, but never met him."

Howard grabbed the dust pan and squatted down to hold it as Gloria swept some dust into it. As he stood he said, "Anyway, Andy challenged my department to a shooting match."

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, I only have two men working with me and we need four on the team."

"You have George."

Howard shook his head and said, "He's not a police officer. I think he'd faint if he ever had to handle a weapon."

"I say again, yeah, so?"

"Well, you're pretty good with a gun. I was hoping I could convince you to help out the department by shooting on the team." When Sheriff Zimmerman issued his challenge Howard immediately thought back to three or four years after Gloria opened the gunshop and he had talked to her one afternoon.

* * *

"We've been using your range for a while and I was thinking maybe I could return the favor."

"How's that?" Gloria asked.

"Well, one of my officers, Frank Stewart, is a pretty good shot. I know you fix weapons all the time, but maybe Frank could give you some pointers in shooting."

Gloria smiled and said, "I'm always open to learning something new."

"How about tomorrow afternoon?" When she agreed Howard felt pretty confident. He had seen Frank shoot and, at fifteen meters, he could put all six rounds very close to the center of the target.

The following day Howard had brought Frank Stewart with him and Gloria had led them, John Jr. as well, into the basement. "How do you want to do this?" Gloria asked.

"Well, Frank uses a revolver, so you load six rounds in your magazine and we do a draw and fire scenario. Six shots as fast as you can. I figure we'll do that two or three times, then Frank can give you some pointers, and then we'll do it again and see how well you improve."

Gloria smiled again and said, "Great, let's do it." She pulled her Ruger from her holster, dropped the magazine, pulled the slide to the rear, and ejected a round. Then she stripped eight rounds from the magazine.

Howard looked at her and said, "You keep a round chambered?"

"Doesn't make much sense to have a gun that isn't ready to shoot, does it?"

"Aren't you going to check your magazine?"

Gloria stood there for a couple seconds and then asked, "Why should I?"

"Well, you're only supposed to have six rounds loaded."

Gloria actually chuckled at that and then said, "Howard, this is a fifteen-round magazine. I had one round chambered. That leaves fourteen. I stripped out eight. That leaves six. I may not be much of a shooter, but I can do math."

Howard nodded and said, "How about doing this math? Fifteen-round magazines are illegal in California."

Gloria chuckled again and said, "With an FFL, I can carry just about anything I want. Even if I were a civilian I'm grandfathered because I've had this since the mid-eighties. I'm allowed to have the large-capacity magazines."

Howard just shook his head then stepped back from the firing line. Making sure that everyone present had hearing protection in place he called out, "Shooters, with six rounds, and weapons on safe, holster your weapons." He waited until both Frank and Gloria had put their weapons into their holsters then said, "On my command, draw and fire. Three, two, one, fire!"

He watched as Gloria took nearly a second to pull her weapon and aim at the target. Frank had already fired his first round before Gloria fired. Her next five rounds followed in just about three seconds. As her slide locked open she lowered her weapon and watched Frank fire his last two rounds. Howard called out, "Clear your weapons." Then he stepped up to watch as Gloria ejected her magazine and, even though the slide was locked to the rear, looked down to check the chamber.

He put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Fired a bit fast, didn't you?"

Gloria watched as Frank and John Jr. pulled the targets back. She grinned at Howard and said, "I thought that was what we were supposed to do."

Frank walked over with a target. He held it up to Howard who looked at one big hole dead in the center of the target. "Hey, Frank, that's great, I've never seen you shoot like that."

Frank grinned, shook his head, and said, "This is Gloria's target. This one's mine." He held up a second one with six distinct holes within a half-inch of the center.

Howard looked at the target then at Gloria and asked, "Can you do that again?"

She opened a cabinet behind the firing line and pulled out a new target. "This is actually a fifty-yard small bore rifle target, but it's fun on this range. As she clipped it to the support and ran it downrange Howard noticed it had five orange target circles.

As she was running the target out he took the time to notice his nephew grinning at him. "You got something to say?"

John Jr. shook his head, still grinning, and said, "No, sir, Mr. Uncle Police Chief, I got nothing to say."

Gloria loaded a magazine with five rounds, chambered one, and put it back in its holster. She checked that everyone had their protectors on and then said to Howard, "Give me a command to fire. No countdown, just surprise me."

Hoping to really throw her off Howard yelled, "FIRE," as she was still turning back to the range. Immediately her hand went behind her back, the pistol came out, the safety went off as she was raising it, and less than a second later the first round went off. She reaimed, fired, reaimed, fired, and did that until the slide locked to the rear.

As soon as Gloria fired her last round and lowered the weapon she exclaimed, "Crap!"

"What's wrong?" Howard asked as Gloria dropped the magazine, checked the chamber, and laid the pistol down on the shelf.

As she started pulling the target back she said, "Ah, I jerked that first round. Just like a freakin' amateur."

When the target got to the rear she pulled it off, handed it to Howard, and let the others look at it. The circle in the upper left corner had a hole at twelve o'clock right on the line between the nine and ten rings. The ten ring on each target was a bit less than an inch and in the middle was a smaller circle, the "X" ring. Each of the other four targets had a hole somewhere in the "X" ring. Howard laughed and said, "And I thought I'd have Frank give you some tips on shooting."

From that time on Gloria was the de facto weapons instructor for the Hallowell police department. Once a month each officer was required to report to Gloria and fire a box of ammunition (purchased by the officer) and take instruction from Gloria. Stan Howard was the only one that didn't seem to benefit from the training.

* * *

Howard came back to the present as Gloria said, "I'm not a cop."

Howard grinned at her a moment then pulled out a small leather case. Opening it he showed her that it had a badge on one side and an ID card on the other. "Well, I was hoping maybe you'd accept a position as a reserve officer. Then it'd be legal."

Taking the case, Gloria saw the ID card was already filled out and even had her picture on it. "Where'd you get the picture?"

"From your DMV file."

Laughing, Gloria said, "Sure, never been a cop. Maybe it'd be a hoot. Tell me about this match."

"That's where it gets fun. We have to use our service weapon. All of us and all the deputies in Carrolton carry revolvers. I presume you'd use that P85 you carry in the small of your back."

"Nothing else. My little Mark II is pretty accurate. I've put combat sights on it, Pachmyer grips, and reramped it for a smooth feed."

"Thought so. We're slated to fire ten rounds slow fire at fifteen meters, then ten rounds slow fire at twenty-five meters, then repeat the ranges with rapid fire, then a short combat course.

"Slow fire meaning ten rounds in ten minutes?"

"Five minutes."

"Rapid fire?"

"Twenty seconds per string. That's were your semi-auto will pay off, even with speedloaders, we can't reload as fast as you can."

"How about the combat course?"

"Well, Carrolton only has five stations. What they do is give you a sheet with mug shots of five bad guys. You walk down the line, at each station two pop-up targets appear, you look at each pop-up, and decide which one to shoot. Two rounds per station, five points for each hit."

"Well, I'll tell you, I have no problem with the fixed ranges, but I've never shot a combat course."

"No problem, we get one afternoon next week to practice on their course, I'll walk you through what you have to do."

* * *

There was a bit of tension before the match. Sheriff Zimmerman came over to greet Howard and then looked at Gloria. "Do I know you?"

Gloria studied the man a moment and then said, "I don't think so, but you do look familiar."

"You're a Hallowell cop?"

"Reserve officer," Gloria answered.

Howard smiled at the sheriff as he explained, "I only have two full-time officers so I had to activate Gloria for the day to make up my team."

Sheriff Zimmerman looked hard at Gloria and then said, "You used to work in the gunstore." Gloria grinned back at him and admitted she did. "Howard, you SOB, you brought in a ringer. I know this woman, she was the gunsmith in Carrolton and taught marksmanship."

Howard grinned and said, "Gee, Andy, she didn't mention that she used to be an instructor. I just know she's one of my officers and I need her to shoot today."

The sheriff glared at Howard a second, then stomped off to talk to his team.

At the end of the slow- and rapid-fire strings Hallowell PD led by eight points, 586 to 578. The sheriff led off on the combat course and aced it. Howard followed and aced it. Rod Carazo was next and also aced it. Stan Howard missed one shot and ended up with forty-five. The next two deputies shot forty and thirty-five, and Frank Stewart missed one for a forty-five.

Gloria had never felt so nervous. Howard seemed to notice her discomfort and came over to her. The range officials were changing the targets on the combat course as she was given five minutes to study the mug shots. Howard draped his arm casually over her shoulders and said, "You seem to be a bit uptight."

She shuffled her feet and said, "Ah, Howard, I thought we'd be so far ahead at this point. Now. . ." She paused then went on, "Oh, hell, you should have picked someone else. I can't do this shit."

"What are you talking about? You've aced the course so far. All we need is thirty points. Just ace the first three stations and the rest are pudding on the pie."

Gloria looked up at him, screwed her face up, and said, "Pudding on the pie?"

He chuckled as the range officials walked back to the control booth. He thought back to the practice round. He had shown her the five mug shots and she studied them. Then, as she walked out onto the course the first two pop-up targets appeared and Gloria had put two rounds right through a baby and into the heart of its mother. Unlike the fixed ranges, she had fallen back into the combat habit of firing two rounds in rapid succession.

Howard had cautioned her about not double-tapping and in the three following passes on the practice course Gloria had managed to miss killing the mother and baby, but she did kill the pizza delivery boy twice.

The range officer turned on the PA and said, "The final string will be Officer Gloria Strange, Hallowell PD." There was a pause and then, "Officer Strange, with a magazine and five rounds, lock and load." Gloria shoved a magazine into the well of her Ruger, pulled back the slide, released it, and set the safety. Nothing would happen until she was ready and Gloria was aware of the anticipation of the onlookers. She took a deep breath and waved her free hand.

Over the PA came, "The range is clear, proceed whenever you're ready, officer." Gloria took a two-handed grip on the pistol, lowered it to just below her waist, took another deep breath, and started walking down the gravel path. Three steps and two pop-ups appeared. As soon as they started moving Gloria started raising the pistol, her thumb flicking off the safety. She at least remembered to not double-tap because the first round went straight into the heart of the pizza delivery boy. She quickly shifted targets and put her second round into the bad guy.

The PA announced, "Five points. Continue when ready, officer." Gloria was too much the professional to swear at that point, but continued down the walkway. As the second two pop-ups appeared she hardly noticed that she immediately zeroed in on the one holding a shotgun and double-tapped two rounds into his heart.

"Ten points. Continue when ready, officer." Four steps this time and, when the targets appeared she put one quick round into an apparent mugger; who turned out to be a kid with a baseball bat. She hit the magazine release with her thumb, let the magazine drop, shoved in another, released the slide, and put a second round into the real bad guy.

"Five points. Continue when ready, officer." Six steps this time and . . . the mother and baby bit the dust again. Two rounds right through the baby into the mother.

"No score." There was a long pause and then, "Officer, we have an electrical problem. Please wait a moment." The moments drew on and on and then Gloria heard a click and the announcer was back on. "Please excuse the delay. Everything seems to be fixed. Continue when ready, officer." She had only taken one step when the last two targets appeared. As soon as she pulled the trigger she knew she had killed the wrong target. She quickly shifted her aim and fired her last round.

"Five points. Course complete. Clear your weapon, officer. I'll be right back with the scores."

Gloria turned to see Howard smiling at her. "Told you to watch that double-tapping."

"Shit, Howard, that's the way I've been shooting for twenty-five years. It's a hard habit to break."

"Yeah, I know. And, if you were on the street that would be the right thing to do. You just have to be careful on this range." He stopped as the PA came on.

"Final score for Officer Strange, 185." There was another long pause and then, "Overall, Carrolton sheriff's office, 752 out of 840. Hallowell PD . . ." a long dramatic pause, "751 out of 840."

John Jr. came over, put his arm around Gloria's waist and said, "Do you really hate pizza that much, officer?" Before she could answer he added, "Because I was planning a major pizza party for your victory."

She gave him an icy stare and then grinned as she said, "Screw you." Johnathan smiled as Gloria walked over, picked up her empty magazine, and put it back into her belt pouch.

"Careful," he called, "I might take you up on that some day."

Howard saw the way the two looked at each other and walked off saying, "I have to congratulate Andy."

Gloria walked back to John Jr., put her arm around his waist and said, "How about today?"

Johnathan was taken aback and could only say, "Huh?"

"I sure as hell can't shoot. Maybe I can do better at screwing."

Initially the logistics were a concern. Gloria certainly didn't want to take him home and she really didn't want to go near the Hallowell mansion until he pointed out that he had his own entrance.

Gloria was up early in the morning and, as she started finding her clothes where she had scattered them the night before, took the time to look down at Johnathan and study him.

While she was watching he managed to climb awake, smiled at her, and said, "Good morning, Gloria."

Without preamble, Gloria said, "We can't let this happen again."

"Why not?"

"Oh, for goodness sake, I'm old enough . . ." she stopped to think and then continued, "I have a daughter that's only four years younger than you."

Johnathan chuckled and said, "I thought we did pretty good in bed last night." He reached over and pulled her back toward the bed. "In fact, if you're just worried about age, I'll gladly take the witness stand to testify that all your parts worked okay."

It only took Gloria a few seconds to frame her reply. She lay down on top of him, kissed him, and said, "They only worked okay? Hmm, I think maybe I'll need some more practice."

It was close to two hours before Gloria finally managed to dress and make her way home. As she walked into the kitchen she saw Jenny sitting at the table reading the paper. "What are you doing home?"

"Uh, Mom, it's Saturday. The mayor's office is closed today."

Gloria walked over to pour a cup of coffee and mumbled, "Oh, yeah. I lost track of the time."

Jenny grinned at her and said, "You remember some time back? What was it you said about Candace that time? Something like about time she got laid, wasn't it?"

"Young lady, that's no way to talk to your mother."

Jenny continued to grin and said, "Oh, mom, there's nothing wrong with getting laid. All us girls need it occasionally."

It took Gloria a few seconds to realize that Jenny had said, ". . .us girls. . ." and when she looked over at her daughter, Jenny was suddenly very busy studying the newspaper.