Gusbur Glaspie
Written by Dewey H. Gillespie / 1998
He should have just stayed at home. That would have been the best thing to do,
but no, he couldn't do the smart thing. Instead, he sneaked out of the house
without anyone knowing and now found himself alone in the North Woods standing
there with the rifle anchored tight to his shoulder and looking over the comb of
the stock trying to find the rifle's sights. Try as he may he could not find the
ever so familiar V-groove he had aimed hundreds of times in practice, practice
for that dreamed about moment that had now come. Though he was unable to get the
rifle sight in focus there was no trouble seeing the quarry beyond the end of
the gun barrel as it walked slowly toward him, unknowing that the holder of
death was but the weight of a trigger-pull away.
Gusbur Glaspie was proud as a peacock for being able to successfully stalk and
trick the animal in the North Woods. He had beaten the beast in a game of hide
and seek. Gusbur was the winner and all he had to do now was collect his prize
and go home.
His eyes began to water and he started trembling. For a brief second he thought
for sure he would faint. The trembling became uncontrollable and he felt a bead
of sweat run down the middle of his back. That single drop of perspiration felt
ice-like as it run along his spine and between the cheeks of his ass.
The night was just giving way to the light of morning when Gusbur Glaspie left
the house. He'd been on the trail of his quarry since daylight after picking up
the fresh tracks in the snow, about ten minutes after he left home. Gusbur knew
the animal was close at hand for he had seen its tracks last night near the
outhouse, when he went to relieve himself and fetch the night's supply of
firewood.
He first noticed the animal as it lowered its head to feed. Whatever it had been
eating it devoured quickly and turned and headed strait toward Gus. The animal's
bold move took Gusbur totally by surprise. Had the sequence of events not
happened so quickly Gusbur could have dispatched it without it being the wiser,
but now the animal was bearing down on him. The situation quickly changed and
Gusbur felt like he was now the quarry, being stalked and ready to be pounced
upon.
At a distance of about eight feet the animal stopped dead in its tracks. It
jerked its head upward and stared Gusbur straight in the eyes. The animal looked
like a stone, dead still, just like Gusbur. Neither the hunter nor the hunted
moved a muscle, not a blink, a twitch, not even a breath. Gusbur could feel his
legs weaken, and was more conscious of his trembling. He felt sick to his
stomach and didn't know whether to run away, shoot, shout, shit, or what to do.
He was paralyzed, unable to move.
The harder his eyes strained the more he lost sight of the animal. His eyes
watered because he hadn't been blinking for fear of scaring the animal. For
milli-seconds the animal would be clearly visible and then it would disappear.
When Gusbur couldn't make out the animal he became more excited than ever, then
as the animal's form reappeared Gusbur calmed. This occurrence seemed to repeat
itself a thousand times in no time.
So, here he was, the moment had come. What would he do now? Shit, or get off the
pot? No, shoot or get off the pot. Either way he would have to do something, and
do it quick, before the quarry got a chance to react after detecting him. The
animal would be quick as lightning and there was no telling how it would react
or what it would do if startled. Gusbur was under a lot of stress. Closer and
closer, inch by foot come the animal, seemingly unaware of Gusbur standing dead
centre in its path.
Suddenly the animal reacted. As quick as lightning it made several, quick jumps
and disappeared behind a thick growth of low hanging evergreens to its right.
Gus knew it was gone forever, and he would never see it again. As Gusbur stared
at the left-behind empty tracks he could only imagine what his father would be
saying when he found out what happened, "You Dummy! Hunter me arse! You couldn't
capture a jeezlis Sasquatch if you had him locked in the shithouse. Why would
you let that jeezlis rabbit get away? Ya shoulda just stayed home!"
