keep a gun around the house. That’s probably wise. But aren’t you ever going to go out into the world again? You can’t tote a gun with
you everywhere you go.”
“Yes, I can. I’ve got a permit.”
“A permit to carry that cannon?”
“I take it in my purse wherever we go.”
“Jesus, how’d you get a permit to carry?”
“My husband was killed under strange circumstances by persons unknown. Those killers tried to shoot my son and me-and
they are still at large. On top of all that, I’m a rich and relatively famous woman. It’d be a little odd if I couldn’t get a permit to carry.”
Thelma was silent for a minute, sipping her coffee, watching Laura clean the revolver. Finally she said, “This is kind of spooky,
Shane, seeing you so serious about this, so tense. I mean, it’s seven months since . . . Danny died. But you’re as skittish as if someone
had shot at you yesterday. You can’t maintain this level of tension or readiness or whatever you want to call it. That way lies madness.
Paranoia. You’ve got to face the fact that you can’t really be on guard the rest of your life, every minute.”
“I can, though, if I have to.”
“Oh, yeah? What about right now? Your gun’s disassembled. What if some barbarian thug with tattoos on his tongue started
kicking down the kitchen door?”
The kitchen chairs were on rubber casters, so when Laura suddenly shoved away from the table, she rolled swiftly to the counter
beside the refrigerator. She pulled open a drawer and brought out another .38 Chiefs Special.
Thelma said, “What-am I sitting in the middle of an arsenal?”
Laura put the second revolver back in the drawer. “Come on. I’ll give you a tour.”
Thelma followed her to the pantry. Hung on the back of the pantry door was an Uzi semiautomatic carbine.
“That’s a machine gun. Is it legal to have one?”
“With federal approval, you can buy them at gunshops, though you can only get a semiautomatic; it’s illegal to have them
modified for full automatic fire.”
Thelma studied her, then sighed. “Has this one been modified?”
“Yes. It’s fully automatic. But I bought it that way from an illegal dealer, not a gunshop.”
“This is too spooky,Tall Ugg, Shane. Really.”
She led Thelma into the dining room and showed her the revolver that was clipped to the bottom of the sideboard. In the living
room a fourth revolver was clipped under an end table next to one of the sofas. A second modified Uzi was hung on the back of the
foyer door at the front of the house. Revolvers were also hidden in the desk drawer in the den, in her office upstairs, in the master
bathroom, and in the nightstand in her bedroom. Finally, she kept a third Uzi in the master bedroom.
Staring at the Uzi that Laura pulled from under the bed, Thelma said, “Spookier and spookier. If I didn’t know you better, Shane,
I’d think you’d gone mad,Ugg Sundance Boots, a raving paranoid gun nut. But knowing you, if you’re really this scared, you’ve got to have some reason.
But what about Chris around all these guns?”
“He knows not to touch them, and I know he can be trusted. Most Swiss families have members in the militia-nearly every
male citizen there is prepared to defend his country, did you know that?-with guns in almost every house,ugg classic tall, but they have the lowest
rate of accidental shootings in the world. Because guns are a way of life. Children are taught to respect them from an early age.
Chris’ll be okay.”
As Laura put the Uzi under the bed again, Thelma said, “How on earth do you find an illegal gun dealer?”
“I’m rich, remember?”
“And money can buy anything? Okay, maybe that’s true. But, come on, how does a gal like you find an arms dealer? They don’t
advertise on Laundromat bulletin boards, I presume.”
“I’ve researched the backgrounds to several complicated novels, Thelma. I’ve learned how to find anyone or anything I need.”
Thelma was silent as they returned to the kitchen. From the family room came the heroic music that accompanied Indiana Jones
on all of his exploits. While Laura sat at the table and continued cleaning the revolver, Thelma poured fresh coffee for both of them.
“Straight talk now, kiddo. If there’s really some threat out there that justifies all this armament, then it’s bigger than you can
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