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He tilted his head and asked me a question. At least I think he did because I could see his lips moving, but couldn’t hear him.

“What?” I yelled, unable to judge the volume of my voice.

Jack chuckled and pointed at his ears before taking them off. He repeated the question after I took mine off, too. “You don’t happen to have a hat, do you? I forgot to tell you to bring one.”

“I don’t. I’m sorry. You said to wear a t-shirt and closed toed shoes, you didn’t say anything about a hat.” The excuse tumbled from my lips, sounding defensive, but I couldn’t help it. I hated feeling unprepared, and I didn’t want him to be upset with me.

“No need to apologize. I’m the one who messed up. Wait here. I’m sure I have one in my truck.” Jack said before jogging towards the door. He returned a few minutes later holding a navy blue cap with the SSI logo embroidered on the front.

“Here.” He grinned as he handed it to me. “Don’t worry, it’s new.”

His grin.I bet he’s broken a lot of hearts.

“You’ll have to adjust it.” He reached out for the hat. “Here, let me help.” He fixed the size and curled the bill a few times so it wasn’t so straight. He handed it back to me, then picked up my ear protection and turned a dial. “You can change the volume so you can hear me. The sound will cut out when the gun fires.”

“Thanks.”

I was dragging my feet as I followed Jack to the far end of the range, where he’d reserved a private training lane for us. Jack put a hand on the small of my back to nudge me along when I stopped to watch the people shooting.

When we got to our lane, Jack pulled a gun and some ammunition out of his bag and set them on the bench, then he unrolled a target and hung it up. He waved me over to the bench after he finished setting up.

I listened carefully as Jack gave me instructions. Now that I was actually on the range, I was way more nervous. I felt my breaths coming quicker and could hear my heart pounding in my chest. I had no idea how long I’d been standing there, panicking, before Jack gently touched my shoulder to get my attention.

“Are you okay? We can try again later if you’d like.”

“Yeah. It’s, I don’t know, it’s a lot. And I’m nervous.” Scared was more like it, but I didn’t want to sound like a wimp.

“That’s normal. It’s okay if you want to stop or take a break.”

“Thanks. I think I’m good now.” I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans.

Jack nodded, then reminded me of the safety rules. He patiently guided me as I loaded one bullet into a magazine and then the magazine in the gun.

“The gun is loaded. Are you ready?”

I nodded, never taking my eyes off the gun as I picked it up. I didn’t want to risk pointing it in the wrong direction.

He had me build my grip like I had in the classroom. I was extra careful to keep my finger off the trigger.

“When you’re ready, aim at the center of the target.”

I extended my arms and aimed at the big black X.

“This gun doesn’t have a safety, so all you need to do, when you’re ready, is press the trigger.”

I pressed the trigger. Jack had warned me about recoil, and the loud bang, and the bright flash that would happen when the gun went off. Knowing it would happen wasn’t enough to stop me from yelping and jumping back. Jack grabbed the top of the gun.

“Wow!” I could hear the shock in my voice and feel the smile on my face.

Jack put the gun down and asked, “How’d that feel?”

“Powerful.” I turned to him, “And loud.”

He chuckled, “Was it as scary as you thought it would be?”

“Yes, no, well, sort of.” I couldn’t decide if it had been scary or not. I mean, I yelped and jumped, but was it fear or surprise? It was probably a little of both.

“Want to try again?” He asked. “You’ll get used to the bang and the flash, if you practice enough. You can also adjust the volume on the ear pro if it’s too loud.”

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