Chapter 52

• When he reached the end of the street, he stepped over the rail and looked over the edge, he couldn’t see anyone from here. Dropping to his knee, he opened the case and took out his rifle and ammo. Standing he looked around, a tall tree caught his eye. No time to debate it, he thought. Going back over to the other side of the railing, he went over and looked up it. Swinging the rifle to hang flat down his back, he started climbing the old pine? He had no idea what type of tree it was, just that it had a lot of branches that would enable him to go up it fast. The branches were close enough at the bottom that it was almost like going up a ladder. He moved swiftly, ignoring the scrapes along his bare skin. Giving up his shirt may not have been the smartest plan, but Giana parading around naked in front of others was more important and by now half the village would know what was happening.
• Pausing, he looked in the direction Giana had pointed out to him, he could see movement down there now. Going up a few more feet he turned and wedged his body between the branches. This was going to be a whole new challenge, to balance his weight and the rifle and not fall out.
• With cautious movements, he brought the rifle around and awkwardly loaded it. Raising it up, he was able to use another branch as a support as he leaned his head down to see through the scope. He saw a flash of rust red and then moved it ahead of where the fox was running. He tensed when he got the wild animal in his sight, they needed to slow down, or they were going to reach it before he took it out. It was huge, and the boy had been right, it was angry and lashing out. The way it was weaving around, was going to make getting a good shot hard.