Joy Takes Flight by Bonnie Leon

firing a gun inside a plane is safe?”
    â€œNo. But if I had to, I would. You know I keep a revolver with me. I have ever since I had trouble with those three hunters—remember? One of them opened the door during a flight and nearly fell out.”
    Paul stared at her stubbornly.
    â€œYou’ve never given a hoot about me carrying a gun. Why now?”
    â€œIt’s not the gun.”
    Kate took a deep breath. This was ridiculous. Keeping her voice quiet and steady, she said, “I’m going. First thing in the morning.”
    Paul didn’t respond right away. He walked toward the lake and stared at Kate’s plane. Finally he turned and asked, “Have you been practicing with that gun?”
    Kate hated to admit that she’d barely looked at it in months. “No.” She kept her eyes locked on his.
    â€œAll right, then . . . if you insist on behaving foolishly, you and I are going to spend time on target practice.”
    â€”——
    Still half angry with each other, Kate and Paul trudged into the forest. Paul cleared snow off a downed tree and set up five bottles as targets. He paced off about thirty feet. “Have you even fired that gun before?”
    â€œMike showed me once, a long time ago.” She felt foolish. What good was a gun if she didn’t know how to use it?
    â€œDo you have bullets?”
    Kate took a box out of her coat pocket and loaded six into the long-barreled Colt single-shot. She snapped the cylinder shut. “I know how to load and fire it, but my aim is pretty awful.”
    The tension between them eased.
    â€œWe’ll work on that. Square off your stance, like this.” Paul faced the target and stood with his feet apart and parallel with his left foot back slightly. “You’ll have to pull the hammer down each time you want to shoot—this is a single-shot revolver.”
    Kate nodded.
    â€œUse the sight here on the top of the barrel, hold it with both hands to keep it steady, and lock your arms. Then sight it in the target, take a breath and hold it, then squeeze the trigger.”
    Kate grasped the revolver in both hands and took her stance. She felt nervous. She didn’t like guns much. She held the revolver out in front of her. Using the sight, she aimed at the first bottle on the log.
    â€œPull back the hammer.”
    Kate did as he said, feeling her cheeks heat up. She’d nearly forgotten to cock it. She pulled the trigger and fired. The kick sent her hands up in front of her and made them tingle. The bottles remained standing. She blew out an exasperated breath.
    â€œTry again.”
    Determined to hit her target, she held out the gun in front of her, pulled back the hammer, and with her hands steady, she squeezed the trigger. Again the bottles remained untouched. They seemed to stare at her, taunting. She dropped her arms. “I’m worthless with a gun.”
    â€œYou’ve got four more shots in there. Don’t give up. It’s important, Kate.”
    â€œOkay.” She clasped the revolver, and again held it out, making sure to keep her arms straight and tight. Sighting in the bottle, she gently pulled back on the trigger and fired. Her eyes opened wide in surprise when the bottle she’d been aiming at splintered, launching pieces of glass in all directions. “I got it! I got it!”
    â€œGood job.” Paul gave her back a friendly slap. “Okay, now finish off the rest of them. You’ll have to reload. You only have three bullets left and four bottles.”
    â€œI’ll need a whole lot more than three bullets.” She gave him a wry smile.
    She and Paul spent another thirty minutes practicing. By the time they finished, Kate felt almost proficient. It made her feel slightly more secure.
    Before daylight, the following morning, Kate packed up and readied her plane for takeoff. Paul was busy with Caleb. He hadn’t improved at all since the previous