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Show 214 Harold and Burl had stopped to rest and were stretched out on the turf when one of Sharl Dunn's boys came by. "Rex Parker's been shot, " he told them. Rex and his father had driven to the river bottoms to hunt. John saw some birds as they stopped. "There they are, " he said. "Get your gun. " Rex, about eighteen, did what no good hunter ever does-pulled his gun toward him, barrel first. The trigger caught on something and discharged the loaded shotgun into his chest. "It hit him about here, " the informant said, indicating an area in the left chest and underarm. "He was bleeding badly and they have taken him to Richfield to the hospital. " he finished. He left Harold and Burl talking about it. "That would about get Rex in the heart, " said Burl. "No, " Harold replied. "For a bullet to go through the heart it would have to go in the chest about here. " He reached out and pulled his loaded twenty-two toward him; it caught on a weed and discharged. Harold died instantly, before Rex did. Burl ran for help. In Richfield, Mama and the girls heard quickly about Rex, who was the age of Vetris, in her crowd. Mama was unnerved, had an urgency to get home, and drove all the way with a sense of foreboding. They were passing the Wells home just as Burl ran into the yard. A neighbor saw them and followed to tell Mama the sad news, softened, of course: "Harold has been shot and is not expected to live. " |
