"Yeah, yeah, I just foolin' with ya. I know you are a lot of things but not a coward. Yer willing to hang about with me so that shows some sand right there," Caroline grinned.
As they were about to leave, Brendan suddenly commented, . "Isn't it a little early for that? That ain't your special concoction from up front."
"No it ain't and don't you ever go tellin' folks about that. It's me n' Ralph's trick as nobody could be able to drink all the liquor customers buy on a good night. As for it bein' early, I'm up ain't I? So never too early," she replied.
It seemed Brendan did not share her musing about shooting some redmen. Actually Caroline didn't really want to shoot anybody if she didn't have to but she certainly did not have any love for Indians, not after what she saw and experienced that horrible stagecoach attack. Addy and her were lucky to have survived, none of the others on that fateful stage did including that woman and her boy. Though the Indians took them captive, Caroline had figured they were goners too. And they just might if the two of them hadn't escaped whilst the warriors were distracted with dealing with the cavalry. They had been overconfident and they'd left a young brave, more a boy really, to guard them.
They jumped that young buck and that was another horror of that whole terrible episode in both ladies' lives. They killed the lad alright, stabbing him to death while he so desperately struggled to live. She would never be able to unsee in her bad dreams that knife plunging down into the boy's twisting body before he finally up and died on them.
She shook her head then, to chase the memories away and out the pair of them went to get outside of town and have their target practice. Well, her target practice while Brendan taught her.
As they went onto the boardwalk it certainly seemed the weather was cooperating, a warm sunny day with just the right amount of light breeze. The fresh air and exercise would be good for them.
"My lips are sealed." Brendan mimed locking up his lips with a key and then throwing it away as he and Caroline headed down the boardwalk. He wouldn't give up Caroline's tricks of her trade -- unless someone held a gun to his head and demanded it. That was a different story.
Brendan glanced up at the sky as they walked. "Fine day for this. We should'a brought a picnic along." He and Caroline would have had a nice time lounging around on a picnic blanket after their shooting lesson, but neither of them had thought that far ahead.
As they began to leave the houses of Kalispell behind, Brendan started searching for the perfect spot. Finally, when he deemed they were far enough from town that the noise of the firearm going off wouldn't send the town into a panic, he headed over to a tree and began pulling cans out of his sack. He'd poked a hole in each can and stuck a string through it so he could hang them over a tree branch, and as he grabbed a few cans by the strings, he glanced back at Caroline.
"I'd ask you to help, but I think you're a little short for this," he grinned, jumping up a little to fling a string over a branch and tie it off.
Brendan made a show of saying his lips were sealed. Caroline only slowly nodded, "Yeah they better be or yer fate will be sealed too."
Brendan glanced up at the sky as they walked. "Fine day for this. We should'a brought a picnic along."
She chuckled, "Yeah and who was gonna make this picnic lunch? You? Me? Like that would ever happen."
When they were far enough out of town, the shooting probably wouldn't be heard by anybody, he headed over to a tree and began pulling cans out of his sack. He'd poked a hole in each can and stuck a string through it so he could hang them over a tree branch, and as he grabbed a few cans by the strings, he glanced back at Caroline.
She merely stood there and watched.
"I'd ask you to help, but I think you're a little short for this," he grinned, jumping up a little to fling a string over a branch and tie it off.
"You know the old sayin', don't ya? Good things come in small packages. That'd be me," she pointed out with a smile.
"This should be fun. And I'll get to see how good a teacher you are," Caroline declared as he finished. It was shootin' time!
"You're about the prettiest little package I've ever seen in my life." Brendan whole-heartedly agreed with Caroline's assessment of herself and didn't mind saying so. "I never taught anyone anything before, really, so this'll be...interestin'." He dug his revolver out of his sack, fished out the cartridge box, and went back to Caroline.
"Well, first things first. You how your derringer works. You know how to load one of these?" He assumed she had some rudimentary knowledge of how guns worked, but was inexperienced with the actual firing of anything besides her derringer. But it could never hurt to start with the basics. Besides, there was a big difference in the mechanics of Caroline's derringer and his Colt single action revolver.
He complimented her with that usual big grin of his. He was handsome and he knew it too.
"Good answer! Especially since you are giving it to a woman who will be holding a loaded pistol next to ya," Caroline pointed out with one of those bright smiles of hers.
He admitted he'd never given anyone lessons on shooting before.
"That's alright, I never shot a revolver before," she let him know. It was a lie though. Way back in Chicago to avenge her murdered father, she used her father's pistol to sneak up behind the man who'd shot him and fired a bullet right in the back of the man's skull. Then fled Chicago and never went back. But that lone shot didn't take skill, the barrel a foot away from the target, just pure seething hatred.
"Well, first things first. You how your derringer works. You know how to load one of these?" he asked.
"Well I think I can figure it out, just a bigger gun than my derringer is all. But wouldn't mind practicing it at least once," she suggested.
This was going to be fun. Low stakes, but something that might end up being useful for Caroline in the long run. Even though he'd never taught anyone to shoot before, Brendan knew Caroline would catch on quickly so he wasn't too worried about his teaching methods being tried and true.
"Right, then." He moved to Caroline's left side and held the revolver so she could see what he was doing. "First you put it on half-cock, like this. Listen for two little clicks." He pulled the hammer back into the half-cock position and flipped the loading gate open. "Then you flick this thing open right here...and then we load 'er up." He fished five cartridges from the box and slid one in, rotating the cylinder afterward. "Turn it 'til you see the next hole, put another in, and so on."
When all but one of the chambers were full, Brendan looked over at Caroline. "Clear as mud?" he said with a grin. Without waiting for an answer, he started working the ejector, spinning the cylinder to drop all the cartridges back into his palm.
"Now you try." He held out the revolver to her, but not before closing the loading gate and returning the hammer to its original position.
Brendan was doing in right, before she should shoot the damn gun, it might help to make certain she knew how to load it. So that's where he started, demonstrating carefully step by step how to load the revolver. Caroline watched and saw nothing particularly hard about it.
When all but one of the chambers were full, Brendan looked over at Caroline. "Clear as mud?" he said with a grin. Without waiting for an answer, he started working the ejector, spinning the cylinder to drop all the cartridges back into his palm.
"Clear, I get it. You did a good job of it," she nodded, her voice confident in tone.
"Now you try." He held out the revolver to her, but not before closing the loading gate and returning the hammer to its original position.
"You bet," she took and some cartridges then basically repeated step by step everything he did, no mishaps.
"Let's face it, it doesn't take a genius to load these things," she declared with a grin as she finished. Since it was loaded she also made a point not to point it in his direction, that was a basic. She'd been around enough guns in her business to know that much.
"May not take a genius to load it, but aimin' it's another thing." Brendan smirked a little and began backing up, beckoning Caroline to follow. He stopped when he was a ways off from the tree, not so far that it would be impossible for Caroline to hit, but far enough that she wouldn't be able to hit any of the cans point blank. That was what set his revolver apart from her derringer, after all. The revolver was meant for shooting from a distance and the derringer was meant for someone up in your personal space.
"Let's see if you can hit any of them cans now. Look down the barrel at what you want to shoot at, pull the hammer back as far as it'll go 'til you don't hear more clicks, and when you're ready, pull the trigger." Brendan stood beside her, hands on his hips. He just wanted to see how she did the first time, and then he'd get more involved after if needed, but he had an inkling that the quick-witted Caroline would catch on pretty quick to anything she didn't already know.
"May not take a genius to load it, but aimin' it's another thing." Brendan smirked a little and began backing up, beckoning Caroline to follow. He stopped when he was a ways off from the tree.
Caroline did so, "You point, you shoot, you hit it. Course it's the last part might not be my strongpoint."
"Let's see if you can hit any of them cans now. Look down the barrel at what you want to shoot at, pull the hammer back as far as it'll go 'til you don't hear more clicks, and when you're ready, pull the trigger." Brendan stood beside her, hands on his hips.
"Yessir, general sir," she grinned at him then focused on the targets, those cans looked awful small. With some effort she pulled back the hammer then leveled the barrel off, aimed with one eye closed, hopefully it was the right one?
Suddenly there was the loud report of the heavy pistol blasting and sending a cloud of white smoke upward. It had kicked more than she had expected and when she refocused on those cans, she frowned.
"Those cans cheated, they musta moved," she carped, she had not hit anything.
Brendan watched as Caroline fired her first shot from the revolver. There was no telltale clang that would have meant she'd hit any of the cans, and when the smoke cleared, no holes in any of them. Brendan rubbed a hand across his face to try to wipe the smirk from his face. Everyone had to start somewhere.
"Did you close both your eyes?" he teased, nudging Caroline. "You gotta keep at least one open. And if you close one, make sure it's the right one." He paused. "Not right like right and left. But it might be the right, or it could be the left."
He scowled and waved a hand in the air. "Forget I said all that. What you need to know is both your eyes work together to make pictures of what you see, and sometimes one is more...accurate than the other. So make sure the one you use is the good one. That make sense?"