tION by Doris Lessing January 21, 1956

        Noypes erms), I    more often t be    give me a flock of guinea fory.” From to casual mention of time t smen are oozing envy of ual safari. I keep truto myself.

        Not t I    seen lions. I ered teresting animals, in to look at time to time. And on my o flouris. I do not care. I never did.

        Along otle game goes t t trievably est (against practically everyt all started very, early,    to go even furto ly at t attempt,    and s    being firl to ride a boy’s bicycle, and stuck out for one of my o tate of t off tely.

        In t of table and evasive be is easy to uand ook aim at a small bird sitting on a t bad because t    goo    immediately took on its proper colors; to fire at a sitting bird oget in a good oblique s at a bird y yards off, rong elope, iful in our parts but very good to eat— kill one unless    arranged an exing crahick bush, preferably in heavy mud.

        o me, I said I did not care for it.    stick to trut imagine. I did point out t even people like er Jim and Elep Bill used sguns for birds on t it o use a .22 rifle, but my brot moved. I did not expect o be.

        After o sc to ook te in ion of term. I spent a ing tting bullets in and taking t.    flinc out into t.

        t of bus, miles of it in every dire,    paradise for sportsmen. I remember clearly    first day, I mooned along, t Guinevere and Anne of Green Gables, until a fine kudu bull (fauna of t covetable sort, antelope t ly been scrutinizing me from an antook to its y broto say,    he eye under impossible handicaps.)

        appeared a duiker, and I put to my sedly but    result, siure o sig.

        t    follo ter. One day, I ting on a ro a clearing ted past, follo ty oted my gun and s at eac ly like sing in a fun fair, s, or y of t    o keep still. From t my success    irely on ts of guinea fo a naturalist’s, point of view.

        Guinea foo togeter. urbed, o every enemy for miles around, t up a raucous plaint and ruremely fast in all dires. If tuck to doing tically invulnerable, but, no—curiosity is ten t, before tao trees to see rees tant to launco space.

        s and all tions, I set out one day il I    to. to it. tly seventy-fuinea foo trees all around me. I kney-four because I sat on a log ting t and fattest. I t tarted perceptibly, aled bad c    above its    doo my feet. I tried again.    it is to keep a gun barrel still became apparent to me only no I ime in to practice it. I o a nearby tree and laid t its trunk for support.

        t four yards a teady long enougo s it in t fell, and I dispatc , in t . turally, assumed it    on t t—t s going unnoticed—and a letter    once sent to my brother.

        ter, my tetially ts. For instarained dog ook    full pelt to, and by time I arrived, dozens of guinea focisfactorily distrag ttention from me w leisure.

        A guinea fo by a yapping dog tends t slos perc it turns on its os a more or less stable target. tting on a lo I o lean over and pluck it off ts neck. I    to a soul. ook t t ruck its beak and stu, and said carelessly t it sounded very like one of my brotortuous feats.

        I kne , on took me into t’s see you do it.”

        t yapping off after a flock of guinea foly at a bird rising into a tree, sically, “Damned bad s.” My brot o all sport    flock    an end, but tio s.

        times. My mot ty. t a duiker t ed a long s doe tage of living in a sportsman’s paradise is tedium of t) and I o say t it ogeting to kill t. But ten days more of my broto get t. I tried to defer it by saying t I c off into tly folloting bird at four or five yards. I told    oo so listen.    to t    evening at supper. I to break it to my fat traumatic way.

        t nig out spot-sing—ing . Spot-sing t    unsp, because o it t tantially on types use ts of cars; my broto    forto t like a quixotic Cyclops. tice is to fix t, to tized creature and s it. My brot t ture erested but not fixed. It unity to run away.

        urned from t expedition severely depressed. Apparently, y yards off. t moved. ed, but notc moved.        imes more. tet vi ead, t o discuss my case s. ter my brot back to sued to supply    until one o leave for ty and ts of civilization.

        My talents as er     taso a young man e, and caused me rospe, as a result of ried to persuade me t my reluce to join my fate eternally to    of tender age; I een at time.

        Among otues,    ing, sing, and fis    be described only as classic. urally, eager to visit our farm, en years before, never once    foot on any sing ground but a target range.

        For a    last t, and    . I took ing, since I , of course, I pressed to o a good ess. At oness of    no one ing birds    ried.    up. t more flying up into trees.    none. By t time, emper. o my o do it.”

        trees. e to trees, but t budge. I could not s. e began    no sed flock of birds self. I planned, if I o talk very loudly and dro. Suddenly ed, “Look! Now’s your ce!”

        aridge dodged among ts of t . A small puff of . I saering, “Damn t,” I fired at random into it.

        t subsided. tridge lay dead, s t, from be a y yards. I ejected tridge in an effit sort of a boast.

        used to t it en years si a moving target, and so on. io excuse    supper. My fat. I imagi    at last it came o me t it was because raged.

        A good sportsman, I remembered, never puts t ood ’s a man’s    day, my fat t t out ts in a man’s cer, and, ted, I o break off t, or atta t er t it is o s fauna of any kind—and    I laid down my gun. ?
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