Skeet and Chocolate by Whitley Gray
Today’s guest is Whitley Gray, who incorporates her own experience shooting and a lot more in her contribution to the Going For Gold M/M Olympic Anthology.
I wrote a story about shooting, since I grew up shooting skeet. This is what happens when there are no boys in your family—and state shooting champions in your pedigree. I never got good enough to shoot competitively (and I’m competitive with almost everything, even if it’s only with myself). I do remember the smell of gun powder and broken clay pigeons, the pressure of ear protectors on my head, and the way the world looks jaundiced when you’re wearing yellow-tinted glasses. The weight of the gun, the spent shells, and the weird smell of the shooting vest.
Oh, I wish I had been good enough to be an Olympic-caliber athlete. Or had been to see the Olympics. Instead, I contented myself at home, writing an Olympic-themed story. I daydreamed about being in London, walking through Olympic park, seeing world class athletes from over two hundred nations—some scantily clad. Indulging in the humidity and excitement at the aquatics center. Inhaling the scents of chalk dust, resin, and carpet at the gymnastics competitions. Seeing world-class performances.
And then there’s London itself. Riding on a double-decker bus. Eating fish and chips. Seeing the changing of the guard, and seeing for myself if those guys really don’t flinch.
I’ve watched the Olympics on TV for years. I mean drop-everything-stay-up-all-night-watching as many different events as possible. It’s like dark chocolate—an addiction. A craving that must be sated, lest the sufferer go into withdrawal.
When it was over, I did go into withdrawal. (This is where dark chocolate comes in handy). Eighteen months until the Winter Olympics in Russia. Four years until Rio. Until they come ‘round again, I’ll be in my office, eating dark chocolate.
~*~ Please check out my story “Shoot for Gold” in the MLR Press Anthology, GOING FOR GOLD!
BLOG: http://whitleygray.blogspot.com/
GOING FOR GOLD anthology: Buy from MLR, Amazon, Paperback
2 Responses to “Skeet and Chocolate by Whitley Gray”
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I had to laugh at your description of watching the Olympics being like dark chocolate–I definitely used to fall into that ‘stay-up-all-night-watching-ping-pong’ category. As a matter of fact, I didn’t get to watch nearly as much of this year’s Games as I normally would have, and I feel deeply deprived!
Fortunately, I have Going for Gold to fall back on because I really need my fix!
Do you still shoot skeet? 🙂
Unfortunately, I don’t shoot any more.
Too time-consuming to be really good, and I don’t live where the guns are. 🙂
I do consume dark chocolate, which is easier to come by and much more portable.