The Shotgun in the Basement Secret
So we're returning from a North Dakota pheasant hunt one October, and we finally hit the house in Eden Prairie. Wayne had been sitting in the back seat of my buddy Tadd's extended cab reading hunting magazines, and had been reading an article about Benelli shotguns. Wayne had won a Benelli a few years earlier at a Ducks Unlimited banquet, so when he hit the house, he just disappeared inside.
I start unloading the truck which is pretty full after a long hunt, and I grab two handfuls of gear and head downstairs towards the laundry room. I get about halfway down the stairs, and all of a sudden I hear the loudest shotgun blast of my life coming from directly ahead of me in the basement. I get downstairs, peer around the corner, and there is Wayne sitting on the couch holding this Benelli shotgun (it had never been shot before), and there is a big hole in my wall.
I pretty much lose it and yell "What in the #$&@ are you doing???" All I get from Wayne is the deer-in-the-headlights look and a Jackie Gleason-like stammer "HAMAHAMAHAMAHAMA". Since we lived in a four-plex at that time, I just assumed that he'd blown a hole through the common wall of our neighbor's basement and/or that the cops were showing up soon.
I ask him what happened, and he says that there was a shell in the Benelli and he accidentally touched the trigger. I then ask him about Gun Safety 101 where you treat every gun as it is loaded. More deer-in-the-headlights, so I can tell that he's about as shocked and flustered as I've ever seen him.
I finally calm down and take a look at the hole in the wall. The firewall had stopped the blast, and all that was needed was some drywall being replaced. My buddy Tadd is a general contractor, so I told Wayne that Tadd could probably fix it for us, but that Wayne was covering the cost of repairs along with a good steak dinner for Tadd and his wife Pam along with Sandy and myself (for scaring the sh!t out of me). I also told him that I was "borrowing" his Benelli shotgun for all future hunts since it was obviously out of his league. He readily agreed, and swore me to secrecy.
His secret was safe with all of us, but he had told Kathy about the incident who then mentioned to Bobbie Hunkins about what happened, and the secret spread like wildfire.
The only time in my life I ever saw Wayne totally flustered and speechless, and I got the best shotgun I've ever hunted with as my reward...... :-)