b'THE BIT AT THE ENDThis column is about the slingshot-related adventures you got into as a kid. This issue, is from The King Of The Weald: Mr. Mark Clark.OF MICE & BOYS spooked game was something I would learn Ato accept later in life but right there and mouse.then it truly hurt.Could be considered by someNot having moved, however, made for a as as an unworthy adversary,quick return of my quarry. Hurriedly I lety but these mice had a bountyhalf in desperation on a mouse that failed on their head. Picture if youto stop at all. He was stopped now, though. may a scru y long haired boy, a ectionatelyA rib crunching acorn put tuppence into my nicknamed Mowgli, by his closest friends,now doubled kitty.who now conceals himself in the cornerThis time I remained hidden and left the of an old barn, within a hide carefully butdead mouse where he had met excitedly constructed from empty but dustyhis demise.feed sacks. His pockets are stu ed to theThat morning crept into the afternoon. point of bursting with hurriedly collectedMy body count increased gradually. The acorns, ammo that is readily available andhours made up of hits, misses and long more than capable of killing a mouse. Anwaits in between. I remember picking up added bonus of this plentiful ammunition isthe dead mice and realising with great joy, that it couldnt make holes in the asbestosthat I had indeed shot a shillings-worth.roo ng of the farm building he was nowFor you younger readers this may be hard sat in. Weapon of choice - catapult. An Ashto relate to but let me tell you a shilling cup, banded with tractor inner-tube rubber,The acornew true and to my disbeliefwhich is made up of twelve old pennies was sliced with precision and whipped to thea mouse now lay motionless at the base ofa good amount to spend in the sweet shop frame by a series of boyishly tied grannythe corn pile. in 1970 for a small and hungry boy. It was a knots. Excitement got the better of me and I feltmemorable moment.No modern materials available at thiscompelled to retrieve the corpse. My handsMars bar and crisps eagerly purchased point. Its 1970 and I am ten years old. shaking, I checked for signs of damage.with my recently collected blood money The mice were priced at a penny each.With my autopsy drawing no conclusions, Iand voraciously consumed, never tasted so I collected this reward by o ering up thesettled back among the sacks and awaitedgood.bodies to the farmer who luckily for me wasmy next rodent victim. When I had collected my remuneration a good friend of my dads. Never in my life, even to this present dayfrom the somewhat amused farmer, he A feral kid like myself needed to be kepthas twenty minutes seemed so long. Theasked me if I had seen any rats. I shook my out of mischief and this mouse huntingtedious wait was however the price I had tohead negatively, Thats a shame, he said, mission was, I feel, a plan hatched to do justpay for revealing myself and coming out ofId ave give you thruppence for a rat, but that. the hide. acorns wont kill em!The barn was dimly lit but my sensesThe eternity of waiting was thankfullyOn the bike ride home I contemplated my were tingling and the slightest movementbrought to a sudden halt as mouse numbersnext adventure. Still sucking the chocolate on the pile of grain that I now surveyed wastwo and three entered the shooting gallery.from my teeth, I skidded to a halt at a noticed by my shiny bright youthful eyes. WHACK! long posh driveway which was covered in Shooting from about twenty feet II missed. smooth round stones of various sizes. My could regularly hit a matchbox. Could thatI can remember that miss as well as anyeyes drawn naturally towards the roundest matchbox now become a mouse? hit. Intensi ed by the monotonous wait, mypebbles, I picked up a few and studied them Movement mouse a moving mouseemotions now ran amok. I was indeed closeintently.stay still, please just stop! to tears. Would they kill a rat, I wondered? Id have A pause THWACK! THUD! The feeling of a missed shot, a lostsh orto wait and see.Quote of the Season: Had it just been left as a stick its life would have been far less interesting. Get out there 066 SlingshotWorld and give a stick a life today! #giveastickalife Dean Cummings Aug 13th 2021066_SSW005 adventures Scrapes.indd 66 29/11/2021 12:45'