Fathers, Sons, and Old Guns

(Following is the title chapter, “Fathers, Sons
and Old Guns”, of my most recent book. The book
is currently available at Amazon.com)
It began for the boy along about the Christmas
of his sixth or seventh year. Dawn was still an hour
or more away when the youngster crept
out of bed. Peering sleepily around the
corner through the living room door, his
eyes scanned the brightly-wrapped packages
spangled with tinsel and glitter beneath
the tree.
His breath caught in his throat when he
saw it – twinkling colored lights reflecting
off the blue steel barrel and walnut stock.
His first gun, the .410 he’d dreamed about.