It was an usual death to say the least. I can’t decide if the circumstances make it more tolerable or tragic, so in the end it’s most like any other, just eminently regrettable.
A hunter is killed when his dog, excited at the prospect of retrieving a downed bird, steps on the shotgun’s safety and trigger, discharging the weapon through the pickup gate into his femoral artery and causing his death from blood loss shortly after being rushed by a companion to the hospital. The man, Perry Price, loved his dogs to the point of obsession, even having a special Bird Dog of the Week award for his honored math students at the Baytown high school where he’d taught for 20 years.
What a bizarre death I thought, and from someone who apparently was a pretty decent guy. Hmmm… Perry Price, I remember a Perry Price from years back… hilarious and crazy sonuvabitch. Why I remember us one hunting weekend at Brian’s place when Perry ran nekkid through the purple thistles for 100 yards through the field by the highway for $20. I remember that laughable, likeable guy entertaing us for hours with the funniest stories about hunting and even more outrageous stories about getting shot down on dates due to his goofy-assed looks. Self-deprecating to a fault, he was as likeable as they come. Slowly, sadly as I looked at the hunter’s picture on TV, I regrettably saw some resemblance to “our Perry” and, with a heavy sigh realized that he was gone.
I didn’t know Perry well, not like our mutual friends that had grown up with him and linked us all. It’s them I feel for now, they, his family, his students and his dogs. But Perry was one of those guys that you didn’t have to keep up with in order to just be glad that someone like him was around somewhere makin’ someone else happy.
I’m about to call Brian now. Brian and David and Steve who all knew him like a brother, maybe even Perry’s wife if I can muster up the strength needed to carry forth a firm voice.
It’s a shame, it makes no sense and in retrospect it’s avoidance seems like it would have been so simple. Perry’s not there anymore and I’m sad for all those that’ll no longer benefit from just being near.