2011 Issue - Santa Fe Community College

In the Company of Men
At Outdoorsman, De Vargas Mall, Santa Fe, NM
by Tom Crawford
Six handguns lay on the counter top
on a green felt mat
in front of a very serious customer.
He’d handled each one in turn.
Then he picks up the 38, Smith & Wesson again.
“This one has the best feel,” he says,
slipping his hand around the black grip
squeezing it, “and I like the way
the trigger fits my finger.”
“Yah, it’s a fine piece of work,” the clerk says,
“tried and true,” as the customer hands him
the gun and he fits it gently
into his hand then shows us all
how his finger, too, fits the gold trigger.
Then with a slight smile,
“We can’t keep this one in stock.”
There are four of us at the counter,
so I don’t feel conspicuous about my feelings
about why I come in here.
Then the man next to the man interested
in the 38 Special puts his hand out.
Immediately the clerk puts the gun in it.
“You’re right about the trigger,
and the weight, I like the weight.”
Then he lifts the gun to his nose,
smells the muzzle.
42 Santa Fe Literary Review