Way of the Gun, Part 2

In part 1, I wrote about how my family lived and worked around guns. In fact, I grew up in a community where many people owned guns, presumably for hunting or sport shooting. I can only recall one time I know of where someone took it up a notch.

My dad sold a horse to a guy. The guy called to tell my dad the horse wasn't any good, and he wasn't going to pay my dad the agreed-upon price. My dad told my mom he was going to the guy's house. He would either come back with the horse or the money. Instead, he came back with this story:

My dad had let Cliff take the horse without paying because the asking price was pretty steep, and because he was tired of pasturing him. When my dad got to Cliff's house, Cliff told him the horse wasn't worth $800, but he would pay $500. My dad said Cliff shouldn't have agreed to pay it if he wasn't interested and that he would like his horse back. Cliff said the horse wasn't there and he could not easily return him. At this point my dad had neither the money nor the horse, and was understandably pissed. He admits he hauled off and hit Cliff first. Cliff told the other two guys that were there to hold my dad. My dad figured he was about to get the crap beat out of him, so he took off towards his car (Yes, a car. Not sure how that would have worked for bringing home a horse!).

Before he got to the car, he heard the unmistakeable sound of a gun being cocked. Instead of getting in the car, which was a piece of crap, he jumped in the bushes beside the driveway. Cliff shot the car up pretty good, and then must have realized what he had done and disappeared back into the house. My dad drove the car home, where he took pictures and called the sheriff. My dad got his horse back, but the story doesn't end there.

The next day, Cliff showed up at the ER with heart attack symptoms. He filed a lawsuit against my dad for his medical expenses and for his distress. My dad filed a counter suit for the car. The case actually went to court, where it was revealed that Cliff had a history of heart trouble and that nothing had been wrong with him on the day in the suit. The judge dismissed his case. He did find Cliff liable for my dad's car as well his legal expenses. Cliff tried to appeal that the amount was too much of a burden, even though it was not much more than what he had agreed to spend on a horse. My dad said that he was happy with the ruling, and would accept a payment plan.

For three years, my dad received a check for thirty-some odd dollars every month. I asked him once what he did with it. He said he cracked up at the thought that Cliff had to think about it every time he wrote the check, then he took my mom out to dinner.