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"Stick to Beginner Lanes, Honey," My Ex Laughed at the Range. One Arrow Later, the Range Master W... — Transcript

by BRT Revenge Stories · 2,659 words · 428 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00"Sweetie, maybe start with the youth
0:02archery lane." My ex-fiancé said, loud
0:04and easy, like he was doing me a favor
0:06in front of everyone watching. "That
0:08compound bow is going to knock you flat
0:10on your back."
0:11I didn't answer. I didn't even look at
0:14him. I rolled my left shoulder once to
0:16settle my draw elbow, anchored my
0:18release hand to my jaw, picked a spot on
0:20the distant target the size of a dime,
0:22and let the arrow go.
0:24The thwack of carbon hitting the 12-ring
0:26at 70 yards landed a full second before
0:28the silence did. Every head on the
0:30outdoor archery range at Ridgecrest
0:32Sporting Club turned. Behind me, the
0:35chief range officer set down his
0:36clipboard, slowly like a man trying not
0:39to startle a deer. He looked at my form,
0:41looked at my ex, and said very quietly,
0:44"Dylan's son, do you know who that is?
0:45That's Ghost."
0:47My name is Anwyn Price. 20 months ago, I
0:49was just a woman with an unspoken
0:51apology she never got, and a modest
0:53diamond she gave back without a scene.
0:55Today, I serve as a freelance
0:57biomechanics consultant for a mid-size
0:59sporting goods manufacturer in Raleigh,
1:01where I spend most of my weeks analyzing
1:04arrow flight dynamics and limb stress
1:05tolerances on prototype recurves.
1:08Weekends I keep to myself. I have a
1:10small house, a vegetable garden, and a
1:12cat named Hendrix who judges me for
1:14nothing.
1:15I did not plan to spend that particular
1:17Saturday running into Dylan Hurst.
1:20Dylan was 34, broad-shouldered, and ran
1:23a moderately successful commercial
1:25landscaping company out of Wilmington
1:27that he described at dinner parties as a
1:29real estate adjacent enterprise because
1:32he hated the word lawn. He had a talent
1:34for positioning himself at the center of
1:36whatever room he was in, and he'd spent
1:38the 3 years we were together quietly
1:40repositioning me to the edges of it. I
1:43told myself it was ambition.
1:45Turned out it was just insecurity
1:47wearing a very convincing blazer.
1:49The charity shoot at Ridgecrest was
1:51organized by the county veterans
1:53outreach coalition. My colleague Bren
1:55had signed us both up 6 weeks prior. I
1:58drove out that morning not expecting
2:00much beyond an easy outdoor morning.
2:02Maybe some networking with sporting
2:04goods buyers and a paper bag of pulled
2:06pork at the lunch pavilion afterward. I
2:09showed up in my usual weekend clothes,
2:11dark jeans, a worn trail running jacket,
2:14and the battered green range bag I've
2:15had since I was 22.
2:17Dylan was already there when I arrived,
2:19standing at the far end of the covered
2:21pavilion in a brand new performance vest
2:25that still had the crease lines from the
2:26packaging. He had three men with him,
2:29all in pressed casual wear, all holding
2:31coffees, all nodding at whatever Dylan
2:33was saying with the polite synchronized
2:35energy of people who want something from
2:37him. I recognized the posture. I used to
2:40stand in that cluster, nodding along.
2:43He spotted me at the sign-in table.
2:45I watched his expression do that thing
2:47it used to do. A split second of
2:49something genuine, immediately covered
2:51over by the performed version of
2:53himself.
2:54He crossed the grass toward me before I
2:56could finish signing the liability
2:58waiver.
2:59"Anwin," he said with a warmth that was
3:01entirely for the audience behind him. "I
3:04didn't know you were into archery.
3:05That's cute."
3:07He glanced at my range bag, then at the
3:09sign-in sheet, then back at me. "You
3:11know this isn't a recreational day,
3:13right? This is the competitive bracket,
3:15the advanced civilian lane, seven-stage
3:17course of fire, mixed distances, timed
3:19rounds. You might want to ask one of the
3:21staffers to move you to the beginner
3:23walk-up course over by the picnic area.
3:26Probably safer."
3:28He said it with a smile that had exactly
3:30enough gentleness in it to be publicly
3:32undeniable.
3:33I picked up my pen. "Thanks for the
3:35heads-up, Dylan."
3:37I finished signing and walked to the
3:39equipment check station.
3:41Here is the thing that Dylan never
3:42learned about me,
3:44partly because he never actually
3:45listened when I talked about my work,
3:48and partly because I eventually stopped
3:50trying to explain it to him. From the
3:52age of 16 until I was 26, I trained as a
3:56competitive field archer under a
3:57regional coaching program in Virginia. I
4:00earned my first national ranking at 19.
4:02By the time I left active competition to
4:05pursue graduate work in biomechanics, I
4:07had placed top three at three
4:09consecutive national field championships
4:11and held a still standing facility
4:13record at the Quantico indoor range. The
4:16sporting goods consultancy hired me
4:18specifically because of that background.
4:20When they needed someone who could tell
4:22you exactly why a draw stops clean or
4:24goes sideways in the final inch of
4:26travel, they called me.
4:28In our relationship, I mentioned this
4:30history exactly twice. The first time,
4:33Dylan changed the subject to a project
4:35he was bidding on in Brunswick County.
4:37The second time he laughed and said,
4:40"You're telling me you used to be one of
4:41those serious bow people? That's kind of
4:44adorable." I stopped bringing it up
4:46after that.
4:47Now I unzipped my range bag at the
4:49equipment station and lifted out my
4:51recurve. A clean, minimal, no-frills
4:5348-lb competition draw that I had been
4:55shooting since I was 22. No sights, no
4:58stabilizers, no accessories beyond a
5:00basic arrow rest and a finger tab. The
5:03equipment volunteer, a young man with a
5:05lanyard and a volunteer badge that read
5:07Colt, looked at it for a moment.
5:10"Barebow class?" he asked.
5:12"Barebow class," I confirmed.
5:14Across the pavilion, I could see Dylan
5:17describing something to his investors
5:18with expansive hand gestures. He had a
5:21fistful of loaner arrows and hadn't yet
5:23figured out how the knocking point on
5:25his borrowed sight bow worked.
5:28The morning progressed through four
5:29stages without incident. I shot clean,
5:32moved quickly between stations, and
5:34didn't draw any particular attention to
5:36myself. At the fifth station, a kneeling
5:39shot across a 55-yd clearing to a
5:41full-size 3D elk target, I heard Dylan's
5:44voice cut across the line from three
5:45shooters over.
5:47"Can I see your scorecard?" he was
5:49saying to the volunteer scorekeeper in
5:51that firm. Just checking on things tone
5:54he used when he wanted to appear
5:55authoritative without being openly rude.
5:58"I want to make sure the scoring
5:59brackets are separated out. The barebow
6:02group really shouldn't be scored against
6:03the sight equipped class.
6:05It's not a fair comparison."
6:08The scorekeeper, a patient older woman
6:10with reading glasses on a beaded chain,
6:12told him patiently that the field
6:14scoring categories were entirely
6:16separate and always had been.
6:18"Right, right." Dylan said. He looked up
6:21and saw me kneeling into position.
6:22Something shifted in his expression. The
6:24calculation kind of shift, not the
6:26feeling kind. "Hey, Anwen." he called
6:28across the safety tape. "Shooting
6:30barebow must be rough on us at 60-yard
6:32shot. No rangefinder, no pins. How do
6:35you even judge the distance?"
6:37He said it lightly. His investors
6:39watched, a few other shooters glanced
6:41over.
6:42I looked at the 3D elk. I found the spot
6:45on its near shoulder where the 10 ring
6:46sits tucked just behind the front leg. I
6:49picked a point of reference in the grass
6:51at 40 ft, used it to stack my gap,
6:53settled my breathing, and released.
6:56The arrow drove into the 11 ring, the
6:58tight gold center, a quarter inch left
7:00of the spine.
7:02Dylan didn't say anything after that,
7:04not immediately.
7:05We broke for lunch at a long wooden
7:07table under a canvas fly. The investors,
7:10I later learned one of them was a
7:12regional finance manager named Oliver
7:14Cross, the other two were builders from
7:16the Triad area, had positioned
7:18themselves around Dylan with the studied
7:20casualness of men evaluating a deal.
7:22Dylan was halfway through a story about
7:24a successful commercial rezoning project
7:26when Oliver Cross looked across the
7:28table at me with genuine curiosity.
7:32"You've been putting up clean cards all
7:33morning." Cross said. "You shoot
7:36competitively?"
7:37"I used to." I told him. "Mostly field
7:39and 3D. I work in equipment research
7:41now."
7:42Dylan set down his fork. She means she
7:45tests crossbow tensioners at a mid-size
7:47manufacturer, he said, with a light
7:49corrective smile directed mostly at
7:51Cross. It's a boutique company, nice
7:53little niche.
7:54I let it sit for a second.
7:57We designed the draw mechanics for three
7:59of the top five field recurves in last
8:01year's national championship lineup, I
8:03said, without any particular emphasis.
8:06One of our engineers holds the current
8:0870-m world record for compound barebow.
8:11Oliver Cross raised his eyebrows.
8:14Dylan laughed quickly. "Anwyn's modest
8:16about the scale."
8:17"She doesn't sound modest," Cross said,
8:20looking back at his lunch.
8:22After the break, we moved to the seventh
8:24and final stage, the showcase station,
8:26which the event organizers had set up as
8:29an optional challenge round. It was the
8:31one that drew a small crowd of
8:32spectators, a 90-yd unmarked distance
8:35shot to a narrow vertical target, a
8:38painted wooden silhouette of a running
8:40deer cut to 10 in wide, partially
8:42obscured behind a brush wall at an angle
8:45that required threading the arrow
8:46through a 6-in window in the natural
8:48cover. No rangefinder permitted, no
8:50coaching from the line. One arrow per
8:52archer.
8:54Most shooters passed on it. The
8:55volunteer coordinator announced
8:57cheerfully that it was purely for fun,
8:59no score implications, just for bragging
9:02rights and a small donation to the
9:04Veterans Coalition from any archer who
9:06hit clean.
9:07Dylan had been quiet for most of the
9:09walk between stations. I could see him
9:11working on something internally.
9:14He stepped up to me while I was chalking
9:15my fingers at the tab station.
9:18"You know what?" he said, with the
9:20practiced easy tone he used for things
9:22he had decided in advance. "Why don't we
9:24make it interesting? You hit that
9:26silhouette clean, I'll write a personal
9:28check for $5,000 to the Coalition right
9:31here."
9:32He pulled his checkbook from his vest
9:34pocket, already holding his pen, already
9:36making it a performance for Cross and
9:38the other two behind him. But if you
9:40miss, you acknowledge to everyone here
9:43that you've been running up the score on
9:44borrowed luck today. That barebow class
9:47doesn't belongs in the same bracket as
9:49the rest of the field.
9:51The coordinator looked uncomfortable. A
9:53few observers shuffled.
9:55I looked at the target through the
9:57brush. 90 yd, partial concealment. The
10:00arrow had to enter at a 12° angle to
10:02clear the blind. The wind was coming
10:04light and consistent from the northwest,
10:07maybe 6 mph, which in barebow field
10:10shooting you account for entirely by
10:12feel and hold.
10:13I looked back at Dylan.
10:15"Make it $7,500," I said, "and you
10:18donate it regardless of outcome."
10:20Dylan blinked. Cross made a small sound
10:23that might have been a laugh.
10:24"That's not how a bet works," Dylan
10:26said.
10:27"Then it's not a bet," I said. "It's a
10:29challenge. If I miss, you still donate
10:32because the coalition exists whether I
10:34embarrass myself or not. If I hit, you
10:36donate because you made a public offer
10:38at a charity event and a man like you
10:40follows through on public offers."
10:42Oliver Cross looked at Dylan with a
10:44specific expression of a man who is
10:46watching an investment thesis fall
10:48apart.
10:49Dylan's jaw set. "7,500."
10:52I stepped up to the shooting line. The
10:54range went quiet the way it does when
10:56something real is about to happen.
10:59I found the window in the brush. I
11:01picked the center line of the wooden
11:02silhouette, a narrow painted rib line at
11:0590 yd. I estimated the drop. The wind
11:08held steady. I picked my gap reference
11:10off the grass at 30 yd, stacked it, held
11:12a hair into the breeze. I exhaled
11:15halfway and released at the bottom of
11:16the breath.
11:18The arrow traveled 92 yd in just over
11:20half a second.
11:22It passed through the brush window
11:23without touching a leaf, drove through
11:25the painted center of the silhouette's
11:2710 ring.
11:28And the wooden panel shattered with the
11:30impact.
11:31The chief range officer, a retired
11:34master sergeant named Kowalski, who had
11:36the flat eyes of a man who had seen
11:37everything and was impressed by almost
11:39nothing, lowered his binoculars very
11:42slowly. He said nothing for three full
11:44seconds. Then he turned around and
11:46looked at Dylan.
11:47"Son," Kowalski said, "that's a clean
11:50center hit, and that archer just cleared
11:52a partial obstruction shot at unmarked
11:5490 yards with no assists on a single
11:57arrow barebow. You want to tell me about
11:59borrowed luck again?"
12:00Dylan's mouth was a straight line. His
12:03investors were not looking at him.
12:05Oliver Cross stepped around Dylan and
12:07extended a hand to me.
12:09"Ms. Price, I have to ask, have you ever
12:11done any clinics or professional
12:13instruction? We're putting together a
12:15youth development initiative through our
12:17regional outdoors grant. Two dozen young
12:20women between 12 and 17. We've been
12:22looking for someone to run the technical
12:24side of a six-week marksmanship camp."
12:27I shook his hand. "Send me the program
12:30outline. I'm glad to look at it."
12:32Cross pulled out a card. Dylan took one
12:34small stiff step toward us.
12:36"The 7,500," he said quietly, "checkbook
12:39open." His hand was not entirely steady.
12:42Kowalski stepped between us and took the
12:44check directly. He looked at it, folded
12:46it once, and tucked it into his vest
12:48pocket. "This goes to camp equipment for
12:50the youth program," he said. "I'll make
12:53sure Oliver has the tax receipt by end
12:55of month." He looked at Dylan with a
12:57complete absence of warmth. "You're
12:59welcome to watch the closing ceremony
13:01from the spectator's area.
13:03Equipment return is at the far pavilion,
13:05and I'd appreciate you clearing the
13:07active range line."
13:09It wasn't a request.
13:11Dylan looked at me one last time. I
13:13don't know what he expected to see.
13:15Anger, maybe, or satisfaction, or some
13:17version of the woman who used to quietly
13:19absorb his recasting of her into
13:21something smaller and more convenient.
13:23He didn't find any of it. I was just
13:25standing in the grass with my range bag
13:27on my shoulder talking to Oliver Cross
13:30about program logistics completely
13:32finished. He walked away across the
13:34field toward the parking lot. I watched
13:37him go for exactly 1 second before
13:39turning back to the conversation. I
13:41broke down my recurve at the equipment
13:43station afterward with the same
13:45methodical attention I bring to
13:46everything. Unstring, limb check, wipe
13:49the riser, pack it even and clean.
13:52Kowalski came over while I was rolling
13:53my spare tabs into the side pocket. "You
13:56still training?" he asked. "Here and
13:59there." I said. "Mostly I teach form
14:01clinics out of a club in Cary on
14:03alternate Sundays."
14:04He nodded deliberate and approving.
14:07"Good." he said. "Skills like that
14:09belong somewhere they can do something."
14:11The drive home was quiet and easy. I had
14:14the windows down. The road through the
14:16Piedmont was all open fields and late
14:18afternoon light and the smell of turned
14:20soil from the farms off the highway.
14:23I have thought about that afternoon
14:24exactly once since it happened and only
14:27because Oliver Cross followed up 3 days
14:29later with a program outline for the
14:31youth camp. We ran the first session in
14:33August. 12 girls ages 12 to 16. A
14:37Tuesday evening clinic on breathing,
14:39anchor, and release. By the end of the
14:41first hour, two of them were putting
14:43arrows consistently inside the eight
14:45ring at 30 m.
14:47That is what I thought about on the
14:48drive home. Not Dylan's face. Not the
14:51check. Not the exact angle of Kowalski's
14:54expression. When he said son like it
14:56meant something permanent. Just the
14:58girls learning to be still and the clean
15:00sound of an arrow finding exactly where
15:03it was supposed to go.

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