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San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Holiday Noir

December 16, 2014 by Bob Dorn

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Christmas-2011-Sale-Slider1By Bob Dorn

I woke up early Bloody Wednesday. I could hear the alarm on my Sig Sauer Smartshot pleading for attention. It’s automatic loader had failed and the diagnostics were blinking error 1037, error 1037, error 1037…

Of all days, Bloody Wednesday, Christmas Eve, my companion gun’s auto-feed goes manual. I’m going to lose precious seconds loading and reloading manually at the mall.

I’ll have no advantage over the last-minute shoppers who’d put off shopping until the last minute for no good reason. Me, I wait, not just because you get the best for less on Bloody Thursday, but because I like blowing up anyone in the crowds stupid enough to get all chippy with me when I quick-step in front of them at the Subway (Two For One! Have One Now and One Christmas Morning!) or in Target’s appliance department (APPs special; Everything from Slim Jim Roaster to Skin Safe Warpaint Half Off!!!).

I get to my Ram Charger Recon (5.26 L., expedition suspension and armored glass) and see that somebody has scraped off my “Try and Take It” decal from the rear window – the one that I picked up at the Phoenix Raceway Gun Show that’s illustrated with the outline of an AK47? – and replaced it with a Vegan sticker. I figure it was the nerdy hipster living on the floor above me. I make a mental note and pitch my FlashGrab ammo pouch onto the seat.

On the way to the I-17 my Smartshot beeps and my AMMO app tells me Herb’s Ballistics has a sale on 9 mm Steel Penetrators (With Proof of Citizenship). Damn, I’ve left my passport home. Sort of ashamed I even have one, as if I’d get a kick out of going to some place where they don’t speak English and I don’t understand the language or the laws. I’ve only got two clips for my companion gun and I might need more.

But it’s okay, my pal, Sandra, orders the munitions for Valley Forge Private Security’s force (it’s named after some casino in Pennsylvania?) and she’ll fill my ammo bag with those sweet lead candies I can give the amateur shoppers when they step on my foot.

I tell Sandra I can’t take her with me; this is no job for a woman.

Once I get on the freeway I switch on AM 1310 because I know they’re having a special show in honor of the holidays. You can call in and get discount codes (At Selected Stores. Call Before 9 AM). I dial them up and a woman tells me I’m the third in line! and squeals, like those girls in the Bud commercial?
It’s hosted by some new guy who’s just been released from state prison after his 10-year sentence for a series of daylight arsons at private schools was commuted because he could prove that he thought they were public schools.

“How ya doin’,” he says, “Who’m I talkin’ to?” I don’t give out my name in public but I have an Arizona password and pin that the station recognizes ‘cause they know what’s up, and he asks me to name three conservative radio hosts on the WarRoom’s list of the most important 25.

I figure anyone can name Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh — even puke-stained liberal college kids and Marxist ABC, CBS and NBC news anchors – so I name G. Gordon Libby, who actually was part of the communist movement in government once long ago (but now the WarRoom says he “has brought unique insights about government and the world to more than 1 million talk radio listeners”). Then I think of Mike Gallagher (who says, “Liberal lunatics have surrounded us with their agenda-driven ideology”).

But after that I can’t remember anyone who isn’t famous, so I give up and name Hannity. I don’t much like him because he looks wrong, but the WarRoom says he “appeals to conservative listeners seeking certitude and a gladiator champion for their political beliefs.” To tell you the truth I don’t know what certitude means but it sounds good.

At any rate, I’m surprised that I-17 is so abandoned. I thought it would be chockfull of cars of people headed to the big malls in west Phoenix. When I get to the Arpaio exit to the Desert Battleship Mall I can see the parking lot is almost empty. A few ambulances and firetrucks and squad cars are around a couple outlet malls, mopping up and I realize this place was open 24 hours. I missed the fun.

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Bob Dorn

Bob Dorn

Bob Dorn was an Evening Tribune staff writer and left the paper, becoming the local stringer for The New York Times and San Jose Mercury News and writing for The Reader and San Diego Magazine. He taught writing for some 12 years in UCSD's Literature Department writing program. Bob garnered a Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego chapter, 2016 Journalism Award.
Bob Dorn

Latest posts by Bob Dorn (see all)

  • The Old Man and the City - December 5, 2018
  • The Ups and The Downs | My Reporter’s Life, Part Three - October 17, 2018
  • Some Big Developments | My Reporter’s Life, Part Two - October 16, 2018

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Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Gun Control, Satire

About Bob Dorn

Bob Dorn was an Evening Tribune staff writer and left the paper, becoming the local stringer for The New York Times and San Jose Mercury News and writing for The Reader and San Diego Magazine. He taught writing for some 12 years in UCSD's Literature Department writing program. Bob garnered a Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego chapter, 2016 Journalism Award.

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Comments

  1. John Lawrence says

    December 16, 2014 at 6:35 pm

    Say, Bob, do you drive an Armada? Great name for a car, but I’ve got a better one. How about the next new model being called a Fusillade, as in a series of shots fired in quick succession. An appropriate name I think for someone a a mission such as yours. Great writing by the way.

    • bob dorn says

      December 17, 2014 at 9:28 am

      I figure we’re not far off from gun ports on front bumpers, and lasers that can blind enemy drivers. There’ll be NRA SUV models (like the old Explorers that bore Eddie Bauer’s imprint) and they’ll have streaming LED message boards telling us how to vote, and what else to do with ourselves.

      • John Lawrence says

        December 17, 2014 at 4:59 pm

        Well, let’s see some other names for car models: the Dogfight, the Grenade, the AK-47, the Exploder (replacing the Explorer). Then there’s the Russian model: the Kalashnikov. Great names for cars!

  2. Sifaka says

    December 18, 2014 at 11:04 am

    Here is a list of some technical errors in this short story.

    -The autoloading failure code for all Sigs is the NSSF compliant ADK (Armorers Diagnostic Key) the prefix is C, and the error code is 0017, or 0019 for select fire.

    -Short Recoil autoloaders are very simple machines , thus the likelihood of a pistol being able to fire, yet not eject the fired round and cycle the next round when the pistol was operating on Tuesday normally. Most likely just needs to be cleaned.

    -The decal Sticker was an outline of a Polytec/Norinco type 56-1, not an AK-47.

    -Contrary to popular belief, no Bud girls have ever screamed. To meet diversity hire quotas all the women featured in Inbev LLC commercials are mute. All commercials are also available in ASL.

    -In accordance with “Obama care” mandates, Blood is never mopped up. Rather it is collected via sterile pipette , and is sold as a cheap alternative to holy water.

    –

  3. bob dorn says

    December 18, 2014 at 1:06 pm

    I’ll have my staff check out your suggestions as soon as I get back from the mall.

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