Elmer was indeed FAST (with handgun, rifle, and shotgun), but he never fired hastily or blindly. FAST isn't the same as HASTY.
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<br>He was a deputy in Salmon. One day, he entered the jailer's office just as some jail escapees burst into the office through the door from the cell block and pointed a gun at the jailer. Elmer had that four-inch forty-four out and pointed in a flash, "with five eighths of an ounce left on the double-action pull," but didn't fire. Instead, he said just "Drop it," and the jerk's gun all of a sudden got as if it were white-hot in his hand.
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<br>Elmer was proud of the fact that he'd never shot anybody --- but he made it equally clear that he stood ready to shoot anybody whom he knew he had to shoot, to save himself or someone else. He knew that the escaping inmate wasn't that close to the verge of shooting, and he knew that J O'C was just being a smart ass with that loaded shotgun.
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<br>I wasn't along on the Georgia bird shoot with Elmer, but a friend who was there told me that while they were walking to the area where they were going to shoot, a covey of birds flushed from virtually under their feet. My friend -- a superb shotgunner and bird-hunter in his own right -- said that while everyone else was too startled to do more than jump and gasp, Elmer dropped two birds.
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<br>I know of several other pranks that certain renowned and revered writer colleagues pulled on Elmer, to discredit and embarrass him, but I'm not going to relate them here. The other writers are dead and gone, and I have no desire to discredit them. (I know who did these things, and I no longer have much respect for them, either -- but crowds of their other readers do.) If someone else brings-up these other episodes, I'll confirm or correct that version, but I won't volunteer 'em as long as they're still off the board. They're better left untold (as long as they remain untold).
