They called me Annie Oakley.

I took the twelve-gauge and he said, are you going to show them how it's done, in that joking way that is meant to be demeaning. My fingers fed four rounds into the hot metal of the gun, my hand pumped the action and I stood ready. My blood pounding with hate and the will to fight. He gave the command and I worked four huge holes into the unfortunate paper silhouette 50 feet down-range. I locked the action open and passed the shotgun on to the next shooter and ignored whatever derogatory marks he was making, still had my "ears" on and the wind carried his words away with it, away from me.

Later we were examining the the red welts on our shoulders, the texture of the gun's butt impressed upon our flesh from the sheer force of its discharge. He caught one or two of them and told us that it was an excess level of estrogen that caused the skin to turn red. Shit-eating grin on face the entire time. Me being the only female in the crowd. Me shooting daggers and him never making eye-contact.

All the others were looking at me though, like they always do, wondering (I'd like to think) how I can take it, why he doesn't know it's wrong to say, (hopefully not) why don't I say something back.

My blood burned and my mouth tasted like bile. My brain was only capable of processing the need to fight, the need to win, the need to be better and better and better. The next qualification I was all this-is-no-fooling-around-I-mean-business and I nailed each and every shot, each and every move, and I was one of only two to pass it the first time around. The others congratulated me and even one of the other teachers told me it was nice shooting, but when I glared at him he was looking away.

When I was the only one to nail two shots from 75 feet he approached me. He said some crap about me being a chick gunfighter and from there it developed into bullshit about gender and how women are mostly incapable. The shark circled away again and my boss, who had been standing there the whole time, looked at me and said, he has never liked women, he's gotten better lately though. He's just a grumpy old man.

As if that could possibly make it acceptable. As if that could even come near to explaining any of it.

I am one of the best shots in the class. I pass the academic tests with flying colors. I can PT with the best of them. I take this shit seriously because this is my calling and I have a mega-fuck-ton of natural ability. But damn if that guy making some statement about how the female newborns in his family are smothered at birth because they have no need for women doesn't make me feel like I'm not cut out for it.