Summary

In Chapter 1, Turtle’s father, Martin, started teaching her how to shoot when she was just six. She took her first shots sitting at the kitchen table. One window of the room is covered with sheet metal, plywood, and rifle targets to make a rudimentary indoor shooting range. Turtle’s grandfather criticized Martin when he started teaching Turtle to shoot. He told Martin that he could not raise a girl the way Martin was raising Turtle.

In the present, Martin helps Turtle, now 14, with her vocabulary. She senses his impatience when she guesses the words wrong. She believes she is stupid. He finally says they have studied enough. He holds up a playing card for her to shoot. Turtle hits the first card but misses the second one.

That night, in Turtle’s room, Turtle listens to the rats running across the dirty...