On his 15th birthday, Ernie receives a .22-caliber rifle as a gift. His father tells him to practice on birds and kill a rabbit for supper. When Ernie’s mother tries to intervene, arguing that killing birds is a cruel act, Ernie’s father tells his wife to shut up. Ernie visits his friend Raymond and invites him to hunt with him. Together, the boys kill 14 birds and tie them on a string.

When the boys come across a classmate named Peter, a small boy who is looking at birds through his binoculars, they decide to harass him. Ernie and Raymond tell Peter to freeze while aiming the rifle at him. They tie his wrists and legs together and punch him in the stomach. Then the boys drag Peter to the railroad where they tie him to the tracks. They tell Peter that if he lies flat then he will not die. The boys sit on an embankment nearby and wait for a train. Peter wiggles down in the gravel to give himself as much clearance as possible. He looks at the clouds and tries to make pictures out of them, hoping to distract himself from the now rumbling rails.

The train speeds over him, and Raymond and Ernie collect Peter from the track, claiming that he is still their prisoner.