Ah ok - it's reasonable to assume youngsters might have experience with a bolt action rifle and an Everyday Life event with Trouble could be stealing their Dads rifle in preparation for a Showdown.
Would the islands be considered the countryside?
What's your speculation on what the kids on the cover are holding?
At least some kids in the countryside would have some knowledge on how to use a rifle or shotgun.
The islands are countryside, but it is more likely that farmers' kids have access to hunting rifles and shotguns than the kids who live in the villages and towns.
Hmm... From left to right: looks like the metal detector mentioned in "Tales From the Loop", (bike), some sort of thingamajig not seen anywhere else (magnetrine disc defluxer?), snow pole (marking the sides of the road in winter to make it easier for the snow plow to see where the road is - in the pic, it looks like the PVC tube variety, and not the plastic film-covered bamboo version).
My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos, ruined dreams, this wasted land.