flares go up and somebody gets a beed [bead] on Timlin

[Yoanita]

Hi everyone,

this is a sentence from a text about WWI (Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun) and I am not sure if I got it right:

"Middle of the service, flares go up and somebody gets a beed on Timlin and shots him right smack in the bottom."

flares = luminous signal
somebody gets a beed on ... = somebody is aiming at ...

Do you agree with my interpretation?

Yo.

 

[pob14]

Yes, but it's "bead," not "beed," and "shoots," not "shots."

 

[Myridon]

Your "quote" is not remotely similar to the sentence I found searching the book on Amazon.com. Are you paraphrasing or do you really have something that says that?
Both are in the word reference dictionary (It's bead not beed).

 

[Packard]

Traditional iron sights (for aiming) on a handgun or rifle consists of a rear sight (usually a V-notch or peep hole) and a front sight which is usually a post with small "bead" at the top.

When you have the front post centered in the V-notch you have "the bead on the target". Your bullet should hit the target.

 

[Yoanita]

First of all, thank you for correcting me, pob14 and Myriad. The sentence might not be in the book because it is from the play. Actually I did find both expressions in dictionaries but I wanted to find out if they could mean something else. But you seem to understand them the same way. So, thanks for your replies!