Dear, Deer

Dear, Deer... How We Met

There once was a small forest in the lowest of valleys. In that forest was a blue house. In that house lived three children and a father who came and went as he needed.

Work was a hard thing for a single father of three children, but he worked hard to keep his offspring safe. The kids, like their Dad, were fascinated with animals and the woods. Every day that the father was home his children would ask him a question.

"Dad, can we get a dog?" His five-year-old daughter Ali asked. Her blonde curls bounce with her as she walked with her parent.

"No, I'm sorry, Love." He replied as he picked up his briefcase, walking towards the front door he saw his keys.

"Daddy, may we please have a bird?" John his middle child, of eight asked. He carried his favorite book in his left arm.

"No, I'm sorry, Love." He replied as he picked up his keys from the old wood table.

"Father?" Miranda his oldest questioned who was twelve. She stopped by the navy blue car as their father unlocked it.

"Yes, my Dear?" He asked as he got into his car for work.

Miranda hesitated then said,
"Have a good day, Father. I hope you do well." She hugged him and gave him a kiss on his scruffy cheek.

"I will. I love you, have a good day, Lovelies." He closed his door and left the three to themselves at the rather large home.
  Sighing the three went about their day drawing and laughing. They soon wandered into the forest for a lunch picnic.

"John, did you pack sammies?" Ali asked as she picked up a near by stick.

"Yes, I remembered to pack the sandwiches" John put emphasis on "sandwiches" as if telling Ali that "sammies" isn't grammatically correct.

"Let's keep fighting to a minimum, please." Miranda said as she picked Ali up over a log in their path.

"I just don't understand why she can't say sandwiches right." John pouted as he jumped off the log.

"Stop complaining. You acted just like her when you were younger." Miranda said, slowly moving back a branch that hid their secret clearing. An old picnic table painted brown, laid as the centerpiece of the hideout. John just sighed and dropped the subject.

Trees and underbrush almost illuminated green and gold with the sun shining ribbons of light. A rustling was heard under the brown table.

"What's that, Miran?" Ali asked in a childish voice.

"I don't know," Miranda stepped forward. "Stay here." Slowly she peered under the table. A gasp escaped from her mouth and she waved her siblings over.

"The poor thing! It looks hurt. Can we keep it?" Ali asked as she clutched John's shirt in her fist.

"I don't know, if Father finds out, he would be most displeased." John said as he gripped the basket in his right hand.

      Under the table laid a small fawn. It's legs sprawled out, it's nose was bleeding and it had passed out due to exhaustion. It looked as though it had been attacked by something.

"Don't touch it yet, Ali. We need to find it's mother still," Miranda thought for a moment. "If it is bleeding it must have been attacked... thinking logically, the mother would have protected him, so she's probably dead around here somewhere."

Ali gasped, "No! I don't want that! She'll be fine!" She kicked her legs and hit John in the throat.

He cried out in pain and coughed until he could breathe properly. "Stop your fussing! You hurt me!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Ali said remorsefully.

"Don't yell you'll wake the poor thing." Miranda said, unfazed by their antics; she got up to look around for a body.

    After a while of looking she found the unfortunate body of the doe. Her spine was clean of all muscle, just the spine and a few legs remained.

"I found her." She yelled to John who was holding a sobbing Ali. "Poor thing didn't stand a chance against those blasted things." She stated referring to the coyotes that lived in the area. She walked back to Ali having her daily meltdown about accidentally hitting John.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry-"

"Ali, it's alright. I'm okay. It's alright. Shhh breathe." John comforted.

She slowly calmed down and hugged her brother that she was clutching. John kissed her head and looked at Miranda. She gave him a small kind smile as she went to pet the deer.

"I need to calm it down to let it know we're not going to hurt it." Miranda explained.  She stroked its back as it awoke startled. "Shhh shhh little one. We're not here to harm you... John, hand me an apple."
   John dug through the basket until he found a round yellow apple.
Miranda nodded to him in thanks and fed the small creature. The deer ate gratefully. The oldest of the three pet the animal as it leaned into her touch. Ali melted at the sight and slowly pet the deer as well. Soon all three were petting the tired animal.

"I'm going to pick him up." John said as he shifted his weight to his feet. He picked up the deer as it freaked out. "It's alright. You're okay." He calmed the animal down enough to get a good grip, making sure that it was comfortable for the little baby.

"We can put him in the garage while we patch him up." Ali suggested when she picked up that basket for then and gave it to Miranda.

"How do you know it's a boy?" Miranda asked. Ali nodded towards the deer's legs. "Ah." Was all that was said as they made their way back to the blue house waiting for them in the distance.