Friday, July 08, 2005

Doe, a deer, a female deer

I was standing on the back porch in the fresh morning air, shuffling my feet into my garden clogs, when I saw it: a lanky doe, standing calmly just beyond my vegetable garden, looking at me.

"Dangit," I muttered. I bolted out the screen door, letting it slam behind me.

"GET GOING!" I yelled, flailing my arms and running at the deer. It stared impassively. I charged toward it. "SHOO! SHOO! GO ON!"

The deer loped calmly to the edge of the woods and stood there, watching the spectacle of the crazy human.

I ran after it. "SHOO! SHOO!" I galloped and flailed. It loped a little farther in.

"GET OUTTA HERE!"

Finally the deer skipped far enough into the woods that I didn't see any more point in following. I trudged back toward the house, the cool dew inside my clogs squeaking and honking with each step.

I kicked off the clogs on the back porch and walked into the kitchen, leaving wet footprints. There I saw the s.o., dumping freshly ground coffee into the coffee maker.

"You were watching that whole scene, weren't you?"

"Yep," he said, smiling.