by Richard
Here’s a hot flash. A tip from the frontline. Men, it seems, are easily amused. Well, I say it’s men, but for all I know, it could be women as well. Or even just child-like (notice I didn’t say childish) dudes. I know this (for sure, this latest time) because of what happened to me on an early evening drive toward home a couple of nights ago.
I was coming back from a meeting at Zippy the Monkey Boy’s school and had to drive along a dark, winding road that was full of McMansions right up close to the road and smaller houses with practically enormous, wooded lots. It’s a tricky road, so the speed limit’s sort of low.
Anyway, as I was driving along that night I thought I saw something off the road to my right. Instinctively (hey, look it’s a shiny thing. Oooooohhh!), I slowed down and started trying to see what it was. (Maybe I’m easily bored as well?) And I was amply rewarded for my efforts.
There, about a foot away from the side of the road, standing in a shallow swail, was a small fawn. Since I was going so slowly, I touched the brakes and quickly stopped so I could keep looking at the fawn. Now, understand. I know Charlotte, NC, isn’t exactly New York City, but it’s not the uncharted wilds of the Yukon either. I’ve seen deer fleetingly before, darting from one empty lot to another.
But this. . . This was different. The fawn just stayed there. I couldn’t take my eyes off it, dudes. It’s furry, white tail was twitching contentedly as it kept munching on the grass by the road. I’d never been this close to an exceedingly skittish wild animal before.
After a few minutes, another car pulled up behind me. They must have seen the deer because they didn’t honk or anything. They just sat there behind me. Ditto the second car. It was the third car that ruined it for all of us. I’m going to assume the driver didn’t actually see the deer and intentionally frighten it away. But it did. The driver gunned the car’s motor and roared around the three cars stopped in the road. The deer, of course, vanished into the dark woods.
Now, my little dudes love to see animals of all kinds, especially those which live on their own in the wild. So I rushed home and slammed open the door, already spilling my tale of the road-side deer. The little dudes couldn’t have cared less. Apparently, the thrill must be visceral, rather than vicarious. I, though, couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Something as small, as ordinary, as a deer cropping grass along the side of the road had the power to enchant me. Was it seeing the wild nature of the fawn slow long enough to share itself with me? Was it the fact I was surprised to see anything wild in my (sort-of) urban environment? Am I easily distractable? (Oooohh, look. Shiny!) I don’t really know.
All I do know is I was a lucky man, or luckier than normal, for a minute or two.
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