A Deer Story

Late last night I was reading in bed (The Fault In Our Stars by John Green) with all the windows wide open, so the cooling night breeze could meander through the house.  ["Global warming?  What global warming?"]   I heard a car going down the hill, and then the ‘thump' of something being hit.  My dogs were next to me, but I did get up long enough to make sure Jeff was at his usual late-night place, in front of the TV in the family room.  I looked out the front windows, but couldn't see anything unusual.  I thought 'maybe someone ran over a plastic bag or something like that.' After I settled back in bed I heard a car circle around, come back up the hill and park in front of our house.  I overheard two young men talking about having hit a deer.  They were wondering, aloud, what to do.  They sounded so sweet and concerned.  They used a cellphone to call the police / emergency animal control number and then settled in to wait for someone to show up. 

Jeff went outside to find one of the men sitting on the street, cradling a fawn in his lap.  One of his hands was lightly over the deer's eyes.  Those fellows never mentioned any possible damage to their car, never complained about how long it took for the animal control people to arrive, and refused to leave even though Jeff offered to wait with the fawn.  All they thought about was the deer.  The fawn, who’d been laying flat on its side by the curb for about tweny minutes, appeared to have no broken bones, and did not have any seriously bloody wounds.  The two young men waited, talking softly to each other, to the fawn, and to Jeff.  Jeff said the fawn got up and walked a few staggering steps away at one point, but then came back and laid down right up against the guy who’d been holding it.  The fellow put his hand gently on the fawn, trying to reassure it.  Jeff said it was amazing to see the deer come back to him like that. 

A lady from animal control showed up over an hour later.  By then it was about 1:30am and the fawn slowly, weaving a bit, walked away from the street and curled up in some ivy near our back gate.  The officer told the boys it would be best if the fawn's mother came back to it, and suggested that it be left alone in the yard for the rest of the night.  She left her phone number, and said she’d take it to Fawn Rescue if it was still around in the morning. 

I saw the fawn sleeping in the ivy at 6:am, cute as a button.  When I went back outside to check at 7:am, it had disappeared.  We heard deer rustling through the leaves in the yard at about 6:30, and we like to think mama came to get her baby.   I looked carefully but couldn't find the fawn anywhere else.  The young men showed up at 11:am to check, and were happy to hear that it was apparently fine and back with its family. 

All that to say there are truly wonderful young people in the world today!   There are folks who would have shrugged and thought "Oh - stupid deer...hope it didn't scratch the paint on my car," and then driven on home.  But these two young men took full responsibility, and did absolutely the best they could in difficult circumstances.  Bravo.