Wildlife Will Win

I live on the same block as the Wildlife family. We don't really get along. Most of the Wildlife cousins have accosted me in some manner or other, and they usually do so by coming onto my property.


This morning, they were out and about on my way to work. It made me very nervous. Not more than a quarter mile from my house a deer stepped out onto the edge of the road, challenging me. I hit the brakes and my new tires spun in the gravel and a cloud of dust billowed out behind me. I rolled down my windows and said, "Good morning, dear. Where are your friends?"

The deer sent me a hard glare and signaled to someone with her tail. I expected her homies to come out from behind all the vine maples and start butting my car with their velvet antlers. I swivelled my head around, looking up and down the street, staring into the woods. My palms sweated.

"Are you planning something? If I go, will one of your friends toss themselves on the road in front of me and claim I hit them?"

No answer.

I rolled forward, easing out the clutch, holding my breath as I moved past her. Her eyes narrowed and she ground her teeth. I pressed on the gas and made it around the corner and down to the end of the next road. There, her "look out", stood in the shadows of a fir tree, careful not to expose herself fully. I slowed and raked my eyes along the sides of the road and ambled past. They let me go.

When I got home from work, I fully expected my house to have been ransacked. And perhaps they tried, but they would have met up with Hobiecat and Schooner, who can be pretty ferocious feline predators. Maybe the deer gave up and left. Or maybe they were only casing the place for the future.