Cubby

I just moved here to an area of the American Northwest about half an hour from where I grew up. There are woods around my neighborhood so I did some exploring: a nature hike, see where the narrow trails lead, and so on.

I’m walking through the creek on igneous and slate rocks, the water only a foot at its deepest, half looking for arrowheads or whatever else may turn up. It involves at times jumping from rock to rock so as not to get my feet wet. I am making noise.

I’m not more than 100 feet into the woods when I hear a rustling and turn to the left bank to see a deer trotting (not running) from me. A big six-point buck. I’ve grown up in subdivisions around woods and I have never, never seen a deer up close and personal. I’m thrilled and a little nervous. I look down and there is a small rusty iron pipe at my feet. I pick it up just in case and stand there, motionless, watching the deer, turned back, watching me.

I continue down the creek cautiously, the thin pipe at my side. When I get almost across from it the deer trots back up the trail, the way I just came from. I watch it graze for a few minutes and then continue down the creek. Another 50 feet and there is a fallen tree blocking my path. I could’ve climbed over it and continued but I took this as a sign and turned back.

The deer was still there, right near the edge of the trail where it leads down to the creek, right where I needed to go to get back home. I walk slowly toward it, stopping and watching. It’s oblivious to my approach, grazing as it is. When it senses me I’m about 20 feet away, standing on a rock in the creek. It stares at me full on and this is what happens.

It winks at me with its left eye three times, then wiggles its left ear. There were about, maybe one was buzzing in its eye, I don’t know. We stare. Then it winks its right eye two or three times. And here’s what’s weird to me. Imagine staring at a deer up close full on, meaning its face was squared to mine. It has big black pupil-less eyes and a narrow face that tapers down into a curved point. You know what it made me think of? The face of the Communion alien or little grey men, only with horns. I’m not saying I hallucinated a Terminator 2-esque morphing. I’m just saying the faces, at that time, looked the same.

What was left to do but talk to it? I didn’t know what to say but I raised my open left hand as if to wave and:

“Hello. (pause) Thank you for coming out to see me. (pause) I’m going to need to cross back over there to get home. (pause) I mean you no harm.”

And right when I finished those words, I mean you no harm, the deer bowed and raised its head in one motion, as if bending for a bite but changing its mind. It was a bow. Then it turned again, white tail lax, and walked off.