My Animal Magnetism
In the summer I enjoy walking through the woods; just being out in nature is a sort of high for me. I also happen to be an animal magnet, meaning that I seem to lure creatures of all sorts. I don’t know if they’re just curious about me or what, but just about anything will walk along behind or beside me when I’m out in nature and since I love animals, I don’t mind. Occasionally, I may take some nuts or a packet of sunflower seeds along for a snack, perhaps animals detect it, but whether or not I have something for munching I continue to attract critters of all sorts.
It was on a Saturday afternoon in late July that I learned of my ability to communicate with other species. I remember that I sat down beneath a willow tree for a short rest and to pocket a handful of old arrowheads I’d discovered. The radiant sunlight streaming through the trees cast a slightly eerie glow in this particular area and I recall thinking how inspiring these woods had always been for me. I took out a pencil and small sketchbook to record my impressions. I guess I’d been sketching for about six minutes when out of nowhere, appeared a large doe. She was just standing there, watching me. I felt no fear or apprehension. I thought to myself, Hello, you are a real beauty. Then I lowered my head, went on sketching and when I looked up again, she was still there.
I had the thought; will you let me sketch you? I roughly penciled her head and neck between the trees, thinking I could fill in the rest later, she never moved the whole time. When I was ready to continue my walk I stood, put away pen and sketchbook in my fanny-pack and walked on.
The cabin I had rented was about half a mile away and I turned and headed back towards it. I kept having the sensation that I was being followed. It was like the feeling you get when someone is watching you intensely and I stopped to read some initials that were carved on an old oak, "AJ loves PN". In my mind, I imagined teenagers walking through the woods hand-in-hand and smiled to myself.
In my peripheral vision, I noticed the doe standing nearby. Was she following me? Just then, I got the sense that someone had said, “I like you.” Okay, I thought, I am really tired; perhaps I’m having one of those “waking dreams”?
I walked on and when the cabin was in sight, I headed on up to the porch and went inside. I removed my fanny-pack, shoes and socks and glanced back out of the window. Thee stood the doe in the shadow of a couple of large evergreen trees and she was staring directly at the cabin!
I went into the kitchen to fix some lunch, I made myself a sandwich and spooned some potato salad onto my plate. The cabin had a microwave, so I brewed myself some tea and took it out on the porch to enjoy. She was still standing there, watching my every move.
I had about three bites of the sandwich when a thought came instantly into my head, but it wasn’t mine. I don’t know how to explain it any other way; it simply wasn’t my thought... ”Hungry.” I looked up and the doe had moved a few steps away from the trees and closer to the cabin.
I shoved a forkful of potato salad into my mouth and looked up at her, “You have food.” another thought that wasn’t mine. Was the doe communicating with me, I wondered? “I am hungry.” Again, it wasn’t my thought.
I wondered, if I leave a couple of bites of sandwich on the step of the cabin, would she come and eat it? Almost as soon as I had the thought, another came into my head, “Yes, I want some.” I took another bite broke the rest up into small pieces and left it on the lowest step of the cabin, I slowly went back inside and sat down near the window and waited as I devoured the rest of my potato salad.
Shortly thereafter a movement caught my eye. I leaned forward just enough to see that she was eating the sandwich. She finished and bounded back into the security of the trees.
The next morning, I again walked into the woods but this time I had a backpack filled with apples that I had brought with me. About an hour into my walk, I felt that I was being watched. I glanced back and there she was following me, she stopped as I turned my head. I know it was the same doe because she had one little white spot on her right upper shoulder. I slowly pulled an apple out of my backpack, took a bite and laid the rest on the ground and thought, this is for you. I then walked on.
I’d gone several yards, dropping slices of apple along the way and aware that I was being followed, I stopped and sat down near a tree. It must’ve been about seven or eight minutes when she appeared again, staring at me.
I popped another slice of apple into my mouth and looked around as if I were ignoring her.
“Some?”
There was the thought that wasn’t mine. I glanced slowly over at her, took the rest of the apple and rolled it on the ground towards her. Help yourself, I thought, directing it towards her.
I leaned my head back against the tree with my eyes partially closed and watched her. In minutes, she very slowly approached the apple, which now lay about a yard from me. I sat as still as a concrete statue while she ate it.
I tried my best not to move or blink. She craned her neck towards me and her nostrils moved, as if she were sniffing for more, then she took a step towards me. Once again in my head I heard, “More?”
The backpack sat next to me and I calmly lifted the flap to expose the rest of the apples, there were three, then I closed my eyes again and thought, These are yours. I remained silent and still as she walked over to me, stuck her muzzle into the open backpack and ate all three apples. Afterwards, she backed away a few steps, turned and bounded into the woods.
Minutes later I headed back towards the cabin, noticing all of the way that there were no apples where I had left them.
That evening, I drove into town for some supplies and picked up another three bags of apples and some cobs of corn along with some potatoes, fresh trout and some charcoal. The cabin had a grill pit out back and I fired it up, filleted my trout and prepared the corn and potatoes for smoking. I fixed plenty, enough for three people; I thought I’d leave a pan of vegetables outside near the cabin porch, just in case the doe was nearby.
There it was again, that thought that wasn’t my own, “I like you, can I have some?” She watched from about three yards away, as I cut corn off of a couple of cobs and diced up a potato on a paper plate. I slowly walked a few feet towards her and put the plate on the ground. She took a few steps towards the plate. I backed slowly towards the cabin as she came to the plate and ate her fill.
I sat down on the back porch of the cabin to finish my own supper and watched her. A “Thank you.” entered my head minutes later.
I finished eating and leaned back in the chair and looked right at her. Suddenly, my head was filled with her thoughts. “You are friend of Inguae, good taste. Stay here?”
I wondered to myself, did she just tell me her name?
“Inguae, I Inguae friend.”
My god, she had!
“You not kill us? You like us.”
Yes, I do, I told her. Then I realized, oh my god, I’m talking to a deer!
And I watched her turn and walk back into the woods. When she got to the tree line, she turned and looked back at me. “Inguae grateful.” She communicated then disappeared.
The whole experience was exhilarating for me and I went to bed that night with my heart floating in the air. I dreamed, oh boy how I dreamed the most wonderful dream ever and Inguae was there!
We walked through the woods together, she showed me her favorite vegetation and where she slept. She told me about her life, how her father had been killed by hunters when she was just a little fawn. She and her mother had watched from a distance among the trees, as they hefted him into their truck and drove away. She told me how her mother had warned her to stay away from humans because they were dangerous. How she realized that I was different than most; she’d smelled my “calm”, when she approached.
I awoke the next morning, energized and anxious to go out into the woods again. I packed apples, a char-grilled but cold potato and a sandwich in my backpack, along with my knife and a large bottle of water, my sketch pad and pencils. When I walked out of the cabin door she was waiting for me.
“I thought you weren’t coming.” She communicated. “We walk?”
Oh yes, I replied, it’s a little warmer today but yes, we will walk.”
Into the woods, we went and in seconds, she was walking right beside me. She never slowed or sped her pace; instead she kept up with me. I tried to stay near the shady areas as I walked. When I stopped, she stopped too and I reached into my backpack and took out an apple and held it out to her. It was a spiritual moment unlike any other as she leaned forward and gently lifted it from my palm and ate.
“Good.” She expressed.
We walked a bit further and I caught sight of a stream with some rocks, I sat down on one and took out a bottle of water, a pencil and sketchbook. Inguae walked to the edge of the stream and drank her fill.
I rolled another apple towards her and she lay down and crunched it between her teeth then watched me sketch. I sketched her by the creek that afternoon and learned a great deal.
She told me that just across that creek was where she’d been born. That in the language of deer, her name meant, “my little fawn”, that the name for humans in her language was, “Oogawea”, meaning two-hooves.
I rolled another apple towards her and finished the sketch as she chewed and transmitted her thoughts. When I’d finished sketching, I held it up for her to see. “Me?” she asked.
Yes, the way my eyes see you; you are very beautiful to me. I was amazed at how easy communication had become over the two weeks that I stayed in the cabin. But I would soon have to leave and dreaded having to tell her. When I finally did, she turned her head to glance out over the creek and stayed in that position for the longest time, then stood and came towards me. She nudged my foot with her muzzle and communicated, “Come again?”
“Inguae like.” She told me as we made our way back out of the woods towards the cabin. She grazed on the grass and a few mushrooms that grew nearby and hung around the cabin the rest of the evening. When the morning came for me to leave, she was right there, waiting as I packed the car and drove away.
Copyright, 2020, M.L. Kiser
Comments