by Joy Redmond
“Do you have to?” Baby Deer asked.
“Yes. Sunday is church day and family day. No exceptions. MeMe always cooks Sunday dinner and her feelings would be hurt if I didn’t eat with her and Granddaddy.”
“Who are MeMe and Granddaddy?” Baby Deer asked.
“They’re my other grandparents—my daddy’s mama and daddy. My mama is Nana’s daughter. Oh, it’s hard to explain. People have a lot of kinfolk. Sometimes I can’t get all of them straight myself.”
“Does that mean I won’t see you until next Saturday?” Baby Deer asked, trying to hide his disappointment.
“I’m afraid so,” I said, wiping my own eyes. “I have to go to school all week and I won’t be with you when Nana takes you to Dr. Tegethoff for your check-up, but I’ll be here early Saturday morning—I promise.”
“Is it nature’s way?” Baby Deer asked.
“I don’t know if it’s nature’s way, but it’s my mama and daddy’s way, and their way is as strong as any way there is. I have to mind my parents for my own good—or so they say,” I answered.
“Here you go,” Nana said as she reentered the barn holding a large tray containing plates. She set plates with pancakes smothered with maple syrup and butter in front of Baby and Mama Deer. I picked up another plate and sat on the straw beside them. Nana had also brought three glasses of milk and I held the glass for Baby Deer, then for Mama Deer. “You drink out of a glass as good as people,” I said.
After we ate, I went into the house and dressed in my jeans, pullover sweater with a picture of Hanna Montana on it, and my cowgirl boots Pawpaw bought me for Christmas last year. He bought them a size too big so I would grow into them, and they finally fit.
I stayed in the barn with Baby Deer until Mama came for me. While we were waiting, I taught him to sing “You Are My Sunshine.” As we were singing, I saw a tear slide down Mama Deer’s nose.
A minute later, she nudged Baby Deer’s face and said, “You are my sunshine, my sweet baby.”
I wiped a tear. It was the sweetest thing I’d ever seen. After we finished singing, I started reading Charlotte’s Web aloud, and Mama and Baby Deer loved hearing a story about talking animals.
I read until I heard a horn. Then I closed the book and said, “My mama is tooting. I have to go. I’ll finish the book later.”
I kissed Baby Deer on the nose and hugged Mama Deer, asking her to tell Papa Deer bye for me when he got back.
I walked toward the door of the barn. I turned, waved and said, “Bye, Baby Deer. Bye, Mama Deer.”
“Bye, Julia,” Baby and Mama Deer said.
“See you next Saturday,” we said in unison.
FRENCH FRIES AND BRAIN FREEZE
I called Nana every day during the following week, but Friday was the big day when she’d tell me about Baby Deer’s first checkup. I called as soon as I got home from school. The phone rang ten times.
“Hello,” Nana said.
“Nana what took you so long to answer? Is Baby Deer still okay? Does he have a fever? How’s his infection?” I fired questions as fast as I could draw a breath.
“I couldn’t find the phone,” Nana said with a chuckle. “Baby Deer is fine, honey.”
I sighed with relief. I should have known Nana couldn’t find the phone even if it were under her nose and it probably was.
“Dr. Tegethoff said he’s doing great and he doesn’t have to take any more infection pills, but he’ll have to wear the cast for at least four months.”
“Four months!” I gasped. “How can he bear having to be down for so long? Didn’t you said lying around will cause pneumonia?”
“Honey, calm down,” said Nana. “Dr.Tegethoff told me what to do so he won’t develop pneumonia. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. Baby Deer is going to be fine.” She laughed, and then said, “Dr. Tegethoff was taken aback when I told him about my home remedies.”
I laughed. “I bet he thinks you’ve gone nuts,” I said.
“Well, doctors may think they know it all, but we old folks know a thing or two,” Nana said with a laugh. “After all we saved Baby Deer, didn’t we?”
“We sure did. Will you tell Baby Deer I’ll see him tomorrow and tell him I’ll read the rest of Charlotte’s Web?”
“I’ll give him the news. See you tomorrow. Love you.”
“Love you, Nana. See you tomorrow.”
I was up and ready to go to Nana’s by eight o’clock Saturday morning. Then I ran upstairs and shook Mama, who was still asleep. “Will you take me to Nana’s, please?”
Mama yawned and stretched. “Where’s your daddy?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “Please, Mama. I want to check on Baby Deer. He’s waiting on me.”
“Marcus!” Mama yelled.
I slapped my hands over my ears. Then I ran downstairs and Daddy was coming through the front door. Maggie and Koda were on his heels. “Daddy, will you take me to Nana’s, please? Mama isn’t up yet.”
“Michelle!” he yelled as I slapped my hands over my ears again. “I’ve got to help Dad fix the truck. You can take her,” he said, pushing Koda out of his way. “I have to do everything around here,” he mumbled.
Mama came downstairs. “I’ll take you honey. I know you’re anxious, and I’d like to see Baby Deer, too,” she said, reaching for her coat on the stair railing. She looked at Daddy. “I have to do everything around here,” she said.
We all laughed.
Mama drove straight to the barnyard. I jumped out of the SUV, ran into the barn and saw Baby Deer was standing, drinking water from the trough. “What are you doing?” I asked, before I remembered he wasn’t supposed to talk in front of other people. I twisted my lips hoping he remembered, and Baby Deer batted his lashes coyly letting me know he understood.
Mama and Papa Deer were not in the stall. I figured they were out for a walk in the woods.
Mama knelt by Baby Deer’s side, hugged him and said, “You are the cutest and sweetest deer I’ve ever seen. Julia told me all about you. I sure hope your hooves get well soon,” she said and kissed his nose.
Baby Deer nuzzled Mama’s arm and licked her face.
“Aaah. He’s so precious. I could love him to pieces,” she said. “I can’t stand the thought of him growing up, but I also can’t stand the thought of you growing up either. I wish you were still my little baby.”
As Mama hugged me, Nana walked into the barn and said, “Well, I’m glad to see everybody is being so lovey-dovey out here. Baby Deer looks good, doesn’t he, Julia?”
“Yes, he does, but is he supposed to be standing?” I asked.
“Dr. Tegethoff said he could stand for ten minutes four times a day, but not to walk more than three feet. He’s been a good boy so far. In fact, he minds better than you do,” she said, gently tapping my jaws.
“Kiss me bye, honey,” said Mama. “I have a lot to get done today. I’ll be back by nine o’clock tonight.”
I hugged her, and she gave me a quick peck on the lips. Then she went to the car and I waved until she was out of sight.
Nana said, “I told Baby Deer not to talk to anybody and he’s done a good job so far.”
“It wasn’t easy, Nana,” said Baby Deer. “I wanted to tell Julia’s mama she was beautiful, but I didn’t. I really think it would be okay to talk to her. She said she loves me!”
“When the time is right, you can talk,” said Nana. “We’ll let you be the one to let the cat out of the bag.”
“What cat? What bag?” Baby Deer asked as his eyes darted around the stall.
Nana bent double laughing. “That’s a saying. It means to tell a secret. People have funny sayings,” she said as she petted Baby Deer. “Calm down. There’s no cat in a bag.”
Nana put her arm around my shoulder and said, “Would you please come inside and visit with me for awhile? You can spend most of the day with Baby Deer.”
“Baby Deer, I’ll be back later. I need to talk with Nana about something important, a
nyway.” I kissed his nose.
Nana and I held hands and went to the trailer.
Pawpaw was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. “Hi, Sweet Pea,” he said, and held his arms open in full-hug mode.
I hugged him and asked if I could have a sip of his coffee. He’d been letting me sip his coffee since I was a baby, and Nana would fuss, and he would laugh, and keep on giving it to me. I took a big sip, and although I didn’t really like black coffee, he got such a kick out of seeing me drinking it, I pretended I liked it.
I fixed me a glass of orange juice while Nana made eggs and toast. I decided it was the perfect time to ask a favor. “Nana. Pawpaw. I have a great idea. Please hear me out and then think about it before you give me an answer,” I said.
“I’m all ears,” Pawpaw said, sitting back in his chair.
“Count me in,” Nana said as she set my plate of eggs, sunny side-up in front of me.
I broke a yoke, dipped my toast into the yellow ooze, and began. “Thanks-giving and Christmas are just around the corner.” I paused and took a bite. “I know you don’t cook big dinners for Thanksgiving and Christmas anymore, Nana, because the family is too big and you don’t have enough room in your small trailer.”
“Uh-huh,” Nana said.
I continued. “I always go to MeMe and Granddaddy’s for Thanksgiving, but I want to bake the Deer family some pumpkin pies.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Nana said, still eying me. “But what’s this leading up to?”
“I want to have Christmas in the barn. The barn is big enough for all the family, and Pawpaw has already run electricity out there. We could plug in space heaters and build a fire in the old wood-burning stove.”
Pawpaw said, “I don’t have any outlets in the barn. We can’t plug in anything—and space heaters are dangerous, though the wood-burning stove is safe, I use it at times.” He paused and rubbed his head. “Sweet Pea, all I’ve done out there is make it so the lights will come on, that’s all.”
“I know, but you know electricity, and you can install some outlets.”
Pawpaw scratched his head and said, “I’ll have to think about it, Sweet Pea.”
Nana pulled on her chin and said, “Honey, that’s a lot of cooking for me to do. It always used to take me two or three days to cook enough food for my big family.”
“I’ve got that all figured out,” I said. “Aunt Cathye, Aunt Beth, Mama, and my cousins could do the cooking at their houses and bring it. If everybody pitches in, we’d have plenty of food, and it won’t be too much work or cost anybody too much.”
“I guess that would work,” said Nana, looking tentatively at Pawpaw. “I could bake a couple pies and bake a ham and turkey without too much trouble.”
Pawpaw looked at me for a few seconds and said, “Well, Sweet Pea. If Nana can do all that, I guess I can put in a couple outlets.”
“Now hold your horses,” Nana said. “Let’s get back to your Christmas in the barn idea. How is the family supposed to eat out there? Is the family supposed to sit on hay bales and eat off their laps?”
“Pawpaw can use the wooden sawhorses and put long planks on top of them. Two long tables will be enough,” I said, looking at Pawpaw.
“I think that will be easy enough. Go on,” he said.
“We can buy plastic tablecloths, paper plates and cups, and plastic forks, knifes and spoons. When we finish eating, we’ll dump everything into Pawpaw’s fifty-gallon oil drum he uses for trash. No fuss. No muss,” I said.
“Okay, that takes care of the table problem,” Nana said. “But we still don’t have anything to sit on. I don’t think sitting on bales of hay will be very comfortable.”
“I’ve thought of that too,” I replied. “You said your church has metal fold-up chairs that people use for church dinners and other functions, right? Well, we could borrow those chairs for the day.”
Nana and Pawpaw looked at each other, smiled, and scratched their heads.
Then Nana said, “It sounds like she has it all figured out. I don’t see any reason it wouldn’t work, do you?”
“Nope,” said Pawpaw. “I better get started putting in some outlets. I think Christmas in the barn will be fun, Sweet Pea. You’re one smart cookie.”
I threw my hands in the air and yelled, “Yippee! Christmas in the barn! I’ll get started making the list of who brings what. I’ll need help with spelling, Nana.”
“I don’t spell much better than you do, but I’ll help if I can,” Nana said.
“Baby Deer is going to have a Christmas. A barn Christmas!” I cried happily.
“A barn Christmas,” Nana and Pawpaw repeated, smiling at each other as if they had thought of it themselves.
School let out at noon the next Tuesday, and Nana was waiting in the parking lot. I jumped into the back seat, buckled up, and asked, “How much shopping do we have to do?”
“I’ve got the shopping done. I bought all the ingredients to make pumpkin pies and I bought everything in the produce section again.” Then Nana laughed and said, “I always figured I’d die broke, but I didn’t think it would be from buying produce to feed a family of deer.”
“Are you broke, Nana?” I asked in horror, visions of my grandparents having to eat at the Salvation Army soup kitchen danced before my eyes.
“No, honey, we’re not broke. I was teasing.” She glanced into the rearview mirror. “Are you in too much of a hurry to stop at McDonald’s?”
“I think I could handle a Happy Meal,” I replied. “Can we afford to buy Baby Deer one?” I asked, wondering how much Nana was teasing and how much truth was in her statement. I’d heard her remark several times that she and Pawpaw barely made it on social security.
“I think I can afford it, but honey, you know deer don’t eat meat.”
“Oh, I forgot a hamburger is meat. We can get him some French fries, can’t we?”
“I don’t see why not? We feed him everything else. He loves people food. Do you think he’d like a milkshake? And what about Mama and Papa Deer?”
“Yeah, they’ll like chocolate milkshakes. I want one too,” I answered, salivating at the thought of a thick chocolate shake.
Nana pulled the old Buick up to the order speaker and almost took the side mirror off the car. She placed the order and I envisioned Baby Deer lapping his shake and joy filled my heart.
Nana pulled to the take-out window, paid the bill, and I hoped she wouldn’t take the arm off the girl who handed the sacks out of the window, so I quickly rolled down the back window, reached out and took the sacks.
I was so hungry, I staring eating my burger, but I saved my fries and shake so I could have them with Baby Deer.
Nana pulled the old Buick under the carport. I jumped out and hurried to the barn with the French fries and shakes. My eyes bugged when I saw how much Baby Deer had grown in one week.
Baby Deer stuck his nose against the white sack and said, “Something sure smells good. What is it?” He tried to pull the sack from my hand with his teeth.
“Hold your deer chops, will you? I’ve got the most wonderful tasting people food you’ve ever put in your mouth,” I said.
“Is it better than chocolate chip cookies and pancakes?” he asked as he nudged the sack harder, almost knocking me down.
“Stop it,” I scolded, raising the sack high into the air.
Mama Deer shoved Baby Deer with her head and said, “Don’t be rude. She’ll give it to you when she’s ready. Now, behave yourself.”
Baby Deer tucked his head. “Okay, my bad,” he said.
I pulled out the small sack of fries, held it up and said, “These are called French fries. They’re potatoes cut into strips and deep fried, and they’re yummy.” I stuck one French fry into his mouth.
Before he could comment, I pulled out the shake. “This is chocolate mixed with milk, better than anything you’ve ever tasted. And this is a called a straw, I said, peeling the paper off. “If you suck on it, the milkshake will c
ome out. You have to use all the suction you’ve got in your jaws because the shake is very thick.”
Baby Deer starting sucking, but it wasn’t easy, and I laughed as I watched his jaws cave in and his eyes cross.
Baby Deer dropped the straw from his mouth. “That was hard work, but it was the best tasting stuff I’ve ever had. And the fries are delicious. Can I have the rest?” he said, and I thought he was going to eat sack, fries and all.
“Finish the shake then I’ll give you the rest of the fries,” I said.
He took another big sip of the shake, sucking as hard as he could. He let the straw fall from his mouth and shook his head back and forth. “Oooooh,” he moaned.
“Brain freeze!” I said, laughing. “When you drink something cold, too fast, it freezes your brain.”
“Well, that wasn’t much fun,” he said, and turned his head from me.
Mama Deer looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. “Is his brain going to stay frozen? Why did you do that to my baby?”
I rubbed her head. “No, it didn’t really freeze his brain. It’s just a saying. It’ll stop in a second or two.”
I reached into the sack. “I brought one for you and Papa Deer, too. You’ll love it. Nana will pour them into your bowls and you lap them slowly and you won’t get a brain freeze,” I said, still laughing to myself. “I’ll let you have my bag of French fries and you can share them.”
I hoped the French fries would be a peace offering and maybe they wouldn’t be upset with me.
Nana poured the shakes into their bowls and said, “Julia was just having fun with Baby Deer. She can be a little prankster at times.”
“You can say that again. That was rude, Julia,” Baby Deer said, and refused to look at me until I gave him the rest of the fries. “They’re the best,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” I said, giving him a coy look. “I bet you would’ve laughed at me with a brain freeze.”
Baby Deer giggled. “Yeah, I probably would have—and now that it doesn’t hurt anymore, I guess it was kind of funny.”
