by Joy Redmond
As Nana finished her sentence my peripheral vision caught a movement in the back yard. I walked over to the kitchen window and looked outside. “Nana, come here!”
Nana hurried to my side and I could barely whisper as I pointed and said, “There are two baby deer in the back yard. Do you see them?”
“Oh, my stars,” she said. “Yes, I see them, and we’re not dreaming.”
Nana and I stood as if we were statues, and I don’t think I took a breath as we watched them trod across the back yard, across the carport, and stand under the kitchen window. I stepped closer.
“Careful, honey,” Nana whispered. “If they see or hear you, they’ll run.”
I looked down at them. They stuck their heads up and looked me in the eyes.
“I’ll get my camera and get a picture through the window,” Nana whispered.
While Nana was in search of the camera, I left the kitchen, made my way through the utility room, eased the back door open, and slowly eased myself onto the top step.
I held my breath, afraid the sound of my breathing would frighten them away. But they walked toward me, seemingly unafraid.
I blew my breath before I turned blue. They were close enough for me to touch them. I slowly held out my right hand, and one of them sniffed it. Then I held out my other hand and the other deer sniffed it cautiously.
I eased my hands up and stroked their ears. They didn’t move, even when I began to stroke their necks.
“I won’t hurt you,” I whispered. “You’re so precious.”
I moment later, I saw a flash. I looked sideways. Nana had taken a picture. I thought for sure the flash was going to spook them, but again they seemed unafraid and didn’t run.
I continued to talk softly to them, “I don’t know if you are bucks or does, but it doesn’t matter. I’m going to name you John and Jane.”
It was an amazing moment—one I’ll never forget. I stared into their dark brown eyes, and knew they felt my love for them.
I almost expected them to speak, but they didn’t make a sound.
“I can read your eyes. I know what you’re saying,” I whispered.
Those beautiful dark brown eyes were saying, “Hi little girl!”
One Year Later
John and Jane made their home in the barn since the day they first wandered into the yard and stood under the window of the old trailer. Nana guessed that a hunter had probably shot their mama and the angels had led them to us so we could feed them, love them, and protect them. As luck would have it, it turned out that one was a buck and the other was a doe.
After a year, they were almost grown. John had developed antlers and I knew it wouldn’t be long before he would be off on his own to find a doe, but Nana assured me that Jane would probably stay around the farm.
“After all, this is the only home they know and they feel safe here,” Nana said, and she was right.
The new brick house was beautiful and exactly as Nana had seen it in her dream and drawn it on paper. I still came for my Saturday visits but I was never bored because I had John and Jane to play with.
As Mama pulled into the driveway for my usual Saturday visit, I looked around the farm and smiled. Nana had worked hard on the landscaping and there were gorgeous red roses blooming on the bushes she had planted in front of the wide porch. The tulips were almost gone, but they had been beautiful when they were in full bloom, too.
When John and Jane heard the car, they ran across the barnyard.
I jumped out of the car and waited for them, and they almost knocked me down as they rubbed their heads happily against me.
“Hi, guys,” I said happily. “I’m glad to see you, too!”
Mama laughed and said, “I swear, it’s almost as if you do understand what they’re saying.”
I looked back at her and said, “I do, Mama. I speak fluent deer.”
“I have no doubt about that,” she said with another laugh. “Nana seems to communicate with them better than she does Pawpaw.”
Nana appeared in the front door and said, “Ya’ll come on in, but be sure to wipe your feet.”
Mama and I slipped off our shoes and put them by the front door.
“No, don’t leave them outside,” Nana warned. “Those deer will carry them off. Sometimes I think John is half goat. He’ll eat everything in sight.” Then, Nana reached around the door facing and grabbed her broom. “You two get off the porch and go back to the barn. Julia will be out later.”
With that, she popped John on the rear end with the broom, but Jane was off the porch before Nana had a chance to whack her.
We stepped inside, and I looked at Nana’s new furniture. It was just as she had described it in her dream. There was a sky-blue sectional couch and a round coffee table with a glass top. A wall didn’t separate the living room and dining room. Nana had wanted to be able to see the dining area from the living room, and she also wanted to be able to see through the sliding glass doors that led out to the patio while she was eating at the dining table.
The new dining table was long and shone with a bright luster and it had eight chairs with cushioned seats around it. Nana had made a beautiful centerpiece for it.
I peered out the sliding glass doors and decided that the landscaped back yard was more beautiful than the pasture across the creek. Nana had finally gotten the house of her dreams.
The only thing left on the old farm was the barn. I hoped it stood for another 100 years.
I went into the kitchen and got a Pepsi out of the refrigerator, walked back to the dining area, and stood between Mama and Nana as they gazed out the glass door, watching hummingbirds suck nectar from the feeders.
A minute later, John and Jane appeared at the patio door, pressing their black noses against the glass.
“They want me to come out and play,” I said, grabbing a handful of cookies from the counter. I opened the sliding door, stepped onto the patio, sat in a lawn chair, and fed the cookies to them.
I hugged Jane, and whispered in her ear, “Someday John will leave to find a doe, but you’ll always stay with me. Bucks will come visit you, but you’ll give birth to your babies in the barn. That way, we’ll always have baby deer on the farm.”
I looked into Jane’s dark, trusting eyes. I knew she agreed with me.
“After all, that’s nature’s way—and I like it just fine,” I said.
About the author
After retiring from her career as a phlebotomist, Joy Redmond decided to pursue her passion for writing. She lives in Kentucky, and is a mother of three and a grandmother of seven. Anna’s Visions, her second novel was published in 2012. Give Me Wings is her third novel.
To learn more about Joy Redmond, visit her:
Website: www.storiesbyjoy.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/joy.redmond.14
Twitter : @authorjoy
Other books by Joy Redmond
Give me Wings
Give Me Wings is a story with a universal appeal. The main character is a young girl named Carnikko. She is visited by an invisible yet very real entity calling itself Purple Angel, who begins to help her slowly come to terms with her past, her present circumstances, and the possibility that her future can be bright, in spite of obstacles life has placed in her path. In some ways, Carnikko represents every child—and every human being who is searching for answers to questions that can sometimes threaten to overwhelm them. It’s an inspiring story of unshakeable faith, coupled with a childlike determination and courage, ultimately proving that the human spirit can overcome anything in spite of great adversities. Told with candor and straightforward Southern sensibility.
Stolen Lives
On her sixth birthday, Ali Monroe is given a kitten and it becomes her constant companion. When she’s ten years old, she is forced to live with Aunt July, an overzealous religious woman. Ali’s life is turned upside down as she tries to adjust to a new lifestyle. She is not allowed to dress like her peers or hang out with friends. Her teen yea
rs are spent working as a farmhand. Her cat helps her make it through what she refers to as the Monroe Prison. Through these years, Ali questions the family about her daddy, but gets no answers. Turning eighteen, she finds a picture with a name and address on the back. With rising hope, Ali and her twelve-year-old cat leave the only home they have ever known in search of her daddy she has never known.
Anna’s Visions
Anna Morgan is a seer, and she sees visions of impending doom for her granddaughter, Tori Hicks, the day Tori is born. Through the years, she experiences more unnerving visions, but she can’t put the pieces together and figure out how to save Tori.
Tori is coming of age in a small town in Kentucky where no one locks their doors and everyone knows everyone. From her earliest childhood, she has lived a fairytale life with her best friend Jill. When she and Jill enter high school, Tori meets Wesley Asner, the love of her life. But when tragedy strikes, Tori and Wesley find their lives torn apart. Brokenhearted and desperate for a change, Tori sneaks off to Florida for what she hopes will be a romantic adventure that will take her mind off Wesley. On the leach, she meets Cody Baxter, a handsome young man who is hiding a dark and dangerous secret.
