Past Tense #9: The Baby Deer
If your kid asks you for a wild animal as a pet, you better think twice before saying yes...
The idea, or in fact, the memory of this story came up to me after reading a very nice Facebook post about a little boy that came back home with a baby deer. It’s very interesting how childhood memories just pop up so unexpectedly, like flashes of coloured images from the past, in moments unrelated to them. A picture, a few words, a smell or a taste can take me back to times I hadn’t actually forgotten.
It was a rainy summer’s day, kind of boring, actually, and I was home with auntie Angela. She was, and still is, the woman helping out with my parents’ household since I was 10. My old lady - that’s how I call her even if she’s younger than my dad - used do anything for me. She would cook me breakfast and then ask:
Tell me, what do you want the old lady to cook for you when you come back from school?
And whatever I wanted I would have found on the table when getting back home. Or, if anyone gave me “the evil eye” on the way home, she would say the Lord’s Prayer until the headache passed.
She taught me how to cook, although she wouldn’t let me anywhere near her plates and bowls. Each time she saw me in the kitchen she hushed me away.
Go study so you become a doctor, or an engineer or a pharmacist. Don’t play around the pans, that’s my job!
...she would say at first, when trying to go easy on me. If I insisted she’d bring my father into the discussion.
What will the mayor say when he comes home? He’ll say I made you d othings so I wouldn’t do anything!
And then, if she would get really really mad with me…
I’m taking my purse and I’m going home, to my house!
Not rarely did I make her come back from the gate, promising not to upset her anymore and to stay out of her kitchen. She still is closer to me than my real grandmas and I love her deeply...
She’s the type of person that never says no.
Auntie Angela, I want doughnuts!
Yes, yes, yes, I’m on it!
...I want pancakes!
Yes, yes, yes,
...I want pie!
Yes, yes, yes!
She never said NO.
And, that day, while I was chatting with auntie Angela, I saw dad coming home from hunting wild boar. He had some trouble with them because they were ruining his corn crops. I saw him getting out of his car, holding something. I opened the door for him quickly and he put a baby deer in my arms!
I found it in the woods, the mother-deer was gone and it needs someone to take care of it. It’s a “boy” deer. You have to name it!
Marius will be his name!
...I said, with tears in my eyes. And I took the baby deer and took it to my room. I got out the softest blanket I could find so it would remind it of its mother. I wouldn’t let the baby deer out of my sight for a moment. It would even sleep in my bed.
That evening dad brought home some goat milk for me to feed the deer. The next day he brought the goat, a red one, so that the baby deer would accept it easier. Or so my dad said, but in fact the baby deer didn’t want to suckle from the goat. So I had to milk the goat myself and feed it.
And so we became friends, me and the baby deer. It would go with me when I went to the store, wait for me up front and then go back home with me, sharing some bread along the way. Days passed and its horns grew, so we couldn’t keep the deer inside the house anymore. So we took it to the hen’s yard, where it had enough open space to run freely. It started sharpening its horns, becoming dangerous because of that, but I wasn’t afraid. The deer was my best friend.
One day, auntie Angela was making me some meatballs. She called me to taste the raw composition and then I just sat on the kitchen countertop. She would fry the meatballs and then place each one on the plate next to me. I first took one, then another, and another, until…
That’s it! All finished! Where did you put the meatballs? In the closet?
No...I ate them!
Come on dear, you couldn’t have eaten all of those meatballs! Take them out ‘cause the mayor is coming! Did you feed them to the dog?!
Don’t you understand? I ate all of them!
You can’t eat so many meatballs!! Do you wanna die??
Feeling very upset, she went to get some more eggs from the hens’ nests. She needed them to make more meatballs…
After half an hour or so, seeing that she was not coming back, I went out and I heard her screaming:
Ioana!! Dear come and save me from the deer!
I run to the hens’ yard and I see auntie Angela inside the hatch, pulling the door closed. I was laughing so hard I couldn’t open the gate to the yard.
What happened? I asked her, still laughing.
I bent over to take some eggs, and the deer pushed me inside the hatch with his horns!!”
I took Marius away from there and got auntie Angela out of the hen hatch. She was so scared:
Ioana, this is no joke, be very careful!! I’m not going in the hens’ yard anymore!
Come on, it’s nothing!
We both went inside the house and, after another hour or so, I heard someone shouting at out gate:
Ioana, your deer is on the stadium and some kids are chasing it!
I had a red scarf I used to put on the deer’s neck (so it wouldn’t catch the “evil eye”) and I took that with me.
When I got to the football stadium I saw Marius being chased by some kids who would then run away from it and up a fence. I shouted at them to leave the deer alone and then I slowly got closer to it, so I wouldn’t scare it even more. I tried to calm it down, putting my hand on its nose so it would feel my scent. When I saw Marius calmed down I tried to put the red scarf on its head, but it got stuck and somehow hanged from its horns covering its eyes.
The deer started throwing its horns left and right. I caught it by the horns trying to calm it down again, but it pushed me to the ground, so I ran away. I was so lucky that Mr Berbec (“berbec” is “ram”, in English), the father of Alina and Bogdan, had seen everything from his balcony and came to help me.
I was left with some serious scratches and with a torn new red sports outfit. And, although I didn’t want to, after some episodes of crying and begging, my dad convinced me that Marius had to be free, so he took it to a friend who had a huge estate, with many other animals, and I never saw the deer again.
Stay safe,
Until next time,
Ioana
Did you like this story?
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What’s next:
I will continue to write my stories and send them out to my (happily growing community <3) each Sunday, and I will also continue the Parenting Insights part of this newsletter, each Wednesday!
But…
…there are so (too) many stories left untold! Be it happy or sad, a childhood story has the unique ability to heal. Whether it is you or the reader, your story will definitely help someone move forward and evolve in life. And this is my personal goal and the goal of this newsletter! I want to give myself and you this healing voice!
It’s always good to remember and I’m really sure that your stories are very much worth telling! So let’s make a deal: you send me your story and I publish and promote it. After a while, I will do a “story contest”, based on the feedback I get from my readers, and will do an interview with the person sending me the most interesting story! Please make sure that your stories are really yours! Nothing compares to the passion we put in telling stories about our own childhood!
So:
Read, share, repeat!
Write it, send it to me, I publish it, everybody reads & shares.
This works like a charm for both mind and soul.
Just send me your childhood story and I’ll publish it, unchanged (unless some minimum editing required, which I will run by you before publishing). Anonymously, or not - it’s your choice how you want to be heard. If one person in need reads the story and finds it healing, then it’s a win!
I‘m looking forward to telling your childhood stories!