Yesterday, Olin woke up early, a full hour and a half before his usual time. I tried to help him get back to sleep. It was úseless. So instead, I proposed we go out for a walk together.

Olin was of course on the lookout for insects but instead we found a deer crouching in a neighbor’s field. As we got closer, the deer jumped out and tried to get away. But the poor thing was badly tangled in a mesh fence. I got closer and it allowed me to pry one of its hind hooves loose. But the rest of the legs were hopelessly caught in the mesh. Every time it jumped forward the rope cut deeper into its skin.

We ran back home so I could grab my pocket knife. We returned to the field and I carefully cut it loose. The deer took a few steps and pitched forward on the ground, badly hurt.

I then contacted the Town Hall. They said they would send someone over. What I didn’t know is that the town sees these deer as a problem for farmers and more often than not, they simply put them down where they find them.

The whole experience made an impression on me: the animal’s delicate head and beautiful coloring, its panic at feeling trapped, its grudging trust in me, the welts and open gashes on its skin, its feeble attempts to regain its footing.

I wish the ending could have been different.