Dede and Heidi

JaneB. Cravan

 English

November14, 2009

Dede and Heidi

At our house in Tuxedo Park, New York, we always have many animalsin our backyard.  Mostly, we have deer. Some people hate them because theyeat their flowers and shrubs. We hear our neighbor  shouting through thewoods sometimes, “Get off my property you horrible deer!  I want to killyou!”, when he sees them trying to devour his wife's beautiful lilies. Other people, like our family, love the deer because of their beauty andliveliness and try to plant things the deer can eat without damaging theappearance of their property or things the deer do not like to eat likeforsythia and box wood.  My mother told me when I was very young that wewere lucky to live in the woods and be so close to the woodlandcreatures.  I asked her “why” and she told me “God has never createdanything as beautiful as these animals and we’re blessed to have them as ourclosest neighbors.”  Because no hunting has ever been allowed in TuxedoPark, there are virtually no predators who can harm the deer.  They seemto grow like wildflowers and every spring brings a wonderful new herd of spottedfawns to the area.  My family and I always look forward to seeing thefirst wet-looking, spotted newborn deer taking their first awkward steps withtheir mothers and siblings looking on.

Our backyard consistsof six acres of land. We have not “improved” or changed anything there. They are basically untouched natural woods.  A stream runs through ourproperty and we also have a very tall tree that is badly damaged high up itsbody by a lightning strike that happened on a very stormy night during a Nor’Easter. This tree is still alive, even though the top is severed at a sharpangle and it no longer grows. No new leaves come in the spring. Many bears,possums, raccoons, birds, frogs, chipmunks, squirrels and other animals live onour property. The word “Tuxedo” in Tuxedo Park, which most people think of as aman’s formal suit, actually comes from a word in the Lenape Native Americanlanguage meaning “bear” or “the place where bears live”.  All day and allnight we can hear these animals moving around and living their lives. 

In the night, every night, we can also hear all of our twelveindoor cats running around in our kitchen, knocking down pots and pans andupsetting plants.  Sometimes from my bed I hear my Mom or Dad saying “pipedown” to them.  Our neighbor has a dog named Bruno who barks all night(sort of like his master, who I actually like a lot) and always keeps me awake.The air in Tuxedo Park smells very clean and fresh, especially compared to theair in New York City where we used to live. Because we feed the cats who cometo our back terrace, you can also smell the odor of the cat food. We have agarden on our back terrace as well.  Animals with a better sense of smellthan we humans have also can probably smell the flowers, vegetables, and fruitswe grow every summer. We feed the birds who live in the trees and have a birdfeeder and a hummingbird feeder, which the bears, squirrels, chipmunks andbirds also enjoy. Both of the bird feeders have a strong aroma that we cannotsmell from a distance, but other animals can and it attracts them to ourhouse.  Sometimes I think I hear the animals speaking to each other and tous.  I know they are saying “thank you” for the food we give them.

It is always very cold in the winter in Tuxedo Park because weare in the Ramapo Mountains. This year we have had a lot of snow and ice, morethan usual. It has been so snowy that our cars are often buried under the snowuntil we cannot see them anymore. My Dad and I need to dig them out, whichtakes hours. 

This winter we have been surprised by the sight of astrange-looking kind of ugly and ungainly female deer (i.e., no antlers) whohas come to our bird feeder.  She has a long face, a very muscular back,and extremely thin and spindly legs. Upon first seeing her, my mother tells me“Jane, she’s a big one, but she’s definitely young -- about one or one and ahalf years old.   You see, she has lost her fawn spots.” What is mostobvious about this deer is that she appears to be very badly wounded betweenher neck and left shoulder, probably by a bow and arrow hunter.  Her woundis infected and filled with pus. Dad and Mom both say to me “Jane, don’t feelbad, but we think she probably won’t make it through the winter.  Shelooks very, very ill.”  I answer them “Oh no” and I’m filled with sadnessand dread.  Clearly, the ugly deer seems to be in pain and quitemiserable, as if every step will be her last.  I have never seen a weaker,more pathetic animal.   

The strange-looking, ugly deer still has some of her winter coaton, which is a dark brown, and she still wears some of her light brown summercoat. The fur around her wound looks like a bird molting and cannot be asorrier, sadder sight.  Mom, Dad and I decide to call her Heidi.

We have a small group of healthy, active deer on our property, ateam of about eight who are all female.  We are used to seeing all of themon most days. All of their fur is dark brown. This winter, there has been somuch ice and the snow has been so deep that we can never believe that the deercan keep their footing when they walk through the woods and through theproperty. We humans slip and fall all the time.

The deer move in a line with a matriarch deer at the back. We hardly ever see male deer because they don’t come close to people the waythe females do.  The matriarch deer has a broken ear.  We have knownher for years and call her Dede.  Dede looks like she is about six orseven years old and she is very majestic and commanding.  She is everyinch a leader and when she looks you in the eye, she seems to be saying, “Youcan deal with me”.  You can tell that all the other deer look to her forguidance and strength.  While they usually look timid and scared, Dede alwayslooks strong and sure.  She is also quite friendly to us, unlike the restof the deer.  It took a couple of years for us to develop a bond, but Dedeusually comes right up to us and looks us in the eye.  We feed her breadout of our hands (Wonder Bread; my dad told me that “it builds strong bodies in12 different ways” according to a famous commercial), but we throw bread to theother deer, which they love. They will definitely eat as much bread as we arewilling to throw them.  At night the deer family all curl up together as agroup in our woods for warmth.  It is amazing to watch our deer family.

Heidi keeps coming back and coming back to our woods, though herhorrible wound hasn’t improved over the course of the winter. We try to monitorher, but it has been so cold, no person can ever be outside for more than aminute.  Everything is frozen this winter, including the little streamthat runs through our property.  We look through the back window of ourhouse and see Heidi trying to get in line with Dede’s deer family.  Sheseems to be saying to them, “Please, please, let me walk with you”.  Theynever let her get near.  Instead they just chase her away. This goes onfor a while.   

One day, we are surprised to see Heidi walking a few feet behindDede’s family.  What is Dede thinking?  Deer families are veryclose-knit and never admit outsiders or socialize with other deerfamilies.  Even though we feed Dede’s family and Dede eats from our hands,we know that we are outsiders and not family members.  Is Dede thinking thatmaybe she can be kind to Heidi or be willing to offer her help to a sick deerwho is not part of her family?  We are curious and hopeful, but have noway of knowing because we cannot converse with them.

Soon after this, perhaps a couple of days later, we see Heidi inthe deer family line, with Dede the matriarch deer behind her.  Thisastonishes us.  When we see Dede next and feed her out of our hand, we trytalking to her about this because we feel we know her and can sometimespossibly read her thoughts when we’re together, and that she listens to us whenwe speak.  Dede’s face and expression say clearly to us “I have decided toaccept Heidi and be a mother to her as I am to the rest of my family. Heidi is now part of my family.” Heidi now begins to sleep with Dede’s herd andthey keep her warm all winter.

In the spring, Heidi’s wound finally heals.  The healing isgradual, but before we know it, it is complete.  Dad says “it must be theWonder Bread” and he and Mom laugh about it a lot. Mom tells me “I have beenwatching those the commercials since I was your age.  I always knew theremust be something to them.”  Heidi suddenly grows antlers.  It turnsout that Heidi, the strange-looking, ugly female deer, is actually a veryhandsome male deer!  Maybe the female group knew this all along and wereafraid of him, but we think that Dede’s wisdom, maternal sense and deepkindness has prevailed and that she has instructed her family to take Heidiin.  Heidi is now one of the family and they have saved his life.

Now that it is not cold anymore, my family and I go out and feedDede and Heidi. Unlike the other deer, they are both brave enough to eat thebread out of our hands. We go out and feed them every day and in their way theyboth seem to be saying, “Hi” and “Thank you”. 

 Heidi remains with hernew family and is especially close with Dede.  They are always peacefuland loving. For whatever reason, once the deer family accepted Heidi, heremained accepted. We come out in the evening or early morning and Heidi iscurled up, sleeping with his new family.

We think Heidi wantedand needed help desperately and Dede and the deer family helped.  Dedemade a choice and took a chance on Heidi.  We think that in the end theytruly all love each other and that humans are not the only animals capable oflove and kindness.