Chapter 1.3

For the next thirty minutes, Sara went about setting up her camera and everything she needed to capture the sunset over the valley. By the time she had finished, her dinner was ready to eat. The entire time Sara had been getting things ready, she could hear the deer moving in the forest around her camp. Its presence had bothered her earlier in the day, but now she was getting used to him being near her. 

Sara checked her dinner once more before pulling the pot off the fire to let it cool. She looked over her shoulder to the area behind her tent where the deer was now grazing.

“I would share with you, but I doubt you would like red beans and rice,” she called out to the deer.

The deer stopped eating and raised its head slightly to look at her. With an exasperated snort, it went back to eating and ignoring her.

Sara watched the deer for a couple of minutes before she settled in, called her husband again, and prepared to eat her dinner. As she watched it, she could not help but feel like the deer somehow understood what she was saying to it, and it was responding in the best way it could. She shook her head, knowing how absurd that thought was. She dialed her husband as she attempted to push that thought out of her mind.

“Hello, my love,” Kevin answered.

“Hello. Are you home, back at your hotel, safe and sound?” Sara asked.

“I am. The pizza was just delivered, and I was waiting for your call so we could eat together, and with luck, you will send me pictures of the sunset from your camp.”

Sara told him, “I have my beans and rice sitting beside me, and my camera is set up and ready to go for the sunset, which has some promise of being glorious tonight. A few of the clouds at the edge of the storm system are starting to move into the area.”

“Between the storm and that weird deer, I am going to be worried about you even more than usual,” Kevin said. “Is that deer still hanging around?”

“Yes, he is,” Sara answered. “He is having the all-you-can-eat salad bar that is behind my tent.”

“That is so strange.”

“It is,” Sara said, glancing at the deer. “But I like him. He isn’t bothering anything. He’s just kind of keeping me company as I do this. To be honest, I hope he stays with me the whole trip.”

“You know, I’ve heard about people bonding with a stray dog or cat while on vacation, but I’ve got to say, you are the first person I have ever heard of who has bonded with a full-grown deer,” Kevin said, trying not to laugh.

Sara let out a giggle and replied, “I’ve been thinking about that one myself. It sounds crazy, but I feel like he understands what I’ve said when I’ve spoken to him. It’s like he understands the words, and he has responded to them. Ted’s different than any other deer I have ever dealt with. I have never seen anything like it before.”

Kevin asked, “Ted? Did you name him after Ted Bundy?”

“Maybe,” Sara answered hesitantly. She knew her husband was well aware of her interest in true crimes and serial killers. “He is also cute, and I would love to hug him like a teddy bear if he wouldn’t try to gore me with his antlers or stomp me into the ground.”

“Who knows, by the end of your trip, he might be sharing your tent with you,” Kevin teased her.

“I can think of worse things.”

“Yeah, like a skunk sharing your tent with you.”

“Stop!” Sara laughed. “You’re going to jinx me, and I’m going to be sprayed by a skunk or something now.”

“I’m sorry, Babe. I don’t want to jinx you. I want you to make it home safe and sound after having the time of your life,” Kevin told her.

“No matter how much fun I have, it would be better if you were here. Don’t worry, I have already marked a few things on the map that you have to see when we come here together. Where I set up camp is at the top of the list. Even if we just take a weekend and come up here, it would be amazing. I can’t wait for you to see this view in person.”

“I am up for that anytime you want to do it. I’d be happy if we did that every time we both have days off together,” Kevin said.

“Oh, so, once a year then?” Sara chided. “I know it’s not like that, but it has felt like it recently.”

“I know,” Kevin sighed. “And I’m going to be working on that.”

“You are?”

“Yes, I will fill you in on everything when you get home because I’m still working out some of the details. It will include a change in my duties, a promotion, and a pay raise, plus more regular days off and a lot fewer emergencies like this one. Think you can handle that?” Kevin asked.

“That’s fantastic, Babe! I’m so happy for you,” Sara exclaimed. “Well, as long as you’re happy about it. Do you want to do that? I know you love what you do. If you’re not going to be happy, no amount of money will make it worth it.”

There was a pause before Kevin replied, “This is why I love you so much. I tell you that I will be making more money with fewer hours, and the only thing you want to know is if I will be happy.”

“Of course. When you’re unhappy, you get grumpy, and then you make me unhappy. I only want you happy for my own benefit,” Sara told him as seriously as she could.

Kevin stifled a laugh at his wife’s joke. “I knew you had a motive for wanting me happy.”

Sara’s tone softened as she said, “In all seriousness, the choice is yours. Just remember that I want you to do what will make you the happiest. Not what you think I want. Because money is not it. I would rather us be poor and happy than rich and miserable.”

“I will keep that in mind. What does the sunset look like there? I’m starting to get a little pink here.”

“The clouds from the storm front are looking very dark and a little purple right now,” Sara said.

“I’m worried about you being out in that forest knowing those storms are coming.”

Sara could hear the worry in her husband’s voice. She had been backcountry hiking and camping since she was in high school. She was exceptionally well trained and experienced, yet Kevin worried about her every time she was on a trip. 

“I’ll be fine, Kev. I promise I will. I have been doing this for a long time, and I have been caught in weather far worse than what is being forecast for the next few days. Remember the story I told you about when I got caught in a tornado and had to hold on to a tree as it passed?”

“I will never forget that story. That is a large part of why I’m worried about the weather you are going to have.”

“Don’t worry so much. I’ll be fine,” Sara reassured her husband.

Sara and Kevin continued to talk for the next two hours as the sunset over the valley, each eating their respective dinners. Sara took many pictures, sending them to her husband each time she took one. She did her best to hide her disappointment that he could not join her and hoped that he had not noticed. 

Sara sat near the dying fire and watched the night sky. The storm front was moving in faster than the weather reports predicted. From the lightning flashes she saw on the horizon, she could tell the storms would be more severe than the last forecast she had seen predicted. She contemplated packing up her camp, hiking out that night, and going home. However, something in the back of her mind was telling her to stay.

The first distant rumble of thunder made Sara sigh as the storm decided for her whether to stay or leave. She would have to stay. There would be no way for her to break down her campsite and hike back to her car in the dark before the storms got to her. That wasn’t even counting the added danger of trying to do a hike like that in the dark.

Sara quickly put everything in its place and got ready to bed down for the night early. Just as she finished putting away her camera and stashing it and her pack in her tent, she heard a twig snap behind the tent.

“Ted, I hope that’s you,” Sara called out to the deer she had named. She was greeted with a snort she was becoming familiar with. “Alright, Ted, I’m going to bed. I recommend you find shelter because you won’t fit in my tent with me.”

Sara listened intently for a response. She was met with another snort and the sound of delicately placed hooves moving away from her. Sara smiled as she crawled into her tent and attempted to get some sleep. She knew the storms would make sleep elusive, so she needed to go to bed as early as possible with the hopes of getting as much as possible.