The Deer on I-71

I think I witnessed something pretty scketchy earlier this afternoon. I was driving back home from Columbus, visiting ex-roommate Kevin of the Sea Welty. It was a beautiful hour. I felt energized and rested, and Kelly Clarkson was blaring from the speakers. I pulled off to get gas at the rather low $1.92/gallon, got back on the highway, and then, a few miles later, around exit 140, I witnessed something I'd never seen or imagined before.

We have all seen dead deer as we drive to and fro. It always saddens me and I'm always thankful that I've never actually hit a deer. In my lifetime as a driver, I've hit both a racoon and a possum. There was also a time when I was just a very young driver, when I hit a chipmunk. Now, you may be tempted to laugh here, but please do not, as it is still a rather emotional memory for me. You see, it was a splendid spring day, beautiful and blue, soft and light. Love was in the air. Well, I was driving on the back rounds on my way to Meijer and all of a sudden two chipmunks started to run across the road, certainly in the middle of a game of tag or whatever games two chipmunks in love in spring play. They were "twitterpated" if you will. I tried to brake, but my rear tire got the second chipmunk. I was devastated. I started to shake, and then I started to cry a little bit. My mom was with me and can witness to the truthfulness of all of this. I even turned the car around and when back to the scene to make sure Alvin's girl wasn't suffering. There she was, pathetic and ruined. Darkeness came into that beautiful spring day and death cast a shadow over the land. I remember it vividly.

Anyway, back to today. So yes, we've all seen dead deer along the road, and we always just assume it is someone's job to come and clean up the deer and other dead animals along the road. Today I realized that I had never once actually seen anyone cleaning up these carcasses. Well, at exit 140, I noticed a white truck pulled off the road and then saw two mem scrambling up a bank. And what did I see coming up from the deep grass? You guessed it...Bambi himself. (I don't even want to recall my time of seeing Bambi in the movie theatre. We went for my birthday party when I was just a wee one. Well, needless to say, just to remember the part where Bambi's mother died still gives me shivers. I mourned until the following birthday when we played it safe and had mac and cheese on the porch.) But what alarmed me the most about these two men who had this deer was that they were not putting the deer into the bed of the truck to be taken away and buried properly. Each one of them held onto two legs (much as if they were playing a game and were threatening to throw a friend into a cold pool with all their clothes on) and were dragging the deer away from the road, towards a field. I slowed down to watch what was going on. They dragged the deer behind a tree and simply left it there and walked away.

I don't know about you, but this startled me. This changes what I will think everytime I see a dead deer along the road from now until I die. I wonder if they were doing what they are supposed to do or simply wanted to take the easy route on their job. Either way, I don't like it, not one bit. I suppose even though many of the forests are gone, what Bambi's mom said still holds true:

Bambi: What happened mother? Why did we all run?
Bambi's Mother: Man was in the forest.

I think of Eden. I guess there wasn't death in that place I can't really imagine. But if there was, and if a deer had died, I wonder what Adam would have done. I wonder if there would have been a tear, a little service, maybe Eve would sing a song. I get sad when I see dead animals and I was sad when I saw that deer on I-71 being dragged behind a tree. Thanks for listening.