Into The Woods Journal

Year 2024 — Week Fourteen

April 1

Forest Goblins

Today would be my last journal entry. April Fools, as they say. I never understood this holiday, but since my brother was born on this day, it was always a good go to slam while we were growing up. I was born on Mother’s Day, a much more respectable and responsible way to enter the world than sneaking in as a fool.
After drinking a cup of coffee together on the couch, my wife and I moved to the dining room table where she studied and I wrote. After our session was done, we slipped on our boots and headed out the front door. On the opposite side of the house, there stood a herd of six deer. I called them the Ridiculous Six, after an awful western movie by the same name. While several herds moved through the property, these six deer, four does and two yearlings, lived near the house. They scurried off into the opposite tree line while we headed into the grove.
Earlier in the morning, I had watched the herd as they stood in the pasture. Several of the does were pregnant and would give birth in another month. One doe was holding her tail up in the air as she preened the bright white fur. I usually saw this white flag raised as deer ran off from danger. This morning, however, the doe was flashing it in a clear wardrobe malfunction.
In the grove, the eastern sky was lit up in a…