Lost in the City
My encounters with the "untamed" animals of this area continue....as last night... on my way to class to study and practice the art of being martial... two small bucks...deer antlers not more than 8 inches high...cross the busy street right in front of me. They surprise me...it is rare to see deer...especially such young ones...so far into the city. I wonder if it is the same two young deer I've seen in the canyon for the past week or so...eating dangerously close to the highway... between the rushing creek on one side and the wall of rocks on the other. I know the journey involved in getting to this part of the city...no matter which direction they came from...they are about a mile from the foothills directly to the west...further if they came from the north or the south...nothing but streets of traffic, houses and other structures from there to here.
One of the bucks is limping slightly...indicating a brush with some kind of encounter...but otherwise they look unharmed. When they've crossed this street I'm on, they go into a small parking lot then stop at the edge of it to look around. I pull in after them...of course...and see they have moved on a bit...and have stopped in between the row houses...turning their heads...unsure of which direction to go in. I try to help them in the usual way...with sound...but there's really not much I can do since no matter which way they turn from here...it is a long hazard filled road to any kind of open space or the foothills.
Somehow it saddens me...to see these two...seemingly so young to be on their own...in these present surroundings. Were they pushed along to find their own way... or separated from their mother and families by some unfortunate circumstance...or perhaps lured in by the city's pull...like two teenagers out for a dangerous adventure. Whatever propelled them to this spot...they are lost in the city... with only instinct... and whatever other knowledge was passed on to them in their short lives...to navigate them through all these man-made challenges. But...in my human outlook...I think... at least there are two of them...and they don't have to make this perilous journey...alone.
It is doubtful that I will ever know the fate of these two gentle creatures but I prefer to think that they found the right direction to turn to...and made it back safely...together...to the relative safety of the foothills and the mountains.
One of the bucks is limping slightly...indicating a brush with some kind of encounter...but otherwise they look unharmed. When they've crossed this street I'm on, they go into a small parking lot then stop at the edge of it to look around. I pull in after them...of course...and see they have moved on a bit...and have stopped in between the row houses...turning their heads...unsure of which direction to go in. I try to help them in the usual way...with sound...but there's really not much I can do since no matter which way they turn from here...it is a long hazard filled road to any kind of open space or the foothills.
Somehow it saddens me...to see these two...seemingly so young to be on their own...in these present surroundings. Were they pushed along to find their own way... or separated from their mother and families by some unfortunate circumstance...or perhaps lured in by the city's pull...like two teenagers out for a dangerous adventure. Whatever propelled them to this spot...they are lost in the city... with only instinct... and whatever other knowledge was passed on to them in their short lives...to navigate them through all these man-made challenges. But...in my human outlook...I think... at least there are two of them...and they don't have to make this perilous journey...alone.
It is doubtful that I will ever know the fate of these two gentle creatures but I prefer to think that they found the right direction to turn to...and made it back safely...together...to the relative safety of the foothills and the mountains.
posted by pralinanmi | 12:41 PM
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