The Night of the Great Stag

It was very rare to ever see any wildlife wondering around our little community. Lucy is primarily surrounded by cotton fields, cow pastures, and of course Hwy. 51 to it's west. Aside from the small varmints like opossums, squirrels, raccoons, and coyote, it was quite a game free area until one weekend. Rumors had been circulating of a deer spotting. Not just your normal white tail deer, but a massive buck. The phones started ringing from house to house of the great sighting. One could almost imagine Mayberry with the switchboard operator plugging in lines unplugging lines left and right over the fuss. By noon that Saturday everyone in Lucy knew of our new guest. I remember riding my bike that day to meet up with Mike and Stevie and it almost seemed that everyone was outside, as if a parade were about to begin.

Now my dad was especially excited. He hunted but I wouldn't consider him an avid hunter. When my dad shot his first deer he had it mounted for a wall mount. It had been hanging in our living room ever since I was a little baby. He used to hold me up to it and have me pet its long grey neck and look into its black glassy eyes. When I was a little older my dad once told me that the deer had tried to jump through our wall and got stuck. His front side in the living room and the back side obviously on the other side of the wall. Every time when I would run to the other side I never saw the rest. This mounted deer was part of the family it seemed especially at Christmas when we would decorate him in sleigh bells.

My dad was excited about the sighting because he is a brilliant trickster, a trait that what I've been told I inherited. My dad saw an opportunity here and knew exactly who could be the victim. Once the sun went down and the darkness had settled dad snuck out of the house with a familiar missing object. He drove his truck down to Mike's parents Ms. Sue Sue and Mr. Otto, snuck into their backyard and waited for the right time to spring his plan into action. Ms. Sue Sue and Mr. Otto had a large window that gave a grand view of their backyard. Dad peeked over the ledge and there sat the family watching TV. Mr. Otto in his lazy boy, Ms. Sue Sue on the couch and Mike and his brother David on the floor.

Dad saw that his opportunity had arrived and carried out his plan. He took the mounted deer head from our living room wall, raised it up to the window, and started rubbing its antlers against the glass. A shriek like none other came screaming from the couch as Ms. Sue Sue fell off it in disbelief. OTTO! OTTO! the the Deer !!!! Mr. Otto, who was almost asleep, sprung out of his lazy boy, the boys had eyes as big as saucers, and dad started laughing so hard that he dropped the deer head on the ground. Mr Otto came running out the back door (thankfully without his gun) and saw dad rolling around the ground in hysteria. The great stag was never sighted and went down in the history books as a myth, but for one family the myth was real and will live on forever.

- Steve Childress