I never had kids of my own, trucking is a hard life and don’t lend itself to having a family.
But I was real close my sister Marsha’s kids, especially Kaylee. She was a sweetheart, looked just like her mother when she were that little, with those bright eyes and that way of talking. Always chattering and wanting to know about this and that. So many questions, asking me what I seen on the road and where I been, how is that interesting to you, I’d say to her.
“It just is, Uncle jack!” she’d cry out. “I’m gonna become a nature journalist, and always take pictures and tell stories from all over the world, when I grow up!”
“Is that right, Kaylee? Well you’d better find something more interesting than an old trucker to write about and take pictures”.
“Oh Uncle Jack, everything is interesting! Look at these pictures I just took yesterday- all the cats round our neighbourhood!” She pulled out her phone, her pride and joy- I’d help Marsha on the side to get it as her Christmas present, and she showed me a bunch of cats on her phone. “Aww, Kaylee, those are some real cool pictures you got there”- and she glowed with happiness.
I can tell you, spending a couple of hours on a Sunday evening with Marsha and her lot- that was enough family life for me, all that chitchat made me glad to be on my own and out on the road again. Just as well I don’t have family- Marsha and Kaylee were enough for me, I always said.
With the pandemic, of course I had to keep on trucking and I couldn’t visit them for a while. I missed them. After things eased up, I visited my regular Sunday evening, and it felt real good at first, hugging Marsha and Kaylee and eating a proper homemade meal, but soon I figured something was wrong- Kaylee was real quiet.
“What’s up hun?” I asked her.
“Nothing” she said and looked at her hands. I looked at Marsha, who shrugged. “It’s been real hard on the kids, Jack, not gonna lie. Stuck inside an apartment, no life for a kid who wants to be running around all day taking photos and seeing stuff all day.”
I felt so bad for her. I tried to think of things to say to cheer her up. “Hey honey, you know I’ve been seeing deer, not so far from here? I think with all the less traffic and noise you know, I seen them come right by the side of the highway, big deer, as close as me and you sitting here in the couch.”
For the first time that evening, she perked up, she looked at me, her eyes shining like they used to. “Deer, Uncle Jack? Real live deer, by the highway? I’ve never seen deer before!”
“Well, if you ever came with me Kaylee, I’d show you a whole herd of deer standing right outside my truck!”
Instantly I regretted saying the words. Throwing her arms around my neck, she was begging “please please Uncle Jack, can you take me see the deer? Oh please!”
And she just wouldn’t let up. “When will you take me to the deer, Uncle Jack?” “Are you driving down by that highway soon?”
The kid was really into animals and wildlife and shit, and eventually I had to agree to take her- I drove by that stretch several times a week anyway, and it was barely twenty minutes to pick her up from Marsha’s place, drive by the deer, and take her back home.
God knows she’d had it rough these past months, always in lock down and not being able to run out and about like kids ought, and I felt so bad for her and I wanted to cheer her up- it seemed like looking forward to see the deer was the only trick that might do it.
She was so excited. Riding a truck with her favourite uncle at midnight was exciting enough, add to that seeing deer in the wild sent her in a right tizzy. She couldn’t stop chatting in the truck, and she had cut up a whole bagful of apples to feed them.
“Honey you don’t want to get to close to them, you ain’t planning on feeding them by hand, are you?” Her excitement made me a bit anxious, and I wondered if I should have insisted for Marsha to join us, to keep her in check.
She squealed. “Oh! Look! Stop! Please Uncle Jack! Oh wow look at them they’re magnificent!”
I pulled in. There was enough light to see the beasts quite clearly, despite the dark. There were at least three of them, quite close, and I spotted other moving shadows among the trees. Kaylee had her phone out and was busy taking photos.
“This is no good, I have to get closer!” Before I could say anything, she had opened the truck door and jumped out.
“Now there Kaylee” I muttered, getting out and circling the truck to get to her.
Kaylee was already much closer to the deer than I had anticipated. I could hear the rapid click of the camera as she stepped closer to the deer. The moving shadows morphed into more deer, also moving towards her quite rapidly, and soon there was barely five feet between the girl and what looked like a whole gang of deer, their eyes glinting.
“Kaylee!” I yelled. I paid him no mind, tugging on the apple bag.
I knew I had to get to her but I felt rooted to the spot. Even when the deer butted her to the ground and she began screaming, I felt paralysed. The apples fell and scattered on the grass- the deer didn’t want apples.
Too quickly, the screaming stopped. Some deer looked up, straight at me, while others were still bent down over Kaylee. They began coming towards me. In the glaring lights of a passing car, I saw clearly blood around their mouths.
I ran to the truck, threw myself in and drove off.