Nobody’s Thing

I. One autumn evening several years ago I was driving—I should admit it, I was flying—north on New York state’s Taconic Parkway when I spotted a white tailed deer at the side of the road. It isn’t unusual to see them along the Taconic, especially in the fall, when the rut makes them a little crazy, and a lot more likely to nose into human zones like backyards, ballfields, highways. My family and I make that drive often enough that my sons are used to hearing me yell “Deer!” without warning. But.