Not a lawn ornament, not a car

Driving back into my neighborhood early this evening, the sky still bright but the light softening, I spotted a deer standing next to a mailbox on the right side of the road.  I was driving slowly, keeping my Prius on electric power, so I rolled quietly by the deer, doing my best not to frighten it.

The deer froze, as deer do, and pretended to be the largest animal lawn ornament in the neighborhood.  It failed, of course, but its posing also froze the moment, so that for a fleeting second the world reduced to the two of us, a scant few yards apart, separated by glass and metal but connected by our actions.

I rolled on, the deer loped easily into the woods, and the moment and the connection vanished like morning mist on a warm day.