The Free Radical

I’ve been meaning to take a microphone and audio recorder out to the woods for some time already. Sometimes I simply can’t get a picture of those “speaking” to me… or if I do, it’s so far away that it can hardly be seen. Such is the case with Whitetail this day. (He’s framed in the centre of the opening in the fence… barely discernible.)

Nevertheless, I have been encountering Whitetail’s gentle lure nearly everyday for a week already. He makes a snorting/whistling sound in the distance, just out of sight whenever he detects my presence. I answer with my natural voice and he is content… yet remains mostly out of sighting distance.

“Follow me. Long have I been humanity’s primary connection to the Forest. It is a place of New Adventure, and my way is to lead through gentle enticement.

“The heart of the Forest is infinitely deep, and guides are well advised. My white tail is not a flag of surrender to anything but a lost innocence… and it is easy to follow.

“We will sharpen our senses together, not in defence of anticipated danger, but rather toward a heightened perception of things heretofore unseen…”

I guess that’s why he teases me daily without overtly revealing himself.

(I’ll try to get a recording of his distinctive voice in the near future.)