Fears

Just before dawn on a cool morning last spring, Veronica was on a walk through the neighborhood when all of a sudden a skunk appears and shows no fear of her. It keeps coming her way, prompting her to turn and run. Tripping on the sidewalk, tearing her pants, scraping her knee, and dropping her keys, she frightfully flees home! She dare not go back for her keys. At her request the neighbor walks down the street to get them for her.
Today on a walk in Leon Creek the deer were everywhere. Veronica and I were walking on the paved trails when we saw a buck. Startled, Veronica stopped and was afraid to continue. They are more afraid of you than you are of them, I said. She continued ahead as I took photos. Later she would tell me about a friend who is terrified of frogs. As a young child this friend was running to a nearby pond only to be greeted by what she described as “a million frogs!” She froze and began screaming until her father and brother arrived to rescue her. Another friend is terrified of spiders, a niece fearful of clowns.
As veronica got far ahead of me the sun began to set. Darkness was setting in when I called her to ask if she had turned back. “Wait for me” she demanded. “The deer are everywhere. They’re surrounding me!”
I found this hilarious. I tried to assure her they wanted nothing to do with her. I waited till she was able to see me. She caught up and kept a steady pace leaving me behind. Running at times! Nice stride. Never seen that before.
When I caught up with her she said, “tomorrow I’ll walk the neighborhood. I’ll take my chances with Pepe Le pew.”