BEING FOUND

She walked a little slower through the woods without her dad. For the first time, she was on her own. She knew how to get to the turkey blind he had set up the week before. She knew it was right through the next tree line, over a mostly dry creek, and then a straight shot across an open field. She knew all she had to do once she got there was to set up the decoy, cluck a bit on the box call her father had taught her to use, and wait. Her dad would come an hour later to check on her. He would hopefully find her standing over her first self-guided turkey.

Her fingers trembled a bit and her stomach turned with nervousness. The woods were different without her dad. They seemed to hold secrets she had not noticed before and some of those secrets felt dark and creepy. She had waved to her father and smiled when he went to the other side of the hill. Now, a part of her wished he was with her. She had thought she was ready to be on her own. Fear tried to convince her otherwise.

She began to walk with a more determined speed, with the single purpose of reaching the blind. She would be safe in the blind. She would be hunting and the unknown and unseen fears lurking in shadows she had never noticed before would not matter anymore. She remembered hearing coyotes howl while walking out at night with her father. It was a sound she would never forget. Did coyotes attack people, she wondered.

A branch snapped and something crashed through the woods to her right. Was it coming at her? Panic ripped at her back and she ran. She could see the light of the field ahead of her and it looked like freedom. Still running, she turned back to see if she was being chased. It felt as if she were. Just then, she tripped and tumbled into the creek bed. A stab of pain pierced her ankle.

She thought she cried out loud, but could not remember. And then, lying there, dirty and in pain she realized how deep the crevice was which she had fallen into. It’s walls were steep so steep on either side of her that even if she could have stood without intense pain shooting through her ankle she would not have been about to climb out.

She screamed. “Daddy! Daddy! I need you!”

He did not answer her. He would not come to look for her for at least an hour and then he would go to the blind first. A slithering chill began to creep down her back.

Unable to do anything else, she sobbed. Her fear of not being found battled with the shame of failing on her first hunt alone. Before long, the sobbing and the fear and the shame overtook her emotions and despair tickled the edge of her thoughts. What if her dad did not find her? What if he could not get her out before the temperatures of the night began to shock her system into hypothermia? She began to shiver as she waited and continued to whimper.

As the hour passed and she could no longer see the sun, fatigue overcame her and she could not fight the urge to sleep.

Then she heard a voice calling her name. It seemed like a distant memory. It was familiar, yet so distant it could not be real. She wanted to believe in it. She wanted to call back to it. She longed for it to come closer. Then she fell asleep once again.

She awoke sweating and unsure of where she was or how she got there. However, she knew she wanted out and she knew she could not get out alone.

A turkey gobbled and she remembered what had happened and realized it was almost dark. Then, she heard her father’s voice. His voice was clear and he was close and he was calling her name.

She called out. “Daddy! Help me.”

He ran over to the edge of the crevice, jumped into it and held his daughter in a warm embrace.

She had been found and her tears were no longer from shame or fear or despair, but of joy.