14
Ralph hadn’t left the house for two nights, not since the incident with the other deer. He’d found it on the far side of the A-30, a shape of indeterminate size which, on closer inspection, proved to be a deer. Knocked over by a vehicle like the first one, it lay half on, half off the road. He took a quick look both ways then took off across the tarmac and quickly scooped it up.
Maybe ten minutes later, he had draped it around his shoulders and jogged across the Moor.
It was hard going with the animal on his back, but he kept his head down and fought through the growing stitch in his side and the energy-draining pounding of his feet as they sank into the sodden earth. By the time he got to the old cottage, he was drenched in sweat, but happy that he had made it without major incident
