Oreo and I trotted on.  Well, he trotted on and I walked very, very, slowly so as to not leave Oreo in the dust.

Passing by one of the fences I screeched to a stop.  One really can’t screech if one is barely walking, but I did do a sort of pause, then a backup, then I pointed.

Yes, I pointed.  I forgot Oreo could care less about Beagle signals.

“RABBIT!” I whispered.

Oreo kept on coming, waddling a little bit faster when he saw me stop and point. Suddenly Oreo was spinning around pointing his back end in the same direction as I was doing the Beagle point….tail straight out back, back as straight as an arrow, nose pointed in the direction of interest, and right front paw picked up and curled under my chest, me standing as straight and still as possible.

“WAIT! Do not shoot!”  Will the rabbit scrabble as fast as he could under the fence then turned around and peered through the hole between the boards of the fence, “I’m just a rabbit!  I can’t harm either one of you.” Will squeaked extremely loud.

“RABBIT?” Oreo spun back around and gave me a dirty look. “RABBIT? Come, Boomer, a rabbit can’t hurt anyone, let alone you or me.”

“I didn’t say it was an enemy,” I replied puzzled at the scorn in Oreo’s face. “I just pointed so you could see Will, and I whispered rabbit.”

Oreo just flapped his tail in the dirt and gave me a vicious glare and waddled off toward and under a Rabbit Brush.

“Well, I guess that’s that.” I mused to myself.  “I wonder if I will be able to find Momma deer by myself now.”

“I know where Momma deer is,” Will wiggled back under the fence and hopped over to see me.

“Gosh, Boomer.  It’s been a long time since I saw you last. Why I think I was just about to leave my Mom the last time I saw you.”

“WILL! Now I remember! YOU HAVE GROWN!”  Look at you all big and soft and fluffy!  You know where Momma deer is living now? Cool!  Let’s go find her!”  I whapped my tail on the ground, raising little puffs of dirt.

It was just about that moment in time when the brush next to us started shuddering and shaking; Will and I froze in place.  Only Will’s little nose was wiggling up and down in a very rapid way.

We were so frightened I don’t think either one of us could move, when out of the brush came KING!

COOL!

King with his new set of antlers.  King walked on a spell, then just before he got to us, he had to stop and give his back leg a good scratch with his teeth.

I was so relieved that I bayed out loud, “KING! KING! It’s so good to see you.”

King raised up his head in alarm and started to bound away.

“NO! Don’t go! It’s me King, Boomer!  Stop!”

King stopped and stared at me.  And at Will.

“Goodness, Boomer, you gave me a huge fright. I was afraid it was one of those new coyotes on the farm and I knew I couldn’t fight off with my little antlers.”

“It’s just me, King, and Will the rabbit.  We are heading over to find Momma Deer. But you are here now so maybe you can take me to Momma Deer.  It would be really good to see her again, also.”

The brush shuddered again and out stepped Momma deer…” You are looking for me, Boomer?” Momma deer said in her warm soft voice.

“YAY! You are here! Both of you!  This is nice!” I bayed.

“Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” Momma Deer put her hoof on my nose.

“Ow! Your hooves are sharp,” I admonished Momma Deer.

“Sorry, but stopped being so loud, Boomer. We have new coyotes on the farm and they seem to be searching for new territory.  We don’t want to draw them to us.”  Momma deer put her face down close to mine.

“Be very, very quiet… these are dangerous times on the farm. There are coyotes everywhere.”