The Deer and the

Construction

Worker

By: Taylor Mills and

William Neumann

One bright, sunny day just outside of Indian-

apolis, there was a deep, lush forest where

lived a young family of white- tailed deer. The

family consisted of a mother, father, and son

named Oliver. They generally were a happy,

little family that frolicked around looking for a

tasty treat daily.

They had their regular routine of waking up

in the wheat field, and making a trip to the

nearby forest to look for some delicious

food. Oliver was the baby deer, and his fa-

vorite activity was to frolic in the sunshine

of the meadow. Oliver was very curious,

and he walked through a large bush patch

to look for berries.

Suddenly, he heard a tremendous BANG!

His parents came through the bush to see if

Oliver was okay.

Oliver hid behind his mother, while his father

told them to stay where they were. Oliver's

dad was very brave and went to see what the

noise was. As he left Oliver’s mother decided

that she would travel with him to investigate.

Oliver began to grow impatient, so he

tried to do some things to pass the time.

He ate some berries and did a few laps

around a nearby oak tree.

But he grew impatient still. “I wonder what

is taking them so long.” he thought to him-

self.

Trying not to disobey his parents by leaving,

Oliver did a few more laps around the tree,

and jumped around in the field a little. “I can’t take it anymore!” He thought. And Oli-ver’s curiosity led him to try and find his parents.

Oliver had some idea as to which way his

parents had gone. So he passed the oak tree

and pushed his way through the bushes the

direction they went.

The light from when he emerged caused him to

lose focus for a second, and had to look

around and figure out where he was. Poor Oli-

ver had never seen this place before, let alone

the things that inhabited it

There was an awful lot going on. He

looked and was especially interested in

the large, roaring metal machines that

were moving heavy stuff from one place

to another. He wanted to get a closer

look but was afraid because of the loud

noise.

He was getting the courage when he just spot-

ted his parents, on the other side of what ap-

peared to be a giant stone field, he had heard

some of the tall animals call it a “Highway”.

He was scared to pass across the “highway”.

It was getting late and he could still see his

parents so he decided that it would be okay to

go to sleep.

The next morning he woke up earlier than

usual to the sound of the metal machines

again. He was confused. “Why are they still working on that “highway”?” He thought. Then again, Oliver had never seen this before.

So he didn’t know how long it should take. At this rate, he might not be able to wait until the

“highway” was completed.

He felt hungry but he normally followed

his mother and father to find food. He

began to feel sad again. He really want-

ed to cross the highway and try to find

his parents.

Suddenly he saw a human walking toward

him.

“Hi, little guy. My name is Carlos. Are you scared?” He nodded.

“There is nothing to be afraid of. Are you trying to get over there?” He nodded again.

Oliver looked over to where his parents

were, and Carlos traced his eyes. Carlos saw

the other two deer across the street. “Are those your parents over there?” He asked. Oliver nodded yet again.

“Well if it is okay with you I can help you across.” Oliver made a small squeal. And frolicked around in circles.

“Come here then.” Carlos said. And he scooped Oliver up into his arms. Carlos hol-

lered at his fellow construction workers to

turn off all of their machines so that Oliver

didn’t get scared and run away.

He proceeded towards the other side of the

highway to deliver Oliver to his young scared

family.

As he crossed Oliver looked around

and began to whimper. “It’s okay little guy.” Carlos said to try to calm him down.

He finally made it to the other side of the

highway and set the tiny deer down with

his mother and father. Oliver’s mother went up to Carlos and rubbed against his leg

with great affection.

As Carlos went to get back to work he was speak-

ing to himself. “Wow, that little deer could have been killed if left alone for a long time. We de-

stroyed his habitat with this highway we built.”