The coffeemaker, once readied and turned on, began to deliver its inviting aroma. She filled a cup from the hot stream, and then took it to the living room. The draperies were closed from the past night, but she pulled one back from the tall windows to enjoy the vista of trees, sunshine, and the lake sparkling in the distance. Branches of low-lying laurels quivered. She stilled. Something or someone was out there, coming toward the cabin. A wild animal? Yes. In plain view on the lake trail below the cottage, a deer with spotted chest and white ears and horns, its coat burnished by a beam of gold early morning light, trotted confidently through the underbrush. Oh, pretty! She barely breathed, scared he’d look up and see her spying from the window and run, but the buck came on without haste, oblivious or uncaring. Three more, a doe and two half-grown fawns, followed in quick succession, strolling up the trail as though it were their private domain. No time to get to her camera. If she moved, they’d spook.
