The encounter

The encounter took place in the swiss Alps at the highest inhabited village of Europe, Chandolin. This is the home of a dear friend who welcomed me in her home and of all the trees and plants and animals and insects of the woods. I woke up very early that morning, the last one before going back to the city. I couldn’t get back to sleep, I kept thinking about going into the woods. I got out of the chalet and started walking. It was nice and calm without people’s noisy movements as everybody was still sleeping. I could hear every single sound, I was attentive, concentrated, observing the world around me: a squirrel, a bee, a woodpecker. Suddenly, I felt that somebody was looking at me. I saw no human figure. Then I spotted a brown shadow: there she/he was, eating some branches until she/he saw me. A beautiful brown dear in her/his youth. Who spotted who first? She/he kept observing me without moving. With curiosity, with fear ? I was thrilled with joy but stayed calm and discreet, not wanting to disturb her/him. I reached my camera gently and took some shots, her/his beauty in the yellow field. Then she/he left. I sat down, feeling joyful and thankful for this encounter. Then I felt somebody staring at me again. I turned around and she/he was there, having done a circle around me. I thought I was observing her/him, but she/he was the one that never left me from her/his sight. I stayed still once again, managed to take some clichés. She/he left, calmly searching for food. This was the reason of my walking up early, the visitor in my sleep. The encounter had been set to happen all along. The spirit of the forest? My fathers spirit who knew well enough and listened to his village trees ? A promise of good things to come ? Or simply the encounter of a deer and a human, both curious and surprised and perplexed, sharing a place and a moment, their common and uncommonness, both familiar and strange.