Bloodhorns — Ronnie G. Anderson

Cherokee Lake had gotten its name from the Indians who had always lived around it. When a small village turned into a town it called itself Deer Park, although there were no deer living at the park that surrounding the lake even though the city itself was a wildlife refuge. Then in 1981 shortly after hunting season a ten point buck brought his herd to the lake and has lived there every since then. Jessie Smith and his Grandfather John loved the deer and in the winter snows brought them hay to eat. John remembered the day that they came through his farm. Some of them stayed, but the majority of the deer moved on to the lake to take refuge from the hunters. This was the herd's ancestral lands of memory. John even wrote and illustrated a book about it much to everybody's surprise. Many people did not think that the old man could read much less write. Today John's grandson Jessie was sweet on a short dark Sioux girl named Dawn Wolf. It was a foregone conclusion that they were going to get married someday. John wanted that day to be sooner rather than later. He wanted babies to play with. Helping the two to decide to hurry up with their plans John exchanged his entire ranch for Jessie's room at his son's home. When Dawn accepted the invitation to be Jessie's wife the family treated them as such even before the Fire Ceremony joined them in the spring when the weather was warmer and the flowers were out. Cleaning out John's house proved strangely trying. For one thing the garage ceiling beams were filled with huge deer horns of twelve and fourteen points - elders. One fourteen point set was stained with blood. The strange thing about so many trophy antlers was the fact that there were no skulls and the fact that John did not hunt deer; still the massive number of horns hung there for some reason. In an old desk Dawn discovered John's only book and became immersed in the story of how the deer escaped the hunters and moved bit by bit to Deer Park and safety. The more she read the book the more she believed that this was history and not fantasy. After she finished she confronted John about his writing of the story. What he told her shocked her; but it was not until the deer followed her home that the evidence of what happened really set in.