I watched little son playing by himself. He was having so much fun looking at the imprints that his tiny hooves made in the snow. I sighed—wishing that he had someone to play with, but he is so very shy—then I went back to striping bark off trees because the grass seemed to be gone till spring.
I next looked up when I heard a familiar voice calling to my son. My head whipped towards the direction of the sound and I stood, muscles tense, until I had located it—then I relaxed and smiled. It was my little one's best friend, Thumper, calling to him. Thumper was anxious to show my little one something, as he waved his paw and took off down a sloop towards the pond. He took a flying leap and went spinning about, on his tail, on the ice. Then he called for Bambi to join him.
I was surprised and, naturally tensed up—it's generally not for us deer to play on the ice. I wondered why Thumper didn't seem to think about that. Of course, then I wondered why Bambi didn't think about that, because he was suddenly running, full blast, down the slope! Then, he was spinning like a top on the slippery ice. I cringed as he hit, but Thumper was right there and Bambi seemed to think it was fun.
I smiled then! That boisterous little bunny was exactly the type of friend my shy son needed to bring him out of his shell.
Thumper was soon showing Bambi how much fun it is to skate on the ice, and I again wondered what would happen when Bambi tired to stand—our hooves are just not built for skating.
My little Bambi made several attempts to stand, all of them failing, but I was proud that he never gave up. Soon, Thumper came to help—which actually turned out to be pretty comical as Bambi only got his hind legs tangled up.
Thumper helped him untangle, and finally, to my surprise, Bambi actually held his balance for a few moments. Then, I was more surprised when Thumper gave my little one a push, surely that wouldn't help his balance!
They began to skate toward the edge of the pond, and I nearly smiled, but then my son started to wobble and look a little petrified—I, naturally, tensed up in expectation of the two boys hitting the bank.
They did just that and I finally smiled. They were both just fine.