The Tie that didn’t Bind

 

The Tie that didn’t Bind

When Michelle and I met and began dating, her youngest brother Brian was still in high school.  We got married in June.  I asked Michelle’s brother Brad to stand up for our wedding because he, more than anyone else, went out of his way to make me feel welcomed into the family.  But with Brian, while I wouldn’t say that our relationship was tense, at least for me, he wasn’t the easiest personality to get close to.  But, I thought I stumbled across just the thing to bring us closer together as November came around.

I am a hunter, and I’m especially fond of hunting deer.  I asked Brian if he was planning on hunting deer.  For the first time I heard him speak with real interest and excitement about something.  I had noticed the old school bus parked behind the grain shed.  Brian explained that he was planning on driving the bus out into the woods up north and using it as a base camp for he and several friends.

It was a couple of weeks later before we got back up to my in-law’s farm north of Suring.  We found Brian in a funk.  Everything had fallen through with his big hunting plans.  It started to go bad when they couldn’t get the old bus to start.  Then one friend dropped out which caused another to drop out.  When my father-in-law nixed their last-gasp plan to tow the school bus that was the last straw.  “You can always come along with me,” I offered.  Brian looked surprised.  My wife Michelle looked surprised.  “Sure,” Brian finally said, “thanks.”  Then he hurried out to the barn to do chores.

“You do know that Brian doesn’t really hunt?”  Michelle’s question caught me off-guard.  “He and his buddies just use the bus as an excuse to get away for a weekend and drink beer.”  Now I was the one surprised.  “Why did he accept my invitation then?” I asked.  “I expect he just didn’t know how to say no.” Michelle answered with a shoulder shrug. 

I suspected Michelle was right when later that evening when I explained to Brian that I was planning on going up to the Thunder River in the morning to scout out a hunting spot and build a blind and invited him along.  He said that he really couldn’t make it.  So, I drove up to the Thunder River by +-myself, scouted out the area and built two blinds – one for me and the other for Brian. 

When Michelle and I arrived at my in-law’s the night before the Saturday opening day, Brian was already gone and out with friends.  When I turned in for bed Brain hadn’t yet come home.  My alarm went off very early as I had planned in the 40 minutes or so it would take us to drive to where we would hunt and then it would be another half hour or so walk into the blinds.  I wanted to be all settled in before daylight, so I left a note on the kitchen table for Brian that we would leave about 4:30 AM.  I finished breakfast and Brian still wasn’t up, so I went upstairs to wake him.  He was snoring soundly and it took quite a bit of shaking to finally wake him.  I packed a lunch for both of us by the time he finally made it downstairs.

The drive was pretty quiet with Brain’s chin resting on his chest and with him snoring again, the conversation was a bit one-sided.  But when I turned into the little clearing and shut off the car Brain finally perked up.  We grabbed our gear; I switched my flashlight on and headed into the woods.  In about twenty minutes we came to the stand that I made for Brain.  “I’ll see you at dark,” I said as I headed deeper into the woods where I had built my own blind.

The day was a quiet one.  My only sightings were of one doe with a fawn and one other hunter.  I didn’t hear any shooting from Brian’s direction either.  When legal hunting hours were over I gathered up my stuff and headed out.  As I neared Brian’s blind I could see him standing about thirty yards from his blind staring in my direction.  I waved.  He came walking out to me like he was anxious to tell me something.  I wondered if he had shot a deer and somehow I had mistaken the shot as being from a different direction.  When I was still twenty feet from him I could see the concern on his face.  “I thought something happened to you,” he gushed.  “No,” I replied casually.  We walked back out to the car. 

About ten minutes into our ride back to the farm Brian said, “When you said that you would see me at dark this morning, I thought you were kidding.”  “No,” I smiled; “I always hunt the full day.”  “Well, I spent more time in the woods today than I have in my whole life!”  I had to chuckle.            

The next morning when I tried to wake Brian he groaned sleepily that he wasn’t going hunting.  I wasn’t surprised.  I didn’t try to convince him otherwise.  I knew that deer hunting was not going to be the tie that binds us.

His Peace <><

Deacon Dan    

Photo by Steven Cordes on Unsplash