It was Spring of 1999 when Anna found the fawn, alone and dying in the grassy paddock of Unicorn Hollow, her farm in bucolic Tewksbury, New Jersey. The sick baby triggered vivid memories of her own catastrophic injuries as a small child, and their bond grew strong.
Named Blossom, the pet fawn thrives and matures into a sleek doe with a big personality. She lives in and out of the house--never choosing between her wild herd or the human family who raised her. Protecting a deer within a rural hunting community soon turns into a drama with many ramifications.
Notoriety makes Blossom a target--to look at--or shoot at. Newspaper articles started the conversation. Neighbors and hunters joined up to protect the "Wild Ambassador of Tewksbury." Others bragged about using Blossom as bait and laughed about "Blossom burgers."
"Please Don't Shoot Blossom" posters pop up everywhere--in neighborhood shops and restaurants--on trees adjacent to hunting stands deep in the woods.
On September 11, 2001, families in Tewksbury suffered devastating losses from the terrorist attack in nearby NYC. Coping with grief becomes a community reality, and Blossom becomes a sort of touchstone for hope and healing.
Blossom is five when an orphaned male fawn, rescued from drowning, is brought to Anna's barn. "Baby Boomer" becomes part of the family, delighting all with his young-buck antics. Two deer sporting reflective collars now graced the Tewksbury landscapes. One with itchy antlers. Boomer and Blossom are inseparable.
A persistent stalker starts a campaign of terrifying warnings. "Say goodbye to your deer today," he says. "She'll be dead by dark."
Neighborhood friends jump to the alert when the pair go missing. Local hunters, fond of Blossom, watch out for their "Wild Ambassador." The police, however, cannot be bothered. "It's just a deer." The first day of the bow-hunting season, Blossom returns home, alone, her mouth and tongue bloodied. Embedded in her cheek is a long piece of wood with a bright blue stripe at one end.
Reality must be faced.
A month later, Blossom brings Baby Boomer home--with an arrow through his back! With each agonizing step the embedded arrowhead slices through his shoulder. A veterinarian volunteers to operate, but the X-rays are not encouraging.
It's Christmas. Unicorn Hollow, normally a mélange of intermittent rustlings, pawings, and murmurings, stands mute when Anna, Blossom at her side, finds Boomer's blood-stained collar shoved into the mailbox.
As if weeping--or perhaps merely saying goodbye--Mother Nature begins to snow. Blossom steps towards the woods and her wild herd.
Just behind the stone wall, she pauses, turns to look at Anna ...
Author Biography:
Anna Carner, Author Bio Blossom The Wild Ambassador of Tewskbury As one of the first paramedics in Florida in the late 70s, Anna volunteered with several Fire Rescue squads during the tumultuous Cuban Mariel boatlift exodus and Miami riots. She was awarded a special commendation by the Mayor of Miami for her "Good Samaritan" efforts. Another life change led to several years of living in the Bahamas, on a sailboat, Spindrift, with her husband and young son, Glen. Home-schooling, scuba diving and exploring were interspersed with true medical emergencies-where her training proved crucial to people living in the remote outer islands. Anna, her husband Pino, and a menagerie of animals moved to the community of nature-loving enthusiasts in Tewksbury, New Jersey, in '98. Raising alpacas and competitive endurance trail riding became Anna's passions. Long hours spent at growing their home-based business resulted in the creation of the Unicorn family of leather care and natural fiber cleaning products. Anna wrote all marketing and advertising materials as well as the patent for the Leather Therapy Treatment process, which brought leather care into the home laundry. Successful appearances on QVC in the USA and Home Shopping TV in Canada followed. Then, Blossom, the wild deer, came into their lives in 1999 ... Jeanne Hamilton Troast allowed me to share her inspiring poems within the pages of Blossom The Wild Ambassador of Tewksbury. Jeanne experienced Blossom's magic, up close, and was able to translate her emotions and observations of nature, wildlife, and humanity into verse. Born the eldest of three girls into a military family, Jeanne spent her childhood living between Naval Air Stations across the United States. Her love for the diversity of the people of America led to a degree in Anthropology and photojournalism at Douglas College. Jeanne was awarded a scholarship by Rutgers to travel the farmlands of New Jersey as a photojournalist specializing in written ethnographies of the people of these communities. In later years she lived and recorded the various field sports of her hometown of Tewksbury, New Jersey. Her photos are featured in "The History Of The Essex Fox Hounds," and pictures of the Tewksbury Foot Bassets. Jeanne now resides with her husband David at Cloverfield's Farm in Deerfield, Virginia. D.S. Johnson has won numerous awards for her designs and book cover creations. She is also a writer of sci-fi fantasy genre. Her bio can be found at http: //www.dsjohnsonbooks.com
