Wondering Eyes: Ending part 3

It had been a strange but, rather interesting two weeks for Marta and Jane. For one thing everyone seemed to accept that there was a female reindeer named Marta and there always had been. 

Marta’s first day as a reindeer was full of lessons and strange new sensations. She found that pulling a sleigh was not that hard and trotting through the fields was almost joyous. She felt Sven next to her and his presence both calmed her and added to the joy of the moment. 

Back at the stable that night, she did start to worry. Fun was fun but, she didn’t want to be a reindeer forever. The calming voice in her head kept her from panicking as did Sven’s presence but, it was weird. Not to mention embarrassing, as far as bodily functions went. Eating was weird too. She expected the hay to be dry and inedible but, like the scents around her, the taste was amplified. It tasted earthy with a hint of savory that she found she quite enjoyed. 

But, it was boring. All she could do was stand there with Sven and chew her cud (more embarrassment!) and then lie down to sleep. No phone. No computer. No television. 

Over that night and the nights after she quickly stopped missing the stimulation of her modern human life. She felt more philosophical and, in the privacy of her own head, began to compose poetry about her new situation. Her relationship to Sven grew closer as she began to understand the subtleties of scent and movement that were her new language. Sven was gelded, so their connection was one of friendship that grew pretty deep over the next two weeks. 

Which is not to say she forgot her other best friend. Feeling guilty and worried, Jane, who could be quite convincing, finagled a job at the tree farm working with Astrid and the reindeer. She fed and watered them. She cared for their tack learned to hitch them to the sleigh as well as to drive it. She also brushed them each night (Marta quite enjoyed this). 

On the fist night she worked she’d apologized so much that Marta felt she had to put a stop to it. Marta placed her giant hairy nose against Jane’s mouth and nose and just shook her head, moving Jane’s head at the same time. Jane hugged Marta and cried but, they were tears of relief.

Over the next two weeks, Jane and Marta spent a lot of time together. Jane finally saw that Marta was dealing quite well with being a reindeer. She even seemed to be actively enjoying herself. Each night, Jane would spend a few hours in the barn. Propped on an old wooden chair, she basked in the animal warmth of the stable reading to Marta. Sven was there too but, she felt that he didn’t care much for literature. 

On Christmas Eve, Jane sat reading “ A Christmas Carol”. As midnight approached, she began to doze. Suddenly, there was a very loud and VERY strange noise that caused her to tumble from her chair to the hay. She shook her head and looked up to see that Marta had… changed. 

Jane looked at the new creature which seemed as stunned as she was. It turned it’s confused eyes to Jane and in a slightly huskier version of Martha’s voice said, 

“Oh, my”

ART NOTE: drawing reindeer antlers from the front is REALLY hard. Hope this wasn't too silly. Wanted to keep it light.