When Nature Attacks George R. Frost   © Copyright 2025 by George R. Frost

Photo by Stefanos Nt on Unsplash.

When Nature attacks, we are usually the losers especially when we are facing a massive ferocious creature, but in my encounter, the creature was far from massive or all that ferocious, but it turned out make quiet an impression, nonetheless.

Spending my time, residing and wandering the redwood forests around the Russian River, my encounter with a truly wild animal occurred in the middle of Santa Rosa, California. It happened while I was driving a van to an Alcohol Anonymous (AA) meeting from R-House with a group of adolescent boys in our recovery reprogram. R-House was a United Way residential treatment facility for juvenile substance offenders. There were about twenty to thirty boys aged twelve to eighteen years old who had been placed in our facility by juvenile courts throughout the state. Due to gang violence, we did not accept any juvenile offenders, however, from Los Angeles County.

The behavioral program we used was based on a Twelve Step program. The boys were promoted by achieving some of the goals in their program. One of the goals was to attend AA meetings in the local area. On-duty staff were responsible for driving them to the meetings.

I worked for R-House in the Rincon Valley east of Santa Rosa, California for about a year when I was assaulted by Nature in a totally unexpected and unprovoked attack. To this day, I still have nightmares of this traumatic event.

“It’s your turn to take the boys to a meeting tonight.” My boss told me while he was preparing to leave for the day.

“Sure, no problem.” I shrugged.

“There’s one over by the Walgreens on Piner Road.” He said closing his briefcase.

“Yeah, I know that one. Took them to a meeting there a couple weeks ago.”

“Well, I’ve got to skedaddle, got a meeting with some sponsors this evening.” He coughed into his hand. Short and squat, he carried himself with the confidence of a much taller man. He also knew a lot of people in the local area who were involved in the Twelve Step program. As the program director of R-House, he made sure his staff had all the information about AA and Narcotics (NA) Anonymous meetings schedules in Santa Rosa.

The early evening shift that I was on was tasked to make sure the boys got to a meeting. Since our behavioral program was structured on the Twelve Step developed by Bill Wilson, we had to make sure the tenants of the program were followed to the letter.

After dinner, I would load up one of the two vans in the parking lot and drive them to an AA meeting at Pine Road. As always, the staff prepared dinner with the help of four boys scheduled for kitchen duty. The rest of the boys would be served in a single file line like a school cafeteria. With their trays in hand, we would scoop dinner out onto their tray from the steam table. According to the schedule, which had to follow to the letter, I would get them in the van by 6:30 pm and drive them to be at the meeting which 7pm.

According to the schedule, it was the “top of the house’s” turn to go with me to the meeting on Pine Rd. Top of the house were the boys who had been in the program long enough to achieve a rank designated by the color of the shirt they wore. The higher their ranking, the more privileges they were allowed. There were seven boys ranked at the top of the house. At the meeting they would be allowed to drink the coffee and partake of whatever pastries were available. Every meeting I had been to included coffee and confectionaries of some sort. There was also a smoking area, where the boys were allowed to smoke one cigarette during the break in the meeting.

When 6:30 arrived, the boys filed into the van. They also could also wear their own clothing and not one of the sweatshirts given to them by the program. They like this privilege the most, because they could wear their own clothing, For most of them this meant they would dress to the nines in case they met some attendees of the opposite sex to converse with. The van quickly filled with the aroma of seven different combating colognes that could make your eyes water.

“I am going to get my chip.” One of them said proudly. In the tradition of AA, recovery chips were a big deal. They were given for designated lengths of sobriety.

“Congratulations.” I smiled at him as we drove out of the parking lot.

“I’m getting mine in a month.” Another boy, not to be outdone, bragged. Sometimes this could turn into a bragging competition and often did.

“I hope I get to see that.” I made sure to acknowledge these achievements, because to them it was a big deal. Most of them had trouble in school due to some of their substance abuse issues. But most of them had other behavioral reasons as well. Any positive things they did needed to be celebrated, because most of them lacked any positive reinforcement in their past lives. Sadly, home and school had been a negative experience for them.

Some of them were from Richmond or Martinez where the gangs ruled the streets. During the group process, I had two boys in rival gangs. On the street, these boys would try to kill each other. A few had been shot, and a few had been hospitalized with severe injuries from gang rumbles. One of our boys told me that they would beat up anyone who was thinking about jumping out. Jumping out meant that a member wanted to quit the gang. When this happened, the entire gang would line up forming a gauntlet. If the boy survived, he would be allowed to quit or so he thought.

Some of the boys came from Southern California and they were sworn enemies of the boys from Northern California. The border between the geographical groups was somewhere around Santa Barbara.

Having been on staff for over a year, I had one boy on my caseload who was killed in an armed robbery when he left our program. Even the top of the house could find themselves in trouble when they left the program and went back to their old neighborhoods.

“Yeah, if you jump out, they will come for you.” A boy from San Diego once explained in a group, “They will also go after your family.”

“Can we stop and get some candy?” asked the boy who was at the top of the house.

“I don’t have time for that.” I shook my head.

“We won’t take that long.” He pleaded.

“Sorry guys, no stopping tonight.” I shot him a sidelong glance.

“I’m gonna drink a whole pot of coffee.” The boy next to him professed.

“No, one cup of coffee.” I held up my index finger to emphasize my point.

“Ahhh, you’re no fun.” He whined.

“Fun is not the reason we go to these meetings.” I turned on Pine Road.

“Yeah, maybe I’ll meet a fine-looking woman.” The boy in the back seat laughed.

“Remember what we are going there for.” I reminded everyone.

I heard him chuckle again. There are just some things that you cannot completely control, but I have been to a lot of meetings with a lot of different boys. Most of them would choke if they encountered a pretty woman while they were getting coffee.

As we drove down Pine Rd., the hospital was on the left, but on the right, there were a lot of blinking hazard signs as road construction crews worked on the potholes earlier in the afternoon. The crew had gone home for the day, so akk that was left were the yellow blinking lights. Nonetheless, I had to navigate through the maze the blinking lights the crew had left behind. I was busy making sure I got the van through the narrow obstructions.

I had my hand resting on the driver’s side mirror as I passed through the obstacles. At that moment, I felt a sharp pain in my elbow. It felt like my arm bone was being violently forced through my shoulder blade. I cried out in pain as I came to a stop and looked over my shoulder to see what I had struck. Cursing to myself, I figured I had hit one of those stupid blinking light barriers.

But I could not believe what I saw. Sitting by the side of the road a few feet from the van was a young deer. This yearling with antlers still covered with fuzz, . shook his head for a moment before standing and running off into the trees on the right side of the road. I could not believe it. That young buck had charged the van removing the side mirror where my hand had rested just a moment before impact and left the mirror hanging by a wire on the side panel.

“What happened?” Inquired the top of the house.

“We got hit by a deer.” I answered still in shock.

“No way.” He shook his head and laughed.

“Afraid so.” I exhaled, but my head was weak from spinning. When I examined my elbow, I saw it was quite bloody. We had just passed the hospital.

“Man, that’s messed up.” Another boy was pointing to my bloody elbow.

When I looked again, I saw a sizeable dent and specks of missing white paint. I did not know what to do. If I took them to the meeting, I might pass out. The safe course was to drive back to the R-House. With my head still spinning I decided to do the latter.

I pulled into the hospital parking lot to turn around and drive back to the facility.

“Aren’t we going to the meeting.” He asked with question mark expression spread out on his face.

“No, I need to get back. I am not feeling so good.” I took another deep breath, but my head continued to spin. I was overcome with feeling I was about to pass out. He looked disappointed, but he understood the predicament I was in. He knew my elbow was bleeding and my face was ghost white.

“A deer? A deer hit the van?” One of the boys in the back seemed quite perplexed by the whole thing. The place where he was from did not have deer and trees.

“Yup.” I could feel the pain surge through my injured arm. I hoped I could make it back to R-House.

“Aw that’s so messed up.” He shook his head.

“It sure is.” I admitted. Santa Rosa is a fairly large town, perhaps not as big as Oakland or San Francisco sixty miles south, but nearly half a million called it home.

“What are you doing here?” One of the staff asked me when I pulled the van into the parking lot.

“I got hit by a deer.” I told her.

“You hit a deer?” She could not believe it, her mouth hung open in complete shock.

“No, the deer charged the van. Look the mirror is broke.” I pointed to the mirror as it clung to the van by a single wire.

“Holy shit, it’s broken.” She marveled as she inspected the damage more closely.

“Yeah, the deer charged it.” I showed her my bloody elbow. “And he got me too.”

“When nature attacks.” She mumbled to herself and then chuckled.

“It can be painful.” I acknowledged. When I leaned up against the van, I left a blood print where my elbow rested.

“What the heck?” She noticed my blood smear on the door. “You got to go to the hospital.”

“No, I’ll be alright.” I shook my head.

“No, it’s still bleeding.” She sniffed. “You’ve got go.”

“What are they gonna do?” I shrugged.

“Put something on it to make you stop bleeding.” She put her hand to her mouth hiding her grin indicating she thought I was just being stupid. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps I needed to have this wound looked at. It still hurt every time I moved my arm. The young buck had hit me with a force I had never experienced before. What was he doing in the middle of the city? Was he lying in wait targeting the next vehicle that wound its way through the maze of blinking yellow lights? Whatever the motive, this was just another episode of “it only happens to me.”

“But if I leave, we will be short a staff.” I argued.

“We can handle it.” She nodded. “Now go.”

“Alright. I’ll be back shortly.” I said as I got into my car to drive to the hospital where I was attacked by nature.

When I got to the hospital, I was the only patient in the waiting room. The nurse called in after a few minutes of waiting.

“What do we have here?” The doctor asked as I took a seat on the examination table.

“I got it by a deer out in front of this hospital.” I held my elbow out so he could see.

“So, you hit a deer?” He squinted as he looked at my wound.

“No, no, the deer charged the van I was driving.” I was being a bit defensive. If he was going to write a report, I wanted it to be accurate. This was not a case of me carelessly hitting a wild animal. The whole thing was his fault. I wanted to be sure that was clearly understood.

“I see.” He gave me a dubious glance as if he did not believe my side of the event. “Not to worry. It’s a clean wound. A few stitches and you’ll be as good as new. So, this deer was right out in front of this hospital?”

“Yes, took off my side mirror, too.” I winced as he applied a disinfectant.

“Hmpt, curious.” I saw him holding the needle. I had to look away as I was already feeling queasy. I felt the first poke, but the numbing agent he had put on my elbow began to work. I did not feel the poke of the needle anymore. When he finished, he put a gauze wrap over the stitches.

“I did not expect that.” I inhaled deeply, still trembling a bit. “He came out of nowhere.”

“One of the nurses saw some deer in the parking lot the other day.” He began to put a bandage on my elbow. “I thought they only lived in the woods.”

It was strange since living out there in my cabin, I had not seen a single deer or any antlered creatures. I am sure they were there, but they had stayed out of sight. I felt they sensed the inherent hazards of mingling with humans.

“I guess we never know what will happen, eh?” He tapped me on the shoulder, “You are free to go home and heal.”

“Thanks doc.” I stood up feeling still a little wobbly.

“Watch out for deer.” He chuckled.

“It’d be different if you had seen what happened.” I thought to myself as I left.

I drove back to R-House and was greeted by some of the boys who asked, “Did you really hit a deer in the van?”

“No, the deer charged the van.” I sighed. Why did everyone assume that it was my fault?

“Yeah, sure.” One of them gave me that look again.

“You need to go home.” She told me as she rounded up the boys for their bedtime routine. “Is everything alright?”

“I’ll be alright.” I nodded my head. “Thanks. I still feel a bit woozy.”

“We got this, you need to go home.” She shook her head.

“Still go home before something else jumps out of the woods to get you.” She laughed. The other two staff in the house waved to me. I could see both laughing. I was glad my accident caused such jocularity.

“Maybe I will go home.” I sighed again trying not to blush.

“See ya, tomorrow.” She waved as I got in my car and drove away. When I got home, Jordan, my Labrador greeted me as she always did. She sniffed my bandage with her tail wagging.

“C’mon girl, it’s time for bed.”

There was no argument. I was asleep as my head hit the pillow.

When I drove to R-House the next day for my shift, the boss greeted me in the parking lot. He had been examining the damage on the van.

“Hey there, Deerslayer.” He laughed, but his laugh was meant to make me feel ridiculous about the whole thing. And I did.

“Very funny.” I rolled my eyes. I had a feeling that this joke would have an extra long life, becoming somewhat legendary.

“So, did you hit the deer?” He took a quick glance at the mirror and the dent.

“Nooo, he hit me.” I explained. “He charged the van on the way to the meeting.”

His puzzled expression told me, like everyone else, he did not really believe me. He laughed again. I knew this would not be the last time.

When Nature attacks you must be prepared, because you never know where and when it will happen. I had learned my lesson the hard way, that’s for sure, But I could not help feeling that this was just another “it could only happen to me” thing.