I was born on March 17, 1980, in a grassy meadow on a warm, sunny spring day. I was born along with a brother and a sister, and I am the oldest of the three of us. But when I stood up I wobbled around and fell. When I regained my balance I ate some grass.Whenever my mother licked me I would lose my balance and fall down again. Mother showed us how to tear bark off trees, how to swim and many other things. I learned to swim a few days after I was born. As the days went by I felt myself growing and swimming longer distances. My mother, brother, sister and I walked all over the area. We saw all kinds of birds and other animals of different colors, shapes and sizes. The weather was warm and the sun shined almost everyday. There was no snow or ice anywhere because it was now summertime. The grass was greener and the leaves grew on the trees. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life, and we all enjoyed ourselves by going swimming and running around in the tundra and willows.

One day we saw a whole lot of people-beings in their boats speeding past us. Some even stopped to check us out. We saw them, but we didn't run away. They left after taking a couple of pictures of us. The summer went by really fast, and it felt like only yesterday when summer began. It went by so quickly, it felt like I didn't do anything all summer. Now it was almost fall and it was getting cooler every day. Pretty soon, mother told us, it would be hunting season. According to what she said, it would be in about a week. The month of August was almost over. While we were out looking around we saw a couple of people walking in the trees carrying what looked like bows. Mother said our species would be hunted in September, and I wondered if we were we being hunted already. They were coming closer and I stood there frozen with fear. What were we to do? Then all of a sudden there was a flash in front of me. They were just picture takers and took a couple of pictures of me and my family, then left. But my mother told me not to let their friendliness fool me. Hunting season was right around the corner. Then continued walking around the country for a long time, eating and sleeping.

The next morning it was cold out, and, on top of all that, it was the beginning of hunting season. Soon we heard a boat on the river next to the island we were on, then footsteps in the trees ahead of us and branches breaking and leaves crunching. The sound was getting closer and closer. Suddenly we heard the, "click," of a gun loading. Then we heard someone say, "We can't shoot them!" Then, "Why not?" Then, "There's a cow and her young ones." Then, "But look at those two good looking bulls." Finally, the guy who didn't want to shoot them said, "I'm sure we'll see some more." And they all left. Boy was that a close one, I thought. We made sure that was the only time we were seen that season.

It was now winter. The months had gone by so quickly that it seemed like yesterday was fall. I got up one morning and looked around, and there was snow on the ground everywhere, and on top of the trees, and it was still falling. I guess winter was here to stay. Mother said that we now had to go to an island where we could find more of everything we needed. When we came to a place called Cukaq, we thought it was too open, so we moved to another place called Kwik. On our little journey we came upon another small herd of several moose running toward us. In the distance we could see that one moose had just been killed by people riding around in snow machines. In some of their sleds we saw butchered moose meat. We got out of there fast.

Later in the winter the sun started shining strong again and soon the snow melted. It was getting warmer and warmer, and summer was coming. During the warm days I knew the routine, so my mother said that we were going to have to part. Brother and sister didn't want to, but mother was firm about it. So we each went off in different directions.

I lived a pretty normal life during the summer. My head started aching, and soon enough I was wearing antlers. When hunting season opened up again I saw a hunter walking around in the trees. I started to run, but he saw me. When I stopped and turned to look back, he shot me in the leg and wounded me. It healed in a couple of weeks, but while I was walking around in the meadow eating grass, I heard this loud BANG! I felt a stabbing pain in my leg, then in my neck, and I fell down. I could feel the life draining out of me as a hunter came up to me and aimed a gun at my head. Then there was another loud bang, and I lost consciousness.