The Woods invite you in but they never ask you to stay the graceful couple you’ve always admired and wanted to know better thank you for having us, you have a beautiful home. conversation over drinks is brilliant, revealing; specks of light on the forest floor the children run away to explore the hidden hollows of the house and you are happy to let them. then dinner: modest and memorable only recalled as a collection of sensations rather than as a meal. friends drop by unexpectedly, and hold hushed conversations with the hosts before rushing off the Birds, casual and loquacious, but shy the Deer, you’ve always wanted to be closer to and those more sinister and silent who you never see, but rather…