West Mississippi Hill country:
 Two days out on a primitive weapons deer hunt  ; Weather the first day was
miserable ; sleet and leaden skys ; the horizon  is right out of Brugel ;
patchy ice clinging to half frozen ground; in little or no day light
It is a day of death...there is no sun  dead leaf and bracken twig litter
the ground under Decembers bare trees I watch   brown ooze and dead grass
percolate around  the soul of my rubber boot  and consider  a worthless
futurnity of  mankinds soul  as I transverse  a shallow creek  worthy of
Dante  and his Styx.
 I am lost I have been seperated from my hunting party since noon; I have an
orange; and a half a canteen of water and a pull of  tobacco for emergency.
The light is falling fast and the only sound I hear is sleet hitting dead
leaves.
Two days ago my wife Belinda mentioned she was going to meet a second time a
teenage couple who we had met who were about to have a baby and were to make
a long story short; giving it up for adoption; when we last left off  the
adoption was off she would notifiey me at deer camp if there was any change .
  That morning had yeiled us only two deer and a large razor back that will
grace the holiday table well ; we will cook it cajun style in the ground  and
have it for new year  feast complete with homemade reisling and new potatoes
in rosemary. I limped my way back to deer camp and found the handwritten note
on the tent flap; It's a Girl...6lbs 15 oz  Mary Stewart Davidson was born
Winter Solstice (full sun) under a full moon.....come home   quick......your
a  father
.....Needless to say I'm devastated and delighted and feel blessed....Mother
and Baby Mary doing well......Best Michael