The Twisted Ones

Mouse leads Officer Bob into the woods, but they find no trace of the deer effigy; he speculates that it might have been a prank made by “kids.” Mouse recounts this theory to Foxy when the latter drops off dinner at her house, but Foxy expresses skepticism. That night, Mouse wakes again to Bongo’s barking and sees the stooped deer she’d noticed before. The next day at the coffee shop, Enid suggests that Mouse look up the county property records to see whose land the effigy was on. In doing so, Mouse discovers that the hill with the carved stones does not exist on any official maps.

That night, Mouse is once again jolted awake by Bongo barking ferociously. At her window, she sees the deer effigy tapping against the glass with the stones tied to its ribs: “It moved like a living thing, like a great bird, turning the skull head on the hanging folds of neck” (151). Horrified, she realizes that the sound of the stones knocking is the tapping noise she believed to be woodpeckers. After the effigy moves out of sight, Mouse hides in a closet with Bongo, resolving to leave for good in the morning.