Mysterious visitor/alien? boy jumps like a deer - rural setting pre-1998
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1spegan
This was either a fictional short story or excerpt we read in adv English when I was in 7th grade so 97/98. Written for teens or young adults I would guess. I mistakenly thought it was called "The Door" so either that relates in the way of a chapter title or the actual title or it's a red herring (I hope not!)
I think it was was set in the rural Midwest like Nebraska/Iowa or something with fields and rolling hills of grass. There was a family maybe with some young children and this boy suddenly shows up who is very strange like an alien and maybe has amnesia (so they think?). He looks like a normal boy but acts quite strange. They take him in and try to make sense of it all like where he came from and how to get him back home etc.
I recall a scene where the mother is looking out the kitchen and sees the boy jump effortlessly over a fence the way a deer would so it was a real shock to her. Later the boy says something along the lines of "if only they could figure out how to loosen their tendons they could jump high like a deer too" as if it were so easy! Maybe there is a theme of we have lost connection with nature or our true potential although I do think it took place on a farm and it seemed like the setting could have been in the 1970s... so I'm reaching there.
I don't remember the end but it seems like eventually the boy disappears or leaves or "goes home" but all I've mentioned above is my best evidence that I didn't dream this all up :)
I thought it was intriguing at the time and always remembered bits of it but I guess not enough to know the title/author. I even bought what I thought was the proper textbook online recently and still couldn't find a trace of it!
I know it isn't much but I hope someone can help out! Many thanks!!
I think it was was set in the rural Midwest like Nebraska/Iowa or something with fields and rolling hills of grass. There was a family maybe with some young children and this boy suddenly shows up who is very strange like an alien and maybe has amnesia (so they think?). He looks like a normal boy but acts quite strange. They take him in and try to make sense of it all like where he came from and how to get him back home etc.
I recall a scene where the mother is looking out the kitchen and sees the boy jump effortlessly over a fence the way a deer would so it was a real shock to her. Later the boy says something along the lines of "if only they could figure out how to loosen their tendons they could jump high like a deer too" as if it were so easy! Maybe there is a theme of we have lost connection with nature or our true potential although I do think it took place on a farm and it seemed like the setting could have been in the 1970s... so I'm reaching there.
I don't remember the end but it seems like eventually the boy disappears or leaves or "goes home" but all I've mentioned above is my best evidence that I didn't dream this all up :)
I thought it was intriguing at the time and always remembered bits of it but I guess not enough to know the title/author. I even bought what I thought was the proper textbook online recently and still couldn't find a trace of it!
I know it isn't much but I hope someone can help out! Many thanks!!
2MissSquish
The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key.
