While Sarah, Steve and Jack worked on Christmas decor in the living room, Kat pulled out a small spell book and studied it for a few moments.
"Hey Sarah?" she said, "I found what really went wrong before with your deer head..." "Yeah? What's that?" asked Sarah, curiously.
"With the spell that allowed it to feel... Thing is that I didn't leave it any outlet, at all. Now that it can talk on occasion, we can put it back under the spell so it can feel. I think it's a good idea, so it is always reminded of its place."
"Um, ok," said Sarah. "That's fine.... I mean, that won't affect us at all, right?" "Right," Kat replied.
"And he'll still be able to talk?" Sarah asked. "Yes," Kat replied, "It will still be able to speak, but it will only be able to speak when spoken to. And I'm leaving the opposite spell on it because... Well, because honestly it's much more pleasant for us. It can speak it's mind, giving it that outlet I mentioned, but it will continue to come out opposite."
"Ok, sounds fine to me," said Sarah, "By the way, why are you now referring to Dan as 'it?'" "Because it's a deer," said Kat, "or it was... now it's venison in the freezer, suede leather on our dining room seat cushions, and a trophy buck head. I'm reading up on this and it's best not to give any idea to it that it's even approaching equal status to us. We are human.... It is food. We don't typically name our food, right?"
"Makes sense," Sarah responded, "It's a deer like any other... except that this particular one has a different kind of spirit?" "Exactly," said Kat, "So we will treat it just like any other deer that you would have shot. To you, and to us, that's all it is."
Sarah asked Kat, "And you don't feel even the slightest bit guilty about this?" "Nope! Not one bit," said Kat, "I took a spirit that should never have been human, and released it as an animal. So that would-be human has never existed. Just so happens that animal is the one you shot. No biggie. Has no effect on you. Do what you wish with all of it, just like any other. We could release it's spirit again to the wild, but I think we should contain it here until we have a need for that, if you know what I mean."
"Ok," Sarah said, "I understand. I shot a deer, and we're eating it, just like any other. The only 'special' thing here is that we have a trophy buck head that can speak on demand. Like a fun little toy, right?" "Exactly," said Kat.
"So when you want to cook or eat your venison, you cook or eat your venison. That's all it is." Kat confirmed to Sarah.
Steve and Jack heard all this and agreed with Kat's and Sarah's explanations.
"Ok," said Kat, as she closed her spell book, "It's done."