Shakila Miah

The Voice of a Deer
Long ago in Bangladesh, Nural Miah's grand father hunted birds in the jungle. The tradition lapsed when the family came to New York, until Mr. Miah, an audiovisual technologist at the World Trade Center, took it up with a fire-hot passion. He taught hunting to Mohammed Sadat, his 15- year-old cousin, and took him on weeklong hunting vacations.

"We expressed our feelings," Mohammed said. "We both talked about whatever we had on our minds. Three years ago, he talked about this girl, Shakila. The parents didn't want her to get married to him. So he would leave a deer caller on the machine and when she heard the deer's voice, she'd know."

But Mohammed worried last year when Mr. Miah said he and Shakila were to be married. She was a computer technician who also worked at the trade center. "I confronted my cousin," he said. "I said, 'You're going to be married and leave me?' "

Instead, Mrs. Miah drew Mohammed in, inviting him into their new Brooklyn home, furnished with antiques and eight-point antlers. The hunting in the woods, just Mr. Miah and Mohammed, continued. "It was peaceful," he said. "All about nature. All about relaxing. He watched out for me. He was like a brother."