Juan Hurtado

An Owl and a Vole

Every night, the old barn owl soars over a groaning mire of gnarled branches. Beneath him, an ensemble of unnameable squawks and howls ring out from all directions, each signalling its own dramatic scene along one of the countless life stories unraveling somewhere in the woods. Only hunger and primeval joy propel the owl below into the unknown, sending him down to pluck doomed little denizens from their forest homes before fear forces his retreat to the upper canopy.