The Barn Owl Slept
The barn owl slept. It was almost dusk, almost time for her nightly hunt in the nearby fields on the edge of the woods. She woke briefly when she heard the man come in, the familiar sound of heavy footsteps and something large being dragged across the dirt floor. She opened one eye, and promptly went back to sleep. The man never bothered her, nor did his prey, and she never bothered the man. She’d lived in the barn rafters for several months, and never saw anyone other than the man- not alive and not whole, anyway. He only visited the barn once a month or so, and when she returned in the mornings the bag and the barn were empty.
