Leonardo

”Wakey, wakey lazy girls.”

“Ugh! Leo let us sleep.”

“C’mon Caitlyn. You and Dorothy do this every time.”

“We only do it because you punk out each time. By the way, you’re always the one who suggests these ‘camping trips’ so it’s even more your fault.”

“That hurts you know. But, fair enough.” Leo said knowing she was right.

“Whatever! You already bothered. Dorothy, c’mon wake up.”

“You too huh? At least before now you were on my side.”

“Well, if I have to deal with him, so do you.”

“Hey. You guys were friends first.” Dorothy said

“Alright you two, you can stop fighting over me and my friendship. We’re all friends now.”

Leo was the friend who bugged everyone, but was still somehow most loved. As an owl, I never understood how that made sense, much less did I understand how it could happen.

“Well can someone at least help me figure out where my phone is?” Dorothy asked

“It should be right beside your pillow. I mean, I know you play on it till you fully pass out.” Caitlyn played

Dorothy did nothing more than sit up and turned to briefly check both her sides.

“I know, but it’s not here. Can you call it Leo?”

He called. It went straight to her voicemail. I guess she played on it too much. The battery must’ve run out because I’m sure she wouldn’t have been without it willingly.

“Get up you guys. Help me find it!” She exclaimed almost ready to cry I think

I yelled right then. They turned their heads in my direction and looked for me instead of Dorothy's phone for just a moment. They quickly caught me because they knew my face.

“Hey look, it’s that barn owl.” Leo smiled. It seemed as if he was always happy to see me

“Oh yeah. Funny. It seems like he’s here every time we come.” Dorothy mentioned

“Wouldn’t you guys guess he lives here? I mean, of course he’s always here.” Caitlyn added with a voice so unamused

“What Leo and I mean Ms. Debby Downer is that one way or another it’s like he always makes sure to say ‘hi’. On top of that, we’ve been coming here for like, five years now. That’s a long time for a barn owl to stick around.”

“I mean, I guess. But then again maybe it’s always a different owl. Don’t you guys think they all look the same?”

“No! Plus, Leonardo would’ve said goodbye. He likes us, even you Caitlyn.”

“Uhh, Leo, when did we name him after you?” Dorothy wondered

“We didn’t. Not exactly. You guys call me Leo so I figured we’d at least use Leonardo for our little friend there. It is a cool name.”

Just as Dorothy was going to say something I yelled again and I flew a little closer. I turned my head and yelled again. They caught on and noticed I was showing them where Dorothy left her cellphone.

She did a little jog to go grab it. Amazed, she said a thank you to me and I nodded back. That surprised her more and put a great smile on her face. I was glad to be responsible for that.

“Oh my gosh guys, did you see that? Leonardo said ‘You’re Welcome’ to me!”

They were both pretty shocked to see an animal making conversation-to his best ability. Caitlyn of course didn’t care much to admit it.

They packed up their tent, which was useless to them because sleeping on hey in a barn is hardly camping. And they gathered their sleeping bags, food, and of course their phones.

About six months later my favorite trio came back. It was quite strange and peculiar to me because their ‘camping trips’ were annual. I really only expected to see them once in a year. Every so often they’d be lounging around for an hour or two during lunch time, but never the three of them in the evening.

“Here’s your ten bucks Caitlyn.” I could just feel Dorothy rolling her eyes

“Wait. What? Why do you owe her ten bucks?” Leo asked

“‘Cause the two of us made a bet if you’d punk out again on staying in the woods to actually go camping. Not just come to our barn, which is maybe a twenty-five minute drive away from your house.”

“You guys honestly feel like it’s a sure think that I won’t stay all night in the woods?” Leo was frustrated

“Uhh, well, yeah.” Both the girls admitted

“Well you know what Caitlyn, give back that money. We’re driving back to that camping site!” Leo demanded

“C’mon Leo it’s not like that. We just know you’re used to coming here because it feels more safe than woods you’ve never legitimately been to.” Dorothy said trying to pick up the mess she half made

“At least, not in the nighttime.” Caitlyn added in. She definitely wasn’t helping

“Nope. You guys did mean it like that! We’re going back and you’ll see, I’m not some sort of scaredy-cat!”

Before storming back off, Leo turned around and looked up to the corner opposite mine.

“Sorry we can’t stay this time Leonardo. Turns out I’m on an important mission. We’ll be back to see you, I promise.”

Leo went stomping off rather angry, but I could tell also embarrassed. The girls looked at each other and hung their heads low for a second then looked back up and followed behind.

I was curious as to how things would play out myself, so after a few moments of consideration I widened my wings and took off. I didn’t have to fly far to spot their car, especially because that was the only car on the road. I flew a slower pace than usual. I guess never having followed a car, I didn’t realize how much faster I am.

They pulled over next to an area that I visited often. There’s a babbling stream not too far and at sunset the rays hit me just right and the warmth feels lovely.

The three of them weren’t arguing as they got out and started to take down their things. Mainly Leo was expressing his embarrassment through angry actions and typical words like “I can’t believe you guys.”

I did have a special place in my little barn owl heart for Leo, and it was beside the fact that he named me. A youthful innocent boy and an old wise owl just fit together somehow. The girls were adorable, but living in the real world-the world everyone lives in-not in a wondrous world all their own.

“You know Leo, I don’t look at you like a scaredy-cat,” Caitlyn started “just the guy who knows he doesn’t have to prove anything.”

“Maybe that’s true. But you guys sure made that seem like a lie.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“You’re fine. I’m not mad, maybe still a little fired up, but not mad.”

“So we can go back to the barn then?”

“Oh! I see what this is.” Leo laughed as he realized “You and Dorothy are the little scaredy-cats. You two just like to pin it on me. Well I say no, we’re going to actually camp for once. ”

Dorothy came out of nowhere “Leo it’s like she said. You don’t have anything to prove; plus we’re sorry!”

“Doesn’t matter. We’ve spent all this gas anyway.”

The three of them resolved things real quick. They all seemed a bit frightened but I’m sure it was a lot better because they had each other. They even stargazed and stayed off their phones. Just before they went to sleep I was making screeches and chirps.

“You know, it is a shame we couldn’t see Leonardo though.” Surprisingly it was Caitlyn who said that

“Yeah. I’m sure he’d protect us.” Dorothy laughed “watch out for snakes and all those things.” Everyone just sat and stared into the camp fire. They listened to it crackle. “Hey Leo, I bet he’d even sit with you since Caitlyn and I always sleep late.”

He chuckled slightly “Yeah I bet he would. Well I don’t want to give you girls much more of a reason to do that so let’s hit the sacks.”

“Sounds good to me.”

It didn’t take long for Leo to climb right out of his tent to use the restroom. But after that he went down to the stream to listen to the calming water. I flew down almost alongside him. He turned back but before he started walking, I flew right to him and chirped. He smiled

“Thanks for coming Leo.” I watched him walk off but he turned around and told me “I knew you came with us you know?”

He walked back to his tent for real that time with quite the smirk on his face.