Beautiful

The barn owl is a beautiful creature that I've loved and admired my entire life. The mixture of colors from grey to brown. The black speckles throughout its body. The beautiful heart-shaped face. The way the pure whiteness of its face distinctly separates it from the rest of its body. His long, beautiful wings and cute little square tail.

The beauty of its flight. The way it soars silently through the air. It's white face and black eye slits leading the way. Its feathered legs dangling in the wind. The little feathered ridge above its bill. Its sharp black talons contrasting beautifully off of its slightly pinkish toes.

I even loved the sound. Many people believe that all owls make that cute little hoot. Not the barn owl though. It lets out a long screech. It pierces my ears sometimes, but I still love to hear it. I love everything about the barn owl.

My mother on the other hand hates the barn owl. She doesn't care about its beauty. She cringes every time that she hears that screech. She tells my sister and I to stay away from it especially at night. I always found it strange that she'd rather us go to the town than near that owl.

My mother was always very protective of my sister and me. Our father was murdered in the subway shortly after we were born. So, it was always just my mother my sister and me. When my father died my mother left the city and moved us out here in the middle of nowhere. There is a small town down the road that we go to quite often. For the most part though we spend our time in the woods.

I love going to the town. That's where my sister and I have lots of fun. We enjoy running around and seeing all of the people. We rarely ever see people at home. We also love the food in the town. Pizza, French fries, burgers you name it. We also love going down by the train tracks and watching all of the trains go bye. To my point though to me the town is much more dangerous than watching the barn owl. My mother still insists that we spend our time at night in the town.

I watch the barn owl as much as I can during the day. It always seems to be hiding though. I spend more time looking for it than I have to watch it. My sister doesn't come with me often because she gets bored. She doesn't share my love for the owl. She doesn't recognize the beauty like I do. But everyday just as the sun starts to go down, there she is. Telling me that it was time to head home.

One day while at dinner I decided to ask my mother about her hate for the owl.

"Mom, I don't understand why you'd let us go to the town at night rather than watch the owl. You said that you moved us out here for our protection. That people were dangerous. That most people didn't like our kind and would try to hurt us. You told us to watch what we eat. That eating certain things at certain times would kill us. You told us that our father was murdered in the subway and yet you allow us to go to the town. The town, where there are plenty of people. Where we eat all kinds of food. Where we play on train tracks very similar to the subway. So, I'm asking why is it that we can go there and not go watch the owl?"

"It's not fair to your sister. You get to spend every day all summer long out there looking for that owl. The owl that only you care about. The owl that your sister doesn't want to see. She spends all day at home with me. So, at night I allow you to go to the town so your sister can enjoy her summer too. I still think that the town is dangerous, that's why I don't want her going there alone."

My mother did have a valid point. The few times she went my sister had spent hours with me looking for the owl. She definitely deserves to enjoy her summer as well. She enjoys going to the city. I enjoy going to the city as well. So, it is something that we can both do together. I would just like to see the owl at night for once.

During the day I waste most of it trying to find him. He doesn't fly much. I've never seen him eat. By the time I find him I only get to watch him basically sleep for about an hour or two. I always hear his screech at night. I've heard people talk about how he's a nighttime animal. I wish that I could talk to him one night. That maybe at night he might come down closer to the ground enough for me to say hello.

I can't even sneak to see him. My sister won't ever give up her night on the town to go watch the owl. She's told me that she'd go to the town by herself but if something was to happen to her, I would never get over that. I've asked my mother to let us go to the town during the day, but she said no. She says that the town is more dangerous for us during the day than it is at night. That people don't really want us around. That they can see us more during the day and will try to hurt us. I've even asked my mother to take my sister to the town so that I could watch the owl. She said that she couldn't because she had gained too much weight. That she was too big to run around the town.

That's when I realized what was wrong with my mother. That's when I understood her problem with the town and with the owl. She was jealous of the owl. I come home every day telling her how beautiful the owl is. I talk about how much I love to just watch it. My mother feels bad about that because she's not very attractive. She's a very dark shade of brown, almost black looking. She has ugly beady eyes. She has big ears and a hairy back. She's gained quite a few pounds living out here in the country and her breast are saggy. She even has ugly bucked teeth. So, I can see why she would be jealous of the beautiful owl.

I also think that I understand now what she means about people not wanting us around. I get what she means by most of the people not wanting to see us. I know why one of them killed my father. It's because they don't like the way that we look. We are ugly to them. My sister and I look just like our mother. I couldn't imagine that our father looked much better. Most of the people that I see in the town are white and tall. Very attractive. Some of them even look better than the beautiful owl. They don't want to see us. They don't like our ugliness. They don't like our color. Especially my mother. Ugly, black, and overweight. No wonder she doesn't want to be seen in the town.

Out of respect for my mother's feelings I stopped talking about the owl so much. I even stopped going out to see him for a little while. I told my sister to cut down on the pizza and all of the food that we eat in the town. I don't want her to get fat. Everything was better. My mother was happier. My sister and I were still having fun in the town. We had even made a few friends out there. They showed us secret pathways and other fun places to go. They even asked us to stay and live with them. I think that my sister even likes one of the boys.

I still hadn't completely forgotten about the owl though. I still wanted to see him at night. I told my mother that I thought that my sister would be fine going to the town alone. That she knew how to be safe. I also told her about our new friends and that they would make sure that she made it back home. My mother still said no. Then she told us a story about the owl.

"Son, I know that you love the owl. That's because you do not know him. You've lived in the city for most of your life and hadn't met many owls. I grew up in the country. I only ended up in the city because your father took me there once, we were together. Before that I've had a few encounters with owls. Matter of fact my dad, your grandfather lost his life protecting me from an owl. Your uncle, my brother disappeared when we were children, and it was rumored that an owl took him. The owl is not a nice animal. It is dangerous. It has very sharp claws and it will attack and eat you."

I didn't believe her. There was no way the owl would ever attack me. And eat me? She couldn't be serious. I see people in the city all of the time feeding birds out there. I've never seen a bird attack anyone let alone eat them. Birds eat bread. I've even seen them eat some of the same things that I've eaten. I've seen them eat the burgers and the French fries that people drop on the ground. Why would the owl eat me when he has plenty of food to eat in the town?

I was tired of my mother. I was tired of her jealousy. Tired of her lies. Tired of her overprotection. I was going to see the owl. I was going to talk to him. I was going to show my mother that she was wrong. A small part of me was a little scared though. I did think about my mother being right. So, the first night I convinced my sister to stay home. I told her that I was going to see the owl. She agreed to stay home, and I snuck out to see the owl.

He was even more beautiful to me at night. I didn't even have to wait to see him. As soon as I got near the tree he was right there. The moon was glistening off of his beautiful white face. He was glorious. Then he took flight. His wings spread wider than I had ever seen them. I actually watched as he flew so close to the ground. I didn't make a sound because I didn't want to scare him off. I just wanted to watch. Then I finally saw him eating. I couldn't see clearly what it was that he had. He dropped a small piece of it on the ground about ten feet away from me and I grabbed it and left. I ate it on the way home. It was clearly meat, but it wasn't like a burger or anything like that. It was a little tougher but much juicier. I really liked it.

I was so excited. I had seen the owl at night. He didn't attack me. He didn't try to eat me. I was right there underneath his tree, and he didn't even look my way. My mother was wrong. The owl wasn't bad or dangerous at all. I even got to have dinner with him. I decided to tell my mother what had happened. I had hoped that maybe she'd let me go and see him more. That one day I could talk to him. Maybe he and I could become friends. I thought that she'd be happy to know that the owl wasn't like the one she encountered as a child. I was wrong.

"Mother I disobeyed you last night and went out to see the owl. Matter of fact I even had dinner with him."

"What the hell are you talking about had dinner with him?"

"Well not exactly. I watched him get dinner for himself and he dropped a little piece near me."

"And you ate it!" She yelled louder than she ever yelled before. "Son you have no idea what you are doing! For the last time stay away from that owl."

"Mom calm down. He didn't even know that I was there."

"Trust me he knew you were there. He just had a better meal somewhere else. Next time you won't be so lucky."

"There's no way he could've seen me."

"He doesn't have to see you! Please just do what I tell you!"

I was so disappointed. I couldn't believe that even after everything that I told her she still hated the owl. She still wanted to believe her lies about him. Then I thought that maybe she didn't believe me. Maybe she thought that I was lying about my encounter with him last night. She had probably thought that I made the whole thing up. Therefore, I was going to need proof. I knew that there was no way that I could convince her to go but my sister might. So, the next night I asked my sister to go with me. She really didn't want to, but she said that she trusted me and agreed to it.

So, I told her to hide and be very quiet. I wanted her to see the owl and wanted to make sure that it didn't run away. We watched it for a few minutes, and I could tell that my sister was mesmerized. She finally realized the beauty that I was telling them about. Then we watched it as it flew low to the ground. Soon finding food to eat.

The next thing that I know my sister was running as fast as she could back to our home. I was able to catch up with her right before she entered to ask her what the matter was.

"Are you really trying to tell me that you didn't see that?"

"Didn't see what?"

"Didn't see that owl's dinner? It was alive!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Are you kidding me? Whatever he was eating was moving trying to get away. You didn't hear it screaming for its life? That owl is not a beautiful creature it is a killer. Mom was right!"

I wasn't sure if my sister was right or not. I didn't want to take any chances though. So, I begged my sister not to tell my mother what she thought she saw. I also begged her to go with me one more time. I told her that I was going to try and speak to him. That she was going to see that he was a beautiful creature both in and out. She agreed and the next night we went out to see the owl.

We stayed quiet and hidden at first as to not scare him away. Then once he started his flight, I whispered out to him. He stopped mid-flight and turned to stare directly at my sister and me. He flew over to where we were. He didn't look evil. He didn't look menacing or dangerous. He looked beautiful as ever but slightly confused. Then he spoke to us. His voice was just as I imagined it would be. Deep, strong and godlike.

"Are you crazy? Why would you ever come out here at night and call out to me?"

"I've been watching you for quite a while now. My mother and sister seem to think that you are dangerous. I'm here to prove them wrong."

"And why is it that they think I am so dangerous?"

"My mother tells stories of my grandfather being killed while rescuing her from one of you all. She also tells of an uncle that was supposedly taken by an owl and never seen again."

He then turns his gaze towards my sister.

"And you believe those stories of your mother?"

"I didn't know whether to believe her or not. I do however believe what I've seen with my own two eyes."

"And what was that my dear?"

"I saw you eat an animal that was alive. I saw it scratching and clawing trying to get loose from your grasp. I heard it scream with its last breath as you tore into its flesh!"

The owl then turns his gaze back towards me.

"My boy I'm afraid that your mother and sister may be right. I do eat live animals. I eat insects, and earthworms. I eat voles and shrews."

My sister's eyes lit up with fear. She started to cry. I didn't know what to do. I froze standing there in complete shock as the owl continued to talk.

"But my absolute favorite food is RATS!"

Then within what seemed like less than a second, he grabbed my sister and flew away with her!