Hoo goes there?!

Emma lazily stretched underneath her comforter, causing her toes to peek out and feel the night air. The gentle breeze tickled her toes. Giggling quietly as the chill that ran up her legs gave her goosebumps, she turned to look at the owl clock given to her by her granny on her 10th birthday. Emma shot up immediately at the thought of her granny smiling while she watched her open her birthday present last year and her lip began to quiver. Granny wouldn't be around for her birthday coming up in a few days and that made Emma very sad.

The owl clock flashed 12:34am and Emma closed her eyes, crossed her fingers and made a wish. "There, that should do it!", she gently encouraged herself. Feeling a little cold now that she was fully out from under her comforter, she glanced at her window open fairly wide and went to close it just a bit. The air was crisp, the sky was a bright blue, reminiscent of an ocean flowing, and the stars twinkled like diamonds which added to the beautiful illumination of the sky. As she lowered the window a bit in her trance-like gazing at the sky, Emma heard rustling in the nearby tree outside her window. The old cottonwood tree was one of her favorite places to play and not only because her dad made a swing for her but this was also her granny's favorite place to sit and read stories to Emma. This made her smile, then shed a tear. Her granny passed at the beginning of the year, a few days after they celebrated the new year coming in. It all happened so suddenly and no one was prepared for how fast her grandmother passed.

"Stop fussing over me so, I do know how to walk to the couch!" Granny huffed at mom, who insisted on acting like a personal bodyguard, after granny slipped outside on the steps leading into the house. "I know you know how to walk, I'm just bracing if your knee gives out again," my mother frowned. Thinking back now, I could tell my mother was really concerned about my granny and that the slip was more than anyone wanted to really admit. I remember the faint smile my granny gave me as she waved me over to the couch she was now comfortably resting on. "Em, come here, I have something to show you!" My granny leaned over in her tote bag, the one she always carried whenever she went to the market. I carefully walked over, studying my granny and my mother's face, wondering what my grandmother was going to show me. She pulled out of her bag a large square box with a beautiful snow owl pictured; it was a puzzle. "Oh, granny!" I shrieked excitedly. "Since it's too chilly to sit under our favorite tree reading about owls, I figured we can drink some hot chocolate and work on an owl puzzle," granny winced sharply as she handed the box to me. "Are you okay granny?" I immediately dropped the box giving my grandmother my full attention. She tried to smile but doubled over in pain and my mother immediately called out to my father "John!"

I remembered hearing my dad footsteps, seeing him appear almost instantly looking wildly around. Due to the strain in my mother's voice, he knew something was wrong but not sure what. My mother reached out to my father and in a hushed tone "Edna slipped outside on the stairs, and now she's wincing in pain!" "What!" My father bellowed then looked over at me and tried to keep his tone even, "When did all of this happen and how long have you been in pain mom?" My dad wasn't successful in trying to remain calm. From that point everything was a blur. Getting sent to my room, hearing the ambulance moments later and then my mom appearing at my door informing me Jennifer, my regular babysitter, would be arriving shortly to stay with me while they went to the hospital with my granny. Very late into the evening, I could hear my parents car pulling up and the opening and closing of the garage. I couldn't sleep, even though Jennifer tried her best to act like everything was okay, I felt like everything was changing and I didn't understand why. Not wanting to go through the act of my parents peeping in on me, seeing if I was awake only to tell me to go back to sleep, I jumped out of bed, grabbed my robe and started downstairs when my door opened and my parents with grim looks appeared in my room. "Is my granny all right?" I questioned, looking from my mom to my dad, both seemed to have been crying.

Clearing his throat, with his head bowed down, my father quietly spoke "Emma, darling your gran was really sick and we didn't know to what extent-" I cut my dad off blurting out "What do you mean was?" My breathing became uneven and I felt a little dizzy. As I looked into my father's eyes, then my mom's, I somehow knew I wouldn't see my granny again. She wouldn't take me out to the old cottonwood tree and read me stories of all kinds, especially our favorite animal the owl. She wouldn't make me hot chocolate and we wouldn't get a chance to put the owl puzzle together. All I remembered was a lot of crying, sobbing and sleepless nights after that. Which is why I'm up this late now, uncontrollably crying. I didn't even notice that my mom was standing over me, with a worried frown on her face. "Em, what's wrong honey?" she spoke softly. I jumped in surprise, looking around my room realizing I had been in a total recall of why I was so sad. “Mom!” I wailed a little, “I miss granny and my birthday is a few days away and she won’t be there!” Saying it out loud made Emma cringe and she snuggled further into her mother’s embrace, finding some comfort in the gentle rocking and rubbing on her shoulder, something her mom did whenever she tried to calm Emma down. “I know that it’s been that long since we lost your gran, everything still feels new and raw. I understand this’ll be your first birthday where your grandmother is not present, but sweetie you should take some comfort in knowing that even though your gran isn’t here with us physically, her spirit is still around us everyday.”

I paused looking quizzically at my mother, but she continued “Like for instance you and her love for that old cottonwood tree out in front of the house, earlier this summer remember how good you felt when sitting out reading under it?” I nodded, wiping the remaining tears from my nose and cheeks. “And how about when you and your dad made hot chocolate and finally finished off that owl puzzle your granny brought for you, remember how proud you felt, how big your dad’s smile was, you guys were happy, right?” I nodded slowly remembering how my dad was so pleased whenever he found a piece. I inquired “So, doing all those things my granny likes to do and enjoying them, means my granny was probably there with us?” I was hopeful, holding my breath waiting for my mom’s confirmation. “Why yes, Em, exactly! I like to believe that whenever you engage in activities or start seeing things, especially animals that your loved ones who aren’t here in physical form loved or did, and you get that warm fuzzy feeling of familiarity it's their spirit that’s around you!”

Somehow that made Emma feel a little better and she yawned a little.

“Okay missy, time for you to get back under those covers and get some sleep, it's awfully late and nothing is up this late except maybe an owl.” My mom winked as she watched me settle into my bed. I smiled a little sheepishly at my mom’s attempt to soothe me and watched her close my door quietly. What her mom said played in Emma’s mind as she felt the lids of her eyes get very heavy, when she heard the rustling of the tree again and this time a sound came with it, “Hoo, hoo!” Emma popped back up looking at her window, trying to get a clear focus on the tree and again “Hoo, hoo!” Jumping out of the bed Emma raced to the window to pull it up some and what she saw made her gasp with excitement.

In her and her granny’s favorite cottonwood tree, perched on a high branch was a brown-speckled owl. Emma wasn’t sure what kind it was so she hurried over to her desk that held some of her owl books to find out exactly what kind of owl was in her tree. Flipping through the pages, Emma wondered where the owl came from. She’d never seen an owl around her house or neighborhood. She only remembered seeing owls whenever she’d visit her grandmother’s house out in the country. Emma picked the book up and went over to the open window, comparing the picture to the bird she saw out on the branch. “Let’s see large golden-yellow eyes, long feathered head horns, rusty brown color, yes!” Emma exclaimed “I know what type of owl you are, this just happens to be my granny’s favorite bird; the great horned owl!” Pleased with herself as she remembered what her mom said about loved ones' spirits being around us all the time, Emma couldn’t help but smile as she watched this large, fluffy bird. She enjoyed the warm fuzzy familiar feeling that came on. “Hoo, hoo!” The bird went again. “Hey granny, I really miss and love you.” Emma believed the bird was her granny making her presence known. The owl stretched out it’s massive wings like it was going to take flight but just brought them back in and blinked its honey colored eyes a couple of times before sounding off again. Emma, smiled, pleased with this exchange, just went back to bed and fell asleep dreaming of owls flying in the sky with her gran.