Pocket Watching

Pocket Watching

Seth was often alone. So it was no different when he met Lou over the winter of his roughest year yet. Seth had lost his pocket watch that his father had given him, just short of a week before that dreadful night. He had looked all over the truck, basement and backyard before he remembered he had been struggling with the haystacks in the barn just hours before.

He made his way across the field to the nearly century old shed of a barn, that stood firmer then the silos he passed down the road, on the way to town, every day. His father's family's farm had been in the family since before time began, as he’d like to think of it. It’s had its renovations over the years but the silhouette and molding of the home screamed it’s age down the dirt road, to the 6 miles into town. He walked up to the doors of the barn and took a tug at it, as he always did to let himself in. Once in, he traveled across to the back of the massive room, clear to the left, through the many heavy machinery that held up the cobwebs for its inhabitants. He proceeded searching for his pocket watch, moving the first couple of bales, putting them off to the side of him.

As he went to remove the third bale, he jumped back frightened and dropping it on top of himself, as something rapidly fluttered out and up, to the top post, turning to look back down at Seth as it perched. Seth hurriedly picked himself up off the floor, afraid the thing would swoop back down at any minute, to get him! He was so startled that he didn’t realize his fathers pocket watched had dropped in his lap along his fall, with him causing it to drop again from jumping up ever so quickly. Picking it up, Seth cautiously gathered himself, searching around the top of the barn for the mysterious pop out monster. It had been a while since he’s had any company so he was more than eager to see what it would be. He caught a glimpse of the furry friend perched up to his right, peering down at him as if Seth was the monster that startled he.

Keeping his eyes locked on the magnificent creature in front of him, Seth slowly made his way to the ladder that took him up to the second level of the barn. Seth was surprised to see the thing watch his every move, as he slowly made his way towards it, keeping an 8 feet distance in between them, as he approached. With fear now out the window, and curiosity quickly overcoming, Seth comforted himself on the old wooden bench that sat on the top floor unbothered for years. Seth used to play up here often as a boy. He took a swift look around, remembering he and his first cousin Todd playing Tarzan from the top, swinging into the bales at the bottom, knocking over some, then running from his grandpa to not get knocked over their heads. They would play hide and seek for hours due to the grand size of the barn and the millions of nooks and crannies that hid, serving as perfect hiding places. He never thought about growing up then. He never thought about what growing up meant, and what things came along with it. He just knew everything was as it should be up until almost a year ago. He would be celebrating his 18th birthday soon, and even though some family members would stop pass and call to get a quick check in on him, he never imagined growing up would turn him so lonely. As he sat on the bench, that sat next to the rusted window, he peered out to the old pear tree he and his cousins used to play around and pick pear from. They loved to race to the top and used to always tease each other on who had the best pick. Something caught his eye out of his peripheral and turned to look across the room, but now peering back was something that he happened to be even more familiar with.

The only following thoughts that pierced his head, was of his parents. Almost 11 months before, he was woken up by the sheriff of his town, on his doorstep, apologizing to him for his loss. It hadn’t registered with Seth right away. For all he knew, his dad and he had plans to go out owl “searching and gazing,” as they liked to call it. He was just taking a nap, while his parents drove into town, to get a few things from the market that his mother needed for dinner. His mother was a lovely woman. Well mannered and soft spoken. He remembered her hands and skin being just as smooth as her way of getting her point across. She never argued but you knew she meant business. She took care of her family of three as if it were her most important job ever granted to her. She loved her son, and she made sure she told Seth everyday. She had Seth young and had been married to her high school sweetheart while holding Seth in the womb. His father was a man of many talents and interest. But one they all shared was their love for natures animals, in particular, the mystique-ness of the barn owl.

His father had grown up watching them with his neighboring farm buddies, making it their task to find the barn owl and get the chance to hold it. He’s heard many stories of how close they’ve come to catching one, but no one was ever able to get hold of the swift thing. Seth sat for another minute, quiet, just admiring its physique and hues. He looked into its face at a very familiar image. He thought to himself for a second then fumbled to get the watch out of his shirt pocket. He opened it up, looking inside for resemblance, then proceeded to turn the watch around. He looked up at the old creature, then back down at his gift. He knew he’d seen that face somewhere before.

There it was, right on the backside of his grandfathers decades old pocket watch. He knew owls could live longer than most domestic animals but he couldn’t even imagine the age of this thing. He folded back the watch, shoved it back in his pocket and stood up. The faithful bird watched him intently, not moving a muscle. Seth wanted to catch him. He knew it would take patience and stealthiness, as his father’s taught him before. At a snails pace, Seth made his way towards the beautiful percher, with his forearm out in front bent at the elbow. Seth whispered for the Owl to come near as he slowly paced in his direction. To Seth astonishment, with just 7 steps in, the bird took a short smooth glide towards Seth without hesitation, perching himself on the sleeve of Seths forearm muscle, holding on gently with his claws, with a continuous gaze into Seths face. Seth felt a sudden calmness and peacefulness come over him.

He cautiously took a step not to alarm his new friend. He made his way down the ladder and back through the machinery to the door to the outside of his friends abode. Seth smiled when he realized that the Owl wouldn’t be flying off from him, just because now that they were in the open air. He turned to look at his buddy again and with the happiest of a heart said, “I think I’m going to call you Lou.” And with his new buddy in tow, he made his back across the field home.