The Knowing Owl

He often saw her sad. She said it was nothing, but he knew better. Often when Rory got up in the middle of the night, he would hear his mother weeping.

As much as he would try to share his worries with his sister Liz, she was always preoccupied and would tell him that if mum said she was okay, he didn’t need to worry.

That’s why he now found himself at his Aunt Kate’s house. It was an old farm just outside of Melbourne amongst the hills and plains in a township area called Kilcunda.

Mum finally broke and asked for help and Rory’s dad took her to a hospital where they could help her with her mental illness and anxiety.

With Liz being so busy with teenage demands, Rory didn’t mind spending time on his own at Aunt Kate’s farm. She was a retired vet with a reasonably sized pocket of land where she helped out people on neighbouring properties. Some had a few sheep and goats, plenty were raising chickens and some had horses. There were even a few with cattle.

Kate would look in and give animals a check-up when needed. She still had her own stable and would take in a local horse if it was unwell and tend to it as if it were her child.

The first thing Rory always did when waking on his first morning of any stay was to do a full patrol of the complete property. Kate’s farm was on a plateau of a large hill. The entry road was long but thankfully not steep and Kate let Rory drive her small tractor down the small road to her roadside mailbox. He rode the tractor around the property a lot and she didn’t mind, because he always reported in if he saw anything unusual.

It was the September school holiday break and the onset of spring. The smells of gum and wattle were strong around the dam and Rory liked that. Sitting on an old bluestone pile in the shade next to the dam, he would wait for air bubbles from the water to try and detect frogs or yabbies.

When they were little, their mum would always take Liz and Rory to the dam to see if there were any yabbies. She would tell them it would soon be their turn to try and catch some yabbies so they could put them on the barbecue for dinner. She would poke and tickle them, telling them “that’s what happens when you catch a yabbie. He tickles you until you giggle so much you let go and they jump back in.” Rory missed that, he loved it when mum made up stories to make them laugh or to help them calm down.

There were often loud storms when they were staying for a few weeks over the Christmas holidays. Liz was scared of the loud and foreboding rumble of the rolling thunder, but mum always thought of something to put her mind at rest. She often told her it was just the old man upstairs moving furniture. Liz seemed to go along with that, never once looking for a flight of stairs for the second storey. She just held on to the security that mum tried to provide, but now even mum doesn’t seem to be able to find security or calm.

Rory did every chore he could to help his aunt throughout the day and neither of them wanted to talk about his mum, but when dinner time came, Kate asked if there were any yabbies for the barbecue and a small tear welled in Rory’s eye. Kate went and embraced him and said, “Rory, please my sweet boy, your mother Emily is a very strong woman, she's not only my sister but also my strongest friend. She believed in me whenever I had doubts about my decisions. We would talk for hours and she would get me to write lists of the pros and cons of any life-changing decision and support me to the end. That is what we need to do now, we need to be there to support her. She has made an important decision to find help because she is not mentally well. If we can show we are there for her, it will make the work she needs to do that much easier.”

Kate made a small pot roast that Rory loved and though it was spring, the nights were cold and Kate had an open fire going as they snuggled on the couch watching a Marvel movie on Netflix.

Kate retired for the night as she needed to be up early in the morning. She had promised to check in on some farms while the owners were away. Some property owners were racehorse breeders and she ran checks on horses that had been left behind while others were at meets.

After she had gone to bed, Rory stared out the back window to see a big barn that was the occasional makeshift hospital that Kate used for neighbouring animals.

He grabbed a lantern and headed out. The moon was relatively low in the sky and was shedding light for a clear path. In the distance, he could see the water and the cliffs well known for the Kilcunda area and could hear the rhythmic crashing of waves on the rocks.

Arriving at the barn, the main door was half open and there was just enough light for him to see a horse in one of the stalls. It grunted and whinnied as he got closer and was on edge, but Rory spoke slowly and calmly with his palms open and outstretched to show he meant no harm. The horse gingerly moved forward and gave his hand and arm a good sniff and seemed to nod his approval. Rory knelt slowly to collect some hay to feed him, but the horse looked at him suspiciously.

In the darkness, a faint hoot could be heard. The horse turned in the direction of the sound, staring into the darkness and then looked back. The horse stared at Rory again and accepted the gift of hay, munching as it moved away.

Rory lifted the lantern in the direction of the sound and saw two large eyes staring back at him. The pupils to the eyes seemed huge with what seemed like a furrowed brow. It was a look he might have received from his grandfather. Suddenly there was a shuffle along the beam, a ruffle of feathers and lift-off with a graceful swoop as the large owl took off out of the barn. Rory moved quickly to the barn door to see it fly out into the moonlight.

With that beautiful image in his mind, he went back to the house and got into bed. As he tried to sleep he thought about the grace and simplicity of nature and made a small wish that his mother could have seen it. She would’ve loved it and just like when they were younger, would have told special stories of mystery and awe about an all-knowing owl.

As the week went on, Rory was allowed to be of more use to Kate when she did her visits to properties. It allowed him to witness wonders of life that others would only ever read about.

Mrs Taylor who lived just outside the area at Coronet Bay, another coastal town, had a small farm and a cow that was about to give birth and there were concerns about the welfare of the cow. Kate was in a hurry and Rory did all that he could to grab all the things she would need She packed the Ute strategically in the order of things she needed and at what point. Together, they worked like a well-oiled machine,

On arrival as Kate jumped out of the Ute and headed straight for the barn, the true magnitude of the situation hit him as he began to unpack the back. Walking to the barn and looking inside, hearing the noises the cow was making and seeing people rushing around overwhelmed him.

It all felt too much for him and he moved away, which was fine with Kate. At no point had she expected him to want to be involved, it would’ve been way too much for him to handle.

Rory walked across the paddocks of Mrs Taylor’s farm and saw a dam near a clump of trees, not dissimilar to Aunt Kate’s and headed over.

There was a gentle rustling in the leaves and a screech here and there from birds flying overhead and as he sat in the shade next to the water, he tried to sit as still as possible to take in every sound. He then looked up into the branches and saw a few different birds taking refuge in the shade.

As he stood and looked back to the barn, he saw several people walking out wiping away tears. With alarm, he ran as fast as he could, fearing the worst, but as he got closer he was struck by the beauty of a small new calf. Born only a few brief moments ago, she was bravely trying to stand yet fell on a bed of hay.

Rory looked to Kate who had already begun to clean herself up. She went to him and said “welcome to the wonder of life.”

The Taylors invited all down to the house for a late lunch, but Rory stayed for just a little longer. He wanted to help the calf, but Kate made it very clear he couldn’t touch, he could only watch and be sure that it was from a good distance.

After the celebrations at the house, Mrs Taylor gave Kate a freshly picked bunch of beautiful native flowers from the garden. As they were leaving, Kate started to giggle and looked to Rory and said “imagine what they’ll be like when they become grandparents.”

Rory settled back in his seat smiling and feeling very lucky to have been able to see such an amazing sight.

When they got back, Kate retreated to her office and made notes. Rory looked in on her and said “you’ll never really retire will you Aunty Kate?” She took a look at him and smiled and said “not while I’m still in awe of the wonder of life.”

Kate took a break as it was getting late in the afternoon and she whisked him up in her arms. “My goodness, you are getting to be such a big boy. What would you like most for dinner?” Upon his request for homemade pizza, with a flourish, she danced to the fridge and with an elegant swing, opened the fridge door showing off all the necessary ingredients. She knew it was one of their little traditions. To work together, talk and share stories and then produce pizzas to their exact liking.

Together they kneaded dough, mixed sauce and chopped toppings. During their activities, Rory paused and asked, “Aunt Kate, do you think mum will start to get better soon? Maybe after the hospital helps her, she should come here. I know I always feel happy when I come here and seeing that little calf today was amazing.”

Kate looked at him quietly as he resumed his preparations, but then he stopped again and asked a new question.

“Aunt Kate, last night after you went to bed I got a lantern and went out to the barn. There was a horse in the stall. Normally when there are horses they neigh as soon as I walk in. This one seemed a little scared of me. I tried to pat it but it seemed uncomfortable. Then I grabbed some hay and it wasn’t until I heard a hoot from an owl that the horse seemed to be okay with me. I know it sounds weird, but it felt as though the owl was supervising what was going on.”

Kate looked to him and said, “that owl only ever comes by if I have a sick animal in the barn. He seems to have become my vet assistant. The horse in the barn at the moment has an eye infection that I’m treating. The owners are away and wanted him cared for. I hope you washed your hands properly.

“I always do Aunt Kate, I had dirt on my hands anyway so of course,” he said desperately.

“Well, the owl probably saw you as a friendly visitor and was just keeping an eye on you. The fact that it hooted before the horse took the hay was its way of saying that you were trying to be friendly. That owl only ever comes to the barn when I have an animal staying and once when I had another horse there, one night the horse was in great pain. The owl came to the house, perched outside my bedroom windows and hooted incessantly and pecked on the window till I woke up. I looked out the window and it had its wings fully spread and fluttering. I went to the barn and could hear the groans and immediately called for transport to get the horse to a vet hospital. Thankfully it got the right treatment. I’d be lost without my owl friend. I’m supposed to be retired but he’s keeping my practice going for me.”

That night after they cleared up, Rory went for another walk up to the barn while Kate worked in the office.

He sat on a bale of hay and looked up at a rafter to see the owl looking down at him. The owl gave him a wisened and almost sympathetic look, almost like a therapist. Oddly this felt comforting to Rory and he then felt he needed to talk.

“I know you won’t understand me,” he started as tears began to well up in his eyes, “but I’m really worried about my mum. She’s been sad for such a long time and I’ve always done my best at everything I could to make her proud, but she just goes into a shell.”

The owl fluttered its wings and moved down to a lower beam that separated the stalls in the barn. It seemed as though the owl was trying to get a better look at Rory and gave a quiet hoot, which made him feel as though the owl was wanting him to say more.

Rory shifted a bit and then said through tears, “whenever we came here with mum when we were real little, she made everything a game and always made us laugh, but I’m scared that she’s always been sad. Dad took her to a place where she can get help and get onto some medication and treat what might be the main thing that makes her so unwell.”

Rory paused and looked as the owl seemed to be very quietly and stealthily moving closer to him. The owl was now practically sitting next to him, gazing at him with huge eyes that were mesmerising, Rory turned to look at the owl face to face and asked, “when mum comes home do you think it would be a good idea for her to come here for a while and reconnect with nature the way Aunty Kate has?”

The owl gave three short sharp loud hoots, ruffled its feathers and leapt over Rory’s head and out through the barn door.

He called out for the owl to wait and come back and started to run in the direction of the owl’s flight.

He arrived at the top of a hill that looked out to a still sea. There was a large passing cloud overhead which revealed a beautiful full moon that was making the sea glow.

Rory knew then that the owl wasn’t just a good vet assistant, he was also a pretty good therapist.