The Weekend

Hi, I’m Owl.

My mom pokes fun of me because my head was big when they first brought me home. She said she was surprised I could hold it up. So, they named me Owl because baby barn owls sleep laying down. They do that because their heads are too heavy.

I know she pokes fun, but she loves me. My dad said I needed to sleep in the bed they bought me, but mom gets up at night and sneaks me onto her side of the bed. At first, she was leery because she wanted me to go to the bathroom outside. I showed her I could hold it, so she sneaks me onto her side every night now.

I made the best thing happen yesterday. I’m somewhat of a hero. So, let me start at the beginning.

My human mom and dad and sister came and picked me up from my other family. I don’t remember much about them now, but I do remember playing with several sisters and brothers, and I remember how my mother smelled. She was the best cuddler. My humans do a decent job, but I still remember my mother.

When we got back to the place they called home, I was super nervous, but excited to explore. I was kind of big. I know this because my four-legged brother, Dexter, was about my size and much older than me. He pretty much avoids me and acts too old to play with me. Until our humans aren’t looking. Then he’s nice and he’ll play a little. My humans say he’s my brother, but he's old.

Back then, my humans were home all the time. Sometimes they’d go places without us, usually dad would leave and then come back with bags of things. Dexter says it was food for them and sometimes food and toys will come for us, too. They never all three leave at once, though. Thank goodness. I wasn't sure what we’d do without them here.

Dexter teaches me things sometimes. Once, he showed me where he hid one of his toys. He said to hide them so that later you can find them and you’ll never be bored. He didn’t let me play with his toy, but did let me know I should be appreciative of the good lesson.

When they were home all the time, the smallest one would always hold me and love on me. She rarely let me walk, but I forgave that because she gives great snuggles. Mom and dad always seem to be doing something. Standing in the room with the cabinets, running water over whatever it is they eat off of. I don’t know why they wouldn’t just use the same bowl like me and Dexter do, but I guess everyone has their own quirks. Dad does things too, sometimes he’s with mom in the food making room, sometimes he’s outside doing things in the yard.

He’ll let me and Dexter come outside with him once he’s done pushing around the loud machine. He carefully pushes that thing all over the yard. It makes no sense to me, but boy does it smell good outside when he’s done. I guess he does outside what mom does inside, because she always gets it smelling nice in there, too.

They taught me how to sit and shake. They brushed me every day. That drove Dexter crazy. He says he doesn’t get brushed like that because they cut his hair short and there’s nothing to brush. I saw him, once, though. He carried a brush over to mom and nudged her hands with it. He was jealous of me. I liked that feeling.

But then, all that kind of stopped. It was strange.

They started bringing me and Dexter outside when they first woke up. We'd get a little time to play. I learned the hard way that we better do our potty or else we’re stuck holding it until they get back. Then, they'd change their furs and put covers on their feet. Sometimes they'd eat. Then they'd love on us and tell us “Bye baby,” or “We love you” and walk away.

The first time, I was okay with it. But then, it happened again, and again. Something was wrong.

“Uncle,” Dexter hates when I call him that, so I do it anyway. “Where are they going all the time?”

“I don’t know. It used to be like this all the time, though. Then, suddenly they started being here all the time.” He stood and stretched, his legs reaching far ahead of him, then the back ones, far behind him. “They’d watch that box on the wall all the time, the news they called it. Then, one day they brought you home.”

He started to walk toward his toy hiding place and pushed me over with his paw. He wasn’t being mean, just playing. “Maybe they leave everyday because you’re here now.”

Well, that really hurt my feelings. But I knew it wasn’t true. They said they love me every day. “Do they always cover their faces?”

“No, that’s new. People on the wall-box wear them, too. Mom and dad keep a bunch of those things in their bedroom.”

“Let’s go look.” I’m much taller than Dexter, and I keep getting bigger than him. He pretends it doesn’t bother him, but I can tell sometimes it does. He says maybe I caught a deadly growing disease.

I pounced forward and headed to the humans bedroom. They all wore the same things on their faces. Blue things that cover their noses and mouths. Kind of like what some of the big dogs have to wear on their mouths at the place where they cut my hair. Maybe these things have something to do with why they leave every day.

“This isn’t a good idea,” Dexter stated as he walked in the room behind me.

“Well I don’t see them anywhere, anyway.”

“Oops,” Dexter said as he knocked a box off of the window sill. Blue papers with loops on either side spread out over the floor.

They sure were something. I sniffed around them, and one of the loops caught around my nose. I shook furiously to get it off but it wouldn’t fall. Dexter continued to sniff around the contents of the box, too. He selected one blue paper and pranced out the door.

Someone. Was. Coming.

My tail began to wag uncontrollably, and I heard footsteps on the porch. The closer they got, the faster my tail moved.

Dexter was first to the door, his small legs straightening with every bark. He looked like he might take flight. I wasn’t far behind him, but I sat and tried to bark through the loop of the blue thing.

Our little human walked through the door. As soon as she saw me, she laughed and pulled out a little square thing and pointed it at me. The square made a click sound, then she tucked it in her back pocket.

“Oh no,” she said, “did you get into something you weren’t supposed to?” In his excitement, Dexter had dropped his blue thing in the hall way, so she was able to trace our footsteps. “Uh oh!” She picked up all the blue things and put them back in the box.

Well, I thought, that was a lot of hard work undone.

Then, she picked me up and took the loop from around my nose. “Masks aren’t for you, Owl, they’re a human thing.” Then, she snuggled her face close to my neck and kissed me on the top of my head. I really loved these moments.

Dexter glared at me. That made the moment even better.

She took her small box back out of her pocket and held it up to her ear. She talked into it while she let us outside to play.

I love being outside. If I run fast enough, the fur on my nose blows backwards and tickles my cheeks. Since Dexter is so much shorter than me, he really has to run hard to catch up to me. Fetch is my favorite because he can never get to the ball in time.

“Okay, see you at school tomorrow,” I heard her say. What’s school, I wondered.

“Uncle Dexter, what’s school?” I slowed down so that he could walk in front of me. I think that makes him feel good about himself.

“It’s where the little human goes while mom and dad are away. Like, when they take us to get hair cuts.”

“Oh, do you think she gets haircuts every day?”

“Sometimes not a hair cut. I think sometimes she gets just a bath and maybe some shots.”

“Wow.” I looked toward our little human, impressed that she didn’t shake all the time like I do after getting a shot.

“She knows other humans there, too. She talks to them on that box a lot. You wouldn’t know, though, because she only just found her box again. I think she forgot where she hid it for a long time.”

“That’s why I don’t hide my toys,” I said, puffing my chest out just a bit.

“You’re a fool if you don’t,” Dexter warned before he hopped up the porch steps toward the door. I like to watch him hop the stairs, I’m almost where I don’t have to hop much.

Once we got inside, I noticed our smaller human taking things out of a bag. I watched, then wondered, then I realized: that bag was always on her back when she left for the day.

If I got into that bag before they left, I’d get to go with her.

I thought about sharing my plan with Dexter, but he was back to ignoring me. Mom and dad would be home soon. I stayed by our small human. She never seemed to mind. In-between unpacking more things from her bag—then putting things back in her bag—she’d pet me and occasionally take the time to rub my belly.

Belly rubs rock.

“Okay, Owl,” she announced, “Let’s put this bag up.” She talked to me like I could talk back. Sometimes I wish I could, like when she asked me a few minutes later what I wanted to watch on TV. I figured it would be obvious my favorite show was the one with all the spotted dogs, but she turned on some moving picture of humans. All humans.

I kept my eye on that bag.

Mom and dad finally came home, they did their thing in the food making room then disappeared and came back smelling really good. Mom’s hair was wet, I guess she’d decided she needed a bath. I hate baths, but always seem to need one.

Dad changed into his soft furs, I could see the pattern and knew they were the ones that felt good to lay next to. Then, they all sat together in the couch room. Dexter found his way in between mom and dad, and made sure that I noticed his location. I sat next to our little human and didn’t understand what he had to brag about.

The bag never moved, and I knew exactly what I would be doing before the humans left tomorrow.

Once everyone was asleep, I hopped off mom’s side of the bed. The hop was less than graceful because my face got in the way of my feet and I kind of flipped into the pillow on the floor. After a few moments of recovery, I made my way to the bag room. There it was, open and inviting me to jump in.

I heard Dexter’s feet against the floor before I could see him. “What are you doing?” He said as he yawned.

“I’m going to go with our small human tomorrow.” I wrapped my mouth around one of the large books in her pack and pulled. Wow, that felt nice on my teeth. I gnawed just a little more. I realized that the bag was moving with the book. I tried again. The book scooted. So did the bag.

Dexter sighed and stepped on the bag. I pulled again and the book slid out. Great! Now I could fit and she’d bring me with her tomorrow.

“You want to get your hair cut and a shot?” He sniffed and shook his head. His ears flapped louder than mine did because he didn’t have as much hair on them. “I’d rather stay here and try to find all my toys.”

“I think she goes somewhere funner.” I continued to gnaw on the book, it tasted earthy and if I bit down hard enough, my teeth sunk just a bit. The sensation was super, I didn’t want to stop. Bite. Sink. Bite. Sink.

Dexter left and went back to bed, and I continued to try to eat whatever this this book was made of. I heard someone get out of bed and start walking. I wondered where they were going at this time. Then, mom peeked into the room where I was.

“Oh no, Owl.” She said, and she pulled the book away. “Bad, Owl.”

Oh no, what had I done? I sat immediately and tucked my ears back. Was I in trouble?

“That’s not for you.” She put the book back in the bag, “Rosie is going to be so disappointed. I tell her to pick up her things, I guess we should have known this would happen.”

Good, so it wasn’t my fault. “No, no, Owl.” She said one more time, and that meant it was my fault. She picked me up and carried me back to bed. I heard her mumble some things to dad and he mumbled back.

For the rest of the night I worried that our little human, Rosie, might change her mind about how much she loved me. What had I done? Was chewing that delicious book bad?

The next morning I was exhausted from my night time adventure. I almost fell face first into my water bowl. Rosie giggled, but she was still upset that I’d chewed her book. Apparently, her teacher—whatever that was—would be really mad.

Mom let us out that morning, we played and she threw the ball just a few times. When she let us back in, I hurried and pretended to sleep next to the couch. Rosie set her bag on the floor in her room by her bed. That’s when I made a break for it.

My heart raced faster with every step I took closer to the bag. I saw the chewed corner of the book poking out of the top. I knew I wouldn’t have time to pull the book out, so I decided to make it work. I jumped in head first and was able to adjust myself. The books squeezed my bottom a little, and I think something sharp was starting to poke my side. Uncomfortable, but worth it to see where my humans went every day.

I heard Rosie laughing. I liked to hear her laugh. Maybe she was forgetting what I’d done and was going to love me the most again. After our day at school together, maybe I'd be the goodest girl again!

Soon I heard mom and dad and Rosie all laughing. Suddenly, the backpack moved. This was it! I’d made it. Rosie was putting me on her back and we were going to go to—

“Owl,” Rosie peeked into the bag. I tucked my ears back and opened my eyes wide. Sometimes that got me out of trouble. Sometimes it got me extra snacks. I hoped this time it’d make me invisible. I closed my eyes really quick, maybe that would make me invisible. ‘’What are you doing, silly girl?”

She picked me up and held me close. Another neck snuggle, just like the day before. A kiss on top of the head. “She probably thinks we’re going to leave her today.” She closed the bag so I couldn’t get back in, then set me down on the floor in the couch room.

Mom was there with her hot drink. I tasted it once and phlegh—I don’t know how she likes such a thing. I shook just thinking of it. Dad patted the seat beside him and Dexter jumped up next to him. Rosie sat on the floor and grabbed the pink rope.

Oh. My. Goodness. Maybe if I played with her they'd stay! I grabbed one end of the rope and pulled with all my strength. Rosie’s laugh made me happy, so I jumped around and kept tugging with her. “I wish we had weekends all the time,” she said to mom and dad.

Weekends? I wonder what’s a weekend.

And that’s how I became a hero. All day yesterday my humans stayed home. They didn’t wear their blue papers and they didn’t put their feet covers on. I knew I’d done a good thing by getting into that backpack. I’d kept them home, no more leaving.

They’ve been home all day today, too.

I’m so glad I made the weekend.