Olivia's Story Part One

The haunting screech of the female barn owl had drawn Samantha outside. She watched as the heart faced owl swooped silently and swiftly out of the barn loft. Samantha couldn't help but smile as she watched the owl effortlessly glide over the meadow on the hunt for mice and other small rodents. She was so focused on the beautiful bird that she didn't realize her uncle and his girlfriend had pulled up beside the farm house until their raised voices frew her attention. Charlene screamed at her uncle, "I don't give a damn anymore! Flirt with whoever you want, dance with whoever you want to you drunk fool. I'm DONE dealing with your ass." "Get back here!" slurred her Uncle Lenny as he stumbled around the front end of his supped up fire engine red Ford F150 pick up truck. His feet got tripped up on each other as he was stumbling towards the house and he fell flat on his face. Samantha rushed forward to help him back up as Charlene just stood on the porch laughing at him. "Leave me alone," Lenny angrily slurred as he struggled to his feet. Charlene just turned on her heel and went into the house leaving Samantha to deal with the drunken mess that was her Uncle Lenny. She shook her head as she lifted her Uncle up by pulling him up by his left arm.

Unfortunately that's when the owl had made a u turn back towards the barn with her dinner firmly gripped in her talons. Lenny seen the owl and muttered,"Damn pesky owls need stay hell away from here!" He stumbled to his feet and pulled out his 12 gauge shotgun from his truck swinging it towards the owl. Samantha realizing that he was targeting the owl, she screamed out "NO!" She bumped into her Uncle and tried to push the shotgun out of his hands. It was too late, the shotgun went off. The beautiful owl fell out of the sky landing with a haunting thud in the meadow. "Why did you do that?"screamed Samantha at her drunk Uncle. "What did she ever do to YOU?" Samantha was shocked at what had just happened and ran to try to find the injured bird of prey. She didn't care about her Uncle or Charlene or anything, she just wanted to find out how badly hurt the innocent creature was and if she could help save her life.

When Samantha found the owl, she was frightened by the screeching as the injured bird was trying to get away from her. She was flapping her uninjured wing while her other one was dragging limply at her side. Samantha cried at the sad, pitiful scene in front of her. "Ssshhhhh it's going to be okay. I'm so sorry that this happened to you. I promise I'm not trying to hurt you," she said soothingly as she shrugged off her thick red and black plaid jacket. She followed quickly behind the owl as she tried desperately to escape from Samatha. "Slow down please, I just want to help you!" She broke into a jog and tossed the jacket over the injured bird. The owl tried to struggle to get away but calmed down as Samantha gently but firmly pulled the jacket around the bird. She softly pulled the arms of the jacket into a knot and turned the owl around, so they were face to face. The owl stopped trying to get away and calmed down while studied Samantha with wise hazel eyes with long lashes.

Samantha contemplated how to help the wounded owl. She decided to go down the hill to where the local wildlife officer lived and drop the injured bird off on Officer Jane's doorstep. Samantha gently reached into her jacket pocket where she had secured the badly hurt owl to withdraw a notebook and pen. She quickly scrawled a note about what happened and asked Officer Jane to help the injured creature. She stopped short of signing the note. She felt badly that her Uncle had shot the poor owl but couldn't bring herself to be the one to get him in trouble. Samantha quickly creeped thru the dense woods separating her Uncle's property from where Officer Jane lived down the hill. Thankfully the moon was full and brightly shining up in the midnight sky and lighting the pathway thru the woods. It seemed like it only took a quick 15 minutes before she arrived at the edge of the woods near Jane's home. Samantha could see Officer Jane's wildlife truck in the driveway along with her dark blue Chevy pickup truck. Good she was at home.

Samantha spotted an empty laundry basket near Jane's clothesline strung up between two huge oak trees. Samantha sprinted across the yard to the clothesline. Gently placing the owl into the basket, she picked it up and crept towards the back door. "Jane will take good care of you, I promise you will be okay." Samantha felt tears streaming down her face as she talked to the poor bird hoping she wasn't lying to the injured animal that Jane would fix her and get her back flying free and wild. Samantha put the hastily written note on top of the jacketed owl. Taking an unsteady breathe inwards, she placed the laundry basket down on the back steps and urgently knocked on the back door. Sprinting around the edge of the house she crouched watching to make sure the owl was taken in by Jane.

Officer Jane opened the back door and bent down trying to figure out what was in her laundry basket. The injured owl inside screeched up at her defiantly. It was a sound that touches your soul. She gently opened the jacket and was examining the injured avian. Her face turned grim as she took note of the bloody pulp that had been the unfortunate creature's wing. She yelled back to her husband Mike, "Call the emergency vet! I've got to get this injured bird there ASAP!" She didn't even go back into the house for her keys since she just kept them stashed in her ashtray. She picked up the laundry basket and pivoted out the back door and in three quick strides was beside her wildlife truck. Balancing the laundry basket on her hip, she opened the truck door and pushed the basket into the passenger seat. Jane flipped on the emergency lights on her wildlife truck and her tires were spitting gravel out behind her as she turned out her driveway. Samantha was watching the dramatic scene unfold and flattened herself to the side of Jane's house when Jane's headlights swung her direction. She hoped Jane didn't see her but she couldn't help herself. She stepped out from her hiding spot on the side of Jane's house to watch her fading taillights.

She sprinted home and crept onto the back porch going the house thru the back door. The creaky storm door announced her arrival. "Where hell you been, girl?", Uncle Lenny slurred as he loudly slurped his beer. Samantha gasped and stuttered, "I went out back to the horse barn to check on the horses." She hoped her Uncle Lenny was too drunk to remember what happened less than two hours ago. Uncle Lenny slurred,"Oh okay than you go on up to bed. Charlene done left to go to her mama's house. She'll be back though. She always comes back." Samantha hurried up the stairs to her bedroom before Uncle Lenny could say anything else. She broke down crying for the injured bird and feeling sorry for herself too. Ever since her parents had died in the car crash when she was fifteen, she'd lived here on the farm with her Uncle Lenny and his girlfriend Charlene. That was almost five years ago now and her Uncle Lenny had started to steadily increase his beer intake from two or three beers on the weekend till now he was drinking like a fish. A very drunken fish at that. Samantha was sure part of the reason her Uncle drank so much was he blamed himself for her father/his brother's death. Lenny was supposed to have changed the brakes on her family's van but had put it off. Her mom and dad were driving to get Samantha from Lenny's farm when they went thru an intersection because their brakes failed. A semi t-boned their van killing her dad instantly and critically wounding her mother. She slipped into a coma and died within a week of her husband. Samantha took a deep breath thinking of the wounded owl. If she was gonna pray for her she needed a name. Hmmmm Olivia sounded like a good name for an owl. She bargained with God saying,"please look out after Olivia, she wasn't doing anything wrong. She was just minding her business when my uncle shot her. Amen."

Olivia's story is continued in part two and three of this series.