A Flurry of Feathers

A large, majestic barn owl glides silently across an empty night sky. The moon is nearly full and the woods down below are carpeted in thick white snow, freshly fallen and yet unmarred by footfalls. Bare branches rattle in an icy breeze and even the coursing river is frozen in its bed. The world is peaceful, at least for now.

The owl continues eastward in its flight over the forest canopy; finally coming to the crest of the mountains which border them. A single road has been carved up there, and only a handful of roughly hewn log cabins exist in this remote place. The owl spirals downwards, masterfully riding updrafts with its sharp talons extended. On the forest floor a small grey field mouse glances up sharply in fear with wet black eyes which sparkle like gems. The owl pays it no mind. Instead it alights on the bough of an everglade tree behind one of the man-dwellings.

It perches. It waits.

***

Eleven year old Wendy Maxwell held her breath with excitement. Up ahead on the snowy trail was a large doe. Her long slender legs and body were tan in color while her underbelly was as white as the snow itself. She was beautiful and Wendy didn’t want to scare her off for anything in the world. Instead she watched on from where she stood as the doe nipped delicately at the mostly bare branches. There was little left for her to eat this season besides a few nettles.

Slowly, Wendy carefully raised and then lowered her feet. She took one timid step towards the doe, then another. The crunch her boots made in the snow weren’t very loud at all, at least not to her hearing. The doe raised its elegant head towards her, curiously, but to Wendy’s surprise she didn’t immediately bolt away to the safety of the thickets. Instead she watchfully allowed the little girl to approach, ears perked up and legs at the ready to run.

“Easy girl, I’m not going to hurt you,” Wendy whispered, outstretching one red mitten-ed hand. The deer was less than six feet away. She took pains to move as slowly as possible, to breathe as quietly as she could. Almost there, Wendy thought, excitement welling up inside her as each footfall closed the gap.

Duna-NAHH NAHH duna- NAHH NAHH duna NAHH NAHH NAHHHHH! Came the sudden sound of a ringtone from behind her. The deer reared in alarm and leapt away from just a few inches from the little girl’s outstretched fingers. “Hello? Oh hi Babe! No, nothing important… just a little nature hike, that’s all.”

Brandon Maxwell plodded along the trail carelessly, phone in hand. Wendy’s temporary elation fled along with the doe and she was suddenly fed up. “Dad!” she yelled, storming back towards her father. “Dad I can’t believe you-“

Brandon made a shushing motion towards his daughter; then pointed to the phone in his hand. Red-hot, angry tears flooded Wendy’s eyes. She’d had just about enough.

Her parent’s divorce had been finalized just about two years ago and since Brandon travelled for work she almost never saw him anymore. Even still, spending a few weeks up at the family’s cottage in the mountains on a father-daughter trip was a time honored tradition that he’d never broken; not even after the divorce. That time alone with her father had always been exclusively hers.

Or at least it had been, until Shelly, Brandon’s new fiancée, came into the picture. Shelly who was nearly eight months pregnant with a brother or sister that Wendy had never asked for. And instead of helping Wendy make and hang bird-feeders from the trees or roll snowmen to life or just talk and tell stories and jokes the way he used to, Brandon had spent most of this trip talking to Shelly on the phone.

“Green? I like green for a nursery. Maybe green and yellow? Let me ask Wendy, let’s see what big sis has to say about it!” Brandon had clearly missed how distraught his daughter was and made the mistake of leaning towards her with the phone in hand. Wendy reacted before she even thought, snatching it out of her father’s hand and hurling it into the woods as hard as she could.

“Wendy! What did you do that for?!” Brandon asked in shock, suddenly noticing the tears streaming down his daughter’s red cheeks.

“Why do you think?!” Wendy yelled angrily. “You’ve been on the phone with Shelly since we got here! This is supposed to be our trip and you spent the whole time talking about the stupid baby! They’re not even here yet and they already replaced me! I don’t even care anymore! I wish I could just fly away from this place and never come back!”

Wendy sprinted past her father back towards the cabin as her father began searching for the phone in the scrub and snow. She threw open the door, kicked off her boots, threw her coat and mittens on the floor and then ran into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. She climbed into the bed and pulled the covers over her head. It was warm under there. Before long her eyelids started getting heavy, and her last thought before they closed was – I wish I could fly away from this place and never come back. Nobody would miss me anyway.

Outside her bedroom window, from its perch in an evergreen tree an owl hooted in the quickly fading light.

***

Wendy awoke with a start a few hours later. Where am I?! She thought, puzzled. She was certainly outdoors, in the wind and the cold but surprisingly neither one bothered her very much. The sky overhead was filled with stars and the moon was full and shone brightly like a pearl against the night sky. Looking down, the forest floor seemed miles beneath her. She had woken up and found herself up a tree!

How did I get all the way up here?! Did I sleepwalk?! She thought, panicking. Suddenly she was very worried that she would fall. At this height she would certainly break something.

You won’t fall, little owlet. A voice; strange, mysterious and somehow regal filled Wendy’s head. A large barn owl moved from a hollow in the tree into view. The owl was larger than any of its kind that Wendy had ever seen before. Its facial disk was snowy white and the large, deep set eyes had golden irises. Wendy could make out the shape of the tawny feathers on its back in great detail.

Are…are you speaking to me? Wendy asked in amazement. She was suddenly aware that another change had taken place. She should not have been able to see as clearly as she could, not even under the light of the stars and full moon. It was full dark out. And yet she could make out the tracks of a thousand paws, big and small in the white snow nearly forty feet below. And the noise! Wendy could make out the sounds of all sorts of woodland creatures as some of them began their foray out from their nests for the night.

Do you see anyone else up here? The owl asked with a chuckle.

No. I suppose I don’t. What’s happened to me? Wendy asked the owl apprehensively.

You said you wanted to fly away from this place. I heard you and granted your wish. Look at your own two feet if you don’t believe me.

Wendy did as instructed. And instead of two human feet she realized she had the feet of an owl- tipped with razor sharp talons and all. Much more practical now, aren’t they? The owl asked, clearly pleased with its own handiwork.

Not if you’re a little girl! Wendy retorted, alarmed. She couldn’t imagine picking up a pencil or typing on a keyboard with feet like these. How would she ever get on in school?!

Little girl? School? I see you still don’t understand. Come along little Owlet. You’ll soon see what I mean. With that the owl took off from the tree, caught an updraft and began spiraling up into the night. Just jump, little one! Jump and stretch your wings! Your body knows what to do, I promise!

Feeling she had no other choice, Wendy took a leap of faith. She couldn’t very well stay in the tree all night could she? She counted to three then hopped off the branch. For one terrifying moment she thought the owl had misled her as she began plummeting headfirst towards the ground. But then her wings unfolded and suddenly she was soaring in the night sky, feeling freer than she had ever felt before in her life! It was exhilarating.

This is amazing! Wendy exclaimed, feeling all her worries drain and just enjoying the moment. Ahead the owl hooted in agreement. Keep up with me, young one! It won’t take us long to get where we’re going. Not very long at all!

Below the world was unlike anything Wendy had ever seen before. She had flown in an airplane a few times, and of course Dad had given her the window seat to take in the view. But this was something entirely different! The details were so rich and there were a million of them to take in every second. She could make out every single nettle on every tree branch. She could see and hear a pair of silver hares peeking out cautiously from the mouth of their burrow. A red fox was scampering around in the brush and here and there little field mice tried to stay hidden as they foraged for food.

As they passed over the mountaintops Wendy took in the sight of a dozen small lakes she hadn’t even seen before. Some were topped with a crust of ice nearly two inches thick, but a few were still liquid and it was to one of these that the owl flew before descending on a rock in the middle. A flock of ducks quacked away in a hurry but the owl paid them no mind. Wendy joined the owl a few moments later.

Look, little Owlet. The owl said. You’ve got a whole new life. And a great one at that, no? The owl pointed its wing tip towards the water and Wendy unsteadily lurched towards the rock’s edge to peer out at her reflection. The face of another barn owl, this one much smaller stared back at her.

You’ve changed me into an owl! Wendy hooted with glee. No more school! No more tests! No more Shelly or baby or dad who doesn’t care if I’m gone one way or another!

Yes, no more of any of that. The owl agreed solemnly. Your new life is to be a queen of the sky. You’ll hunt mice and chipmunks and squirrels. They’ll learn to fear you! And you’ll fly about at night and sleep all day, out of the glare of the sun.

Mice? Chipmunks? Squirrels? Wendy asked, suddenly feeling a little green.

Yes, and some other birds as well. Sparrows, starlings. Those little bird feeders you make with your father, well, they attract food for our kind too.

Wendy winced. She remembered the summer previous, when she and her mother had nursed a sparrow with a broken wing back to health in a shoe box before releasing it back to the wild. Dad had come around for a week and helped then too. "I'm proud of you," he'd said. "Taking care of things that are smaller and weaker than us is a great sign of character."

I can't eat birds or squirrels or mice, owl. Wendy said. Taking care of things that are smaller and weaker than us is a great sign of character. That's what my Dad said, and he would know.

Well, I'd best return you to your human form then, the owl said, a little testily. The wild is no place for one who holds such lofty ideals. Here is survival of the fittest, no more, no less.

You should. Wendy agreed. Together they flew off again. Wendy drank in as many details of that amazing flight as she could. They returned to the tree outside her family's cabin.

Goodbye, owl. And thank you anyway, Wendy said. She settled into the hollow of the tree. Goodbye, little owlet. The owl said.

Wendy woke up in her bed the next morning thinking it was all just a dream. Except under the covers she found herself surrounded by a dozen long barn owl feathers.