Sage and Dusty

“Honey it’s time. This baby is puttin’ up a fuss”, said Melinda wincing in pain as she looked down at her rotund stomach. She placed her hands under her large round belly to better support it and unborn but kicking Sage.

“Let’s go now before this wind gets worse. I heard there is a fire in the state forest where the parties always happen. I smell smoke and the air is getting dusty. Don’t want to be stuck here if that wind brings a fire, especially with the ring of large oak trees surrounding our land. Our buildings will burn to the ground once the trees catch fire”, answered her husband Rick as he escorted her to the car.

“You got the suitcase packed”, she asked.

“I have several packed, including important papers, photos, and vital documents”, he answered quickly.

She winced as she looked up into the wind. “Better not blow no fire. Better usher in our son Sage and the start of our family”, she declared positively, yet with a sense of calm that only a strong woman could offer.

“It will”, replied Rick confidently as he helped her step up into the truck. She always thought that the truck, though practical for their use, was difficult to enter and exit. Now with 25 extra pounds, sore feet, and a swollen stomach it was next to impossible. Rick started the truck, looked over the modest ranch, and squeezed her hand before turning the steering wheel of their RAM 250 in the direction of the long gravel road that would take them off of their land and to the local highway.

It was anything but normal at the Silva ranch home as Melinda looked out the window of their black 4x4 truck, spotting a herd of fast-moving deer and more birds than usual in tan skies that smelled of smoke.

“The animals are fleeing the wind and the fire you mentioned. Hope this is not a bad… a bad sign for our Sage Oliver Silva”, she said through labored breaths.

“Our baby’s initials are SOS so I think he is sending out help signals. We’ll be fine”, stated Rick with a smile, trying to reassure his wife. She didn’t need to worry about fires and property damage now.

“What can I do to help you sweetie?”, he asked, now more cognizant of the situation as his wife’s breaths became labored and reflected more discomfort.

Both of them looked around their rural acres at what they suspected could be much worse as the hours raced by. They looked at each other for a moment.

“We have each other…and Sage”, stated Rick.

“True. Just get us to the hospital”, was all she could say as she pressed the power seat lever to lower the passenger seat. Comfort now was elusive and fleeting. Though positive throughout her pregnancy, lately she had become frustrated and impatient to give birth.

Rick noticed changes in the wind as he drove at least 20 miles per hour over the posted speed limit. Smoke changed direction and then began to disappear. He felt safe and confident driving fast because he knew the highway like he knew their land. His wife breathed harder, faster. Sage was on the way.

The wind changed direction and then died down almost completely. As if a miracle had occurred, it began to rain, signaling welcome news. Rick asked SIRI to call the hospital. The medical staff was ready.

Rick suspected that rain would save their land, trees, and home. He assured his wife that everything would be fine. She looked at him and managed a heartfelt smile through her pain. It wasn’t unbearable, but it wasn’t pleasant.

“Our son is getting impatient. He wants out and I totally agree with him. Just hope he waits until we get to the hospital. You hear me, Sage?”, stated Melinda, lying down in her passenger seat, looking up through the sunroof.

A hospital staff met the Silva truck at the emergency entrance and quickly whisked Melinda to a large, well equipped surgery room. The staff promptly assessed Melinda’s status and concluded that Sage would be making an appearance momentarily. Everything seemed normal. Melinda’s eyes scanned the room after the staff put her in their standard gown that always seems too small. Lying on her back in a modest mobile bed, she felt at peace between pulses of pain.

“I am soooo ready”, she exclaimed to Rick and any other ears that could hear.

“I know honey and I’m right here with you. I feel ya”, assured Rick, trying futilely to understand what his wife was feeling.

“I love you Rick, but I still contend that men will never understand what childbirth is like”, said Melinda with first an exasperated nod and then a wry smile.

She noticed artwork on the wall; landscapes, a trout fisherman, sunrise, and a barn owl in a sprawling oak tree. The owl’s head and eyes were focused on the spot where her head rested on a wide pillow. They were high resolution photographs that captured the essence of the wildlife.

Within 30 minutes a few quick and soft cries announced Sage to the outside world. At 7 pounds and 12 ounces he wasn’t especially big. His height of 21 inches was not spectacular. But Sage was healthy and alert with dark round eyes and a full head of black hair.

His eyes fixed on a few things that day, including his mother’s voice and face. At one point he seemed to look past her plastered, adoring smile to another photograph of a barn owl in a tree. It was one of three pictures on her room wall. Melinda thought it was strange that the hospital had several pictures of barn owls, among other wildlife pictures, on the walls, but even stranger that Sage’s eyes seemed riveted on the picture of the owl in her hospital room.

“Rick, look at how curious Sage is. I swear he is looking at that owl. I thought he was looking at me, but he is fixed on that owl”, said Melinda as she hugged him tightly and smiled while Rick leaned over and kissed his son’s forehead.

“Your son is so handsome. They say he really can’t see and make sense of things far away, but he sure is curious and attentive”, interjected one of the nurses tending to the trio.

Rick and Melinda hugged and kissed. “He is so beautiful”, cried Rick, eyes red with a few tears trailing down his rugged, tanned cheeks.

“Yes, he is. Can you believe we made him?”, asked Melinda looking up at her husband of 5 years.

While the nurses took Sage from Melinda who began to doze off, Rick made a few calls to neighboring ranches to determine the status of the fire. He learned that it was well-contained by the volunteer fire department. Fortunately, it was more smoke than fire and the rain helped soak the land. Neighbors assured Rick, that his ranch was undamaged.

After spending the rest of the day at the hospital, Rick returned home alone, exhausted and anxious to see the ranch and to return the next day, if possible, to pick up Melinda and Sage.

The morning arrived quickly, and surprisingly ushered in a clear day, still darker blue but light enough to survey his ranch while sipping a hot mug of comforting coffee. He felt the jolt of caffeine and sugared creamer as he considered calling his wife. Too early he thought. Let her sleep.

Rick looked for signs of wildlife, knowing that the wide-scoped, yet brief fire the day before had dislodged animals from two small hills, a lightly forested area, and some grassland prairie. He squinted into the pre-sunrise blue for signs of deer, rabbits, raccoons, and other native wildlife. Nothing. Maybe too dark he thought. His eyes shifted to the side of their large out building, used as a garage, barn, and storage area. There quietly lying on the ground between a few large oak trees and the out building were several deer. They nervously watched Rick who was about 100 yards away.

Scanning the tall, mature oaks, Rick spotted a real treasure. A large, young barn owl was watching everything from its perch 50 feet off of the ground. It stood motionless at the entrance to a large hole in the old oak tree, previously the home of other wildlife.

It must be a refugee from yesterday’s fire Rick thought as the owl turned its head from side to side to survey its new surroundings.

“Welcome to our ranch. We can use another helper to cut down the mouse populations around here”, whispered Rick softly to the majestic owl.

Finally peeking above the horizon, the sun highlighted the size and coloration of the new ranch member in the tree, who moved into the shade and studied its new home.

Back inside the ranch house an hour later, Rick continued a loving phone conversation with Melinda who was beginning a new stage of multi-tasking. She was breastfeeding Sage, chatting with Rick, and eating a few bites of hospital oatmeal, graced with a few blueberries.

Later Rick cleaned up the house and made sure everything was ready for his wife and newborn Sage. Although they were going to remain in the hospital for another day, Rick couldn’t wait to get back to the hospital.

As Rick drove the familiar highway to town, he thought about how strong women are and what it takes to bear children. He remembered how alert Sage was the day before and was surprised at how emotional he was about his new son. It was at that moment he decided to pick up a few surprises for his family on the way to the hospital.

“Well, Sage looks like both of us, not just me. He has the best of both of us. I’m so happy that you two are healthy. I can’t wait to bring you two home tomorrow Melinda”, replied Rick as he set a vase of flowers on Melinda’s bedside table.

“He is so beautiful and alert, still looking into my eyes. Oh Rick, and I swear he studies that barn owl picture on the wall. Is that weird?”, said Melinda, cradling Sage with the love and tenderness that new mom’s show for their first born.

“Babe, I just remembered, speaking of barn owls. So, the fire drove some animals towards our little ranch. I saw some deer resting under a couple of large oaks near the barn. But listen to this. A barn owl, probably driven by the fire yesterday, has found a home in the largest oak tree; the largest one with the hole in the upper trunk. I think it has made a home on our ranch. I saw a digested mouse skeleton at the base of the tree. Looks like Sage will have his own barn owl right on our own ranch”, explained Rick enthusiastically.

“There is something magical about the barn owl. I swear, Sage is fixated with the barn owl photograph”, suggested Melinda.

“He is alert and advanced for his age”, bragged Rick. “He is like I was as a baby.”

“Oh no, not another Rick baby story. Hey, what’s in the bag dear”, asked Melinda with unbound curiosity.

Opening the bag slowly and deliberately, Rick’s large, tanned arm pulled out a football. “For the next university quarterback”, exclaimed Rick as he proudly showed his son Sage the football.

Unable to contain her laughter, Melinda asked, “Babe, don’t you think it’s a bit early for football?”

“Not a bit sweetie. Sage will be walking in 8 months. Heck, maybe running. We can play catch before that even”, explained Rick proudly.

“Men and their football”, laughed Melinda as she hugged her husband while cradling Sage.

“What else is in the bag?”, inquired Melinda as she looked at the large bag and then down glowingly at Sage.

“Your good hairbrush, another set of loose, comfortable clothes, and some dark chocolates. Oh yeah, and a card and letter for you to read later after I head back home”, said Rick, who by then was taking dozens of photos of the two of them with his new phone camera.

After enjoying the extended photo session, accompanied by laughter and a few joyful tears, Rick reached back into the bag, pulled out a stuffed animal, and proudly showed his wife. “It’s a cute stuffed barn owl toy. Named Dusty. See its name tag. Couldn’t resist”, Rick declared.

Continuing, Rick explained, “Sage was staring at all the barn owl photos in this hospital and we just adopted a live barn owl on the ranch. I kind of figured it might be Sage’s spirit animal.”

Rick set the stuffed owl next to Sage on Melinda’s chest, with the soft warm fuzz of the stuffed animal touching his son’s face. Sage looked at the owl and then closed his large, dark eyes, drifting off to sleep, still tired from his birth ordeal and from alertly studying his new world.

“He’s a keeper and so is the barn owl…and so are you sweetie”, whispered Rick, almost in tears again.

Melinda opened her eyes and looked at her husband. “I think you’re a keeper too.”

“Dinner time. Sorry it’s late. Are you staying for dinner with us Mr. Silva?”, asked the night nurse Vanessa, just beginning her shift and tasked with dispensing meals to the patients.

“No, I think I will leave my wife and son in peace for a few hours. I have a question. Who took all of these wildlife photos that are on the hospital walls?” asked Rick, pointing to the barn owl photo and the others in the room.

“There is a local wildlife photographer who has taken photos in this region for 10 years. A quiet old coot, but talented. Came in here as a patient a few months back. He was taking a photograph of a rattle snake. Got to close and was nicked by a fang. He decided the hospital ought to display local wildlife photos on the walls. The director agreed, so she commissioned him to take over 100 photos, maybe 200. Nice old fella. You’d like him. Named DuBose or something like that. He took all of the photographs; the rattler, the barn owl, the deer, the turtles, everything”, recounted the nurse.

“I think I have heard about him, but haven’t met him. Thanks. You know the owl looks familiar”, claimed Rick as he prepared to kiss his son and wife goodbye for the night. Looking down at them sitting on the side of Melinda’s bed, Rick began to cry tears of joy.

As Rick drove home, he realized how happy he was with his wife, his career, his fatherhood, and his ranch. Being a husband and father was the best. His thoughts switched to the new resident barn owl on their ranch. He decided to name the owl Dusty.

“As it turned out that fire brought us Sage and Dusty. I’m glad we had that little fire and glad it rained”, said Rick softly to himself.

At that same moment Dusty, the new resident barn owl, silently swooped down on an unsuspecting mouse near one of the majestic, sprawling Oak trees. In an instant the mouse was dangling from the owl’s talons on its way to the owl’s new home on the Silva ranch.