The cafe and the owl

The café erupted into shouts of surprise and displeasure when the two young people crashed into one another in the dining area. Papers went everywhere, flying into the air and slowly floating back down to settle on the ground. Coffee spilled across the dark tile floor making the entire room smell of Columbian Supremo Blend. It soaked through the papers that had yet to be picked up off the floor, making it nearly impossible to read what had once been written on them. The only thing left on the pages that could be seen was the front cover which had a barn owl with open wings across the front. Its eyes were a golden amber, with sparkles of gold and silver across the face. Its wings were similar as well.

Her jacket and her once white blouse were covered in now cold coffee, causing her skin to itch. Her long ebony black hair was now tousled and had whipped cream in places, making clumps of her hair stick together. But she continued to keep a positive attitude because she knew there was still time to run home to change her clothes and to print out new copies of the papers she needed for a budget meeting later in the afternoon.

To her surprise, she looked up to find the young man she had walked into offering her a helping hand. He held napkins in the hand he did not offer and had a sympathetic smile on his face. She took his hand and accepted the napkins he held out, confused by his actions. She was sure that he would have been angry by what had happened, even if he had been lucky enough not to get anything on him. “Why the owl?” She was absolutely stumped. “What?”

The man nodded towards the wet papers on the floor before turning his eyes back to her. “The barn owl. Why the owl?” she then understood the question he was asking and tried to figure out the answer before he got annoyed. “There is a uh…an owl that sits outside my house. It is there every day, so I used the owl as an inspiration for my research paper.” He nodded, handing her a business card. “Call me when you have an estimate for the damage to your clothes. I will send you a check.”

Before she could respond, he turned and walked away. What surprised her the most was the owl that was on the back of his jacket. It reached from shoulder to shoulder, and from his neck and halfway down his back. What was funny about it? It was a barn owl on his jacket. It almost made her smile until she remembered that she still had things to do before she ran herself out of time. So, she bent down to pick up the wet papers, used the napkins to clean the coffee off the floor, and then headed home to change and print out new papers.

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It took her two hours to get home from the coffee shop because of the amount of traffic she hit along her way back. It upset her the slightest bit because she hit every single red light along the way. Now, she only had two hours before her meeting and not enough time to get there on time. She knew she was going to be a good ten minutes late for her budget meeting. This was her third day within the company she worked for, and this would not be a good look for her. She was going to definitely have a talking to later after the meeting.

On her way back out the door, she stopped when she heard a familiar sound to her left. Turning, she spotted the owl she had seen every single day since moving here, sitting on the roof right above her porch steps. It stared at her, giving her an eerie feeling. But the strangest thing was that she felt oddly at ese with the thing hanging around. It was almost as if the thing was looking out for her in some way. It was nice having the owl around. It was a form of company for her.