The Night Hawk and The Return of The Night Owl.

The inevitable truth... he’s never going to change...

They called him the Night Hawk.

He was the cock of the walk. The stud of the barn yard. All the hens fluttered when he would strut by. He had the most seductive hackle around. His dazzling saddle made all the hens flock to him. He just popped his cape and paraded by. He had the most alluring red comb with bright, vibrant feathers. All the hens wanted to cluck him.

He preyed upon them, hen after hen. The farmers loved him. There were eggs galore. The farmers kids ate well. Each hen always left feeling fully satisfied basking in his glory. Cluck me again.

But when the night was over and he would leave to return to his empty coop he never felt fulfilled. He always thought of her. The one that flew away.

***

She was the best thing that ever happened to him. He was happy then. He can remember a time when things were different. He was different. Life was different. Life was good.

***

They did everything together. He was her King and she was his Queen. He will always remember that night. The night she flew away...

***

She watched him flirt with all the other hens near the stables, clucking together. She watched him sprawl out his feathers when he thought she wasn’t around. She watched his charm slowly fading, charming her less and less and all the other hens more and more. Until she could stare no more. For an owl can only stay perched for so long. As he stared into the darkness he remembered the night he watched her fly away.

***

He forgot how wide, strong and delicate her wing span was. Her feathers so elegant, so delightful, he forgot a lot of things. He never fully understood, never truly appreciated what he had until she finally flew away.

***

It’s been years since he saw her. Same routine, night after night. The hens flock. Cluck, cluck, cluck.

He remembers when they first met and how his beak dropped to the ground when he saw her. He had never seen a stare so unique, so transparent. It was like she could see through his soul. And he liked that.

When she laughed, he laughed. When she smiled, he smiled. He craved her. He’d never met a tallon so strong. As he looked at her heart shaped face. He could feel her heart shine throughout her entire orangish-brown stiffened feathers. She wore her heart on her sleeve. He missed that. He missed that a lot. He missed a lot of things.

***

She was never the same after she met him. She fell for him. Like many have before. She thought everything she’d been through, her battles, her struggles, lead her to him. She was grateful. All of a sudden the past didn’t matter. All that mattered was her future... her future with him. They were in love. Things were different then. Things were different then for both of them. She smiled more. She laughed more. She missed him.

***

It was the most anticipated night of the year at the barn yard, the Barn Yard Boogie. Every hen, pig and cow were going to be there. Oink, oink. Pig was ready. Everyone was ready, everyone except him. This night always reminded him of her. The night she flew away...

In his coop, all alone, he sighed as he straightened his tie. She always did that just right for him. As he brushed his comb back memories of her flooded his mind... and his heart.

***

The music was blasting. You could hear it over the entire barnyard well beyond the hay stacks. “Bad, Bad, Leroy brown, the baddest man in the whole Dam town... 🎶” Everyone and their dog were there, everyone except her.

***

As the night went on and the sky fell to darkness he couldn’t help but think about this same night so many years before. He couldn’t fight it anymore. He decided to leave the festivities and go for a walk. He needed to clear his head.

He walked out of the barn and into the hay stacks. He sat there thinking, dwelling, remembering...

She was so beautiful. Why did he treat her like that. Why didn’t he see. If he could go back in time.. but he couldn’t. He had enough. He was done with that night. He loosened his tie and started his strut back to the coop.

The moon was full that night. He watched the moon shine down on the land as he slowly walked back toward his coop. As he went to open the door he thought he heard a rustle. When he turned around... nothing. It was just the wind. Sigh. He turned back around. As he went to turn his key, this time he knew he heard something. Hooooot, hooooot.

As he turned his head, he couldn’t believe what he saw. There in the moonlight he saw her heart shaped face. Like the first time she smiled at him, his beak dropped and his heart smiled.

***

He was in disbelief. He never thought he’d see her again. As if it were Athena herself, she radiated.

He took her talon. They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment that felt like an eternity. She was back. She came back. She flew back into his life and this time he wouldn’t let her fly away again. The band played...

“Whoo, I would rather, I would rather go blind boy. Then to see you walk away from me, child, no. Whoo, so you see me, I love you so much. That I don’t want to watch you leave me baby. Most of all, I just don’t, I just don’t wanna be free, no...”

https://youtu.be/IkNBe7BbMTk

He never forgot that night she flew away. And he would never forget. She flew back into his feathers and as he held her tight he knew he would never let her fly away again.

The Return of Night Owl.