Short story nr 11 (Subject – Owls/ Name of Main Character – Barney)

Yesterday had been a big day for Barney and he had woken up early to tend to his garden and to shave his beard. He had started to write to a divorcee called Janice about three months ago via a Pen Pal website and yesterday was the day they had agreed to meet in town for their first real date. Barney was an old romantic and he would never assume, but things did go a certain way and Janice was at this time still sleeping in his bed. Barney, even though ecstatic about this development, could not help but feel worried.

He brushed his teeth quickly and as he made his way to the front of his log cabin, he really hoped the owls wouldn’t mind this new intruder.

Barney lived alone in a wooden cabin right at the heart of a beautiful meadow, lined with tall spruce trees. He used to think of these impenetrable and thorny evergreens as his guardians, sheltering the meadow from the rest of the world. Him and his wife Agnes used to love this place and the quietness and privacy of the meadow was what made them put down a rather hefty deposit for this summer house in the first place.

Since Agnes had been diagnosed with cancer they had stopped visiting this serene haven. It had gotten too busy with the hospital appointments and chemo and before they both knew it, she had passed away.

The days, weeks and months after her death were a blur to Barney, but somehow in the midst of all this chaos and devastation, he knew that the meadow would somehow save him. He left his job as a freelance journalist and decided to take a year off and concentrate on finally writing his book. He moved away from the city and back to the arms of the nature, right where his heart belonged.

He had gotten his first visit from the owls the morning after he had properly moved into the cabin. He remembered it as if it was yesterday. He had woken up, made himself some tea and then opened the old warn-out curtains to let the sunshine in, when he spotted them sitting on a branch of a spruce. They looked almost identical from this distance and were just looking at him, as if to say “It’s OK old man, we are here now. We’ll look after you”.

Every single morning after that the owls were there, checking in on him. Not once had these majestic birds missed a day and Barney sincerely believed them to be sent from his late wife to guard over him and their cherished wooden cabin. Barney had grown accustomed to their presence in the mornings and never tried to approach them for fear of scaring them away for good.

He smiled as he thought of these furry guard dogs of his. He had seen them yesterday as well, perching on the same branch as always, looking at him. He buttoned up his shirt as he reached the front of the cabin and opened the curtains.