“I’ve seen owls,” he said, “in books.”
“I’m not a book.”
“I know.”
“What do you know?
What do you know about us?
“Well,” Aubrey began, “owls are seen as good fortune or
bringers of good omens.”
“Omens?” she interrupted.
“Yeah, you know, like messages.”
“Do I look like I have an omen?”
“I don’t know. Do you?”
“Um,” she forced her voice to sound regal and authoritative.
“There is a mouse in that field yonder who shall not be returning home
tonight.”
Aubrey laughed. For the first time he could see that
Adrianna, too, was smiling.
“Why do you gnomes think that we know everything?”
“Well,” he paused, trying to remember his history classes in
school. “Montgomery the Great warned us of the fire in ’14.”
“Are you kidding? Montgomery wasn’t great. He was lazy and
couldn’t support his own owlets. And the only reason he warned you gnomes was
that his wife forced him.”
“Oh. Well, aren’t you owls all wise?”
“Well, I am,” she said in mock self-adulation. “No, the only
reason we seem wise is because we can, you know, fly and see stuff before you
can. Owls are just as gnomish as you gnomes. We’re not the gods you make us out
to be. We fail. There are some really bad owls, I assure you.”
“and you’re a good owl?”
“I don’t know. I try to be.” She paused tilting her head
quizzically. “You know, you’re the first gnome I’ve met who hasn’t bowed down
when he met me?”
“Should I be bowing?” Aubrey asked with a smirk.
“Maybe,” she laughed her twittering laugh. “But it’s nice to
be able to be myself around someone.” She smoothed her feathers with her wing.
Her piercing eyes seemed to illuminate the night. Conversation stalled and
there was silence until a noise from the bushes --- the field mouse poked his
head out then shrunk back at the sight of the great bird of prey.
“I should get going,” she said quietly. “Maybe I’ll see you
again Aubrey Meriwether.” With a beat of her great wings she was aloft. Aubrey
stood watching silently until she disappeared into the blackness of the night
sky…
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