Justin and the Owl

Justin shivered, as he always did this time of night. The window that he had opened the barest portion of a crack caused the wind to whistle through it. The shrill sound made the young boy smile as he remembered a time during the summer when his father had taken him to the lake just west of the town and had shown him how to turn blades of grass into a whistle. Cautious of the noise it would make, he continued to ease the window open more and more, the whistling faded slowly and then died, the cold of the autumn night filling the room. Climbing out onto the window sill, ignoring the height and the danger that was inherent of clambering out onto the side of buildings in ones pyjamas, Justin made his way up onto the roof.

With the assurance of an acrobat who has spent their entire life on a tight-rope, the boy deftly pulled himself up the trellis that ran up the entire side of his two-story house and onto the frozen shingles of the roof. He stared up at the moon when it came into view over the peaked roof with a sense of wonder than only young boys can have and perched himself atop the highest point on the house, with his back leant against the chimney.

The boy waited, waited with a sense of purpose and evident nerves. Anxiously his eyes swept the sky for a sign of what he was waiting for and came across only the star-filled sky and the still and sleeping silhouettes of the town around him. He began to become discouraged, much like all eight year old boys do while they wait for something and he began to contemplate going back to his room and going to sleep. Just as he was about to leave though he heard a rustling of feathers and turned, eyes full of joy, to the sight that awaited him. That night, just like every night that month, an owl was perched on the roof of the house next to Justin's, all it did was sit, perched upon the chimney, seemingly oblivious to the boy watching him from twenty feet away.

There would have been no evidence to suggest that the bird was even aware of the boy’s presence if not for the fact that the owl, after he had settled upon his perch and surveyed the surroundings, would stare directly into the eyes of the boy. Their eyes would meet, and Justin would feel like his very soul was being gazed upon. Normally this would cause on to have great discomfort, but with Justin, it made him feel complete.