Erica Van Horn
Too Raucous for a Chorus

From Tether 4, pages 112–124

THE OWL

I entered the room. I heard a thud. I looked up. There was an owl looking straight at me. He was pressed up against the outside of the window. I was just inside the window. We were very close to one another. His right wing was spread out in a flying position and the left one was down beside his body. He must have flown into the glass because of the light. We stared at one another without moving for several seconds. Then he stepped backwards off the window ledge and into the darkness.