Aaron and the Snowy Owl

By Jim and Ann Sheridan

This story is written from the view point of the animals that live in a northwest US forest who are facing the possibility of losing their forest homes due to human encroachment into their world.

The animals set out to learn how to communicate with humans. The Snowy Owl has been given the task by the Council of the Owls to find a human to speak to. The story is told through a series of encounters between a little boy named Aaron and the Snowy Owl.

The little boy is adventurous and regularly enters the forest to explore. The Snowy Owl tries to protect him from the dangers that exist in the forest. Through the little boys experiences he learns more and more about the animals and the crisis they are facing in losing their forest home. He also learns about the Laws of Nature that determine how the animals relate to each other. He is befriended by a number of animals in the forest who come to his aid when he is faced with danger.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481749978

Jim

Jim Harvey is a professor of biblical studies at Williamson Christian College in Franklin, Tennessee. He has also served as pastor of seven churches in four states and has conducted preaching missions in seven other nations. Dr. Harvey holds degrees from Oklahoma University (B.A.), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (M. Div.), and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (D. Min.) Val Harvey was educated at Oklahoma University and Southwestern Seminary. She has been a curriculum writer for LifeWay Church Resources for over 40 years.

Book preview

Aaron

and the

Snowy Owl

Jim & Ann Sheridan

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AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2013 by Jim & Ann Sheridan. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/19/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-4999-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-4998-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-4997-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013908244

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Acknowledgement

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Aaron, our grandson and a terrific ten year old, for inspiring his grandparents and giving us the pleasure and opportunity to share the Snowy Owl creative experience with him.

Your Grandparents—Jim and Ann

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Chapter One

The Meeting

T he night was bitter cold in the rural far-northwest countryside. The moon hung as if frozen in the black bowl of the sky and twinkling distant stars made the heavens come alive. For a star gazer, picking out the North Star didn’t present a challenge. Look into the heavens and find the brightest shining star and you found the North Star. An unusual moon did not light up the crystal clear firmament with its normal brilliant light. Instead, the moon cast a dusty glow on the ice topped snow. The glow made the snow covered ground glisten and sparkle like a field of diamonds. Shadows from dead leaves still clinging to tree branches and silhouettes of tall pine trees, danced upon the crystal surface of the snow surrounding the house where Aaron lived.

Light evening winter winds twitched the ends of semi naked tree limbs still trying to retain their last few leaves. The multitude of shadows created an illusion of a shaking ground; all but for one moving shadow. This shadow silently floated a short distance, stopped, only to resume its trip again through the partially moonlit forest. Nothing else moved. In the black and white scene, one would find it difficult to detect the cause of the moving shadow. The unknown source of shadow produced no sound and the diffused light of the moon did not reveal the shadow’s creator.

Abruptly, the shadow disappeared. Only the keenest eye would have spotted the instigator of the moving shadow. There, perched in a tree wrapped in the obscurity of the night, sat one of the great birds of prey, a Snowy Owl.

The Snowy Owl’s white feathers blended in with the snow covered limbs of the tree where she perched. The shadows and snow fully hide her from sight. The forest had been plastered by a driving snowstorm a few days earlier and her camouflaged form blended in with the snow and shadows cast by the tree branches. The large owl sat motionless in the tree, searching the ground for a meal. She sat there twisting her head to pinpoint faint sounds coming from the ground below her. Those sounds represented a meal for the large bird of prey. The owl was hunting.

This Snowy Owl knew every inch of her hunting turf. She had been hunting in this forest and open lands near the woods for many years. This was her territory; she had always found food here. Even this winter, a particularly cold one with a heavier than usual snowfall, hunting had been fair and while more difficult, she had never gone hungry.

The great raptor didn’t mind cold weather. Her outside layer of feathers had a thick layer of down below it that kept her warm and dry against the snow and cold. Regardless of the weather, the owl needed to hunt for food almost every night. Her body remained perfectly still while her head swiveled back and forth. For now she focused on the ground about fifteen feet out from the limb of the tree where she sat in the dark. A few moments passed before she quietly slipped from her perch and in a downward, spiraling motion, with talons spread wide and wings flared, she dropped to the ground, landing on top of a mouse that had also come out to look for a meal. In a second, the owl caught and gulped down the hapless mouse. With a powerful beat of her wings, she exploded into the air and was gone on silent wings.

Normally with a full meal in her belly, the owl would be ready to settle down in her nest for the night and digest her meal away from the cold and wind. Tonight however, she had another mission to fulfill as dawn broke. The Snowy Owl glided silently on the winter air through the forest before reaching a carefully selected landing spot. Cautiously she circled the area where she planned to land. One can never be too careful when it came to avoiding the constant dangers resident in the forest. All animals of the forest were acutely aware that predators always seemed to lurk nearby. Reassured of her safety, she maneuvered to land. Finally the Snowy Owl dropped out of the sky and onto an upper branch of a tall pine tree. On an inside limb she would be safe from either a ground or air attack. The pine tree bordered a small clearing at the edge of the forest.

The owl selected a prime vantage point from which she could view the entire clearing. The fence at the end of the clearing marked the beginning of human land. As owls often do, this owl had spent years becoming an experienced observer. She was a master of camouflage and Mother Nature had equipped her for the job of spying. Her plumage hid her in both winter and summer; her eyes were designed for dim light and she had patience.

Once settled in the pine tree she targeted a landing branch in the tall pine tree from which she would select her final observation post. She dropped to the new location and then searched for an even better vantage point to view the clearing at the edge of the forest. Finding no better spot, she settled down and focused on her task at hand. From her perch she could clearly see the fence line separating the forest from the human land. The clearing area approaching the human den was her area of interest.

The forest where the Snowy Owl lived provided a home to many animals. The animals called their forest the Animal Realm and referred to themselves as the Animals of the Realm. To the west of the Animal Realm and beyond lay the land of the new humans. The new humans were a strange bunch and the Animals of the Realm feared them. The Snowy Owl had to forgo her own fear of humans to accomplish the task assigned to her by the Oracle and the Council of the Owls.

Further searching of the forest edge around the clearing eventually produced a better location from which to observe her target. The lower branch would provide a wider angle from which to view the human den across the clearing. A quick leap and a few wing beats and she acquired the prime position for spying on the humans she had come to observe.

Beams from a bright moon reflected off of the snow covered ground and illuminated the clearing while leaving the edge of the forest enveloped in darkness. The Snowy Owl sat quietly in the dark. Her eyes took in everything from within the darkness at the edge of the forest. She concentrated on the clearing where the silvery moonlight made the snow glisten. Beyond the fence lived the human she had come to observe. His den was dark. There were no noises coming from the den and the night stillness amplified the darkness of the night. The owl closed her eyes relying totally on her ears to disclose any threats from approaching predators. The observing owl had no need to be concerned about a predator from the air, the darkness protected her. The Snowy Owl would rely on the stillness of the night and her acute hearing to detect any activities within the human den whenever they occurred.

The early hours of the morning passed quickly for the Snowy Owl. In an hour the sun would creep over the eastern horizon and a new day would begin. The Snowy Owl knew from past observations, with sunrise, the humans would begin moving about inside their den. These humans appeared to be very predictable. Noises would occur within their den and then they would leave. The same pattern would occur for five days in a row and then there would be two days in which the humans would not leave as early as they usually did in the morning. The cycle repeated again and again. Today, the Snowy Owl would remain at her observation post until the humans left. Then she would move closer to investigate the human’s den. With her thoughts organized she shrank her body into a tight-knit bundle of feathers and closed her eyes. She dozed.

An hour passed quickly and as she predicted, noises from the human den began to escape into the frigid morning air. She heard the mysterious ringing sound. The owl did not understand why the ring would stop, ring, stop, ring and finally stop for good. Each morning the ringing sound occurred but it stopped at different times. Whatever caused the ringing did so every morning as the owl watched from her vantage point. She could now predict the next sounds to emanate from the dwelling. The noises would be those of the humans moving around inside their den. She sat there anticipating the next audible sounds inside the human’s dwelling; they would be human voices. The voices were the most interesting of all the noises. Yes, there they were. First there would be a high pitched voice followed by sounds of an even higher pitched voice. Then there would be silence before the voices would repeat the pattern first heard.

Lights in the human den would appear next. They would shine out through spots on the sides of the den and onto the snow. This light differed from the light beaming down from the moon. Light from inside the den cast a yellowish color, not pure white like the fresh snow. I wonder how humans can do that, thought the owl.

The lights and movement of the humans inside the den created shadows on the wall openings of the den. After many observations of the human den, the owl now recognized the shadows. The smaller shadow was the little male human called Aaron and the larger shadow was that of the mother human called Beth. From her many days of observing the den, the owl now knew the exact sequence of events which took place almost every morning in the human den. The lights would come on first on the north side of the den and then lights would come on at the south end. Through her many observations and listening to humans communicate, humans called their den a house; she wondered why. When the light appeared it would escape the den through the holes in the side of the den, the light flowed all the way to the fence that surrounded the den at the clearing.

Next, the little human called Aaron by the larger human would come outside. The owl believed that the larger human was the little human’s mother. The little human would spread a white substance, called bread, on the ground near a post in the middle of the space between the den and the fence. Then he would call out, Come birdies, come birdies, here is your breakfast. When the white substance hit the ground birds flocked to the area and began to eat. As soon as the birds began to eat, the little human would turn and dash back into the den through the opening he’d made when he came out of the den. Shortly a much larger opening on the south side of the den would appear. A large piece of machinery would exit from this opening and come to rest on the hard surface path humans constructed around their dens. These hard paths around human dens led to a much larger path the humans made in front of their dens. The machinery would be spewing hot moist air from the underneath side. While the smoking machine sat there and whined, the mother human would go back inside the den. About ten minutes would pass and then both the little human and the large human would emerge from the large open space and enter the smoking machine. The large hole would suddenly close by itself and the machinery would begin to move onto the long hard path in front of the house. Then, the machine with the humans in it would head south and disappear. This routine repeated every day except for two. For five days the humans would leave the den, then for two days it would be much later before they left, if they left at all.

The Snowy Owl had the humans’ routine committed to memory. Tomorrow the humans would not leave their house until mid-day or later. After Beth and Aaron left this morning, the Snowy Owl planned to investigate the den up close and familiarize herself with area surrounding the den. She did not want to be in unfamiliar territory when she approached the human den with the humans at home. The owl wanted to see what the inside of a human den looked like.

Just as the owl predicted, the large opening appeared in the den at the south end and the machine came out belching smoke. Shortly thereafter, the machine containing the humans rolled down the hard path and disappeared.

The owl selected a landing spot on the fence and left her perch. She glided to her designated spot on the fence and landed. For a few moments she sat there, swiveling her head looking to see if there were any humans or predators around. There were none. The owl’s piercing eyes focused on the bird food lying on the ground near the pole. This white material appeared to be human-made. However, on the top of the pole sat a large container filled with many different kinds of seeds. The owl wondered why humans fed the birds.

Before leaving her perch in the pine tree and gliding to the fence, a large number of birds had been eating seeds from the container. As soon as the owl left the pine tree, the birds scattered to safe distances to await the owl’s next move. With the owl remaining quietly on the fence, the braver birds returned to the seed container and resumed their eating. The small birds were not afraid; inherently they knew with their quickness they could escape the big owl if she tried to catch them.

Once again the owl left her place on the fence and glided to the railing surrounding the back porch of the human den. From her new vantage point, she could look directly into the den through the opening where the little boy came out each morning. The inside of the den showed no sign of light. The owl couldn’t see everything but she did observe what appeared to be perches within the den. As her eyes became accustomed to the light of day, the owl was shocked to see images on the den walls of what appeared to be birds, the little human, and even the mother human. Amazing, thought the owl. What peculiar things to have on the inside of a nest.

Seeing the images on the den wall raised many questions in the mind of the Snowy Owl. How were those images captured and made to stay on the walls, she wondered? The owl turned around on the railing to now face the clearing and sprang into the air. She made a quick flight around and over the den. The flight revealed nothing remarkable except another opening on the opposite side of the den. Ah, said the owl. Humans must have enemies too. The other opening appeared to be the escape route should their enemy get into the den from one of the other entrances. Well my work is done here, she concluded. Time for me to get back to my nest and get some sleep, but before I go, I think I’ll swing past the human den up to the north. The owl silently slipped her way back into the forest.

The owl flew northward, gliding and sliding on morning breezes that usually prevailed near the edge of the forest before the sun reached a high mark in the sky. She flew only a short distance before she located a tree to land in. The owl pulled her head backward, flared her wings and dropped softly on a tree limb. Without moving a feather, she sat with eyes locked straight ahead; looking for any motion that might warn her of a potential attacker lurking in her planned flight path. The owl waited. Then swiveling her head from side to side, she made a final assessment of her surroundings. All was clear.

The owl regained the air and continued her course north. The large raptor flew silently arriving shortly at the edge of another clearing. A large area of land had been fenced. In the enclosure, animals not of the Animal Realm stood in groups chewing. Some animals were chewing on grass obtained by scraping through the snow with their hooves. Others were eating from stacks of hay cut by the farmer and left in the fields for his animals. These animals were not like any of the animals of the forest. Their horns weren’t big and wide like the Bull Moose—Spear or long with many points like an elk’s. Instead they were short and curved to the front. They must be peaceful animals, she observed; they never waved their horns in the air or made threatening sounds like Spear did when he became angry.

The owl wondered about the animals in the field, I don’t know how they are able to defend themselves with those tiny horns. The Snowy Owl had seen these animals many times while venturing near the western edge of the forest. The scene remained peaceful until she heard what sounded like claps of thunder in quick succession. The owl knew the noise did not come from a thunder storm. What is happening, she asked herself? A cloud of black crows rose from an open field in the distance and headed south. There was another clap of thunder and the owl witnessed little black dots dropping out of the sky. Oh, she concluded. The human living in that den must have a thunder stick. The owl was fully aware of thunder sticks. When those sticks made the thunder sound, an animal died. I don’t think I want to be around this human’s den, she quickly decided. The owl had seen those kinds of humans in the forest before and their presence almost never resulted in a good outcome. All of the animals had learned to hide when humans came to the forest. The animals feared the human with a thunderstick. Humans carrying thunder-sticks usually came into the forest in the fall and winter each year and many animals were slain and taken from the forest. This human will not be safe to talk to. I will cross this human off my list.

Without leaving the safe cover of the forest, the owl returned south towards her nest. Arriving at her nest area she flew a circle around the area looking for signs of danger. Before going directly to her nest the owl landed in a convenient tree some feet away. She waited, all remained quiet; she was safe. The owl glided to the entrance of her nest and quickly entered. Once inside, she fluffed-up her feathers and nestled down into the soft grass and straw that lined the nest.

Sleep did not come right away for the owl. Her mind whirled from the day’s events. The finale had been her decision to select Aaron to be the first human she would try to talk with. Her mood was both ecstatic and fearful. Grateful she had achieved her goal of finding a human to talk to but she remained cautious and concerned. Would she actually be able to talk to the little human? Deep in the recesses of her mind she knew her destiny was to breach the communications barrier between animals and humans.

The owl gradually gave in to the haze of twilight consciousness that comes before sleep. With sleep came familiar dreams and her subconscious mind locked on memories of her ancient ancestors. She began to dream of the great dinosaur raptors from wince she had evolved. She was proud of her ancestry. They had managed to survive all of the dire circumstances Mother Nature had thrown at them. Amazingly the raptors had survived and evolved into their current form, the birds of prey. The mental vision of her path from dinosaur to Snowy Owl had become clear to her over the years. The owl wondered if the knowledge of her ancestors had been passed down to her through historical accounts or simply now imbedded in her DNA. It didn’t matter; she knew where she came from.

As if she had been there eons ago, she recalled the day the darkness fell upon her ancestors. There was a blinding flash. Immediately the air near the flash turned into a molten liquid. Rings of intense pressure waves emanated from the enormous flash reducing everything to vapor. As the air cooled the debris in the air turned into tiny crystals. Animals near the flash did not survive. The owl’s ancestors had been a safe distance away and survived the initial flash. Surviving the flash was only the beginning of their struggle to stay alive.

In the immediate aftermath of the flash there had been severe ground shakes, eruptions of deadly gases and molten rock came from deep below the earth’s surface. A stifling darkness inched along, day after day in an ever increasing blanket, as the dust and debris in the air blocked the sun’s rays. The heavens darkened. There were no shining stars at night. The air turned to dust and many animals succumbed for lack of breathable air. Clouds of dust and noxious gases slowly began a march around the planet.

The great raptors fled the onslaught of the relentless oncoming darkness. For eons the raptors adapted their bodies to their new environment. In those days you either adapted or disappeared, she thought, I don’t think I would have wanted to live in those days. What marvelous lineage I have, mused the owl as she relived the events in her mind. As their food sources diminished the great raptors adapted by becoming smaller and more agile.

Not only had the constant darkness reduced the food supply but the dust laden air made visual hunting extremely difficult. The evolving raptors adapted further, developing keen night vision and acute hearing. As her raptor ancestors grew smaller they often became the hunted not the hunter. The surviving raptors now with their keen night vision no longer hunted in light of day. They hunted in the darkness. Just like I do now, the owl concluded.

Further changes in her ancestors took place as they evolved into quicker and lighter raptors possessing great leaping ability in order to escape predators and to capture food. Not all raptors successfully adapted. They perished.

Along with darkness smothering the ancient world of raptors, came the cold. Where there is no sunlight there is no warmth. But the owl’s ancestors had refused to succumb to the new threat of cold. From somewhere in their DNA they produced feathers. Raptors began to emerge from their eggs with long strands of feathers plastered to their naked bodies. They must have been a funny sight, she thought. Those feathers quickly dried resulting in a fluffy covering of protection. The feathers were unique; they trapped and held air between the layers of feathers that covered their bodies. Their bodies heated the air trapped in their feathers and insulated them from the cold. They overcame the cold. With the growth of feathers and leaping ability it wasn’t long until these new raptors were able to leap into the air and soar for long distances. These flying raptors emerged as new species in the animal world; it was the beginning of the flying raptors—the birds of prey. The descendants of those early flying raptors still exist today. Today they are the great birds of prey; the eagles, hawks, osprey and the owls. Those were her beginnings. The owl marveled at her history and reveled in their ability to sustain the species in the face of constant perils in their environment. Amazing, thought the owl now noticing how warm and comfortable she was in the cold of winter high in a tree.

The owl’s memory raced through the centuries of change her species had endured and survived. She felt a sense of pride and accomplishment as a descendant of the great raptors of ancient times. The little raptor of today closed her eyes and dropped the curtain on her past, she slept soundly.

The Snowy Owl recognized her differences from other owls very early in her life. As an owlet she had been able to understand sketches of the communications among the animals in the forest. At first, she only partially understood what they were saying to each other but over time she understood more and more of their exchanges. As she grew older she made a discovery, all animals were able to understand various aspects of another species’ communications. The warning sign of the squirrel is recognized by all the animals in the forest. The all clear sign of each bird is universally recognized. To a degree, in the forest there is constant inter-species communication. The young owl’s ability went far beyond understanding a few universally understood signals of warning and all-clear. Her evolution had continued at a faster rate than the other species even for other raptors. The realization of her unique ability came as a shock to the young owl. She cautiously did not reveal to anyone her ability to understand other creatures living around her. Owl kept her secret for many years. The fear of being ostracized from the animal world kept her silent. While she remained silent about her ability, it did not dissuade her from cultivating her own communications skills. She practiced making the sounds of the other animals for her own amusement when no one else could hear her.

The Snowy Owl had traveled a long way from the east to find her home in the far northwest. The owl had searched for a period of years for just the right place to establish a permanent home. During her search she had stopped and lived for short periods of time in a number of locations along the way. For some reason, one she never really understood, she preferred to live on the edge of forests. She liked the open fields for hunting and the forest for safety and nesting. One summer morning, while resting near a human den she observed a human put a bird outside on a perch. The bird was green with gold feathers covering its head. She had never seen such a bird in the wild nor had she ever seen one since. The bird was remarkable. The human would talk and the bird talked back in human language. That experience had made the young owl question, is this bird more evolved than we raptors? The thought of her abilities not