Ruth the owl | Life on a Colorado Farm

Chapter Seven

I have been helping Mom and Dad. They are cutting and hauling wood.

I go out and hang around while Dad runs that LOUD thing that cuts the logs.

Sometimes I jump on the big woodpile to see if any mice run out.

They don’t.

Then Mom and Dad haul the wood and I stay in the corrals. There ARE mice in the corrals.

I was hanging out in the corrals searching here and there after Mom and Dad stopped for the day.

It was growing dark

I forgot about growing dark time.

When SUDDENLY out of nowhere

THE OWL CAME gliding down and lit right in front of me!

I FROZE

“STOP RIGHT THERE, CAT!!! NOW!”

I stopped.

I was already stopped.

I was frozen.

There was no way I was going to move.

I was trying to move, but I couldn’t.

“I am not going to hurt you. Get that through your head. I just want information.”

The owl fluffed her feathers this way and that, settling down right beside me.

“My name is Ruth!” the owl announced. “Boomer was my very best dog friend. We had lots of adventures together. I want to know if the rumors I am hearing are true.”

I just stared at the Owl, Ruth. My eyes must have been bigger than my face, my tongue was frozen in my mouth, I couldn’t talk.

“Come on, Cat. As soon as you tell me, I’m out of here.”

Yeah, right, and you grab me on the way out. I thought to myself.

I just stared at—-Ruth.

“I WILL NOT EAT YOU!” Ruth yelled at me. “I WILL NOT!”

I squatted down, trying to make myself tiny. Oh, maybe that isn’t a good idea. I FLUFFED myself up, trying to make myself big.

“Stop it,” Ruth tiredly commanded. “Just tell me about Boomer.”

She glared at me with her big round eyes.

I started to shake and shiver.

“Okay, here is a deal. You tell me. I continue to sit right here, I won’t move. You run as fast as you can away from me and hide. Then I will fly away. And only then.”

“You can’t leave, you know,” Ruth announced. “I can get you before you even think about moving your paws. So, tell me about Boomer. Once I know the truth, you can run off and I will let you go. You really don’t have a choice.” Ruth stated flatly. “You have NO CHOICE!” She emphasized.

I stared and stared. Ruth was right. I didn’t have a choice.

So, I told her. Everything. The whole sad story.

I was very shocked to see big tears rolling down Ruth’s face.

“You really did care about our Beaglie?” I asked.

“Yes. He was the most special mutt. He really cared about the farm and all the animals on the farm. He was my friend.”

“Where is his grave, cat?” Ruth asked sadly.

I told her.

She lifted herself up and silently flapped away.

She didn’t even try to eat me.

She didn’t even let me get away.

She just left.

Off I ran!

Later on, that night, as I sat on Mom’s lap; Mom told Dad that she (Mom) saw a marvelous wonder. An owl was sitting on the giant tree stumps covering Boomer’s gravesite.

Ruth, I thought. She really is an owl of her word.

Chapter Five

I am terrified of owls. Terrified! I don’t like hawks, I don’t like crows, or ravens, and the over-head fan in the house, when it comes on

OWLS I AM BEYOND SCARED.

Mom wonders if it is because I was attacked one — by an owl.

See my lip?

I wasn’t born this way. It is NOT a natural hair lip. Mom even asked the vet and she agreed that I have a huge hurt on my lip. And I wasn’t born with it.

I would tell them if I could, but of course, the people can’t understand cat.

Mom doesn’t know when it happened, or how old I was when it happened because by the time I decided to live with Mom and Dad I was between 4-5 years old and the hurt had long healed.

But I can tell you…. I was a young cat. Merrily going about my everyday life in the wilds, when I was almost snatched up by and Owl; dinner I was supposed to be.

As for how my lip was torn, I can’t say. The whole thing was terribly frightening and scary and it all hurt—-later, when I was back in my hidey-hole the pain was terrible.

I have scars on my back and on my tummy, which fit perfectly with claws. Yes, they do!

They are faded now, but there are little ridges when the scars healed; a reminder of GETTING AWAY!

Mom says it must have happened just as I was leaving my hidey-hole. Mom and Dad have to let me stand and stare and stare and stare outside before I feel safe to go outside.

I look this and then that, then up and I try to peer under everything BEFORE I step one foot outside.

Mom and Dad are RIGHT!

I dash back inside the same way…very carefully! Entrances are danger zones!

I went merrily out of my hidey-hole on my way to get a drink of water and maybe a mouse or two.

It was just starting to get grey outside, grey as in light, when very silently, very suddenly I was grabbed up, lifted high in the sky. I started screaming and clawing and wiggling with all my might.

I must have worked because I fell. Down, down, down (even today I don’t like being picked up and flung onto a shoulder).

I landed in the brush; in a world, I didn’t know. I hurt all over, my mouth was bleeding and the pain was unreal.

It took me a long time to drag myself into a safe spot. Then it took me a long time to get to the place I could go get water. After that, it took me an even longer time to get to the place where I could catch a mouse or two.

By the time I figured out the new area I lived in I figured out MOM and DAD lived close by.

Now you know why I am so afraid of OWLS.

So, I waited in the canal. I could still hear that Owl…” Hey, cat! Come on out. I just want to know about Boomer. I’m Ruth, I won’t hurt you. Just tell me about Boomer.”

NO WAY! If I talk to the owl she will know where I am.

“MINDY! KITTY-KITTY-KITTY.”

MOM! Mom is outside. I will with all my might for Mom to come over to the canal.

COME HERE, MOM! COME HERE! I don’t dare leave or make a sound because RUTH is in the old Willow tree.

“MINDY!”

I hear Mom’s footsteps getting closer.

Suddenly I see through the dry grass I’m hiding in, the big grey owls rise up off the branches of the old Willow tree and silently fly into the sky toward the Upper End.