Aaron And The Snowy Owl

The 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 sparkled 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 retaining 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 the reveal the creator of the shadow. Abruptly, the shadow disappeared. Only the keenest eye would have spotted the instigator of the moving shadow. There, perched in a tree and hidden by the obscurity of the night, sat one of the great birds of prey, a Snowy Owl.