My eyes flicked open to see the bright blue sky, interrupted by only the occasional cloud. I rolled onto my belly only to find myself lying in a grass ditch. To my right was a highway with cars zipping down in either direction. A little ways down the road was a truck with its yellow lights flashing. Black marks on the road led to its current resting place.
Out of the truck came a dark figure. It approached slowly at first but began to speed up as it ran toward me. I was afraid as I could not make out any features. They only appeared to be a dark mass with no face, no clothing, nothing. I outstretched my wings and gave them a rigid flap, but I felt nothing as my wings pushed through the air. I hadn't flown in a while but still expected to feel a little force lift me. When my attempts failed, I resorted to running to the tree line. My smaller legs caused me to shuffle more than run.
Once inside the woods, I saw no sign of the thing that was running to me. I sighed in relief as I slowed my walking to a more comfortable pace. I gave a few more flaps to test my wings, but I felt no movement in the air, as if my feathers were not there. With one rigid flap, I expected to feel myself lift from the ground, but I felt nothing. I walked deeper into the trees, still wanting to move further from the road. Approaching a pine tree, I climbed onto one of its low-hanging branches. The sky grew dark, and it became harder to see beyond the branches.
Roughly four branches up, I stopped trying to climb. I was close to two feet from the ground and hoped it would be enough to keep me safe from whatever was lurking at night. I leaned against the tree trunk, but soon felt my feathers getting stuck together from the tree's sap. I waited in silence for the sun to rise again, quietly listening to the sounds of the woods.
From out in front of me, I could hear what sounded like the flapping of wings, but it was hushed. I tried to look ahead, but my poor vision made it difficult. The moon was above in the sky and gave a small amount of light, and had I still had my human eyes, it would have been a bright night. I could only make out the outline and rough shape of the branches. But the quiet flapping sound returned. This time, I could see a lightly colored object in the tree next to mine.
Curious about this flying thing, I moved my head to get a clearer view. I could make out the white body of the creature, but nothing else. That is until its head turned, and its bright yellow eyes gazed at me. My grip on the branch tightened, and my wings pulled in tight. I wanted to jump from the branch and run, but my wings were not working. My heart pounded, and I leaned against the sticky tree trunk again.
"This is it," I thought to myself.
The owl began stepping closer to me, its eyes locked on me. As it approached, I could see more detail of its face; its wings were held slightly off its body as if it were ready to pounce. Once it was only a few feet away, I could see its beak open, and I closed my eyes, afraid of what it was about to do.
"Are you ok, Lyall? Are you still here?" the familiar voice spoke softly.
My eyes opened, and I realized the voice was coming from the owl. "Alex?" I asked in a raspy voice. "When did you change?" But the owl gave no response. Instead, it pulled its head back and held its wings out, ready to take off.
"Wait! Alex!" I shouted, my voice cracking into high-pitched yells.
But the owl jumped, and just as quietly as it arrived, it left into the darkness. I pulled myself from the trunk, the sap stringing between my feathers and the tree. I unfolded my right wing to see the damage from the fluid, but trying to close it, the wings felt stuck momentarily. With enough effort, the wing closed against my side.
Looking out into the dark of the woods, I could still see her eyes staring from afar. This time, instead of fear, I felt comforted. It was like she watched over me as I tried to make it through the vulnerable night. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Once my eyes opened again, it was the early morning hours. The sun had barely started rising, and my vision was again back to its usual strength. Looking to my left, I was surprised to see the owl perched on my branch, its eyes gazing out into the trees. It was slightly taller than me, and I knew I should be afraid, but it wouldn’t hurt me. It would have already made a move.
Its head turned, and its eyes locked onto me. I still felt at ease, but also cold. I continued to stare as the sun rose and the air warmed. When I turned away, I was no longer in the lower branches of a tree. Instead, I was in my cage at the rehab. Looking forward again, Alex was staring at me through the bars. Behind her, in the distance, was a chair with a blanket haphazardly strewn across it.
"Are you here now, Lyall?' Alex asked quietly. I nodded, and she made an inhuman, excited chirping sound. She held a hand up to her throat but continued to smile. I couldn't help but notice feathers extending out from her sleeve and onto the back of her hand. She had changed more last night.
"I'm not going to lie; I didn't sleep well last night. So after I nap, I say we go outside and see what those wings can do." Alex said as she unlatched the cage door. She rolled the metal cart in front of it to act as a means to get to the counter. She walked to the chair on the other side of the room and pulled the blanket over herself. I couldn't remember when the last time I had eaten was, but I did feel hungry. I saw a silver packet on the counter that Alex had left out. In the excitement, I assumed she had forgotten, but I didn't want to disturb her.
I climbed onto the cart and walked onto the counter as quietly as possible. My talons clicked with every step against the hard surface, but I was careful and slow. Once I reached the packet, I saw it was what I expected and dreaded. Maybe one of the most exciting prospects of returning to the wild was the lack of preserved frozen mice, but either way, it was my only option.
I grabbed the packet with my beak and placed a talon on it. I tugged at the corner of the foil but only managed to tear the corner off. Repositioning myself, I tried again and only pulled another small piece off. I couldn't help but find myself continually tearing at the packet. Once the side was torn off, I split the packet in two, revealing the contents. I was left satisfied after going through the effort. Something about it felt right.
The door made a sound before swinging open. Elizabeth came in carrying a box. She noticed the cage door opened and looked around. Once she spotted me, she placed the box on the floor.
"Welcome back. Looks like you are making a mess, eh?" She laughed. She looked about the room before spotting Alex sleeping. "Oh, has she been sleeping all morning?" Elizabeth whispered.
I nodded my head.
"She insisted on staying here last night. She had herself all worked up again." Elizabeth sighed. "I didn't know if I would come in to a hawk and an owl this morning. Alex is supposed to take you out to work with your wing, but I think that might have to hold off."
Elizabeth reached into the box and removed a coiled-up ring of black paracord. She placed it on the table next to me and reached back into the box.
"As much as I don't want to, I think having you tethered when outside may not be a bad idea. I'm sure the last thing you want is to lose control with a weak wing." Elizabeth placed a roll of elastic cord into the center of the paracord.
It was disappointing to think I would still be tied down when trying to fly, but I could also see the danger of going into another trance outside. I still didn't know what happened at the house yesterday, and I could only imagine how much worse it could be outside.
"I didn't tell you this, but you may have gotten Alex thinking." Elizabeth whispered close to me, "She's been questioning where she will go when this is all said and done. She talked about going north to that sanctuary, but now she's talking about going way north."
It didn't take much to put together what she was saying. I didn't know much about snowy owls, but I did know which direction was known for its snow. If she was to be released in her natural habitat, I could only imagine how much different her life would be. I struggled in the winter snow, but it would be the norm for her.
I passed the time trying to get my right-wing feathers in place. Although it was only a dream, I couldn't help but feel like something was caught in the feathers. No amount of preening removed the feeling; after a third pass, there surely wasn't anything to remove. I stretched out my wing and watched the feathers smoothly slide into place. Not a single one showed any signs of damage or dirt.
I unfolded my left wing and held both out wide. A glance revealed nothing different between the two. I pulled them back and gave a very light flap. The air resistance against my feathers gave me the confidence to give another flap. This one was a little harder than the last, and the following was harder still. On the sixth flap, I used a good amount of force and could feel my body push in the opposite direction. The air blown by my wings pushed an aluminum tin off the counter and onto the floor with a loud bang.
Elizabeth turned to check if I had fallen. I gave a glance as I slowly brought my wings back to my sides. She chuckled and shook her head playfully as she returned to her work. At first, I didn't notice Alex jumping up from the chair. Her bright yellow eyes gazed about the room as she spoke tiredly, "Who's did that?"
I turned to face her and gave her a nod. Her feathers relaxed and came back to rest flat once again. Her piercing gaze didn't seem to bother me as much as before. Maybe it was finally growing on me.
Alex wiped her face with a hand. "Maybe next time, a little squawk or something will do." She noticed Elizabeth's stuff on the table, "Did you find the 'T' post?"
Elizabeth responded with her head half turned to us, "I found a 'T' post. It's not the one I thought we had, but it should hold him all the same."
"Great, thank you!" Alex said, picking up the box before seeing the paracord. "Is this for the tether?"
Elizabeth nodded.
Alex threw it into the box and started walking to the back door with everything in her arms. While trying to open the door, she let one side of the box sag, and everything slid to the low side. Alex lost her balance and leaned into the door while grabbing the box again.
"You need a little help?" Elizabeth shouted.
"No, I, uh, got it," Alex said, finally opening the door.
When the door clicked shut, Elizabeth laughed. "I swear she's determined to do it all herself. She's already proven herself excellent long ago. I don't know if her not wanting to work with that other hawk caused it."
I cocked my head, confused.
"Keep it between us... On second thought, what am I saying?" Elizabeth shook her head, "We had that other hawk come in, not too different from your situation, but he was in much worse shape. He had a broken wing and missing part of his beak. Sadly, he didn't make it. I could tell his calls were getting to her; she said they were too much like yours." Elizabeth sighed, "I told her I had it handled, and she left with you. The hawk died shortly after, and she feels guilty about it. She also blames herself for your episodes, but can do nothing about it. The hawk was going to die, and there was nothing we could have done with how bad he was. Now she's determined she's going to fix you."
As Elizabeth finished, the door swung open. Alex had the leather glove on and excitedly jogged to me. She offered her hand to me, and I climbed onto her gloved arm. Elizabeth smiled at us, and Alex walked me outside.
Alex had a black post sticking from the ground about four feet up in the yard with a horizontal wooden bar on top. The paracord ran from the base of the post out roughly fifty feet. Once we reached the end of the string, Alex attached the leather end to my legs.
"Ok, so we are going to start this nice and easy," Alex said confidently. "I want you to hold your wings out and get a feel for it."
She raised me to her head height, and I slowly unfolded my wings. She quickly brought her hand down, which caught me by surprise. She slowly raised her hand back into the air and brought it down again. The wind in my wings was slight, but I couldn't help but get excited at feeling the air in my wings again. I let out a happy squawk as Alex lifted me again.
"You like that, Lyall?" Alex asked excitedly. "Once you feel ready, try gliding to the ground."
After a few more moves riding on her hand, I started to give a small flap with my wings. I could feel my body lifting off of her hand. The only thing keeping me down was my grip on the glove. She raised me and brought me down quickly. I let go of the glove this time and gave a light flap. My talons left her hand, and I was free in the air. I started gliding forward. Coming down to the ground quicker than I expected, I tried to flare, but landed awkwardly on my belly.
I turned to find Alex walking to me with her hand down. On her face was a smile from ear to ear. We practiced the same drop and glide a few more times until my landings were improved. Now, I was consistently landing on my feet without falling forward. After many of these successful landings, Alex walked me to the post and placed me on it, making sure the line dangled from the front of the perch. She walked out to where we began and held her arm out.
"Ok, now you can either glide to the ground or, if you want to fly to my arm, you can try that."
I opened my wings again and gave a testing flap. Feeling my body pull from the perch, I knew I was ready. I jumped from the perch, gliding to the ground and landing successfully again. Alex placed me on the post and walked back to her place. This time, when I jumped, I tried to flap but could not bring myself to flap fully, causing me to glide closer to her. Upon landing on the ground, she picked me up again.
"You're getting closer! Just give it your all this time."
"After she placed me on the perch again, I waited for her to get into position. I leapt from the stand and gave my wings a rigid flap, but I dipped to the right side instead of gaining height. I tried curling my wings and turning back to the left, but the ground came faster than I had expected. On impact, I rolled onto my side and quickly onto my feet. I was embarrassed by the poor landing, but Alex wasn't phased. She placed me on the perch and instructed me to try again.
With another rigid flap, I lifted into the air. Upon my next flap, I again curled to the right but corrected sooner, bringing me closer in line to her. On the next flap, I dipped right again, causing me to miss her hand by a few feet. I became worried as I lost control again and hit the ground. Something about my right wing wasn't right. I held it out and felt the sticky, sap-like feeling again. Although dusty, my feathers looked fine, and I hastily began to preen the non-existent substance from my flight feathers. Alex noticed what I was doing and ran over.
I was afraid of what this could mean. Was my wing still damaged from the accident? The x-rays were fine, and it still works as needed when gliding. But whenever I tried to flap, the right side seemed weaker. I was so close to making it home again, but I couldn't help but feel like I had taken three steps forward and two steps back.
"Lyall, you ok there?" Alex asked with concern.
I shook my head and partially unfolded my right wing. I wanted to speak but only made chirping sounds. This was again one of the times I wished I could speak, but it seemed that Alex knew immediately what I was concerned about.
"It's just a little hiccup. We'll get it sorted out, buddy." She spoke, holding her hand out. When I didn't step onto her hand, she brought her other hand to my head, scratching around my neck. "I promise I'll get you flying again. We need to work on it a bit more, ok? You're almost there. I can feel it." Her yellow eyes stared, and I could tell she was being truthful.
I stepped up onto her gloved hand and prepared myself to try again.
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