Lightening And Talons

　

Deep in the bowels of the black cloud that rolled in over the barn, lightening and thunder boomed til it shook my eardrums. The crack of lightening over my head made me jump so hard, I hit the gate and dropped the bag of feed I was carrying. When I looked up over my head the blackness dropped down on me as if it were night. I could see the rain coming, appearing like a Tsunami rolling into view, but it hadn't quite reached me yet. The dust from around the barnyard blew against my face, stinging like a nettle from the ocean. I struggled against the wind to get into the barn. Finally reaching the safety of shelter over my head from the shots of lightening, landing too close for comfort, I breath easier for a moment.

Peering out the door of the barn and holding it against the wind, I can only make out the outline of the fence, the road beyond is obliterated by the dust. I hear it coming now, the rain. It began to hit on top of the metal roof like bullets being shot from a gun. The torrent came so fast and hard the water was running under the door. I had never heard such booms of thunder. It gave me insight to how war must feel like to the soldiers hunkered down in foxholes. I can't lie, I was afraid and wished I weren't so alone.

I sat on a bucket to wait out the storm, thinking I would be safe from it, cowered here in the barn like a child. I was wrong. A huge crack of lightening made me look up, only to see fire on the far wall, climbing upwards in a snakelike fashion. My heart leaped up out of my chest and I was shaking, as I desperately looked around for something to put out the fire with before it reached the hay that would send the barn up in flames beyond control. Even if I could get to it, I had nothing to put it out with. I opened the door to the pounding rain and fell out the door. The rain was so hard I could barely stand up. Bent over and holding my hand over my eyes so I could see, I made my way to the faucet where a hose was hooked up. Dragging it into the barn, pulling with all my might, I began to feel as though I were making progress, until the hose stopped following me. The fire was creeping further and further along the rafters now, dripping hot embers down on top of me, and the hay. I took the hose and made sure the rain hadn't missed any of me, wetting myself completely and not even minding the coldness of the water. I ran back out the door and unhooked the hose from the post it had gotten caught on. Back inside I climb up the ladder to the loft and shoot the water at the very top of the fire and back down again and again, along the roof line, all the while the storm outside still rages on. The booming thunder is deafening and I cringe with every bolt of lightening.

By the time I had gotten the fire out and felt safe enough to rest for a moment, my body was spent, mostly from the fear that had totally taken hold of me. My arms hurt from holding onto the hose so tightly, as if that would help me in my quest. I laid on the hay in the loft, letting the hose run all over it hoping to extinguish any embers that may have landed there. Making a fold in the hose to stop the water, I look around me, feeling that suddenly I wasn't alone after all. A giant barn owl was staring at me. It was the eeriest look I had ever encountered. As I stared at him, he began to slowly turn his head, his giant yellow eyes never leaving my face. I wasn't sure just what an owl would do if he felt cornered and I sure didn't want to find out today. I started to throw the hose over the side, then thought better of that idea. I might need it, if he decided to come for me. I had lost all track of time by now, as I backed my way to the ladder, afraid to turn my back to the creature in front of me.

By the time I reached midway down, that huge bird took flight at me. His wing span must have been ten foot wide! Not really, but it sure seemed like it as my mind sought refuge from this wild beast. I waved the hose at him, with the water on full force and hid my face under my arm. Now I was stuck, halfway up the ladder, or down, depending on how you looked at it. Any which way, I was hanging onto the ladder as he flew past me time and again, patiently planning his final attack. I knew I had to keep my face away from the talons that hung beneath the huge bird as he flew around me, torturing me time and again. Thinking I would soon be free, every time he started toward the open door, only to see him turn and come flying back at me again, had me truly afraid now. He certainly had the advantage on me with those wings. If I could fly, he wouldn't be getting the best of me this way, but...I have no wings.

I wondered how long he would use this tactic, if I started going down the ladder again. I carefully and slowly put one foot on the rung below me. He didn't seem to notice, so I did the same with the other foot, finally reaching the bottom. There was about twenty feet between me and the door and I waited until he had perched himself at the top of the ladder before I began to run. I ran as hard as I could, frantically looking behind me and managing to fall twice. There he was coming straight for me, in dive bomber mode. I heard myself scream as his talons grazed my shoulder. He let go when he heard me scream, or when he decided I was too heavy for him, I don't even care what the reason was. I dove for the door and landed in the great pool of mud that had formed there from the down pour of rain. Slipping and sliding with help from my hands stretched out in front of me clawing at the mud, I make it to my truck. Slamming the door behind me, I realize that I can barely breath. I wondered if it was fear, or did it really take that much effort to run in the mud. After a few minutes I could no longer hear the rasping from my chest, I had gotten my breath back and looked out the front of the truck over toward the barn.

The rain had let up into a nice downpour now and I could make out the opening of the barn. Starting the truck, I cut on the headlights and shine them at the barn. The beast was sitting on the bucket that I had earlier occupied, as if making claim to his barn and daring me to enter his home again. Feeling a bit ashamed at the fear I had suffered from the attack, I drive the truck right up to the door and shine my brights at him. He lifted a talon and shook it at me. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! The darn thing was daring me to come into my barn. My barn! This was no ordinary bird, or owl or whatever. This thing was a monster that had taken control of my barn. Yeah, where were you when it was on fire? What did you do to save it? I yelled at him. I sat in my truck, protected by the metal and glass and yelled at the thing.

I looked around me at the mess I had made in the truck. It was amazing that one man could have that much mud cling to him and then deposit it all over his truck. The seat was covered and the steering wheel too. I began to laugh at the sight of it. Reaching into the back I pull out an old towel and try to wipe myself and the truck off enough to drive it home. Suddenly, a crack of lightening and a bolt of thunder clashed together, precisly at the same time that dumb bird landed on the windshield with a frightening thump. The back of the seat held me in and I couldn't get away, but I tried, oh yes I did. It's really embarrassing to admit that I screamed again. Just like a girl, I let out a blood curdling sound that sent the massive fowl into the wind. I look out the window to see him gracefully light on top of a fence post. I wonder to myself, if my screams would send him off to the woods. Rolling down the window and letting the rain pour into my truck, I begin to scream. Sort of like Tarzan and a yodel all combined into one. I keep this up until my throat hurts. He hasn't moved. He sits there staring at me like I am the animal...and he is the master of all things in his path..

This is stupid, I say out loud.

Taking one more look at him, I turn the truck around and head down the road toward home, not getting far. That dumb, actually not dumb at all, beast, is sitting in the middle of my road straight in front of me. I stop the truck, with the headlights on him. His glaring evil eyes seem to read my thoughts and he lifts his head at me as if to say, he owns me. Now, I have a decision to make. I can run the truck at him and hope it scares him away... or not. At this point, I don't see any other way out of this. This is the only road out of here and I am tired and wet and dirty and don't need to go mud bogging after that rain, to try and drive around him. I need a shower, badly. Playing this game with this giant bird of prey had gotten old and I don't wanna play anymore.

Feeling somewhat fearful, I put the truck in gear and step on the gas all the way to the floor. It lurches forward with a thunk and cuts off. I had slipped the clutch with my muddy boot, in my sinister plot to outsmart him. He sits regally in the same place, as though this four thousand pound truck can't touch him. Hmm..maybe it can't, I think to myself.

Enough!! I'm going home bird! I yell at him at the top of my lungs and take off again. He flies up and over the truck as I barrel down the road. I look in the rear view mirror to see if he is still flying away, only to see him sitting in the back of my truck. I almost drive off the side of the road, as I realize, this beast is going to get me killed...I keep driving now. I am on the highway and speed up as fast I can go with the curves and narrow road. I only hope nobody is coming around those curves toward me. I glance back at him and see his feathered horns blowing wildly with the wind going past him at sixty five miles an hour. Huh! Bet you never flew that fast before you old buzzard! I yell at him in my mirror.

Suddenly, he lifts up and takes flight back toward the way we had come. I said we, did you notice that? This madness has been going on for so long now, I actually said we, as if he and I are bound together by this madness! I let off the gas and slow down to a safe speed to travel the two miles home. I pull up in the drive and the porch light is on, welcoming me home. Reaching down for the door handle I smile, I am ready to jump out the way I always do. I stop and slowly open the door while looking around...making sure..I'm alone. Finally, I breath a sigh of relief with a little bit of shame too.

This is one tale I won't be telling my buds about. It seemed now as if my ordeal had lasted for hours, it was actually only about an hour, from the time the storm rolled in, until I put my feet on the porch at home, but what an hour! As I reached for the door, I started to laugh. My fear had taken on a life of it's own back at the barn and I was totally exhausted.

Not to mention, totally covered in mud!