Barn Owls are excellent listeners.
Sarah Williams felt that life, was not fair. At all.
Here she was, 12 years old, and her Father and new Step-Mother inform her she is going to be a big sister! This was disastrous! And... disgusting.
She had always hoped against hope that even though her Mom left, and started on a new life, in the theatre, that maybe someday, she would be back. Then she met Jeremy. Which still, was OK enough. Sarah got to spend a few vacations with them, going to so many wonderful plays and shows, shopping in the city, so much fun and adventure! But there was always a slow burning hope that one day, Linda Williams was going to come home.
And then her Dad met Irene. And things just went downhill from there...
Irene seemed to think that Sarah could use another mother. Now, for all the time that Jeremy had been around, he had never once tried to act like her father, or even really tried to father her at all. And that was the way she liked it. He might have put his foot down, set some rules and expected her to behave and listen, but the real parenting? Mom did that. Jeremy did not interfere. And now, Irene was stepping in and trying to mother her. Her! As if she needed a constant mother! Her Mom had been gone for about 3 years now. And to be honest, she had been somewhat drifting away long before that. And Sarah had managed just fine. Just fine.
Now Irene was butting in all the time! It was bad enough when they had been dating, but then after the wedding? Impossible! And the wedding... Sarah still resented the way Irene had insisted putting "her new daughter" into it, only to constantly be on her back for everything and then moving her out of the wedding party because it was apparently "too much" for her. She was such a bitch! Sarah started spending as much time out of the house as she could. So whenever she wasn't in school, she spent every day down in the park, it wasn't too far from the house and she could slip away easily whenever she wanted. On weekends she packed peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for herself and Merlin, and with a whole day to waste away, she would bring a book and just lose herself. But now, with the news of the new baby, Sarah was extremely agitated. She didn't know where to turn, or what to think of it all.
She saw Snowy... she had no idea if the barn owl was a boy or a girl, but she had seen it weeks ago in the park, just sitting in a tree, high up. It seemed so out of place, yet perfectly comfortable at the same time. She knew that to see an owl during the day like that was not exactly usual, but then again, she was certain that Snowy was special. It struck Sarah with its beauty and she found herself looking for it, every time she was in the park. She started talking to it. It always seemed to listen to her intently, turning its head and hooting softly. So she poured her heart out. Snowy understood. He always did. And not for the first time did she wish her owl could come to life, be her friend and be there for her. But that was silly. So instead she told it everything in her heart and in her head. And once she finished and headed home, she always felt better.
And never once did she ever notice the owl follow, and perch in the big tree outside her bedroom window.