The piece – version 1.2
Two wits to who?
By Dave
The moment he saw it, he had to have it. Gold in colour, about nine inches tall, and in the shape of an owl, it had a clock embedded in its breast. The remnants of the COVID epidemic were becoming eased and shops were starting to open once more, albeit still wearing blue masks. Although Jack, dark haired, was still in his twenties, he had an appreciation for beautiful things and this timepiece attracted him greatly. Entering the shop, he darted for the shopkeeper, a man with a flow of grey hair swept across the top of his head, who indicated the price as he directed Jack toward the window. Carefully, Jack took the owl into his gloved hands and almost at once the deal was done. He didn’t notice the gleeful eyes and thin, upward rounded lips of Charles the shopkeeper as Jack left the emporium.
At home, Jack placed the Owl in pride of place on the mantel shelf. From his armchair, and after he sipped a glass of merlot from the side table, Jack fell into a light nap. A few moments later, he was awoken suddenly by a loud ’Toowit’ which left him completely disoriented and perplexed.
He distinctly heard the sound of an owl but only at the point of his awakening. Consequently, he decided to have a closer look at the owl to see if the mechanism within the clock would make this piercing noise, but when he inspected the clock carefully, he saw that there were no chimes or other alarms. He then wondered if he imagined the noise that woke him and that it was a dream.
For some time now, Jack has had his sleep suddenly disrupted by a haunting owl sound and the only thing he could attribute it to was the clock. He tried placing the clock in the attic, but the sound appeared even more piercing as if the phantom owl was in distress. He tried to temporarily bury it in the garden, to see if his habit of waking would stop, but it grew in crescendo the more drastic measures he made. Yawning profusely, the lack of sleep was causing Jack’s work life to be affected.
He decided to visit his GP, to find the cause of his malady but there appeared no physical reasons. The doctor was, however, very concerned with Jack not having a proper nights sleep for over a week now. ’There is the potential that you may suffer mentally if you continue to not sleep,’ the doctor exclaimed. ‘Sleep deprivation is dangerous.’
With that, and a prescription for a sedative, Jack returned to the owl sanctuary, as he now referred to his home. He sipped a strong coffee to keep him focussed though his head was buzzing with tiredness. That night he decided he would try the sedative. In the meantime, there was a knock at the door. The postman was there with a medium sized package. Taking it with an intrigued look, Jack decided not to open the parcel until later and instead placed it on the mantel shelf.
Not being able to hold his eyes open any longer, he ventured upstairs to his rooms and changed for bed. A glass of water next to his bedside was enough to wash down the sedative. A few moments later he drifted into a deep sleep. Stillness, replenishing rest until the moment of rapid eye movement whereupon his subconscious brain proceeded into its dream mode.
It started quietly at first, ‘toowit to who’ and this didn’t bother him as he continued to sleep. Another bout of R.E.M and ‘TooWit to Whoo’. Again louder this time, but not enough to bother him. Finally he woke in a fresh state. Jack realised he could manage to sleep and for the first time in about a week and a half, he deemed his torment over.
It bugged him however; what had caused the sudden change. Was it the sedative the doctor gave him. He thought it must be. Yawning one last time, he felt refreshed, a sensation denied him for weeks. Clambering down the stairs for coffee, he passed by the mantel shelf. The parcel was intact so he decided to open it. Inside was an identical ‘silver’ owl with a clock on its breast together with a note attached.
The note read, ‘Loneliness is a bad thing. I believe the enclosed owl will be welcome in your household’ signed Charles, of the Emporium. Jack looked at the message quizzically, a pair of owls – and then it dawned on me. The male ‘toowit’ along with the female ‘to who’ – the binary pair of sounds are their calling card for love. Apart too long, and they were in despair as I was, Jack silently considered.
The owls belonged together and shall stay together as their calls continued to quietly intermingle in his dreams.
825 words inc title