A HUMAN TALKS TO THE PARLIAMENT OF OWLS

OWLS: OK.

HUMAN: OK.

OWLS: OK.

HUMAN: OK what?

OWLS: OK, you made it here. You can ask us anything you want.

HUMAN: OK my question is: When you are up here looking down at us, what do you find most surprising? Or most weird?

The owls rotate their heads, ruffle their wings, hoot and cluck.

OWLS: What we find most surprising, most weird, is that five days a week you work for somebody called a "boss," that he or she can tell you what to do all day, that you check your freedom at the door and then reclaim it 8 or 10 hours later. And then you're too tired to really do anything with it. We never got that. We didn't picture it turning out that way.

HUMAN: So what did you picture?

OWLS: What we pictured happening is something more along the lines of what we do. We fly around at night on our own, making our own decisions. The night air is cool across our feathers, we ride the currents and look for little critters to snatch up with our talons. Or we circle and swoop across the light of the moon. Sometimes we just sit down on tree branches and hoot.

HUMAN: So, where did we go wrong?

OWLS: Not sure. Agriculture?

Block print by Virginia Warwick, Critter Critter Creations.