Fables and Faith: Book Tells Story

OWL TALE ONE OF LOVE AND DEVOTION

By BOB HAYNES

Posted: November 9, 2009 at 5:57 a.m.

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Several years ago, while my late wife Zoe Ann was losing her battle with cancer, we were able to watch, almost daily, the antics of a barn owl who had adopted her.

That owl came each day at sunrise to check on her condition. He did so for nearly six months. That adoption was much like “Smokey” — the feral cat who later adopted me. The barn owl was a creature we knew little about, but was one of God’s creatures with whom we felt a close spiritual tie.

The owl’s antics would please my wife in so many ways — preening each day and removing tattered feathers, bobbing his head back and forth, spotting the slightest movement in the forest below, stretching his enormous wings out as if to yawn, emitting so many sounds that we were certain he was trying hard to communicate. The owl was a sure bet to be the object of a detailed story when I returned home from work each day.

Since I moved from that house, I had not thought of that owl until I ran across a delightful book, “Wesley the Owl” by Stacey O’Brien. Most of my friends know that I love to read, and I’m happy to say that my reading preferences span a number of disciplines.

I was thrilled to fi nd another example of an author who wrote her book with a purpose — other than to make a buck. She learned so much from “Wesley” and he learned so much from her. For me, it became a perfect “rainy day” book which I simply couldn’t put down without returning to it time after time. What O’Brien has written is a heartwarming story that has the potential of being as popular as “Marley and Me” said one reviewer.

To give you some idea of the synopsis of the story, I’m quoting from the book’s back cover: “Biologist O’Brien adopted Wesley, a baby barn owl with an injured wing who could not have survived in the wild. Over the next 19 years, she studied his strange habits with both a tender heart and a scientist’s eye — and provided a mice-only diet that required her to buy the rodents in bulk (28,000 over the owl’s lifetime). She watched him turn from a helpless fluff ball into an avid communicator with whom she developed a language all their own. Eventually, he became a gorgeous, gold-and-white macho adult with a heartshaped face who preened in the mirror and objected to visits by any other males to ‘his’ house.”

Even though owls are nocturnal, Wesley even adopted somewhat to the schedule of his owner (friend and love) and even learned to do something unheard of — take baths and play in the water. Owls were thought to hate water because it scared them. This is only one of the hilarious episodes described in O’Brien’s book.

Norman Goldman, a Barnes & Noble employee said, “I fell in love with Wesley and Stacey, too. This wonderful book made me feel so good that I am recommending it to everyone.”

Bob Haynes’ column appears on Monday.

I can echo that sentiment as well.

My recommendation comes with this fi nal thought: Sometimes we forget how important relationships with other God-created species can — for both parties. Stacey O’Brien wrote a wonderful book that tells the story of a young girl’s love and devotion to animals and that animal’s love and devotion in return.

Shalom!

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