The Injured Owl

Miigwan Martinson worked as a technician at the Minnesota Raptor Center on the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus. She was gazing out the window talking to her idiot boy friend when she saw a compact car pull up to the curb, skid on some ice and bump to a halt. On the phone, Frankie was going on and on about how sorry he was that he had fooled around with that slut Jasmine, but Miigwan had pretty much tuned him out. She was watching as a skinny old man with a scraggly beard got out and went around to the passenger's side. He opened the door and took out a bundle. There was a flurry, and she saw a head pop up. The head of a great horned owl.

            "Screw you, Frankie," Miigwan said, "Don't bother calling again." She clicked off and stuck the phone in her back pocket just as the guy and the owl came in the front door.

            "Hello, welcome to the Raptor Center," she said walking toward him and smiling her greeting, "I'm Mia. Looks like you've got a patient for us."

            "Yeah. Hi. My name's Greg. Yeah, I found him by the side of the road west of here near Long Lake. I was out for a walk, bird watching, and found him by the edge of the forest. It was snowing so I wrapped him in my parka to keep him warm," he spoke rapidly and was clearly flustered.

            He was also reluctant to let go of the owl. Mia could see that. She also thought it was nice, really, that he felt so attached to the injured bird. Sizing up the situation she said, "He seems very comfortable with you, Greg. Why don't you hold on to him, and let me make a quick call."

            "Okay, that's good," he returned a quick smile, calming down a little.

            A moment later Linda Zen picked up and said, "Hi Mia, what's up?"

            "A gentleman just brought in an injured great horned owl."

            "Okay. Bring him back right now. Hurry."

            Mia hung up and said, her voice urgent, "Let's go, Greg. Follow me." She led the way through a swinging, double-wide door, down a gleaming hallway and into a brightly lit room.

            A short, stocky, no-nonsense woman was waiting. "Let's see what we've got here." She gently took the bundle from Greg and lay it on a spotless metal table. She gently pealed back the parka and began studying the bird.

            While Linda carefully checked over the big owl, Mia turned to Greg, "I've got to help out here. Do you want to wait?"

            Ignoring the question, he asked, "What do you think is wrong with him? Is he going to be all right?"

            Linda paused in her examination and looked up, "I think his wing is damaged. I need to check him out some more."

            "Oh, no," Greg frowned, clearly upset, "He's not going to die, is he? Please tell me he's going to be all right.

            The lead surgeon of the Raptor Center cracked an encouraging smile, appreciating the old man's concern, "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure he'll live. He's banged up, probably hit by a car, but he's a strong bird. I think he's going to be fine. He just needs some TLC, and we've got that in spades here, don't we, Mia?"

            Mia grinned back but didn't say anything. She was in the process of ridding her mind of Frankie. The guy was a loser. Why she had bothered wasting the last three months of her life with him, she'd never know. What she did know was that owls were signs of many things: imminent marriage, sudden travel, a guest arriving soon, mental distress and impending death, to name but a few. Mia understood all that. She also knew owls could stand for good fortune and that's what she was going to go with. Dumping Freddie would be the first step.

            Mia had studied birds extensively throughout her young life. Her first name, Miigwan, in fact, meant feather. But birds were more than a hobby to her, they were a calling. She was an Ojibwa from the White Earth Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. She was nineteen years old. She was in her second year of college, majoring in Wildlife Biology at the University of Minnesota. She had a good job at the Raptor Center and worked with good people, Linda Zen being one of the best. Every day she learned something new. One day she hoped to be doing , something meaningful with her life, like what Linda was doing, working on an injured bird and performing one of the many steps required in bringing that bird along the road to recovery.    

            She even got to meet decent people like the old guy who brought the owl in.

            "If it's alright with you both," Greg interrupted her thoughts, "I'd like to wait around for a while."

            Mia smiled at him, "That's great. I'll take you back to the waiting area."

            Linda spoke up, "Hurry back, Mia. I'm going to need you." She gazed lovingly at the large raptor, the biggest owl in north america, "This looks like a two person job."

            "I'll just be a minute."

            Mia got Greg settled and was on her way back to surgery when her phone buzzed. She took it out of her pocket and glanced at the screen. It was a message from Frankie. She grimaced and shook her head. She went to contacts and deleted him. She was done with the guy. Then she hurried off to help out Linda. The owl was going to live and she was going to be able to help with the first stage of its recovery. It was looking like it was going to be a really good day. In fact, a great day, especially now that she had an injured bird to take care of.