Alone on Valentine’s Day. No different than any other day, you suppose, yet the date makes it feel more empty. You look at the calendar hanging on your wall. You put an X in the box and think back to a time when you didn’t even own a calendar. It has been four years since the year at the top has changed and you stopped keeping track of how the days were supposed to move long ago. February 14th wil...

His yellow eyes peered intently at her, as they did the first time. Unmoving, unspeaking, they sat in a space filled with the loudest silence. She knew he would not speak to her in the traditional sense. Yet, he would make her understand the truth in a way she could not convey if she were to speak one thousand words.

He was a small creature, recognizable by most as a simple barn owl. His light br...