Summary

04

The Biologist explores down by the beach and sees the remnants of an old pier. A long line of cormorants is perched there. What strikes her as odd is that perched in a lone black pine by the water's edge, is a horned owl. The cormorants take off when she approaches, but the owl simply stays. The Biologist feels drawn to the owl, partially out of curiosity and partially because with her new found awareness. She believes that this owl may have been someone she once knew.

The sun sets and, eventually, the owl turns its gaze on her, opens its wings to fly, and takes off. She is standing so close to the owl that when he takes off, he gently grazes her cheek with his flight feathers. Later that night she eats a rabbit that she caught, then settles in...