Read Online First Came the Owl by Judith Benét Richardson - Free Book Online

showed Nita a strange combination of two large tin cans taped end to end to make a metal tube, and a kind of wire box.
    â€œNow tell her what you put in the trap for bait,” said Anne. “And it’s your turn to do the dishes, Petrova.”
    â€œWe put bratty little sisters in the trap,” said Petrova. “Come on, Nita.” She threw her equipment to the floor with a clatter and put a few plates in the dishwasher.
    â€œI’m not even dressed.”
    Petrova fixed a beady stare on Nita like a bird of prey, like the owl, except her eyes weren’t yellow. “Well, get dressed.”
    Nita found herself walking toward the stairs. No wonder Petrova likes owls, thought Nita. She’s so fierce.
    Nita put on her ski underwear, her jeans, and her warmest sweater. Downstairs, she wrapped a huge scarf around her neck, put on her earmuffs, and said good-bye to Anne.
    The two girls went over the hill, across the main road, down a path, and across the ferry parking lot. Then they went along the road to the beach by the lighthouse. It was such a gray morning that the lighthouse was flashing, though its beam was pale in the daylight.
    Nita was glad to see the light was still working and to see the garland of Christmas lights circling up the white tower. She had been thinking about home as if it had disappeared in just these few days. She wriggled her chilly fingers and looked closely at every dune for the owl. “I don’t see it,” she said.
    Petrova clutched the stiff folded metal netting that made her trap. In a bag she had fishing line and the taped tomato cans. “I’ve only got one mouse,” said Petrova.
    â€œWill the owl kill it?”
    â€œ If the owl comes, it can’t reach the mouse. It only stomps around on the wire trying to get the mouse, maybe catching a foot in one of my snares.”
    They trudged along the beach. “Can we go into my house for a minute?” asked Nita.
    â€œI guess so.” Even Petrova was cold.
    But when they got to Nita’s house and opened the door with the hidden key, she was sorry they had come. Someone had been watering Mom’s orchids. Who? Someone had left tools and boards in the corner. What was going on around here?
    Nita picked up the sprayer and misted a couple of the orchids, but all their little mouths were open, and they spoke to her again, “Lady bug, lady bug, fly away home, your house is different and your family is gone.”
    Nita remembered the mean things they had said to her when she was trying to start her report. “Shut up or I won’t water you,” she told the flowers.
    Petrova gave her a sarcastic look. Talking to flowers? the look said.
    The girls stepped out again into the wind that swirled around the white clapboard house. The tall light brightened and dimmed. Nita went to the sheltered corner by the bedroom window and dumped some birdseed in the feeder.
    â€œThat’s a neat feeder,” said Petrova. She ran her fingers over the curved roof and examined the fitted wooden pieces of the little house. “Is it from Thailand?”
    â€œI think so. We’ve always had it, wherever we moved.”
    Petrova picked up her trap and they went back down to the beach. Nita had almost given up hope when around the point came a ray of white that settled on top of a dune with a stretch of white wings.
    â€œIt’s a different one!” Nita called to Petrova.
    â€œWhere? Oh! This is a male! The pure snowy white one!”
    The owl Nita had seen before was white with brown flecks in its feathers. This one was big, but not quite as big. It was too far away to see any yellow eyes.
    Petrova clattered her trap down onto the sand. She fumbled in her bag. But, she was in too much of a hurry. The little box that held her mouse somehow slid open as she sank to her knees.
    A tiny brown body scampered over the sand, hesitated, twitched its nose, and dove under a clump of brown beach