Bird of Prey… or was that Dracula?

My son, (I’ll call him Cool Guy), and his wife (I’ll call her Soccer Girl) have an adorable puppy named Bella. She is the light of their lives. The other night Cool Guy took Bella out for a run at the high school field, while Soccer Girl was busy with an assignment. It was just dark enough so that by the time Bella was 50 feet away, happily sniffing and running around, that Cool Guy could barely make out the outline of her. The baseball field was newly ploughed, waiting for new grass, and was surrounded by ‘caution’ tape.

All of a sudden there was a WHOOSH of air past Cool Guy’s shoulder. He ducked around to see if someone had tried to grab him and missed—or what? Nothing behind, or to the sides. Quickly looking back towards Bella he saw a huge wing-span heading in her direction!

“Bella!”

Bella immediately started running toward Cool Guy, made a zig zag when she noticed a large object looming over her and went into her all-out gazelle-sprint. Cool guy, in the meantime was running as fast has he could toward Bella, searching in his pocket for his phone to throw at the swooping monster if necessary. He jumped the ‘caution’ tape, landed on his knees and went into a roll, scooping up Bella in the knick of time. The monster then landed on a fencepost nearby, regarding Jonathan, still waiting to get Bella.

Yes, it was a Great Horned Owl—with glowing eyes!! The unexpected monster was at least 30 inches tall, with a wing-span wide enough to be Dracula! Cool Guy turned to go back—run back!-- to the safety of the car, and the owl WHOOSHED past his shoulder again! (--Was that some kind of clever scare tactic to get Cool Guy to drop the dog…?) The bird landed on the fence by the car, still staring at Bella and Cool Guy as they, still shaking, drove away.

What a nightmare! Who knew there was such a beast at the local high school, just waiting to carry unsuspecting Bella’s away?! (This is not a rural area.) I’m glad my prayers for the safety of my family, which includes little Bella, were answered yet again!