Last night after the Squarepusher show I got on a late bus. Normally, buses are inconvenient because of frequent stops, but this driver did not stop for anyone or anything else, not even four red lights.
I got off at the last stop, in Government Center, and walked from there towards my apartment, down Tremont by Park Street and the Commons. At the intersection by the T stop I stopped to notice a very large bird flying towards me. It landed on a U-shaped balcony just over my head, and I could see clearly through the railing that it was a grey and white striped owl. I watched it for a minute while it swiveled its head around and around. Lots of drunk people were passing me but no one seemed to notice or care that a woman was standing alone on the sidewalk at 2am staring up at a building.
“Who,” I said.
The owl swiveled around to stare directly at me. Without breaking gaze, it hopped from one end of the railing to the other, putting it now just a few feet over my head.
I stood there for a few minutes more, just watching it. A car pulled up behind me, which I didn’t turn around to see but I heard someone roll down the window and start screaming, “Who! Whooooo! WHOOOOO!!!”
The owl didn’t look especially startled but it did decide to take off. It crouched down for an instant and then leapt into the air in a cloud of feathers. One of them drifted right to me, which I caught.