Edward, Under Pegasus
Midnight came on the heels of an eerie day when the earth shuddered and quaked, cracking nature’s molds like the thunder of Lear and pushing angels off the roof of the National Cathedral. Pegasus cantered across a moonlit sky to take up his autumnal position to the east of a swan while under the trees of the garden, in a nest of shadows, the big dog sat listening, then suddenly turning in a bolt for the door. Crashing through the mudroom, barreling down the hall, he leapt onto the bed with a thump of white fur. He ignored his usual spot at the lady’s feet and made his way up the blanketed bed to sit squarely in front of her face. She peered up over her book.
“Edward?”, she asked.
The big dog stared.
The lady looked over at the man to see if he was noticing this most unusual behaviour.
He was.
“Maybe he needs to go out?”, he asked.
“He just came back in”, she replied.
And still the big white dog sat staring at the lady, a look of worry in his almond eyes.
“I’ll go out with him”, the man said, and with a barely audible sigh, he put down his book and threw back the covers.
He opened the door to the garden and the big white dog followed him out into the night.
The lady waited.
Soon they both returned, the man shaking his head.
“I don’t know what’s the matter with him, but whatever it is, the owls seem to share it. You should hear them. They’re all out there calling - barred owls, screech owls, great horned. It’s odd.”
The big white dog nodded, wishing not for the first time for the great gift of speech.
He jumped right back up to lie squarely between the man and the lady, eventually falling asleep with his head across the man’s chest.
And the owls called out for hours.
***************
Epilogue
Over breakfast the next morning, the lady and man learned that the earthquake of the previous day had produced an aftershock at precisely the same moment of Edward’s strange behaviour.
Though far away from the epicenter of this event, he knew it was happening.
And so did the owls.
Such is the inherent symbiosis shared between animals and nature, a connection that one would assume, with their supposed elevated state, human beings would share.
But do not.
