Evangeline woke up one morning, from the sunlight creeping through her bedroom window. The first thing she did was turn over to look at the clock standing on her nightstand. It was a magical clock, once received from her far cousin as a birthday present, showed not only that it was currently 6:30 in the morning, but also that her father was currently travelling and her mother was in the kitchen, most likely making dinner. Evangeline smiled and got up, thinking of how lucky she was to have such amazing parents, who take care of her, and love her beyond anything she could ever imagine. Evangeline walked over to her desk, where a now already grown quite big strawberry plant was standing, in a pastel purple pot with white daisies painted on its side.
"Looking good this morning Staws! Keep up the good work and we might even have more Strawberries than we had last year!" Evangeline said, speaking to her plant. She grabbed her most recent read and walked downstairs towards the kitchen, where she could smell breakfast... pancakes!
"Good morning pie!" She heard her mother call once she entered the kitchen. She took a seat at the table, where her mother put a plate of fresh pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries in front of her. "Thank you so much mother!" She says as she starts devouring the pancakes. As she is eating, her father arrives at home, with a rather funny package. It looks like hes holding a cage, but Evangeline is too focussed on her food to pay much attention to what exactly he is holding. "Ahem, Evangeline, can I have a moment princesses? We want to talk to you about something" She heard her father say, and immediately Evangeline put her utensils down, swallowed her last bite, and looked up. "Of course Father, are you okay? Is something wrong?" She said rather worried. Her father looked up at her and smiled, moving over to her and putting a hand on her shoulder, just to comfort her.
"Evangeline, since you are leaving us, to go and experience one of the most incredible years of your life, we wanted to you have something, to remind you of home, to be with you, when you feel lonely, or when you are in need of just someone else then a human being. Someone you can go back to, whenever you need it. We bought you this owl!" Her father said as he pulled the cloak of the cage he had brought home, in which was a rather small, still younger type of Barred owl. Evangeline looked up in awe, amazed by this amazing gift. She got up, and slowly moved over to the cage, taking one finger, and moving it closer to the owl, to show her kindness, a friendly offer. The owl looked at her, rather confused but gave a small nip at her finger, confirming their friendship. Evangeline got up and smiled, and swung herself around her father's neck. "Oh my, Father, Mother thank you!" She yelled of excitement. She let go of her parents and a small tear rolled down her eyes.
"So how do you want to call this boy?" Her father asked, smiling at the tiny owl sitting in the cage. "Aster" Evangeline said convinced and smiled, now holding the owl on top of her lower arm. To remind her of her connection to nature, and the sky, and her love for the world, and to remind her of all the kindness she had in her, to share.
