Black ink drawing of a large-eyed owl with fine hatched feathers, perched on a Roman numeral pocket watch.

Owl perched on a pocket watch

Black and grey · Flash

A pen drawing of a wide-eyed owl standing on the face of a pocket watch, with Roman numerals around the dial and hands set near twelve. The plumage is built up with dense cross-hatching and stippled dots, giving soft grey shading on the wings and chest. The image is black and grey on white paper, with the owl filling the centre and two black fineliner pens lying at the top right.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

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The owl came in through the broken louvre of the bell chamber just as I got the back off the Hallam pocket watch, and it has not left since. I told the vicar it was a barn owl and he said barn owls don't read the time, which I took as a joke until I saw it turn its head square to the dial whenever the minute hand shivered. Mr Pryce from the drapers says the thing is a sign. I say it is a nuisance with excellent manners.

Its talons have hooked the watch case so neatly that I have not dared lift it off. Every night at eleven it shuffles to the edge and stares at the twelve, eyes flat as coins, and I wind the mainspring a quarter turn so the hands can sit there a while longer. You will think me mad. Perhaps I am. But the parish clock downstairs has run slow since Easter, the men at the bakery have been arriving late and leaving early, and nobody seems to mind.

Yesterday I finally tried to coax it off. It clacked its beak once, very precise, the way a clerk closes a ledger, and I understood that the matter was settled between us and that I was the one who would need to leave the room.

So I am writing to say I am coming home on Thursday. I will bring the watch, and the owl, if it will have me. Keep the kettle warm. Tell Mum the hour is nearly right.

Love, Tom

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