Owl crashed into their drinking session and probably sent them all screaming and scampering away. Maybe the carwash boys were too drunk to see that this was an animal spirit come to take its share of the gin. Or maybe they weren't drunk enough. Owl just stood there, stunned, one eye shut. They captured Owl and put it in a laundry basket. They thought maybe it was sick. They also thought maybe they could sell it and make a little extra money. This must have been the Owl we could hear almost every night in our neighbourhood. All my life in my childhood home, I could hear owl calls. I only ever caught a glimpse of an owl once. Now here was an owl in a laundry basket in a carwash down the street. We bought Owl's freedom from the carwash boys for P500. They let us take the laundry basket. We kept owl for a day and a night, watching for signs of illness, injury or strength. Owl kept one eye shut the first day. Owl blinked at us with one dark eye ringed with brilliant orange.
(notes from the voices in my head)