Little Orphan: Howard the porcelain owl

You  might remember Howard from several posts on my old blog where he'd sort of take over for the day. But what you don't know about Howard is how he came to live with me. I have many "Little Orphans" all of them have a story and a personality that most people over look. 


Howard, or so he tells me, used to live with a little girl. She kept him on a bookshelf in her nursery and he'd watch every day as she'd take her lessons with Nanny. Nanny was a woman who liked Maths. Nearly always she'd write sums on the small blackboard for the girl to work on and Howard spent his days on the shelf, as he propped up a very dusty edition of "How Bunnies Make The World Go Round", adding and subtracting numbers to his tiny owl hearts content.

One day, as Nanny was preparing for lessons, she thought today would be a good day to learn about how bunnies make the world go round and so she reached for the book that Howard had guarded so very well. The book slid from the shelf and as it did Howard slid too. He looked at Nanny with eyes wide trying to tell her not to take the book. But Nanny carried on because Howard was hidden. The edge came nearer and nearer and all of a sudden the book left the shelf and so did Howard. He flew through the air. It was only then that Nanny saw him and she tried in vain to catch him but it was too late. He fell through the window and out into the street below where, with luck, he had landed in a cart of old things and a cushion broke his fall. Howard sat up and looked around. The plume of dust that had burst from the cushion as he landed made everything misty. Nanny was leaning far out of the window. Surrounded by clocks that ticked and tocked, a very old quilt that smelled very strongly of old lady and several books that were falling apart at the binding... and not one of them were anywhere as good as "How Bunnies Make The World Go Round", Howard thought to himself. The cart moved further away from Nanny.

The man whose cart Howard had fallen into, traded in antiques but upon seeing this porcelain owl he decided he was no antique and sent him in a bag of bits that nobody wanted to another shop.

And that is where I found him years later: On another shelf, propping up another book, figuring out the same sums that he remembered Nanny writing on the blackboard over and over again.


xo

7 comments:

  1. What a wonderfully fantastic story Howard has. I'm glad to hear he wasn't hurt in the fall :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehe. Poor Howard hasn't gotten over the fact that he isn't able to fly like other owls.

      Delete
  2. Thank you so much for your sweet comment on my blog! So, so glad you're enjoying music monday. :)

    xo.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think I'll just be you first follower... because I love Howard, and he seems like a kindred spirit, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It does sound as though Howard had a very short flight out of a window at one stage - though I'm sure he's glad that he landed safely. How happy he must be to have a new home where he can put him mathematical prowess to use helping you cut sewing patterns and keep count of your knitting rows.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's quite good luck that I found him really, because I am terrible at maths. Actually, painfully bad at it so he does come in handy. Everyone should have an owl instead of a calculator.

      Delete