Weekend Write-In Story Collection

Athena

In 500 words, imagine what happens when a character encounters a superb owl. Written for the Weekend Write-In prompt "Superb Owl", 5-7 February 2016.

David sits in his grandfather's lap and learns that interpretation is often a matter of interest.

The Tetradrachm

"Why the troubled face, Sweetheart?"

David looked up from his notebook. "It's my homework assignment. I copied it from the board, but now I can't figure out what the teacher means."

"Let's see. Come sit in my lap and we'll figure it out together."

David crawled to his grandfather's lap and held out the notebook for him to read.

Grandpa looked at the single line of neatly pencilled printing: Tell a story about the superb owl. "That sounds easy enough. You could do many things with this. Let's see if we can figure out what your teacher had wanted. What was being discussed in class today?"

"Legends and myths and heroes and gods and stuff like that. Superhuman feats. I got lost in it, there were just too many names I didn't understand. He seemed to be babbling, so I started daydreaming again."

"In Greek legends, in Greek mythology, Athena, the goddess of wisdom was always accompanied by an owl. That owl became the symbol of knowledge and wisdom. That could be what he wants you to write about. You've heard the expression wise as an owl, well that's where it comes from."

"The wise owl I've heard of, but what about the superb owl?"

"We're in luck, I have one. Come with me, we haven't looked at my collection in a long while."

He led David into the library and swung open the shelves to reveal the door of the vault. He twirled the two dials this way and that, rotated the large lever then pulled the heavy door open. He paused to read the labels. "This one." He pulled out a tray, took it to the table and sat down.

David stood, chest-high to the table and watched as his grandfather ran his finger across the tray. "These are the really old ones, aren't they? These are the ones that you told me are hand-hammered, and that's why the uneven shapes and the cracks."

"Yes, Sweetheart, I'm delighted you've remembered that. They're called Ancient. Here it is, this is a silver tetradrachm and that's the goddess Athena on the obverse and that's her owl on the reverse. These coins were called owls by the Athenians."

"This one looks brand new, not like most of the others here. How old is it?"

"This particular design has been dated to the years between 480 and 420 before the Christian era, more than twenty-four hundred years ago. It's very rare in this condition and it's is one of the finest known survivors, appearing to have never circulated. It's in what's called superb condition, so it's truly a superb owl."

"That should do for my homework." He looked up to see his father come in.

"You been broadening his education again, Pops? What do you think for Sunday? I'm betting that Kubiak will have the Broncos run circles around the Panthers."

"Those are some of the strange names I was telling you about, Grandpa."

"Oh, Super Bowl, now that's much less interesting."