18 Cotland Acres

Redhill - Alex Stearn (2025)

The owls have gathered in the conservatory, all facing the centre of the room. They don’t feel the chill in the air, the winter cold winning its battle against the tiny heater on the wall.

I’ve been sitting here for years. All through my life I’ve been here and you’ve been here too. When I needed somewhere calm and peaceful I sat with the sun shining through the glass roof whilst the birds and squirrels played in the garden.

We would eat lunch together in the sun and you’d have a glass of wine. “It’s just school, it’s not life!” you’d say as I revised for my exams. “I think you’ve worked long enough, don’t you?”, you’d say as you brought me a cold beer on a Friday evening. That was when I was older and the world had stopped and the panic of exams had been replaced by the panic of work. The world had stopped but you were the same as always, just as I remembered each time I came back.

“You know where you stand with owls” you’d say, “they look you straight in the eye”.

You don’t live here any more but I like to think the owls remember you, maybe they’re waiting for you to come back. Soon they’ll be gone too, but I’ll remember that they looked me straight in the eye and I’ll remember not to panic, in the end it’s just school, it’s not life.