Prompt Link
Prompt Word: Dream Catcher
Perched high up on a tree branch, the owl bobbed it’s head briskly as it’s yellow eyes glared absently into the night sky. His head quickly rotated down as his eyes zeroed in on a mouse scampering across the dirt, then through a patch of shrubs, and out of sight. The owl then resumed his blank stare with occasional brisk head bobs as he scanned the night sky.
The mouse had felt the pressure of the owl’s gaze and instinctively went through a small opening in the birchbark wall of the dome where Naajwi, the little girl, snored lightly. He lifted his nose and looked around as he surveyed the wigwam for scents of food. And when his nose caught scent of some maple sugar that had been spilled on the table in the corner, he scurried about looking for the nearest object to climb. Ah, the mosaic twig stool next to the table. He stood up on his hind legs to put his front paws on the foot of the stool -- it was more slippery than he thought. The desperate pitter-patter of his paws on the stool released a sound into the quiet night air. Naajwi tossed and turned, while still asleep, in response to the light scratching sound.
What started out as sound waves began to curve into luminescent ornamental spirals as they traveled throughout the air. The sound amplified as it made its way toward Naajwi and incorporated into her dreams; A nightmare of a wolf scratching at the door mixed in with a pleasant dream of her older sister brushing her hair with a porcupine hide brush. The sparkling particles of the dream began to condense as they transitioned closer to the dream catcher that hung on the wall near her bed. It pulled the dreams toward its web like a gravitational force. The nightmare about the wolf dispensed across the web as it hit the sinew cords and was slowly absorbed by the fibers. All the while, the pleasant hair-brushing dream became heavier as it repelled the cords within the willow hoop and trickled down onto the beads and owl feathers that dangled upside down from leather string suspended from the hoop.
The owl perched itself outside the wigwam instinctively knowing its molted feathers reside there. The mouse decided to venture out, but quickly returned inside the wigwam once the owl swooped down in an attempt to grab him. He scurried over to Naajwi’s sleeping mat and attempted to burrow into her dark hair. Dig, dig, dig. His tiny paws scratched until they matted the hair. He climbed into his cozy burrow and slept through the night; not making a sound when he left early in the morning. Naajwi protected the mouse from the owl, while the owl’s feathers protected Naajwi at night.
"Naajwi, dear," said her mother the next day, "why is your hair a mess?"
"I don't know..." Naajwi said slowly, pondering to herself, as she brought her hand up to her hair.
"Wenona," her mother called over to her sister, "be sure to brush Naajwi's hair today before you head out."
Wenona looked up as she was sprinkling some maple sugar onto her breakfast. As she became distracted by her mother's request, a little bit of sugar fell out of the spoon onto the table.