Josh was absolutely thrilled by his birthday present from Uncle Maxwell – a top grade camera modified for night shooting.  It wasn’t new but that did not matter for now he could capture the nocturnal birds like he had been the getting the diurnal birds.© Y Lee Coyote

He had been going out to use his new tool (it most certainly was not a mere toy) and struggling to make his curfew for a couple of weeks.  It was great that it was summer vacation so no ‘school nights’ and homework to get in the way.

Then he started to hear night calls nearing midnight.  They were close and sounded like the descriptions for Great Horned Owls.  They were most active in the middle of the night.  He just had to capture some.

Josh set his alarm for 23:00 and then climbed out of the dormer window onto the roof.  He was very careful not to slip and to be quieter than the proverbial mouse.  He was glad of the full moon giving light in the dark unlike the silly sun who shines in the bright day (he joked to himself).

He watched and watched and then joyfully spotted some movement and clicked away.  He could see the results immediately and more clearly than with his naked eyes.  The big owl was in the nearby tree like it had been especially ordered for him.  It was fantastic.

Then he got another surprise.  The light in Rick Rabels’ bedroom came on and he could see Rick stripping down.  It was not of particular interests until Mr. Rabels appeared carrying his belt.

Then it became very interesting for Rick leaned on his bed with his butt up.  Obviously, he was going to get strapped.  Perhaps he missed his curfew.  He got pictures of the entire strapping in the well lit room.  Even few bonus shots of Rick lying on his bed giving himself some TLC butt rubs after care.

Then he shot some more Great Horned Owls.

It was a wonderful session.

Back inside he did some careful cleaning up.  He copied the strapping images into a hidden folder and deleted them from the camera card.  Then he renamed the last batch of birds so that there weren’t any gaps in the bird sequence and backed those up to his computer also.

He picked a few and sent them off to Uncle Maxwell along with an extra thank you before he returned to bed happily exhausted.

* * * * * * * * * *

It was late morning that he was summoned by his father.  Mr. Rabels and Rick were there.  They were complaining that he was spying on the spanking in the middle of the night and even taking pictures.

“What do you have to say, Josh?” asked his father.

“Yes, I was taking pictures and got some wonderful shots of a Great Horned Owl.  I also saw and heard that Rick got another strapping because of the bright light in his room since the window was open and without curtains.  I didn’t bother taking any pictures of that all too frequent event.  Would you like to see the owl pictures?”

Rick definitely did but just looked at the folder index and saw solid sequences.

Josh’s dad then noted that they owed his son an apology for the false accusation.  Rick gave a half-hearted “Sorry.” which Josh wisely accepted.  The visitors left disappointed that they did not see Josh get a spanking.

* * * * * * * * * *

“You did well Josh.” said his dad “Would spanking you keep you inside and off the roof?”

“No, father.” he replied honestly.

“Do be very careful.” dad added sagely.