The doorbell went and Mrs Johnson went through the hall to answer it.
A man in a suit and tie, holding a briefcase, stood on the step.
She frowned. “Can I help you?”
“Hello. Yes, my name is Unsworth, Colin Unsworth from the Trowbridge Insurance Society. I’m here to meet Tony, your husband I presume.”
“Oh! Yes, of course. Sorry, John did say you were calling, I think you’re a little early?” He nodded. “Please come in. It’s a dreadful night.”
“Thank you” he stepped in saying “Yes, dreadful. It’s a lot warmer in here,” he smiled.
She looked at her watch. ‘Look it’s a bit awkward’ she said. “He really can’t be disturbed at the moment. He won’t be free for at least a quarter of an hour, would rather come back, or just call him and make another appointment?”
“Well, to be honest, I don’t live in this part of town and this is my last call for the day, so, if it’s OK I’ll just wait.”
“That’s fine then” she ushered him to a chair. “Now, if you don’t mind sitting here, he shouldn’t be too long. I do have things to do. Is it OK if I leave you?”
He smiled “Yes, that’s fine, thanks.”
The lady of the house disappeared through a far doorway.
The salesman put his case down between his feet and after glancing at his own watch, settled down for a wait.
He could hear murmuring coming through the closed door alongside of him, catching the odd word from time to time. After a minute or two his found himself becoming engrossed in the conversation and carefully moved his chair a little closer.
In the room, Tony looked down at the owl.
“You know, nobody would believe that this conversation could possibly take place.”
The owl looked up “Of course I know that. Anyway, what did you want to talk about? It’s getting dark, and there are things I would rather be doing.”
“Oh! Yes, of course. You catch and eat mice I believe?”
The owl twitched and shook its head. “Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but I am not at all sure what I am doing here. Further, I don’t know how it has come about that we are actually talking to each other.” It opened its wings slightly and ruffled them. The man said “Fair enough, you’ve done very well this time.” and gave a chuckle. Moments later the salesman could hear things being moved around.
He sat up with a jerk as the woman appeared looking down at her watch. He was rather embarrassed, but pretty sure she hadn’t seen him leaning into the door.
She came forward smiling. “Sorry you had to wait, and I’m sure you think me very ill-mannered, I didn’t offer you a cup of tea or anything.”
He shook his head. “No. That’s OK.”
“Alright then, he should be out in a couple of minutes.”
As she turned to go, he coughed politely, “Before you go, I was rather curious. Is your husband a doctor?”
She laughed. “No, whatever made you think that?”
“Well, no I don’t suppose…”
She could see he was feeling awkward. As she left the hall she laughed again and said. ‘He obviously didn’t tell you, he’s a ventriloquist.”