From KCRW, this is nocturne.

I think there is nocturne.

I think there is no animal more emblematic of the night than the owl. Of course, they're

nocturnal, but that's not the only reason. They're also ephemeral and mysterious, keeping

their distance from us in tree branches and on posts, showing

only glimpses of themselves before vanishing in a silent flap of wings.

Their power and elusiveness are endlessly intriguing,

and those giant piercing eyes inspire both fear and awe.

To connect with an owl, even in a small way, is a rare gift. In this episode we have two stories about our relationship

with these iconic nighttime creatures. The first is a short atmospheric

memory from Jeff Edmon, creator of the KCRW Podcast, Here Be Monsters.

In the summer before Jeff started college, he was living at home in rural Washington State.

He found himself biking home from a nighttime job painting an apartment

building on top of a hill in the center of town. It was around 3 a.m. on a hot summer night.

I had this. summer night.

I had this tiny little underpowered headlight on my bike and I had a speedometer on my bike and I would go down this hill and I would see how fast I could go before I got too scared.

I feel like it was like 20 or 25 miles an hour before I always got too scared and I started pulling the brakes.

And then I would wind through my hometown

past the grocery store past the laundromat and past like the one or two blocks of

downtown that we had and head out of town on the east end.

You get into rural area real quick as soon as you leave town and so suddenly there were no street

lights. I would then get on what we called the highway,

...