Becky awoke to find the bright morning sun shining through her curtains（窗帘）．
As she rubbed（揉）her swollen（肿起的）eyes，last night's dreadful memory slowly returned．I don't even remember Mom and Dad coming home，Becky thought．
“Hi，honey，”Mom said when Becky finally stumbled（蹒跚）into the kitchen．“I hear you had a little scare last night．”
“It wasn't exactly a little scare，Mom．How did you know？”
“Jon told us．He and Dad heard those same weird（奇异的）his sing noises when they went to milk the cows this morning．Your dad wants you to go out to the barn as soon as you finish eating breakfast．”
“I'm never going into the barn again．．．even in day time， even with Dad there，even to take care of Joco，”Becky cried．“Joco！Is he all right？”
“Joco's fine．Jon fed him for you．I think your brother feels bad for ignoring you last night．”
“Well，he should，”Becky said indignantly（气愤地）．“But what about those terrible screams？”
“Your dad didn't hear the screams，Becky．That's why he wants you to go out to the barn．He wants you to help him figure out what's going on．”
Becky picked at her breakfast．She knew she would have to go to the barn sometime．She couldn't just abandon Joco and Patches．Finally，she could delay no longer．
As she trudged（吃力地走）through the barnyard，Becky saw her Dad waving from the open barn door．She hurried on despite（不顾）the knots（节）in her stomach．
“The hisses seem to be coming from somewhere in the loft，”Dad said after hearing her story．“Maybe we should start looking there．”Becky took a deep breath and followed her dad up the ladder to the hayloft．This morning，bright beams of sunlight filtered（透过）through the cracks（裂缝）in the old barn walls．From somewhere under the stacked hay bales，Patches strolled（溜达）out to GREet them．
“Hello，Patchy-cat，”Becky crooned（轻哼）．“I'm so glad to see you．Where were you hiding last night？”
With Patches purring（猫发的呼口鲁声）beside her，Becky thought the loft seemed friendly again，just like alw ays．She lay dow n in the hay w hile her dad looked around．Up high near the peak of the roof，Becky noticed some- thing that she didn't remember seeing before．
“What's that way up there，Dad？”she said， pointing over her head．“It looks like a box hanging on the w all．”
“Jon and I put that up there three or four years ago ，”Dad said．“We thought it might attract some barn ow ls，but nothing ever came of it．”
“Oh，I love ow ls，Dad，”Becky said，completely forgetting the reason they were there．“Maybe they came，and w e just don't know it．”
“Well，”Dad said，“why don't we both climb up there and take a look？”
They climbed over the stacked hay bales and onto the platform（平台）．Becky slow ly opened the hinged（装有铰链的）lid（盖子）．
Soft morning light beamed into the box through a small rectangular（四边形）opening．Becky stared（盯着看）in amazement（惊异地）at the five w hite and fuzzy（毛绒绒的）， heart-shaped faces．
“Oh，Dad，”Becky w hispered，“baby ow ls．”
At the sound of the voices，the five frightened ow lets（小猫头鹰）began to sw ay（摇摆） slowly side to side．And then they let out a low ， spine-chilling（冷彻骨的）hisssSSS．
“That's it！”she gasped（喘息地说）．“That'sthe noise I heard．”
They peeked in again．
“The screams I heard must have been from the parents，”Becky said．
“Probably so，”Dad aGREed．“Maybe we should leave these little guys alone now ．”
“Yeah，”Becky said，heading for the ladder，“the parents w ould make a terrible shriek（尖叫）if they saw us here．”
“I had almost forgotten about that nest box up there，”Dad said，brushing the hay off his jeans．“And w hen the owls finally came，they just about scared our Becky half to death．”
“The ow ls can hiss and scream all they want，” Becky said w ith relief（解脱）．“They won't scare me again．In fact，I have a GREat idea．”
“What's that？”Dad asked．
Amischievous（顽皮的）grin（露齿笑）formed on Becky's face．She said，“Ican invite Jennie and Sarah over for a slumber（打盹）party．We can sleep in the hayloft and tell ghost stories and—”
“Shame on you，Becky，”Dad laughed．“You w ouldn't scare your best friends like that，would you？”
“Sure I w ould，”Becky said，chuckling（暗笑）as they closed the barn door and walked to the house．
（The end）
（from Children's Digest）
