Help From An Unexpected Place

It was Saturday. Shane Sanchez approached the street corner with steady determination. He hoped to see his sophomore crush Ravinnique Marshall as she drove by.

Ravinnique Marshall was a unique beauty. She kept to herself and was honestly a bit of a bookworm, but in Shane's eyes there was something special about her sparkling, dark green eyes, her corny, hexagon-shaped, pink glasses, and her creamy peanut-butter complexion. Ravinnique always seemed to be surrounded by an air of peace and honestly looked like a celebrity (a rubenesque Gabby Union) but you would never know it because she constantly hid behind a myriad of bulky sweaters and her mono-toned eyeglass frames. But, in Shane's mind, the girl definitely had potential and Shane was determined to make her his next "project".

“Hey, there goes Shane,” Ravinnique said aloud as she drove down the main drag.

Rain or shine I always manage to cross paths with Shane every Saturday morning. What’s up with that? Ravinnique thought to herself as she turned the corner, and headed South toward the Vocal All-Stars Bookstore.

Ravinnique briefly thought about giving Shane a ride, but her gut thought better of it because Shane always seemed so moody, aloof, and unapproachable at school. He perpetually toted a scowl on his beautiful face; a scowl that always made him seem like he was mad at the world. Ravinnique was already stressed from failing her math final the previous day; she just didn't need any extra drama in her life right now.

Ravinnique walked into the bookstore and took her usual seat near the window. She sat down on her favorite hunter green, velvet, La-z-boy chair and stretched her legs. She loved drizzly Saturday mornings; they made her want to curl up with a good action-filled book. Ravinnique ordered a Blueberry Muffin Frappuccino from the coffee stand located in the back left hand corner of the bookstore, then sat back down at her favorite seat and sipped it slowly.

About 20 minutes later, she pulled out her favorite suspense novel from her purse and began reading it. She read for about 90 minutes, then she decided to walk around the store to see if there were any good books on sale.

Ravinnique began perusing the psychology section of the store when she heard a deep male voice say: "What up Ma Ma?".

Ravinnique turned around to see her lanky classmate Shane Sanchez. What does Shane want with me? I'm a nobody compared to him, Ravinnique thought to herself as she stared into Shane's alluring eyes.

Shane Sanchez, a New York City import, was the visually-pleasing son of a Black mother and a Puerto-Rican father. He had an uncanny resemblance to the actor Timothee Charlamet and was 6'4" with mesmerizing blue-grey eyes, a dimpled chin, and a magnetic New York accent that made you want to kiss The Big Apple on her forehead and thank her for birthing such a beautiful offspring. Shane was also a popular senior at Hunter High and the school's star point guard.

“Um… Hi!” Ravinnique managed to eke out shyly, as she looked at the ground.

“Why you always hiding those beautiful green eyes behind those large frames?" Shane inquired, a flirtatious half-smile, subtly peeking from beneath his majestic cheekbones.

Ravinnique had never seen Shane smile before until that moment. Maybe I had him pegged wrong, Ravinnique thought to herself with a smile.

"I don't know--I guess glasses make me feel intelligent," Ravinnique replied coyly.

"Isn't it more important to LOOK good?" Shane countered with a lopsided grin.

Ravinnique thought the comment to be a bit odd and rather surface, but she pushed the thought to the back of her mind. There was a cute boy talking to her for once. What more could she ask for?

Ravinnique was mesmerized by Shane's good looks and against her better judgement, the two began quietly dating a week later.

On their three-month anniversary, Ravinnique and Shane planned to go to an outdoor concert. The day of the concert, Ravinnique did some last minute primping at her vanity, then sat on her front porch and waited for Shane's arrival. .

Ravinnique wore a knee-length, sleeveless, cotton-candy pink, silk, baby doll dress, a pair of black tights and a pair of sparkly, black, stiletto, ankle boots with pink cotton-candy cones sewn on the front of them. She wore her hair naturally, in coiled Afro ringlets and her favorite red lip color on her lips.

Ravinnique felt as pretty as a Claude Monet painting that afternoon, and she was sure that no one at the concert would be wearing the same shoes as she because she had sewn the pink cones and hand painted the sparkles on them herself.

Saturday afternoon at 3:45 PM, Shane walked toward the lavish Marshall front porch and frowned as he approached Ravinnique.

"Ravinnique, why are you wearing that skimpy rag of a dress, and why do you look like a Chia Pet by the head? And don't let me get started on that tacky Dollar Store-Barbie, Kool-Aid red lipstick that you have slathered on! You look like a thot, go change!" Shane barked with disgust.

"I won't have my girl looking subpar! Now, go pull that wooly mess back into a bun, put on that nude lipstick I bought you the other day and put on something less revealing, preferably long-sleeved and ankle-lengthed. Remember you belong to me. You dress for my taste not others. You would still be a shy nobody with zero guy experience and no school newspaper connections if I hadn't met you and upgraded you," Shane added with a sneer.

"I value your opinion 'Shane Oh Supreme One' (a term that Shane insisted that Ravinnique call him lately), but I love my hair this way, a lot of African models are even wearing this style. And this dress took a week for me to make. I'm not dressed that badly. I covered up my legs with tights this time like you requested. You approved this dress last week when you examined my Instagram page, remember? This is the one that I am planning to wear to my Aunt's Polly's wedding next month and this red lipstick really compliments my complexion; nude lipstick makes my mouth look like I stuck my lips in pancake batter," Ravinnique protested genteelly in an effort to diffuse Shane's anger.

Shane's unpleasant moods were like mini hurricanes. You never knew when a new one was coming in and how much damage it would cause. Ravinnique's face was still sore from the one and only time that he had slapped it last week when she "disobeyed" him and went to Volleyball practice without leggings under her uniform. From that day forward, Ravinnique tried her best to stay on Shane's good side.

"You don't want to disappoint me do you baby?" Shane replied with puppy dog eyes, suddenly switching up his harsh tone in favor of a gentler one.

"No… I guess not… I'll go change. I'll be down in 15 minutes, Ravinnique answered compromisingly, with a hint of sadness in her voice.

Shane grinned to himself at his victory as Ravinnique walked into the house to change.

Once upstairs in her room again, Ravinnique looked at herself in the mirror. She loved what she was wearing. She felt like an African princess, but she didn't feel like arguing with Shane, and she certainly didn't want to receive another backhand for "talking back" therefore Ravinnique reluctantly changed into a burnt orange turtleneck jumpsuit and Timberland heels. She also pulled her gorgeous head of kinky ringlets back into a tight bun and applied the nude lipstick that Shane had picked out a week ago at Tyler's drugstore, so that she wouldn't be out of compliance with Shane's rules.

After finishing her Shane-approved style reboot, Ravannique headed downstairs with a new heaviness in her spirit. To make matters worse, Ravannique's eyes were stinging from the new contacts that Shane had suggested. She yearned for her good old pink frames. They would have looked so cute with her pink dress. Contacts were okay every once in a while, but she preferred the glasses that she had worn since the eighth grade. She always felt like a standout in them because she was the only girl in 10th grade who wore them. They always made her feel smart & special.

As the hottest new pop group: NEW BREATH, performed their greatest hits, Ravinnique found herself unable to enjoy the concert because she felt as if Shane was watching her every move, just waiting to scrutinize her. Plus, she felt extremely heat sick from wearing a turtleneck jumpsuit in 90 degree summer weather.

When Ravinnique walked in her front door from the concert she felt like she had been to Afghanistan and back; she felt mentally and physically drained as well as spiritually defeated.

Ravannique was slowly allowing Shane to change who she was as a person. She was no longer thinking of studying Psychology in college because Shane said Entertainment Lawyers made the most money. Ravinnique had even stopped attending church because Shane felt that her weekends should be devoted to him and him alone.

But Ravannique was very spiritual, and she desperately missed spending that special time with her creator. Sometimes it seemed as if Shane wanted her to pick between the two. Shane would often even go as far as to hide her tablet when she wanted to read her bible app or listen to worship music on YouTube. Shane's behavior showed Ravinnique that jealous tendencies were beginning to infect his heart.

Ravinnique thought about her dilemma all night. She prayed to the Creator for a sign about whether she should move on from Shane or not.

Sometimes Shane was nice to her, and he hadn't actually punched her, yet; he only slapped her once when she wouldn't listen Ravinnique reasoned. Besides, people at Hunter High were finally listening to her opinions now that she was dating the hottest guy in school, and she had even secured a spot as a mental health columnist for the school newspaper when she was recently chosen to write a monthly column on ways for students to improve their mental health.

Ravinnique was still feeling unclear about what to do about her relationship with Shane, so she decided to go outside to sit on her front porch to watch the stars in the sky; they always seemed to help her clear her head.

Just as Ravinnique sat down, a beautiful Barn Owl swooped down from the top of the church steeple attached to the Baptist church across the street. It landed squarely on her right knee for a moment then darted on to the nearby branch of an old Apple tree that stood in the Marshall family's front yard.

The owl must have escaped from the Owl Sanctuary in Bucksville, OR, a tiny town located about 7 miles away, Ravinnique reasoned because owls were rarely seen in the City of Portland. Ravinnique recognized an important truth about her visitor at that moment; if the Barn Owl had traveled this far away from its homestead there had to be a special reason for its visit.

The visiting Barn Owl was cream with hints of ginger brown drizzled along its expansive wings and around the outline of its face like the caramel topping on a McDonald's sundae. It had tiny, wisdom-filled, obsidian eyes that resembled two shiny black diamonds and a unique face that was shaped like a box of Valentine's Day chocolates as well as a direct and confident stance that indicated that it meant business.

Ravinnique remembered reading a library book on Animal Mythology last summer that had a distinct section devoted to the Barn Owl. She remembered that barn owls were considered lucky and that they foreshadowed danger in many cultures around the world. In fact, according to the book, at the beginning of the early 19th century many African tribes believed that if you saw a cream-colored owl, one on one, face-to- face, you were not on the right path in your life and that you should change directions.

The Barn Owl's presence and what she remembered it standing for instantly snapped Ravinnique out of her submissive trance.

At that moment, she knew what she needed to do. Even though it was 1AM on a school night, Ravinnique immediately called Shane over, by stating that there was an emergency that couldn't wait until morning.

Shane, who just so happened to live four houses down, sprinted over as fast as he could. He happened to be up filming YouTube prank videos with his brother and cousin.

Shane was secretly hoping for a late night tryst although Ravinnique had mentioned on more than one occasion that she wanted to wait until she was married. But Shane knew what it took to get a girl to fold. He had made it happen many times in the past.

"What's up ma?" Shane said with a smirk as he walked across the Marshall family's front yard.

With her new feathered friend still watching from the apple tree nearby, Ravinnique took her power back by breaking up with Shane.

"Cut the BS Shane! We're through! I'm tired of you bossing me around like you're my daddy. My earthly daddy passed before I was born, therefore I only have one daddy and that is Almighty God! He is the only one that I will be taking my cues from, from now on!"

"And shame on me for thinking that I couldn't thrive without you! It was my God-given talent that put me on the Newspaper staff, not you and your influence. I get my power from above, not from below. You need to study the 9 fruits of the spirit, get a grip, and apply them!"

Shane stood still for two minutes straight with his mouth gaping open.

"Close your mouth fool! I know you probably don't even know what the 9 fruits of the spirits are! They are: goodness, kindness, self-control, faithfulness, peace, love, joy, gentleness and patience. They are from the Bible and are given as a gift to the Lord's children. Maybe one day you will wholeheartedly embrace these fruits, and perhaps they will help you to remove some of that soot off of your blackened heart! Now step off!" Ravinnique said with a renewed sense of confidence.

Shane balled up his fists, moved toward Ravinnique and verbally threatened to beat her black and blue.

At that very moment, Ravinnique's feathered friend swooped in from its post in a nearby apple tree and swiftly landed on Shane's head. The barn owl swiped Shane's forehead with its talons, leaving two, large scratches behind, then it proceeded to defecate on Shane's precious strawberry-blonde fro.

Disgusted by the outcome of the showdown between him and the Owl, Shane ran home with his poopy head down in defeat.

Ravinnique was pleasantly surprised by the Barn owl's valiant effort; she looked over at her protector in awe. Right before the mysterious barn owl returned home, it turned its head 180 degrees backward to face Ravinnique, winked, then gracefully took off.