The Key in The Hole

An owl is the farmers' best security guard.

My mother is a farmer and also runs other businesses. Growing up, I had first-hand knowledge of owls, animals, crops, and other birds. Owls are not friendly birds like a parrot.

Everyone loves a parrot, but some people perceive owls as bad luck or witches. Many people, including farmers, believe evil people turned into owls at night in my culture.

Far-fetched from the truth, the same farmers, including my mother, have a love and hate relationship with an owl. Why? Because at night, an owl is the chief security officer that protects their crops from animals and other birds.

Many farmers spend money to build statues of owls in the middle of their farms to drive away plant-eaters and thieves.

One day, a carpenter came to our farm with his tools to help my mother build her owl statue. I asked my mom why he was there. She smiled and said, "We are losing a lot of crops to birds and animals, so we are erecting an owl statue to help drive them away."

Then I asked, "Is an owl a witch?"

She chuckled and answered, "Maybe, the owl is wiser, and she can protect our crops."

I was curious and said, "Mama, but we don't want her in our backyard at night."

My mom got busy talking to the carpenter, but later, she told me, "Yes, the owl is wiser, and she is the best and cheapest security guard to have."

I can remember the carpenter with his loose khaki shorts and orange button-down shirt looked at me and asked me to help him with his piece of wood, but my mom said, "No, she has her job, and you do yours. Star, go finished planting the cassava."

As a child, it did not make sense to me why people believed owls had more power than humans. I wondered how farmers were happy when owls stayed on their farms to drive intruders away, but the same farmers hated owls in their backyard.

Do farmers' double standards make sense to you?

After many decades, an owl brings me good luck.

On vacation a few years ago, my childhood owl experience came back. In my evening walk in the woods, I lost my car key. I knew it had dropped out of my jacket's pocket, so I walked around looking for the key. As I looked, I heard an owl hoot.

My childhood memory surfaced, and my first thought was, was the owl bringing me good or bad luck? I turned and stared at the bird and was confused whether it was real or fake!

As I turned on my phone to take a picture, a man approached me and said, "Hello."

We had a friendly conversation about the nice weather, our interest in walking, and my missing car key. He suggested that I trace back my steps and pay attention to everything along the way. I thanked him and moved on.

I went to my starting point and strolled with my eyes and ears looking at everything. My mind raced, and I thought, "I'm far away from home. I'll waste money to tow the car, buy a new key, and buy a flight ticket for four or rent a car."

My mind went back to my childhood memory again, "Owls, farmers, culture, my mother, the carpenter, cutting the cassava sticks and how fast I was cutting and planting the sticks."

As I put my hands back into my jacket pocket, I heard a noise that sounded like an owl. Hey, I could not help myself; my mind kept thinking about the owl from my childhood. Then I heard the noise again. I thought, "This must be in my head." When I sat on the grass, my gut told me to check a trash can on my right. There was no trash can, but I observed a tree stump with a large hole. I looked at the tree stump, then moved closer, and behold... there were my car keys lying inside a hole.

The key in the hole. I found my car key.

My life is a miracle. Pay attention to your good luck if you believe in it. Good things are everywhere. Look for your miracle in everyone and everything.