The Owl's Omen: A Nighttime Encounter Foretells a Factory Worker's Fate
In the quiet of the night, the clock on the wall struck eleven. Sleep eluded me, while my wife Jasmin lay peacefully beside me. The windows of our room faced west, and from my bed, I gazed at the pale, waning moon. My late grandfather, Lolo Elias, would have called this a dark night.
A Chilling Cry in the Darkness
"Hooo… Hooo…Hoooti…Hooo…!" A sound pierced the silence—the call of an owl, a night bird. I shifted my gaze from the sky to the duldol tree, where the owl's dark silhouette perched on a branch. The tree stood not far from our house, and I could see the owl facing me directly.
Its eyes were round and glowing, illuminated by the moon's faint light. Fireflies also dotted the duldol tree. Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine. I remembered the stories Lolo Elias told me as a child. "If an owl appears to you on a dark night, especially when the moon is waning, it is not a good sign," he would say. "It might bring an evil omen like death. According to our ancestors, the owl is a bird of death—a prophet of disaster."
Fear and Reflection
The owl called again. My heart pounded fiercely. An indescribable fear surged through my entire body. I got up, lit a cigarette, and leaned against the window to watch the owl. But I noticed it had turned its back to me. Then, a light flickered on in the first floor of the two-story house across from the duldol tree.
That house belonged to Digoy, my coworker at the cement factory where we both worked. Located in Naga City, near Minglanilla where we lived, Digoy was a dispatcher and driver for one of the delivery trucks, while I worked in accounting. During union meetings, our thoughts and principles often clashed.
Tensions at Work
"Why does Digoy always oppose you, Vidasto?" asked Pare Carding, a fellow accounting clerk, one time. "I don't know! I can't recall any incident where we fought!" I replied. Pare Carding speculated, "In my opinion, Digoy holds some grudge against you, Pre Vidasto. What it is, only he knows."
I remembered one Sunday after a monthly union meeting, some coworkers were drinking at a canteen across from our company. I joined Pare Carding's group at a table. I overheard Digoy saying, "You know, guys, no matter how we calculate, we're always outdone by the office staff. They just sit around, write things, and get big salaries! Especially in accounting." He added, "There's one there who wants to run for union president this year! I… I'll challenge him!"
Sharing the Omen
The next day in the canteen, while eating with Pare Carding, I told him about the owl I saw the previous night and the fear it instilled in me. "Pre Vidasto, don't pay too much attention to that! It's just superstition!" he said dismissively. A month passed after our Family Day celebration.
A Tragic Fulfillment
One afternoon, as I was organizing papers on my desk, news broke that Digoy's truck had crashed into a post in San Fernando, and he died instantly. That evening, I immediately told Jasmin what had happened to Digoy. As we prepared for sleep, I approached the window. It was drizzling.
"Are you looking for the owl, Vidasto?" Jasmin asked as she entered the room. I looked at her. "The owl hasn't returned, Min," I said. "So that bird wasn't for me. It was for Digoy!"
Aftermath and Relief
Suddenly, rain poured down. On the duldol tree, the fireflies scattered, hiding and taking shelter under the leaves. In my mind, fireflies also glowed, and the fear of the owl that Lolo Elias had warned me about drifted away from my heart.
