Lucky Hen

I saw a hen this morning as a I drove by the duck pond. Her body was brown with a red top. She seemed confused, but I think that’s normal for a hen. She is new to the pond, and I wonder if she will stay long among the geese and ducks and the heron. Does she belong to someone in the neighborhood, or is she wild and passing through? I kept searching for her in the rearview mirror as I drove toward the stop sign and the turn that would take me out of view. She was crossing the road. I laughed out loud and spoke to myself each time I spotted her. I hope she got to the other side.

Is a hen a sign of any kind of luck? If I were superstitious, looking at the day in retrospect, I’d probably say she meant bad luck. My day at work started out spiritless, and in the late afternoon it meandered slowly downward. Bad moods are contagious, and I caught one. I seem to catch them often. I hope I don’t spread them as well.

I felt sorry the whole way home. But when I got to the duck pond, I remembered the hen, and she made me happy. I’m happy now. How can happy be bad luck?