Goodreads asked Paula Cappa:

What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?

Paula Cappa When birds fly into a window. This is such a spooky event when you hear that bang! and see a bird spin off and drop to the ground. Why do they do that? One time I had several birds fly into my windows and that same week an owl sat on a tree branch outside my kitchen window for hours during in the daytime. An omen? Or does this happen because
birds are speaking to us, telling us to watch out. Here's an opening to such a mystery:

The dawn was still dark when the owl stared out at me with eyes glowing yellow. He stood in the hawthorn tree, stiff as if he were dead--or stuffed. How odd, every feather on him was sable black. I remember my mom telling me that dark-hued owls were killed by other owls. What was this one doing alive and perched outside my kitchen? Did he want to come in?
I stepped out on the porch and heard the blast of a rifle from the distant woods.

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