The Surprise Of My Young Life
I received this today from Andibi, who lives in Maine.
'Psychopomp'
Acrylic on Clayboard, 2018
Today I had gone by the old house to collect my mail, and found a week old jury summons commanding me to appear at nine o'clock this morning. This was at noon. Sick with fear, I went home and shaved and put on my best clothes and further whited my sepulchre. I went down to the courthouse, a devastatingly chic former Ace hardware store, and went in to look for the County Clerk's office. I passed several cops who gave me the Easter Island stare when I nodded to them. After walking into a room by mistake clearly marked 'In Session', I found the clerk's office. I told the basilisk behind the counter what had happened, and before I could bring up my dead father and my six little children that would sorely miss their daddy while he was imprisoned, she said:
"We had more people than we needed today.' She sniffed. 'You may go'.
Reeling with my unexpected good luck, I drove home and found a small package waiting for me. At the lowest ebb of my fortunes, ever, I was given this fantastic original artwork by a good friend, one I have never seen. On top of all this, he sent along an antique linen postcard and Wrote On The Back Of It, the collectable equivalent of breaking a copper during a Potlatch.
Gilbert's Lobster Pound and Cabins, Pemaquid, Maine.
300 feet from Old Fort Pemaquid
Shore and Picnic Diners
Boating Fishing Bathing Modern Cabins Camping
Two Acre Parking Space
Unequaled on the 2500 Mile Maine Coast
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_William_Henry_(Pemaquid_Beach,_Maine)
And, as you see, here we have a New England Rabbit.
Gilbert's appears to no longer be there, although some of Old Fort Pemaquid is. Odd that a place in a state with 2500 miles of coastline would brag about 2 acres of parking space. This postcard is selling for $5.50 on Ebay, and the original cost to send it was one cent.
I have never received such an unexpected and unearned present before, even the brand new resonator guitar given to me one hot August day by Mr. X in a music store parking lot does not come up to this. I mentioned Potlatch as a value indicator, but also Potlatch was a war conducted by trying to put unbearable financial obligations on other tribes. Since I can hardly send Andibi one of my psychotic rabbits drawn with crayon on toilet paper, I shall have to scour the shops to see what I can find to return the favor for this Maine upstart!
Stand by for your copper fragments.
Gilbert's Lobster Pound and Cabin's, 1950
Whenever I receive a jury summons, I send a polite letter back explaining that my religious and philosophical convictions prohibit me from sitting in judgment on my fellow men, so if placed on a jury I would abstain from voting. They always excuse me after that.
ReplyDeleteThats 3 I missed out on, my brother got to serve on a trial judging the sanity of a guy that would have been worth sitting in on. I don't regard jury duty as my responsibility as a citizen, although it clearly is. I vote and obey all convenient laws, what more does society expect?
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