“This is the world we live in
And these are the hands we’re given
Use them and let’s start trying
To make it a place worth living in”
—— Peter Gabriel
Leaving downtown Rio, Wisconsin, half a block from the intersection of High street and Well street… I’m walking back to Mom’s house. I’m returning with six ears of fresh sweet corn from Mark’s Market. Mom and Clark and I will have them with dinner tonight. It’s the last night before Clark leaves. He’s flying back to Colorado in the morning.
As I approach the house with the weird figures on the front yard, I realize where I am and make a mental note. “Oh yea, here it is… ” I first saw this house yesterday when accompanying Mom on her morning walk. I wasn’t really able to respond at all then, to what I saw on that front lawn because the owners were sitting on the porch.
“Good morning!”
“Good morning.”
“Good morning.”
All greetings exchanged, Mom and I moved on with me doing my very best not to gawk. I tried to look without appearing to be looking, so I only saw the figures out of the corner of my eye. Something crossed my field of vision that looked like… a person in jeans and a sports Jerzy of some kind with the head of a hawk?
“Creepy.”
Now I’m approaching the house again and I can see the figures clearly. The owners of the house aren’t there and I don’t see anyone around. A perfect chance to get a photo of this. My hand reaches for my phone but… I don’t take it out, I don’t stop walking, I don’t even slow down.
I don’t know why.
Why do people do things like this? What is it that gets into their minds that they think… “Yea, I’m going to make a bunch of weird figures doing weird things and put them in my front yard. That’s what I’m going to do.”
“Extra creepy.”
The next day Stacy and Mom and I are returning to Mom’s house after taking Clark to the airport in Madison, and I realize we’re going to go right passed the house with the weird figures. My sister slows down as so I can get some good shots. I’d told her about the figures before and how I wanted photos of them.
But now… I don’t know how or why, the figures don’t seem so creepy. They are just stuffed dolls, about two feet tall. They kind of look like big cabbage patch dolls. The dolls are dressed in pretty normal farm clothes. One is on a tractor and two are in a wagon. The one with the hawk-like head is pushing a wagon.
Yea, it’s weird but… why did it seem so creepy before? Why was I so creeped out that I couldn’t take my photos? Stacy says only that it’s good they tried to make it easy to mow around and Mom kinda likes em.
Now THAT, is creepy!
