Fall 2015

I live near a lovely small village on the coast. It is peaceful serene and incredibly beautiful. I walk there often and it has a casual relaxed vibe. The locals seem happy, and they are outdoorsy, active, and sociable folks. From the outside it seems that all is right in their world. And, for the most part I think it is. It’s an exclusive place — like any area near the water it is prohibitively expensive. There’s a local news and miscellaneous site that posts local events, news, recommendations, items for sale, etc. Today there was a post that seemed to reveal a slight discontent underneath all the white bread, tan and long of limbed, sportif perfection. The posting read: Dead Fish in mailbox [Okay, so finally something interesting in the equivalent of the local police blotter!] It continues,This morning I found a dead blue fish in my mailbox. It was wrapped in paper towels and had a hotdog pushed in its mouth. Who would do something like that?

Wow. My first reaction was typical: oh how awful, what’s wrong with people, blah, blah blah, and then it kind of stuck with me this image and event. Of course the fish in the paper is not that original since nearly everyone has seen The Godfather, but the hot dog – that intrigued me. I’m not quite sure if I get the symbolism, but in the spirit of the soon-to-occur Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro I would give the “offense” high scores in creativity and originality — if not flawlessly executed. Paper towels?

Summer 2016

So it seems someone is not happy in this idyllic village. Well, more than someone since I’m pretty sure the recipient of the fish is less than thrilled. Am I detecting further discord inside the yacht clubs, luxury vehicles, gin and tonic cocktails on the veranda cocoon? This morning when I walked along the shore I saw two stops signs that had been graffiti-ed. One read, “Stop telling me what to do!” and the other, in the same handwriting, “Stop yelling at me!” Okay! Keeping it real! Now, the question is: is our unhappy stop sign artist and the fish in the mailbox delivery person one and the same? Or does more discontent abound?

  Clare Irwin

Stop Sign