RAMBLINGS FROM THE SKETCHBOOK

The kid down the street used to dye his hair blue and sing songs about tequila fevered dreams.

He also claimed pirates had taken his hearing. I think they took his voice as well.

His older sister had always been the loud and obnoxious type. A real misanthrope with nothing positive about her demeanor as she entered her senior years.

Her daughter on the other hand, turned out to be okay.

She had been a teacher of ours in elementary school, and by this time she was in her early 60s. Or so she claimed. We thought of her as much older.

Her body armor included full sleeve tattoos that featured frogs standing like humans holding hooded birds of prey on out stretched arms. Big bold type below the largest figure stated “Falconry Forever”, in a semicircle.

Her calves featured wine glasses filled with hearts that bled into a river with a canoe containing both Charlie Brown and Jack the Ripper. Both of these characters were out for what looked like a happy and sunny afternoon canoe trek.

One calf had the inscription “Ginger”, and the other “MaryAnn”. Both were done in a beautiful Arabesque script with shimmering highlights.

Rumor had it that a grinning Gilligan’s face (complete with horns) was her tramp stamp, complete with a thought bubble over his head containing a cracked green question mark.

A crown of thorns composed of a snake and worms decorated her entire neck. Somewhere in the crown were deranged lyrics from obscure Hank Williams songs.

None of dared ask any questions about the meaning of any of this iconography.

It was no wonder the kid down the street was the way he was.