By Lee Scott
Please be advised that I am currently missing a sculpture from my backyard. If by chance, you have found it, please DO NOT RETURN IT! Keep it as a memento of Hurricane Matthew. My gift to you.
The sculpture in question was already in my backyard when I bought my house. I am almost positive that it had washed up from some barrier island and was only on the property because of some other hurricane.
I cannot believe that the sellers would have ever bought this item because it is so unusual. It is also possible that over the course of its lifetime it had been damaged and hence the reason for its current appearance.
It was not until I started to pull out dead palm fronds and vines that I spotted it. Truthfully, it startled me when I saw it. The sculpture was deeply embedded in dirt on the bank of the creek and was hidden in the brush.
It appears to have been made of brass or a similar material and is mostly discolored, sporting several shades of green.
Examining it, I was not sure what it was supposed to be. Was it a mythological deity like King Poseidon? It was hard to tell. Maybe it was supposed to be King Triton with his sharp trident.
The sculpture appears to have arms that spin, although it could be they are just broken. Maybe they were supposed to be that way and it was actually some kind of weather vain.
Regardless of its looks, it proved too entrenched for me to move by myself. My spouse offered to drag it out with a rope tied to the back of the truck, but I said not to bother. We really could not see it that well anyway unless we were on top of it.
But alas, Hurricane Matthew came swinging in with a surge just high enough on the embankment to loosen the dirt and sweep it off our property.
Maybe King Triton is now the new figurehead of one of the local sailboats. Who knows? He may just be waiting for his father Poseidon to churn up the seas and scoop him up to decorate someone else’s yard.
Or maybe he has already found a new home and is sitting in your reeds.
