All things are destructible…by
fire, by wind, by water, and by man. E.g., as in the case of the purposeful
burning of the doll houses.
For many of you that frequent the
Mountain Creek Road area, you are probably familiar with the Stick Man.
Nicknamed for the structure he has steadily worked at building over the course
of several years. The stick house is a maze made up of a multitude of intertwined
vines and sticks held together through an intricate design of smaller vines and
sticks. The maze has grown over the years and stretches for many yards
underneath a trees in a small forgotten lot between an old K-Mart building and
a Dollar General Store. Visitors can walk along the paths weaving in and out of
tunnels that have been carefully crafted by the Stick Man who uses a small
hatchet, a knife, an axe, and his hands to strategically place a variety of
sticks together which create the maze.
Several years ago, I became very
curious about the Stick Man and his purpose for building the maze. I decided to
find out about the Stick Man, stopped to talk to him, and introduced myself.
The Stick Man graciously accepted my introduction and began showing me the
maze. The Stick Man is an old man who appears to be very fragile, small in
stature, and walks in a hunched over manner. He was a survivor of World War II
and talked about how the trees and underbrush remind him of some of the forests
in Germany. He also mentioned that he enjoys going to Burger King every day for
a cup of coffee and a sausage biscuit. After listening to war stories for about
an hour, my mind began to wonder if the Stick Man could talk about anything other
than World War II. His life has been consumed now with building a fort made of
sticks strong enough to withstand anything. I said my goodbyes after continuing
to talk for another 30 minutes, and he invited me to stop by again anytime.
Even the tornadoes of 2011 didn’t
phase the Stick Man’s house. It withstood floods, torrential rains, sweltering
temperatures, and storms. Well…until the other day when I went to the Dollar
General Store and saw a sign that read, “Closed to remodeling.” Looking behind
the sign, I saw the Stick Man’s maze flattened to the ground as if a giant had
stepped on it squashing every stick and vine that lay beneath its huge foot. It
was so sad to see that all of his work over the course of several years had
been destroyed by a force of nature; probably strong winds. The Stick Man was
sitting on a culvert carving sticks with his knife and I simply drove by slowly
wondering if he would rebuild the maze. I hope he does.
The last pool party of the
summer. Many visitors today. Melissa, Cole, Austin, and Ben. Trish and Shelby.
Lucy, Rylan, and Reed. Loren, Turner, and Grant. Debbie, Gracie, and Aiden.
Pizza again from Little Caesars and several boxes of popsicles and drink boxes.
Steve came by to cut the grass but left after the guests began to arrive.
Arnold visited for a while with David. He will begin several treatments of
radiation next week as an alternative to chemotherapy. He seems hopeful.
17 visitors today, 421 in all.
No comments:
Post a Comment