The Liberation of Skully

It was perfect. Glorious. Fun. Exactly our style. What we were needing in our life. It was a skull. And it was hanging on our neighbor's fence.

When we moved to Montana, one of the 1st things we happened to note was, in fact, a skull that was hanging on our neighbor's back fence. It was displayed nicely enough...as displaying skulls goes...but CLEARLY not valued for the masterpiece it was. 2 perfect horns arced up and out, there was a few slight tufts of fur still clinging on, it had been bleached nicely by the sun, and upon closer inspection, one could still make out a tooth or 2. How could we NOT stand on our back deck and look with wonder at this brilliant find. Only here it was...just on the fence in someone's backyard...hanging over a broken grill and not even within eye-shot of any window. Its owners...a couple of college kids from the local university...had hung it there. However, the girl who lived in the house had expressed disgust over the OTHER skull (this one still had a full spinal cord attached) that was displayed proudly on the front porch of their townhouse. She didn't WANT skulls around.

Now, I'm not one for just stealing from people. That...would be wrong. But, as Dan and I reasoned, this skull had CLEARLY been forgotten and was not even really wanted. It would potentially be doing everyone a favor if we just...say...liberated it. And so, cigarette in one hand...and the other extended, Dan stretched across the patch of yard still snow covered to reach for the skull. Careful not to leave any footprints or trail OF COURSE...as that would just be obvious and rude, Dan safely liberated "Skully" from his place upon the fence...and he found his way into our townhome...brilliantly displayed in a number of locations. Had we held a dinner party of any sort, we reasoned that we could suspend "Skully" from wires and tuck red LED lights into the eye sockets...and have a bit of fun with the guests.

Life is better with a skull or 2...and as we drove back across country from Montana to Pennsylvania, I'm pretty sure the looks we got with a horned skull proudly displayed in our car made the entire liberation more than worth it.