Friday, July 24, 2009

A Gnome There Wasn’t


Lewis Padgett wrote a book many years ago, A Gnome There Was , a collection of wonderfully written short stories. I was fortunate to obtain a well used copy for my library and bring it out now and again to read to my grandchildren.

One of the short stories included tells about a fellow who, upon entering a mine uninvited, gets a first hand experience of free flight at precisely the same moment a blast of dynamite goes off, magically transforming him from human to gnome and all that goes with Nid’s Law. If you have the opportunity you might enjoy the short read in a library or perhaps on some internet site since the book has been out of print long enough to call it a collector’s item.

A couple of years ago I bought a replacement wrought iron bench for Lucy on Mother’s Day, the old bench having rotted away. I included a pair of red capped gnomes, yard ornaments to dress up an otherwise drab green area around the bench.

The other day while mowing the grass it dawned on me, the gnomes were no longer there. Someone had stolen a pair of yard gnome ornaments and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen them. It might have been a year ago or last week; but each time I’d mowed the yard you’d have thought they would have been missed, not so.

Having read the story and the warnings about messing with gnomes, hope who ever stole them is prepared for the payback. Gnomes can get pretty ugly, especially to humans.

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