You may have seen Bones the Pirate this summer. Bones is a self-appointed roving ambassador for Ocracoke. Dressed in his red bandanna, pirate shirt, and pirate pants (he is barefooted, and carries a large pirate flag...and usually acquiesces to donning wrap-around sunglasses), Bones walks through the village chatting with visitors & residents. Children love to have their picture taken with him.
It does my heart good to know that colorful characters still call Ocracoke home!
This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is a reproduction of a 1960s booklet titled
The Great Ocracoke Cat Hunt. You can read it here:
http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news092115.htm.
Colorful Characters, honestly. If there was someone like that where I live crying out for attention we would ignore him or her. I.E. the nutcase that would feed alligators marshmallows and swim with them or the human mannequin standing on the street corner -- wait I think it was the same guy from news reports I've read.... But the person walking around town each and every day, the running man holding his hand out to touch the hand of God or the man clad in a business suit in the heat walking with a noticeable limp are colorful characters in my mind, as they are going through their day on Earth not "bothering people"-- but yes ,they are noticed, with a acknowledged nod by fellow members of the community. Each day is a struggle, for the challenges sometimes overwhelm without the proper coping mechanisms. PS are there any artifacts documenting what a pirate flag looked like? PH I mean was a flag just big enough and raised on the mast or flag pole (was there a flag pole?) how did the "flag" get installed? did some mate shimmy up the mast and tie one on?? Anyway did the ship under attack see the "flag" while under approach or was there any Pirate etiquette when boarding a ship to ransack?? But I suppose in rethinking this, the Character Bones, it is a persona, a role this individual assumes to pass the time, this notion of a self appointed ambassador I find charitible.
ReplyDeletei wouldnt say bones is "bothering" people....but he puts the persona right up front...good guy he is
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