Bob Deakin Short Stories

The straw hat weirdo. Drawing by John Coutinho

Last month, Adam, one of the artists an off-Disney studio in Orlando, Florida, after a long night at the easel realized only too late, when he was home, that he had left his iPod in the kitchen of the studio.

“If somebody finds it they’ll hold it for me,” he assured himself as he lay his head on the pillow for the night, comforted by the camaraderie of his fellow artists.

He returned to the studio in the morning and was absolutely steaming when he found his iPod stomped to a million pieces on the kitchen floor.

“Who the hell did this?” he asked, in deep angst, in no particular direction.

“It was a skinny guy with a straw hat, torn overalls and worn-out floppy shoes,” said Seth, another artist, stepping into the kitchen to counsel Adam. “I’ve seen him before. Real weirdo.”

Last Tuesday, Juan, another artist at the studio, had just completed a sculpture of LAX Airport, cut from a single piece of teak wood. It was a commissioned work and took him nearly ten weeks to complete, and was the darling of the local art scene. The sculpture sat on display in the studio gallery for all to see, awaiting shipment to the West Coast.

That afternoon at the studio, Keisha, after bidding farewell to her tap dancing students, looked up into the security monitor at her desk and couldn’t believe her eyes. There was a skinny guy wearing a straw hat, torn overalls and worn-out floppy shoes, swinging an ax at Juan’s sculpture, which was on fire. Something told her this wasn’t right and she got up to investigate.

By the time she got to the gallery he had put down the ax and was hurrying out. The sculpture was chopped in hundreds of pieces, all of them burning. The heat and smoke set off the alarm and the police and fire departments were on their way.

“He was very skinny, with a straw hat, torn overalls and worn-out floppy shoes,” Keisha said to the officer, who introduced himself as Dan Short of the Orange County P.D.

“Did you notice anything strange about his behavior?” Officer Dan asked.

“He was very weird,” she said. “When I asked, he said he was here to fix the plumbing but he wasn’t dressed like a plumber, and it didn’t look like a plumber’s ax that he was wielding.”

“That is weird,” Officer Dan responded.

Nothing more came of it until this morning when Amy brought in a brand new espresso machine for her fellow artists and proudly set it up on the kitchen counter. By noon it had been inexplicably ripped from the wall, thrashed around the room and tossed out the two-story window and splattered on the sidewalk.

Tears flooded down her cheeks when she walked into the kitchen and discovered the vile act.

“What? Who! Why?” she screamed, and was soon comforted by friends, all staring at the carnage in disbelief.

“It was the skinny guy with the straw hat, torn overalls and worn-out floppy shoes,” Seth divulged, as everyone stared at their feet in search of an answer. “I don’t know where he comes from but he’s a real weirdo.”

Just then everyone looked up, shocked to see Seth adorned in a straw hat, torn overalls and worn-out floppy shoes.

“What a weirdo!” Amy screamed at him in horror.

Copyright 2010

A bird's eye view of the Lake Lily fountain on a sunny Saturday in November. Photo by Bob Deakin

A little gem of a recreational retreat lies hidden within the quiet city streets of Maitland. Lake Lily Park offers an approximately half-mile loop for walkers and runners as well as a mini historical tour of Maitland’s origins. The park is located at the intersection of Maitland Avenue and U.S. Highway 17/92 (Orlando Ave.) and two blocks away from the Maitland Municipal Complex on Independence Lane, connected by a bicycle path.

The park is not for cyclists or rollerbladers but a bike path passes through it, beginning at the Maitland Municipal Complex and continuing through to Lake Avenue a quarter mile away. It continues east on Lake Ave. toward Eatonville, and from that point on is designated only by a white line on the side of the road. It is the beginning of a much longer bicycle trail through Maitland slated for completion in the distant future.

Lake Lily encompasses approximately five acres and includes a wedding gazebo and boardwalk, and the Park features a large playground for children, several covered picnic areas, clean restrooms and the Waterhouse Residence and Carpentry Museum. Benches and picnic tables abound, and a large lighted water fountain provides the centerpiece of the lake, which is buttressed by dozens of cypress trees, thousands of lily pads, gangs of turtles, ducks, frogs, egrets and birds of all types.

This is a great stop for those looking for a quick run, a walk, a stroll with the children out for lunch and a little playtime, or a tour of the Museum ($3). Take a walk on the bike path toward the Maitland Municipal Complex and there are several restaurants along the way, as well as salons, shops and other stores in a small shopping center on 17/92. It is not an area to take a long walk or make a day of of it but it’s a convenient and peaceful stop within the city limits for those with just a couple hours to spare.

The brick road around the southern part of the park was once known as Lake Lily Drive, linked to Maitland Ave. It continued south on what is now 17/92 and the road was used by the U.S. Army during the Second Seminole War as a stopover for the troops, with an army fort situated along the west side of Lake Lily. Lake Lily Drive was once a part of the Dixie Highway, which opened in 1925, leading from Michigan to Miami. The bricks were covered by asphalt in the 1980s but the Maitland Historical Society, the City of Maitland and the Florida Department of State restored the original brick path in 1998.

The park is host to a weekly farmer’s market, numerous festivals, charity walks, outdoor movies and other events throughout the year, and a frequent destination for weddings, photo shoots and group activities. A large indoor conference center sits at the eastern side of the park and there is ample parking at the entrance off Maitland Ave. Look to several signs along the walkway for brief histories of the park, the museum, Lake Lily Drive and the nearby railroad and Black Bear Trail.

For more information about Maitland and upcoming events, visit the Maitland Chamber of Commerce Web site or stop by the park.

Lake Lilly Slide Show

Copyright 2009