Graffiti

Hello Dear Readers,

Unfortunately, I have not ventured out much lately, again, this time not because of the weather.  I may have made a mistake eating at Yogi’s Sushi Bear.  I have been in bed for several days.  Finally, I am well enough to sit up and post something.  I decided that this is the perfect opportunity for a rundown of all the local graffiti.

Like any other place, Kevin’s Crossing has its fair share of graffiti.  Most of it is just names, obscenities, or small murals.  But there are three images/phrases that appear frequently all over town.  They are:

• Jak-Jak
• Finger Over Lips
• Knot

Part 1

So we'll start with Jak-Jak.  This graffiti comes in a variety of styles all referring to the local legend, Jak-Jak.  They usually say something like 'Jak-Jak Lives’ or ‘ Jak-Jak was here’ or ‘Jak-Jak’s Revenge’.  The various writing styles suggest several artists.

Jak-Jak is a fusion of urban legend, folklore, and a cryptid.  Everyone(!) in town knows about him and most people have their own stories they will happily tell you.  Out of all the conversations I've had with people at the Steaming Mug, by far the singular most common topic is the legend of Jak-Jak.  Which, as you can image, has an infinite number of variations.  But generally goes something like this.  Jak-Jak is a troll/ogre/monster-thing that lives in the woods surrounding the town.  Legends of him date back to at least the 1880s.  It is said that he is the offspring of a woman and demon.  In other versions, the woman is a witch who was chased out of town.  In yet another version, she is a descendant of Jeremiah Newton, town founder.

Regardless of who she was, she gave birth to the monster that would be Jak-Jak, in the woods where he has lived ever since.  He is said to attack and harass the townspeople to get revenge for his mother's mistreatment.  I must point out that the story of his birth has many parallels to that of the Jersey Devil, who lives in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.  Also, it was pointed out to me by a radical feminist I was sharing an orange scone with one day that the story of his mother is similar to the Hebrew story of Lilith.  Who was cast out of Eden and went to live by the Red Sea where she mated with demons and gave birth to a hundred children a day!

Like everything else about Jak-Jak, his description depends on who you talk to.  Some say he's tall and thin, some say he's short and squat. Furry or hairless.  There's every variation imaginable.  Except he always has large teeth, a big nose, and pointed ears.

For over a hundred years Jak-Jak has been used as a scapegoat for anything that goes wrong in town.  Animal deaths, attacks, strange sightings, even the weather.  One of the employees at Ziggy’s says that during her grandmother’s childhood she went blind in one eye when she glimpsed Jak-Jak in the woods.  That's practically solid evidence!  He also functions as the local bogeyman, to scare children into behaving.

I’ve also been told that Jak-Jak has treasure hidden in the woods.  A vast collection of money and valuables he’s taken from his victims over the decades.

While the older generations still take the tales semi-seriously, the younger townsfolk treat him more as a town mascot.  There is a wide variety of Jak-Jak paraphernalia for sale in some of the more eclectic shops in town.

There is even a web forum devoted to Jak-Jak where people discuss their experiences.  Unfortunately, I have been unjustly banned from the forum by the moderator for reasons that aren't worth mentioning here.

They even call the night before Halloween Jak-Jak night, instead of Devil's Night or Mischief Night.

I have yet to have a run-in with the beast myself, but I will keep you informed when I do.

Part 2

Don't worry, dear reader, the next two are much shorter.  There is a stenciled graffiti around town that is an image of a finger being held across a pair of lips, and as if to say ‘ shhhhhhh’.  How very ominous.  They all appear to be made with the same stencil, which would suggest that they are all being made by the same person.

As far as I can tell Kevin’s Crossing has no gangs that could be using them to mark their territory.  No one seems to know anything.  So I have no idea what the creator wants me to keep quiet about.  It must be important.

Part 3

Lastly are the knot graffitis.  These are common but offer no explanation at all.  They appear to be crude images of intertwined knots of some kind. Or perhaps a symbol of disembodied tentacles, continuously writhing and caressing themselves. They seem familiar but I can't tell from where.

They are the least common of the three different types of graffiti.  It also seems to get painted over the quickest, just pop back up somewhere else the next day.

I’ll keep you updated!