A Tale of Two Pickles, a.k.a. the Pickle Conspiracy

While I am on the subject of the bizarre ...

One of my favorite author/artists was Scarry -- Richard Scarry. I loved his illustrations in Little Golden Books. Even as an adult, I loved his big picture books. Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm, and all the other residents of Busy Town.

The Head Start group I used to teach loved finding characters, making their own observations, hunting for patterns in these storybooks. One book contained a fleet of typically fun Scarry vehicles, including a truckload of pickles. The cargo was so large, pickles were falling out into the street here and there. All the way through the pages, we followed a trail of pickles.

Another character we loved was silly Mr. Frumble, a fuddy-duddy of an old pig with terrible luck. He was chasing his runaway hat all over town. Probably the only breeze in the entire town was catching up his hat and dancing around with it, teasingly keeping it just out of reach.

Years later, a conversation about conspiracies and paranoia inspired this design. The idea that something as common and silly as a pickled cucumber might be responsible for a plot of any kind was fraught with implausibility and humor. In tribute to Mr. Scarry, I created an author by the name of William Frumble for this stylish mystery. The reviews and the introduction are fun, but it's really all about the pickles. -- Yeah, they just fell off a truck? A likely story!

In the time the Pickle Conspiracy has been sitting in my "just for fun" section, I'd only sold one item before. Some strange and funny person bought a throw pillow bearing one of my pickle designs. (Obviously someone with great taste and a rapier sharp sense of the absurd.)

That was up until Wednesday, July the nineteenth, 2006. When I made my way to my computer, I found myself lured by the tantalizing promise of an email - a notification of a transaction.

My pulse quickened as I opened it to read. Who was it? What did they want? I was determined to find out.

I skimmed the email, paused, thought, "No way!" and read it again. An order for two Pickle Conspiracy Black T-Shirts? And four 10-packs of 2.25" buttons with the infamous veggies. It must be a scam order made with a fake credit card number. One of those weird people from the Capital One commercials, no doubt.

But, no, it's true. The merchandise is in production, and it should be finished this week. It might be on its way to its new owner mere days from now. But who? Who would place such an order? I think there is far more to this than meets the eye.

This is obviously all part of a plot.

Keep the mustard and relish handy. No telling when they could be needed.

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