Tuesday, November 17, 2020

The Tiki Flower





Ward  Milman is the owner of the Tiki Flower, a tiki bar in Beguile. 


The tiki that decorates the wall of the Tiki Flower was said to have been bought to Beguile from some exotic shore by Ward’s uncle Cornelius.  A sailor in the merchant navy, Cornelius had arrived home unexpectedly one April with the tiki stashed carefully amongst his belongings.  


Cornelius had regaled his family and friends with a whimsical tale of having been giving the decorative statue by a powerful Chieftain in some faraway South Pacific corner of the world.  He insisted that the idol had been a reward for some unnamed heroic deed.  Many in Beguile suspected that infact Cornelius had stolen the statue after plundering some far away location while supposedly performing a duty for the merchant navy.  


Whatever the true origin story of the tiki it had inspired Ward, after the death of his uncle and his subsequent inheritance of the idol, to create a familiar haven for it in the form of a tiki bar. 


Visitors to the Tiki Flower often spoke of the striking idol after visiting the bar.  Usually they spoke in whispers about the strange wooden carving with exotic red stones as eyes, that seemed to catch the light in a ferocious glint.  Most enjoyed the Tiki Flower but would position themselves in the bar so they didn’t have to look at the carved graven image.  


Some after leaving the Tiki Flower even gossiped in hushed tones about the way that Ward spoke to the idol throughout the night, insisting that the eyes of the idol seemed to inflame and irradiate each time that he did.  The more imaginative thinkers in town actually believed that the tiki, as a revenge for being stolen  had some how taken charge of Ward and he now did its bidding, but that is small town scuttlebut surely.  


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