The Mud Artist

Faced with dueling abominations, the mud artist prepares his soul and his conscience. Not for nothing now those long lonely years of study and preparation. The scholarship to Oxford. The apprenticeship at Newport News. The global span of itinerant consultations. Before him lay the jewel of his travail, the goal of his endeavors. One giant heap of ugly rubble. One giant heap of ugly mud. The consolidation of calamities would result in either one huge giant heap of hideousness, or a gentle sloping mound of earth concealing the evil rubble within. Mud boots, check. Mud gloves, check. Shovel and pick, check. Wedding ring, off. Safely bestowed. The labor to begin amid the frigid January rain. This is the life, reflects the artist. To do what one was born to do, what one can do, fulfillingness and finality.