Nudes By The Fire House

These two statues are outside a house located next to a fire house on 29th Street in Astoria. For about a year one of them was missing. A few months ago I noticed that it had been restored. I assumed the statue had been a target of vandalism but it may have just fallen off from natural causes or incidental contact. I assumed it had been stolen, and would not have expected it to be replaced if that was the case.

It reminds me of when I had a car and someone stole one of the caps off a wheel. I thought about replacing it but found that it’s hard to find just one cap for sale (they usually sell as a set of 4) and that it just wasn’t worth the bother. Nothing about the cap gone missing jeopardized the safety of the vehicle, and I also noticed that virtually every car of the same make and model as mine was missing at least one cap. Most were actually missing all 4. So me losing just was like a rite of passage.

The crazy thing is that about 5 or 6 months after being stolen it was back. It wasn’t stolen it was just borrowed. I’ll never who did this or why but it’s certainly one of the strangest things that happened while owning that car.

I don’t know anybody at this fire house but I have known a few fire fighters. One of them I consider a friend. The other one strikes fear in me any time I see him. He punched me in the chest once in a drunken brawl. That encounter is part of the reason I no longer consider bars to be a focal point of my social life, although I arrived at that attitude a few years after the incident and for numerous other reasons as well.

I would be surprised if these 2 nude statues have never attracted complaints from neighbors.

Nudes By The Fire House