Tales From The City - Part Five...

There are truly a limitless number of oddities to encounter in the city. Take this little item that I found on the sidewalk today, in the niche formed by an average, unimportant building on Van Buren Street:


It appears to be a fake deputy badge, attached to a mouse trap. If two other passersby hadn't spotted it first and stopped to snap cell phone pictures, I would have walked right by it. Who left it there? Perhaps some kind of street artist? Why not leave something bigger, that would make more of an impact? Also, I'm no expert in mousetraps having never needed to use one, but isn't it loaded? Wouldn't it really hurt if someone stepped on it?

Is it a statement that the police and people in positions of law enforcement are rats? Are they trying to catch magpies by putting something shiny in the trap? The piece is woefully lacking in context. We'll probably never know what the intention is behind it, or what it means. Such is the nature of these absurd little blips on the radar of urban life, but at least they keep things interesting...