I went to the Inkslinger’s Ball a couple of times. The first time was in 2001, just days after 9/11. The attendance was supposedly a little down because no one was flying then. I had driven up from San Diego (where I was living at the time) with my friends Dave Gilstrap and Brian Franey. It was fun, tho Gilstrap, whose ethnicity is something of a mystery, got hassled by some skinheads. In the contest, Gilstrap got 3rd place in tribal with the work I did on him.
My favorite thing about that day was the latex rat I bought. It was cast from an actual dead rat. It even had a few hairs stuck in it! It was the realest looking fake dead rat I have ever seen. I took it to work. I left it in the storeroom by the refrigerator. Soon the ditsy counter girl went for some coffee and boy did she scream. I think I lost points with her that day. I kept it by my station, but clients were getting to freaked out by it. So I moved it to my car. I left it in that little gully between the seats behind the shifter, where change collects. I forgot about it. People would lean in the window to talk, or first time passengers would at some point stop talking… I’d look over and see a look of horror on their faces- they’d found the dead rat.
Ah, good times.
So with in a couple of years the poor thing had deteriorated to small pieces from the heat of a car interior in southern California. Grud, I miss that rat. I wish the Inkslinger’s Ball was still around. I’d go look for another one.
Fake Dead Rat, Rest in Peace.
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