A Series of Things: The God Cod January 13, 2010
Posted by indigobunting in Uncategorized.trackback
A particular late-summer afternoon in the early 1990s found us leaving the beautiful Adirondack mountains to return to our real lives in DC. Departing from our beloved vacation spot was especially depressing in the days before we lived in Vermont, what with the long drive and facing some of the harder aspects of city life. Winding our way into lower elevations, we partook in annual heading-home rituals. One of these was a stop at a particular gift shop.
This shop sells everything from furniture to clothes to art to home accessories. Sometimes there are one-of-a-kind pieces there. This time there was a big wooden fish—an old fish sign, in fact. Painted on each side was the word COD. Except, on one of the sides, it almost seemed like a serif was creeping into it. It looked kind of like GOD.
It was expensive enough to be rejected as an impulse buy at the end of an expensive-enough vacation. We got into the car and continued our journey south. Five or ten minutes into the drive, I said, “But I really liked the God Cod.” Tim immediately turned the car around, and we bought it.
In our apartment, the God Cod hung over the kitchen sink, in front of a window, probably God-side-out. When we moved to Vermont, Tim hung the God Cod from an exposed ceiling beam that separated the kitchen from the dining area; this way, you could see both sides.
When we bought this house (across the street from our old house), it took us a little while to figure out where to put the God Cod, but eventually it found its home along the staircase, hung from the balusters of the banister above. When I descend, before I hit the landing, I often give the God Cod a nudge, whereupon it swims.
Route 153 
Oh, wonderful. You should open a virtual museum to showcase your things. And I think you should have let the world know when that serif started appearing. It could have been like that image of Jesus that appeared on the wall of a Tim Hortons in Nova Scotia.
Helen, you’re right…I think I’ve completely missed an opportunity to capitalize.
You’ve moved it, how wonderful! I knew it didn’t belong in the mud room, or winter porch, or whatever the proper term for that vast room behind your kitchen is called. It needed to be inside, where it could be crooned over lovingly by many people.
It must have lived there a very short time. I had completely forgotten that it was ever there, but now I remember! Of course, it’s so at home now…
God Cod. I love it.
You have to love a man who, when you say you really liked something, turns the car around and goes back to get it. My man usually says something like “too late” and hits the accelerator!
oooh i love the cod god.