A Macabre Practical Joke . . . I Hope . . .

I travel to work by commuter train every day. The trip is relatively short -- twenty minutes -- and I usually spend the time reading or gazing out at the passing landscape. On this morning's commute, I opted to stare out of the window. The train was passing by a dense stand of black locust trees when I happened to catch a glimpse of something I never could have expected -- a severed human head impaled on a stake.

The sight lasted but a second -- flashing by as quickly as it had appeared -- but the image remained clear in my mind. The head of a man in his twenties or thirties with long, light brown hair tied back in a ponytail, eyes wide open, mouth agape, neck perched on a stake. 

My reaction? Bemusement more than anything. Though the sight certainly had the potential to be disturbing, I can't say I was perturbed. Nor was I horrified. The second the impaled head vanished from view, I immediately chalked it up to some sort of macabre practical joke. I hoped to catch a glimpse of it in the afternoon on the way home, but it was it too dark to make anything out. 

A macabre practical joke. That's what I'm sticking to. However, if the severed head on a stake does turn out to be real, well, then I'll grant myself the luxury of feeling horrified and perturbed.