Gargoyle Protection During Natural Desasters

I have been making my one-of-a-kind gargoyle bells for over 15 years now. Over those years I have had a number of collectors who continuously buy my bells in order to place them along the perimeter of their home for protection. I have always thought that was nice, but maybe a little excessive and overly superstitious. One collector in Oklahoma City insists that my protective friends saved him from deadly tornadoes that hit his area every summer . His home was unscathed during the 2013 super tornado, although quite near the path. Another collector in LA, who in one year bought more bells than any of my retailers, insists that they protect her and her family form earthquakes as well, along with "bad ju ju," she says. I have always believed in the protective power of my bells, but time and time again, they have proven themselves to me and others in times of need.

Perhaps the most profound proof of this protection for me was when I went through hurricane Irene in 2011. I had never been through a hurricane before and was living on a narrow pinnacle of land near Tilghman Island out on the Chesapeake Bay. Before retiring for the fun-filled night, we decided to place Bonzie, my personal gargoyle, on the kitchen counter for protection. I am not sure what possessed us to choose that spot to place him, but I am very glad we did. We spent the night crammed in a tiny closet with a dog and two cats because it was the safest location if anything were to happen to the structural integrity of the house. The night was both insane and horrifying! When Irene arrived, all that we could hear was the screeching sound of the wind whipping around in all directions. This night was one of the few times in my life that I ever trembled from fear,and I really don't shake easily. It really unnerved my partner to see me, such a calm and collected person, trembling. We tried to sleep, but the mix of absolute terror, not to mention bad dog breath, irritated cats and crammed closet stench made that nearly impossible.

When the winds died down the next morning, we stepped out of that wretched closet and all seemed well. I looked out the windows in the front and despite some downed power lines, and wind-blown debris, everything looked okay. Then I looked out the back window. The picture you see here is what I saw. A giant and beautiful black walnut tree was completely horizontal in the yard. We were shocked that anything could take down that giant beauty. We were also utterly amazed and thankful about how that beauty decided to fall. Had she fallen any other way she would have crushed us, our art studio, the Post Office or the neighbors house. In fact, she fell in the only safe direction she could have, causing minor damage to the neighbors shed and with a few branches lightly touching the neighbors windows. If she had fallen a hair in any other direction, it would have caused much more damage. If she had fallen closer to the house, it would have crushed us in our closet hideout and  I might not be writing this today. I couldn't make sense of why or how that tree fell in the manner that it did, as the winds were not blowing in that direction all night and there is nothing to indicate why it would fall that way when other trees in the area fell in other directions. However,when I saw the smiling eyes of my big, beautiful and magical gargoyle, Bonzie, it all made sense.