Go, Ray, Go: Find graffiti troublemakers

I love a good mystery.

Police are baffled by unusual multi-colored graffiti appearing around Cheyenne. One shows a tank inside a red circle. Another has a man's face (looks suspiciously like V.I. Lenin) over the phrase "Arms Kill." A third is the phrase "Know GMO." They all are painted with templates, and appear on walls, bridges, and even the neighborhood recycling bins. I haven't seen any on private property. Still, the police are upset, according to this morning's WTE.

Said Lanae Fry of the Cheyenne PD: "We need to find the little troublemakers who might be showing others how to do this."

How does she know they're "little troublemakers?" They might be big boys and/or girls. They might be artists. They might be political activists. The reporter googled "Know GMO" and found a group called "kNOw GMO" that works to curtail "genetically modified organisms" to protect the environment and organic farming. Perhaps the graffiti artist is a member of this subversive organization. Or was motivated by "Oryx and Crake," Margaret Atwood's brilliant novel of GMOs run amok.

Many possibilities exist. Authorities are baffled. Said sheriff's department spokesman Gerry Luce: "There's no information on the symbols, their meaning, or the origin of the graffiti. I've seen them around personally, but I couldn't tell you what they mean."

If life imitated art, I could tell you whodunnit. In my short story "Go, Ray, Go," the city of Cheyenne has a similar problem with graffiti. In this case, the graffiti are not symbols but Latin phrases. Ubi dubium ibi libertas is one phrase discovered by Ray, a young man who work's as one of the city's graffiti erasers. Ray is not one of the sharpest tools in the shed, but he's motivated to find out what the phrases mean -- and who's behind it. He discover that ubi dubium ibi libertas means "Where there is doubt, there is freedom." Who's behind the graffiti? The answer will surprise you.

You can read this story in my collection The Weight of a Body (ISBN 0-9778034-1-4; $15.95), published by Ghost Road Press.

NOTE TO THE POLICE AND SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENTS, AND WYOMING TRIBUNE-EAGLE REPORTERS: If you are googling this, I have one thing to say: it wasn't me!