Rebel Unicorns have a way of finding each other.
They’re the dreamers, the makers, the artists, and the visionaries who have the audacity to imagine life differently and the courage to live as the fullest expression of themselves. Their being is magnetic and oftentimes, a permission slip for others.
Recently, while delivering Underground Sound around Tacoma, I stopped into Mecca Mercantile with a copy for Fred Novak, a delightful local artist whose hand-dyed, silk-screened creations fill a corner of the shop with color and imagination.
As I turned to leave, the door opened. In walked Fred.
He smiled and began telling me about childhood trips to the Edgewood Safeway with his mother. He remembered a young woman behind the seafood counter whose kindness, colorful style and joyful spirit had stayed with him for more than twenty years.
“Her name was Odessa,” he said.
“Fred,” I replied, “that was me.”
The look of amazement filled his charming face. We hugged in pure excitement and astonishment at the connection.
A couple weeks later, we sat down for coffee. The conversation was effortless. Any concept of time, removed. We were one in an outrageous swirl of storytelling.
My heart melted over Fred’s tale of Mr. Freddy, his fantastical feline.
Years ago, someone gave him a cranky cat which changed his life. At first he wasn’t partial to the creature and actually tried giving him away to no avail. Over time, caring for this animal broke a pattern of self destruction and ultimately brought him back to his truest self.
An unwanted cat became a guardian angel, a muse, and eventually the face of an art business.
While bonding over lively visions of eccentric fashion shows, the Wizard of Oz, cheeky perfume campaigns and the undeniable absurdity of life, we also found truth and hilarity in the liberation of shamelessly peeing your pants every once in a while.
Somewhere along Tacoma’s own Yellow Brick Road, a little boy who once admired a mermaid behind a glass counter grew into a remarkable young man. Years later, the mermaid and the little boy found each other again…this time as artists, magic-makers and two Rebel Unicorns out to see where imagination will take them next.
