A hinged cranium and a sprung jaw..

Resident Alien. Part 3

 

There were a couple of blips in my criminal history that my lawyers were concerned about. One included a charge for trafficking in human body parts. A charge which was later dropped, but I was told could still register on a background check and would need careful explanation if it came up in my immigration interview. This occurred while I was living in Norway in 2001 when someone in the UK was interested in acquiring a print from my tarot card series (Death) and proposed a trade for a human skull in return. This was an offer I could not refuse and the exchange was made and I was detained by the authorities when I went to pick it up. It was indeed a real human skull, but with a hinged cranium and a sprung jaw it was soon determined to be a teaching aid so the charges were dropped and I was allowed to keep it. When I returned to the UK a couple of years later I wrapped the skull in a jumper and put it in my hand luggage and took it with me on the flight back without incident or delay. The skull is still in the UK today, packed in a box and stored in a barn, amid sawdust, cobwebs and gloom, and has since been weathered by 15 years of seasons in the mist of an Iron Age hill fort. It waits now, silently in the same old darkness for my return journey back to the dust.