Hobo Signs

Beverage: nothing

Toast: may the road rise with you

One of the corridors at work leading to the cafeteria is decorated with prints from a local lithographer. It's a series of small black scratchwork prints called Hobo Signs. He has a little plaque talking about how they participate in Jewish Cabala and the culture of blah bah blah.

I didn't really pay attention to that part, but I like the signs because they remind me of grandma. I remember once when we were kids public radio did a piece about how road men left these secret marks on fences and trees to give each other the lay of the land. Dad remarked how there must have been one on grandma's house somewhere because every year vagabonds would hit her up for a hand out but never bothered any of the neighbors. How had they known? The house must have been marked.

As a kid, this world of highwaymen with a secret codified vocabulary was very romantic. I vowed to keep my eyes peeled for the hidden signs all around me. But I never saw any til I moved to Texas and walked down to the cafeteria.

 

I have only the vaguest memories of grandma and what the outside of her house looked like. But as i walk by the prints I have a very clear and cinematic memory of the scene I pictured as a kid.

 

Her house is neat, small, maybe one story. There is a fence around the yard on the right and beyond that an oak tree with the hidden sign on it. In my fantasy, I never see the sign the hobo sees. It is always out of reach. But he has seen it and approaches the house. He takes off his shabby old man hat and humbly holds it with two hands in front of his chests as he mumbles out his yarn to her about being down on his luck. She doesn't let him finish, hushing him with a wave of her hand. He grins with satisfaction as her skirts swirl away into the kitchen to fetch some leftovers. He thanks her profusely, nodding with his head down and backing away.

After he leaves- and this is the part I replay most frequently - she leans halfway out the door and looks in both directions with a slightly puzzled look on her face.

So today I took some snaps of the signs for reference, but I thought it would be more fun to make my own series about them. So I messed around with the brushes in photoshop and illustrator for a while after work.

 

Today's sign means: meal available here. The broken chair leg means you may need to work for it. The cross means you may need to hear a sermon. She must have had a sign like this.

 

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