The townsfolk weren't sure what to make of the giant obelisk which Mr. Falketo was building in his yard. He had the proper permits, or so the police said when asked. Even half-completed, the black stone stump seemed ominous, but then Mr. Falketo had always been something of an eccentric, where lawn decorations were concerned.
His next-door neighbors, the Gormans, reported strange humming noises from the direction of his yard in the wee hours. Whenever they approached him about this, he claimed to have no idea what they were talking about. Since they couldn't prove that it was the obelisk itself which was making the humming noises, they couldn't call the police, who wouldn't have been much help anyway, since, as they said, he had the proper permits.
Mrs. Gorman's hair fell out and little Susy Gorman took all her toys and burned them, but that was viewed as natural selection by those in favor of the obelisk. Their numbers swelled daily, as more and more people arrived outside Mr. Falketo's front gate, staring wordlessly into the sky and mumbling softly. The news media interviewed them and found them surprisingly erudite on the subject of the obelisk and all the wonderful things it would bring to the community, though some intrepid newscasters did report that it was quite unnerving to interview people who wouldn't make eye contact. No one thought to mention that natural selection doesn't tend to cause children to go insane or people's hair to fall out.
Then Mr. Falketo's obelisk burned down mysteriously. Little Susy Gorman was the most likely suspect, but it turned out to have been a group of hobos who had mistaken it for a trash can. The townsfolk all agreed that it was an unfortunate accident, but the hobos were very apologetic and made everyone Brunswick Stew by way of compensation, and Mrs. Gorman's hair didn't grow back even after the obelisk was gone, so it seemed like maybe the tourist dollars were the only real casualty.
Mr. Falketo refused to press charges. He began work on a deck out back, and everyone in town forgot all about that brief period where they had been so foolish as to believe that an obelisk was something worth worrying about.
Little Susy Gorman grew up and married a local politician. And that's why the town has an ordinance banning black stone obelisks within city limits. They tried to repeal it last year, but there was something in there which gave tax credits to poultry farmers and the whole thing was just messy.
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