The bridge construction over Burton River, more than a year behind schedule, finished up but a week ago, although the workmen were still busy installing the monument some thirty yards upstream. Jamie was walking across the bridge on her way home from The Blue Coyote Café, where she’d enjoyed a mango smoothie and a chocolate sprinkled donut, when she was approached by a fairly large, brown dog.

“Are you lost, sweetie?” Jamie greeted the dog. “Do you miss swimming across the stream?” She stooped to pet the dog, and at the same moment noticed something glittering on the walkway ahead. She bent to pick up this potential treasure, and the short kimono dress she was wearing fell forward, exposing her breasts to a driver who happened to be crossing the bridge at that time. Distracted, the driver momentarily lost control of his car.

At that same moment the dog spotted something of interest, possibly a squirrel or a rabbit, more likely a female dog, for he tugged himself free of Jamie’s caress and lurched forward.

Jamie’s balance, not helped by the heels she wore, became compromised, and she bent even further forward, managing only at the last instant to avoid toppling onto the concrete.

The crane operator, however, who from the cab high above the bridge had observed the goings-on and especially Jamie’s exposed backside, was not able to recover his concentration in time to prevent mishandling the controls, sending the six-ton statue of the town’s long-time mayor, Ellis Burton, recently deceased, beloved by some, despised by others, executed in marble by the famed sculptor Nils Stellansson, spiraling into the river, where it landed headfirst and embedded itself deep in the muddy bottom—the subsequent splash powerful enough to drench Jamie and both dogs, who were already locked in a carnal embrace.

The driver of the car managed to regain control in the nick of time and went on his way. The female dog eventually gave birth to four puppies. The Town of Burton, after numerous contentious public meetings, decided to leave the statue of the mayor as it was.

Though Jamie’s kimono dress was irrevocably ruined, she was able to salvage the jewelry, which Nils refashioned into a necklace.