dinghy to a mooring anchor Susan pulled on the stern line guiding the boat snug against the dock The man stood up holding onto a gold-tipped cane He wore a long Burberry coat and smoked a curved white pipe He wobbled and then placed one hand on the dock and pulled himself up My name is G H Entwhistle he announced I am of course at your service He didn’t try to shake our hands but he did bow Mr Entwhistle was tall and thin His nose was bigger and redder than any nose I had ever seen His voice was loud each word precise and accompanied by a broad gesture He moved like an actor performing in front of thousands of people My name is Susan said Susan She bowed slightly too so I bowed and said that my name was Thumb Thumb asked Mr Entwhistle My real name is Leon Mazzei but I am called Thumb because I lost the top half of my right thumb in an accident I said raising my hand But I can see your entire thumb Thumb said Mr Entwhistle
The end is a fake I said I can take it off You have an accent Mr Entwhistle Young lad said Mr Entwhistle with a chuckle pausing as he pulled out a white handkerchief and wiped his forehead Everyone has an accent I in fact would find your accent hard to understand if I hadn’t been living in this country for seven years Where are you from asked Susan England said Mr Entwhistle pointing out into the fog It is hard for me to say that I am actually from England since I have not seen the sacred soil of my beloved country for too many years It’s my work It brings me here alas If only I had chosen some lovable English creature such as the dormouse I might not have faced near doom today on this almost uninhabited coast of British Columbia Not that I was frightened for a moment you understand I am English and was taught from an early age that one should never show fear Why asked Susan I don’t know I only know that I am more frightened by what might happen if I show fear than by any fearful thing I might face My boat seems to have sunk I barely had time
to change clothes so that I could be dressed in the way I might want to be found if this were the end Where am I by the way I had seen many frightened fishermen and women mostly after they had found their way home after a sudden winter storm The frightened people I had seen were shaking and mumbling Mr Entwhistle was the first person I had ever seen whose boat had actually sunk during a storm Mr Entwhistle looked crisp and elegant You are in New Auckland I said I thought I knew all the fishing villages along the coast he said frowning We’re small said Susan Only 138 people live here unless Mrs Hartog had her baby last night We have forty two buildings including the school the garage and the basketball arena A garage So there is a road I can perhaps pay someone to give me a ride to Prince Rupert so that I might quickly fly away No said Susan There’s no road We’re surrounded by mountains And the ocean of course But you have a garage he said as if he was trying to
convince us that there was a road and we had just forgotten It’s not really a garage I said We use it to store things You have boats though And a telephone We have lots of boats and several phones Ah splendid I need to make a call I hit some rocks in the fog and was lucky enough to find your village I still have to call the Coast Guard There is a bright side to this ordeal I was the only occupant and I am safe You can come up to my house I said My dad’s the school principal We have a phone
