General
The ice near where I was walking groaned. I froze to the spot and looked down. Crack. My foot went through. I jumped back. Water splashed up from a foot-sized hole where I'd been standing. I backed away. Another piece of ice disappeared. Black water grabbed at my feet. I kept stepping backward. Each time, the ice held just long enough for me to take another step, and then it sank.
I looked over my shoulder at the shore in panic... Crack. What was I going to do?
On my third day of summer, the sunshine brought to me…
Three ruffed grouse
Two goatsbeard seeds
And a song sparrow nest for three.
To begin with, Timmy missed the excitement and adventure of towing barges and meeting other tugs, but he soon began to make new friends. Captain Jones took him out into the Georgia Strait once a week, to keep his engine in good shape and so he could watch all the tugs and ships going by. Occasionally a tug would be coming through Porlier Pass and the skipper would stop for a chat. One time Timmy was very excited to find that it was Frank, in command of his new tug, with Derek as his mate.
Captain Jones passed the time carving model ships from pieces of driftwood that he found on the beach, he sold them in the island shops...In the evenings, Timmy and his old friends spent many happy hours recalling the adventures they had over the years.
"Shiver me timbers," Captain Jones would say, with a twinkle in his eye, "you've been a working tug for close to seventy years, Timmy. You've really done us proud!"
