THE THUMB IN THE BOX Ken Roberts ILLUSTRATED BY Leanne Franson
To Caleb and Zoë with love
1 THE FIRE THIS IS A STORY ABOUT a fire truck being driven into the ocean and two people taking off their thumbs Don’t worry though Nobody gets hurt The village of New Auckland is on the coast of Brit ish Columbia It is north of Prince Rupert and south of Linda Evers Mountain a round mountain with a cliff on the south side At the base of the cliff a narrow channel leads into a bay called Pirate’s Inlet New Auckland is just behind the mountain tucked onto a crescent-shaped beach Two rows of small wooden houses line the beach Cedar sidewalks connect the houses and the sidewalks are old and gray The largest two buildings are the community center and the six-room school On the night of the fire that starts this story I was eleven years old walking slowly along the wooden side walk closest to the water I remember looking down
