About
The Origin of Crusoe
The original Crusoe and friend during construction of the Buddhist monastery on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. circa 1982.
Photo courtesy of Linda LeBrun.
The circumstances leading to the original Crusoe arriving in my life were nothing if not serendipitous. A move across the country that felt more like a pilgrimage. Then, almost immediately, a job in a group home for adolescent youth where one of the kids (let’s call her Rachel) was preparing to move back home with her family.
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Rachel found an ad placed by the local animal shelter for a purebred spaniel puppy, tail docked yet barely weaned, and apparently abandoned to the streets. Her parents agreed to her request that she might adopt the dog and bring it home with her. On the day before she was to leave the group home Rachel turned the hand of fate in my direction when she asked that I be the one to take her and a couple of her mates to the pound to get it.
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When we arrived the three girls scuttled through the gate ahead of me and off down the asphalt track leading to the main building. The front door opened and a man appeared, followed by a small copper and gold bundle. The pair stood and watched us approach. When Rachel dropped to a crouch the man said something and gave the bundle a nudge. It took a couple of tentative steps and paused. When the man nudged it again it lurched toward us with that rollicking brink of disaster gait that is the way of most puppies. Rachel spread her arms, but the dog ran right past her.
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Somehow then, impossible as it seemed, it leapt so that I’d no choice but to catch it in my arms. There it wriggled and licked, and made soft keening noises as if to ask, ‘what took you so long?’ I was astonished, but when I made to hand the dog to Rachel, she refused. I felt confounded. I insisted, urging her to take it from me. “You found it,” I said, “You deserve this. It’s yours.”
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I saw that she struggled, but her voice was firm when she said, “No, Tim. He belongs with you.” She had made up her mind; she would not be swayed. Her maturity, her awareness of the occasion and its potency, was remarkable. I told her that she could change her mind at any time and the dog would be hers, but I knew she wouldn’t. The certainty of that moment lives in memory, confirmed by all that was to follow.
The Origin of the Stone Gardener
By the end of the nineteenth century the Dartmouth Commons was a fraction of its original size and had been fashioned into a proper Victorian park. The summer house, which was built in 1890 on a section then known as Fairy Hill, yet stands, a reminder of its Victorian grandeur. But in the ensuing years, as the city grew, more of the park was carved off for development and what remained became neglected, wild and overgrown such that people, for the most part, avoided the place entirely. In 1958, shortly before he was to retire from his position with Rosedale Nurseries, John Leighton Dillman (Joe, as he preferred) visited the park and was dismayed by what he saw. The old footpaths were impassable; the park’s margins were little more than trash sites. Thereafter, six days a week until shortly before his death in1988 at age 90, Joe was the park’s unofficial and mostly unpaid gardener. Today the park endures, a testament to one man’s vision, determination and his love for the earth.
Photo credit: Louis Billard 1985
About the Author
Timothy Brushett is a child of the sixties who, at an early age, contracted a terminal case of reading, writing and daydreaming.
While pursuing a college degree he came to the realization that, essentially,he knew nothing and chose instead to seek an education in the school of life. Ranch hand, bus driver and wilderness guide. Boat builder, cabinetmaker and luthier. Just a few of the way stations on a meandering and eventful career path. Throughout he continued to write, amassing a modest vault of plots and poems and songs; of notes, notions and roughed out character studies.
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A bequest from the Nova Scotia Talent Trust allowed for the realization of Crusoe and the Stone Gardener, his first published work.
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Timothy lives with his beloved wife, Bonnie, and their dog, Kayah, in the beautiful Annapolis Valley where he is scratching away at his next project, a collection of short stories.
Mission Statement
The writing of Crusoe and the Stone Gardener is my attempt to honour the memory of an exceptional man, as well as that of an equally remarkable dog with whom I was privileged to share a life.
My hope is that readers will also experience a ripping good adventure.
Note: No AI whatsoever was used in the writing of this book.