Sunk in a slough of despond and reduced to room service, thus abided the Well-Dressed Albatross. When who should squeeze through the keyhole but Slim.
Pim Comic Strip
How I came to write Pim
People often ask how I came to write Pim. It seems like a thousand years since I discovered Pim, or that Pim
discovered me. Thankfully I kept detailed notes and saved photos from that time. While I can’t swear to the
absolute accuracy of what you are about to read, I have done my best to capture the essence of how Pim entered my life.
The Well-Dressed Albatross retreated to his room in horror at the thought of an encounter with Mr. Love, moments before Mr. Love retreated to his room to revel in his advantage over the Well-Dressed Albatross—the grandeur of the Banff Springs Hotel lost on both of them.
Able again to alight and take flight at will, the Well-Dressed Albatross checked into the Banff Springs Hotel. In the lobby, where musicians performed the andantino of Verdi’s String Quartet in E minor, was the last person he ever wanted to see again, sitting in a wing chair.
As you’ll recall, Ukifune had been a volunteer at the hospital in question and had the presence of mind to grab a fire extinguisher and quench the flames. Pim and Bim learned of her timely and courageous response from Beijing television interview.
Their quarantine ended when the hospital caught fire and got evacuated. Brad knew the event was inexplicable and was content for it to remain inexplicable. Clive knew the event was explicable and was determined to explicate it. Herein lies the difference between Brad and Clive.
After many days of recounting his recent hardships, and having restored himself with fluids, the Well-Dressed Albatross discovered that the room boasted a window. Remembering that he was capable of flight he departed for other audiences.
The Well-Dressed Albatross possessed a genius for ‘ordering in’ during the quarantine, while entertaining Brad and Clive with tales from his ordeal.
Ukifune had indeed been able to contrive new legs for the Well-Dressed Albatross. Now ambulatory and moving through the hospital in search of refreshment, he mistook the words QUARANTINE. DO NOT ENTER for PUBLIC HOUSE. ENTER HERE.
A grievous contagion had spread throughout the campus. As the only foreigners on whom it could be blamed, Clive and Brad were quarantined in a small cell that housed a Swedish edition of ‘Pippy Longstocking in the South Seas’ and a pizza delivery flyer.
As it turns out it was Brad who had contacted Clive. Having taught himself Hungarian he was able to read forgotten notebooks of Edward Teller and Sándor Szalay, and had been made a nuclear physics professor at Beijing University. Unfortunately Brad understood nothing of physics.
