SmorgasBorges: The Improbable Impostor Tom Castro
[Second in a series]
Summary
An idiot who goes by the adopted name Tom Castro is befriended by a black man in Australia named Ebenezer Bogle. Bogle is some kind of genius, but he is haunted by the fear of being hit by a car so he has trouble crossing streets.
Castro ad Bogle read in the paper about this english guy Roger Charles Tichborne who disappeared with a sinking ship. The article says Tichborne’s mother is convinced that her son was not on the ship and is still alive.
Bogle devises a plan to have Castro pose as the lost Tichborne. They travel to the London to present themselves to Tichborne’s mother. Castro looks nothing like Tichborne, and doesn’t even speak French, as Tichborne did fluently. The mother believes Castro to be her son regardless, but the rest of the family objects.
Creditors who are owed money insist that Castro is Tichborne, helping to build Bogle’s case.
Bogle gets hit by a car.
Without Bogle masterminding the charade, Castro is caught and convicted.
Commentary
When I see a “Lost Dog” sign I want to do this:
- Write the phone number down and wait a year.
- Call to verify that they still haven’t found the dog.
- Go to the animal shelter and find a dog that closely resembles the one in the photo.
- Train it to go by the name of the lost dog.
- “Return” it.