Buttonwharf Hollow
Tobin
“A 1.2m-tall child in rolled-up trousers and a red vest, with a rope coil slung over one shoulder.”
Tobin is a broad-shouldered child who stands as tall as a wharf post is high to a younger kid, and he likes the steady comfort of knowing where everything belongs. He is patient and practical, but he can become stubborn when he thinks change is unnecessary.
4 stories feature Tobin
Where you've met them
The Button Pile Dispute
Two families of crabs, one from the muddy pilings and one from the rock garden above the quay, both claim the same pile of shiny shell buttons as their winter store. Their quarrel is growing bigger by the minute, and the harbor peace depends on finding a fair way to divide a pile neither side will give up.
The Wharf Without Buttons
At the start of market day, every button tied to the wharf ropes has come loose, so the docking lines keep slipping free and boats cannot stay put. Unless the buttons are sorted and fastened again before the next tide surge, the whole wharf will drift into a tangle of bumping hulls.
The Sparrows Build a Nest in the Warning Bell
River sparrows weave a nest inside the tide warning bell and refuse to move their eggs. The hollow needs the bell before high water, but ringing it now would frighten the smallest new lives on the wharf.
The Wrong Boat Comes Home
A toy boat that was lost under a bench returns at high tide carrying a button from a real boat nobody has seen all morning. The hollow must decide whether to follow the tiny boat’s route before the river turns.