The Grin of the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page A

counter to push the
button that starts the pump. 'I'll leave you to your duties,' Rufus says
and extends a hand across the ageing headlines of the newspapers on
the counter.
    His hand feels very little less plump than it did in its glove. As I
lock the door behind him he leaves me a grin that's by no means
negated by its hairy frame, and mouths 'You'll be hearing from me.'
I return behind the counter and don my widest smile as the Triumph
driver saunters to the window. I'm going to enjoy my shift. My only
regret is that it's too late to tell Natalie my news tonight, but
tomorrow's on the way. It can be the first day of my real life.

FOUR - LISTS
    Tubby Thackeray
    Date of birth (location)
    1880?
    England
    Date of death (details)
    ?
    Mini biography
    Thackeray Lane began his career in English music hall. After he
(show more)
    Actor – filmography
    1. Leave 'Em Laughing (1928) (uncredited) ... Driver in traffic jam
    2. Tubby Tells the Truth (1920, unreleased)
    3. Tubby's Trick Tricycle (1919)
    At once I realise something is wrong, though not with the Internet
Movie Database. I scroll down the list and try to ignore my neighbour
at the adjacent terminal, who is humming under his breath a bunch of
notes with which a pianist might accompany a chase in a silent film.
    4. Tubby's Tremendous Teeth (1919)
    5. Tubby's Tiny Tubbies (1919)
    6. Tubby's Telephonic Travails (1919)
    7. Tubby Turns Turtle (1918)
    8. Tubby Takes the Train (1918)
    9. Tubby's Terrible Triplets (1918)
    10. Tubby Tackles Tennis (1917)
    11. Tubby's Table Talk (1917)
    12. Tubby Tattle-Tale (1917)
    13. Tubby Tastes the Tart (1916)
    14. Tubby's Telepathic Tricks (1916)
    15. Tubby's Telescopic Thrill (1916)
    16. Tubby's Tinseled Tree (1915)
    17. Tubby's Trojan Task (1915)
    18. Tubby's Troublesome Trousers (1915)
    19. Tubby Turns the Tables (1915)
    20. Tubby Tries It On (1914)
    21. Tubby the Troll (1914)
    22. Tubby's Twentieth-Century Tincture (1914)
    23. Just for a Laugh (1914) ... Avoirdupois the Apothecary
    24. The Best Medicine (1914) ... Pholly the Pharmacist
    Writer – filmography
Leave 'Em Laughing (uncredited gag writer)
    Archive footage
Those Golden Years of Fun (1985)
    The biography button on the sidebar brings me a reference to Surréalistes Malgré Eux (Éditions Nouvelle Année, 1971). That's all,
and in one sense it's more than enough, because the dates in the list
are wrong. Whatever ended Thackeray's career, it couldn't have been
the Arbuckle scandal. The party at which Fatty caused Virginia
Rappe's death began on Labor Day in 1921, the year after Tubby last
starred in a film.
    Where did I get the idea that the events are connected? From
somewhere on the Internet or here in the harsh light of the British Film
Institute's reading room? It surely doesn't matter, though I'm irritated
that so recent a memory is stored beyond retrieval. I click on the
biography link to be shown more. Thackeray Lane began his career in
English music hall. After he put on so much weight that a stage collapsed
beneath him – after he was banned from theatres for making suggestive
jokes about telescopes and tarts – after he turned out to be incapable of
uttering a sentence that didn't contain at least a trio of Ts – For all I
know, any of these could be the case, because the link doesn't work. I
abandon it and search the web for Thackeray Lane.
    It's at least two places in England. The name also belonged to a
professor of mediaeval history whose papers are archived at
Manchester University, but I can find no reference to a comedian. A
search for Tubby Thackeray brings me no results at all, and he isn't
listed in the library catalogue. The Institute's Summary of
Information on Film and Television database lists his films, but the
National Film and Television Archive has none of them, not even Those Golden Years of Fun .
    I can't quite restrain a sigh, which apparently draws the man who
was humming an old tune. He keeps his breath and its burden to
himself as he leans over my