An e-mail from Sarah Goodyear, recounting a story from a newspaper in Portland, Maine, arrives just in time to be selected as the first entry in my new occasional feature Stuart's Encyclopaedia of Strange Amputations.

It's particularly enchanting because it's written in a wonderful breathless yet understated local newspaper style. Two quotes in particular stand out:

"His arm was so mangled and stretched it hung down to his ankle."

and

"'What this boils down to is it's another setback,'' Goodale said. ''It's like going down to your boat and your motor gave out. Or like the pump doesn't work. Or the bait man didn't come. ''Only this time, the setback will take more time.''

I can relate to this. When the surgeon told me I was going to lose my foot, my first thought was "yeah...this is just like one of those days when the bait man didn't come."

Maine Fisherman Story (.txt file)

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