The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The narrator explains that he wasn’t a happy child, though he was “content” sometimes. He reads more than anything else. One afternoon, the narrator’s parents call him into their bedroom to say that they’re no longer doing well financially. They say that everyone will make sacrifices and that the narrator will sacrifice his bedroom. The narrator is sad: his parents put in a small sink in his room just for him, and at night, the narrator can crack the door to let in light to read by.

The narrator’s sister’s bedroom isn’t awful; it’s big and has a window conveniently situated so the narrator can climb onto the balcony. However, the narrator and his sister fight about whether the door should be open or closed at night. The narrator’s mother creates a chart for them to alternate, and the narrator is terrified every night the door is closed. The family rents the narrator’s bedroom to characters who, to the narrator, all seem suspicious and like interlopers. The opal miner is the current renter. He’s South African, though he mined opals in Australia. He gives the narrator and his sister each an opal. The narrator’s sister likes the opal miner, but the narrator can’t forgive him for killing Fluffy.

On the first day of the spring holidays, the narrator wakes up early. He dresses and finds his father in the kitchen. The narrator asks for his SMASH! comic, which his father brings home on Friday nights. The narrator’s father says it’s in the car and offers the narrator toast first. As the narrator’s father toasts bread in the grill, the narrator asks for toast that isn’t burnt, steps into the driveway, looks around, and comes back inside. The car isn’t in the driveway. The phone rings and the narrator’s father answers it. While he’s busy, the toast starts to burn under the grill.

The narrator’s father returns with news that the police called: someone stole the car, and it’s been found at the bottom of the lane. He hurriedly rescues the toast, puts peanut butter on the burnt side, and leads the narrator out. The narrator doesn’t eat his toast. As a police car drives up, the narrator wishes that his father would buy normal white bread instead of embarrassing brown bread. The officer invites the narrator and his father into the car, and they ride down the lane. The officer insists that it must be local kids who stole the car and comments that it’s odd that they left it at the bottom of the lane.

The police car comes upon the white Mini, sunk into the mud. The narrator, his father, and the officer get out and as the narrator’s father unlocks the car, he comments that there’s something in the backseat. He reaches back to pull the blue blanket off the “thing” in the backseat. The narrator knows his comic is there, so he looks into the car and sees the “thing,” which he believes is an “it” rather than a “him.” The narrator explains that despite his frequent nightmares, he managed to persuade his parents to take him to Madame Tussauds waxworks in London. The exhibits didn’t look alive—the only scary part was the plaques that all said that people murdered their families to sell the bodies to “anatomy.” Though the narrator doesn’t know what anatomy is, he knows it makes people kill their children.

The “it” in the backseat looks like the opal miner but, like the waxworks, it isn’t convincing. It’s dressed in a suit with a ruffled shirt, and its face is bright red. The narrator can see his comic too. The officer sends the narrator away, but the narrator stares. He can see a garden hose running from the exhaust pipe to the window, held in place with mud. The narrator bites into his toast and thinks of how his father always insists that burnt toast is good. When the narrator is an adult, his father confesses that he doesn’t actually like burnt toast, which makes the narrator’s childhood feel like a lie. The officer invites the narrator to sit in his car again, but a girl appears and offers to take the narrator back to the farmhouse.

The narrator informs the girl that there’s a dead man in the car. The girl explains that the opal miner knew that no one would find him here, and she offers the narrator fresh milk from a cow. At the farm, they stop at a barn where an old woman is milking a cow with a machine. The old woman gives the narrator a fresh cup of rich, warm milk. Suddenly, the old woman says that there’s more of “them” coming, so the girl should take the narrator to the kitchen for breakfast. The girl introduces herself as Lettie Hempstock, leads the narrator into the kitchen, and gives him porridge with jam. The narrator eats happily.

A stout woman enters the kitchen and announces that there will be five officers for tea soon. When Lettie hesitates at the cupboard, the woman confirms that they will indeed need six mugs—the doctor will come too. She then sighs that they missed the note in the opal miner’s breast pocket. When Lettie asks what it says, the woman tells Lettie to read it herself. The narrator figures that this woman is Lettie’s mother—she looks like she has to be a mother to someone. According to the woman, the note says that the opal miner took all the money his friends gave him to bank in England and lost it gambling. Lettie insists that he didn’t write that; the man asked for forgiveness.

The woman turns to the narrator and introduces herself as Mrs. Hempstock, Lettie’s mother. The woman in the barn is Old Mrs. Hempstock, and this is Hempstock Farm. The farm is the oldest in the area and is even in the Domesday Book. The narrator has questions but doesn’t ask any of them. Lettie announces that she’s nudged an officer to look in the opal miner’s breast pocket. Mrs. Hempstock suggests that Lettie take the narrator to the pond. Lettie huffs that it’s her “ocean” and leads the narrator outside, assuring him that they’re heading for a real ocean. They finally reach a duck pond with a dead fish floating on the surface. The narrator insists that it’s just a pond, but Lettie insists that the Hempstocks came across this ocean from “the old country” when she was a baby.

Lettie fetches a net and pulls the fish out as the narrator tries to argue with Lettie’s origin story—he insists that the farm is in the Domesday Book. Lettie just agrees, somehow procures a knife, and cuts into the belly of the fish. She extracts a sixpence and hands it to the narrator, saying that this is what killed the fish. They agree that this isn’t good and then return to the kitchen, where the narrator’s father is waiting. His father thanks the Hempstock women for taking care of the narrator, and the police officer drives the narrator and his father back to the house. The narrator’s father suggests that the narrator not talk about what happened, but the narrator has no interest in talking—he' made a friend. The narrator and his father discuss whether an ocean can be the size of a pond, but according to his father, this is impossible.