~Phileas Fogg’s Return~
LONDON, AT LAST!
Phileas Fogg disembarked in the British Isles at 11:40 a.m. on what he counted as the 80th day of his journey, ready to marry Aouda, and whisk his himself to the Reform Club before he lost his bet.
But detective Fixx was at the end of the dock. Game change: Fixx arrested Fogg and dragged him off to jail.
After a night in jail, proof emerged that Phileas had not robbed a bank before leaving England. He was released in the morning; it was too late!
Or was it? Phileas Fogg, who always knew the hour and minute didn’t know what day it was. He had failed to calculate the day gained for crossing the International Date Line while steaming across the Pacific Ocean.
The whist players, whom Fogg had left 80 days earlier, rose to their feet in disbelief as he strode through the front door of the Reform Club. “Here I am gentlemen,” Phileas calmly announced, with three seconds to spare at 8:44 p.m. on December 21, 1872.
Time and tide wait for no man, but Phileas Fogg may have been a really impressive exception.
Phileas Fogg’s journey is at an end and so is mine. We both went around the world, he in 80 days and I in 80 meals. We both had some marvelous escapades. Which one of us had the most fun?
You decide.
—Nan Lyons