In The Cay by Theodore Taylor, Phillip Enright, a young American boy, and Timothy, "a huge, very old Negro" who admits that he has "but one name-" Timothy, become unlikely friends after they become stranded together on an island, from which there is little hope of rescue.
Phillip is on a voyage with his mother who is anxious to leave Willemstad, Curacao where her husband is working, and which she now feels is too dangerous due to the war having reached the Caribbean. After the ship is torpedoed and Phillip and his mother are lowered into a lifeboat, Phillip only remembers waking up several hours later and having Timothy for company. At first, Phillip does not trust Timothy and it takes him a long time to understand the kind and caring old man, even after Phillip goes blind, presumably a symptom of a knock on the head he received during the panic to leave the ship.
Having found their way to an island, Timothy busies himself making shelter and then goes to fetch food for them both. Phillip is frightened of being left alone, and also of the possibility of something happening to Timothy but he cannot go with him. During the days alone, Phillip's blindness means that his thoughts and fears are exaggerated to the point, that eventually, after a long day alone, he cannot help it and begins to cry. In chapter 8, he says, "I knew it was not a manly thing to do.."
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