PAULITICS & PERSPECTIVES IT’S A day for solving mysteries and what better one than the mystery of The . Happy Finback of Bradner Road? ; Hundreds of thousands of peo- : ple have driven past the sign with the smiling whale and probably haif of them have wondered who the happy finback is. Did he come ‘from Finland? Is Finback used the way. Mari- timers use Saltbacker to describe a Grand Banks fishing schooner? Does it refer to the whale and if . $0, what is the whale doing high _ and dry on a hill in Bradner, which is more commonly known :.as the Daffodil Capital of the. - World. Above all, why is he happy? - _ .. The owner of the farm, Dennis ' Eikanger, comes out of his house | ‘smiling as if he knew something about the state of the world that is _ hidden from everybody else. «He is friendly and seems happy. KEN BAXTER. LAWYER j Experience : So also is the Appatoosa stallion happy and (riendly and so are the bees which are hiving in the chimney of the old house and the swallows who live in a threestorey condominium which Mr. Eikanger built for then, “For 10 years or so I've been driving past here and still don't know what.a Finnback is or why he is happy? Are you Finns?"’ “No,” says Dennis, “But my father was Norwegian.” “Then what does the sign mean?”’ “Come with me,” he says and we walk up the driveway to the road. Beside it are two six-metre whale jawbones, mouldering in the grass. The dampness and the bacteria of ihe coast are attacking them fiercely and in a few years they will melt into the soil, but at this time they are still too big to lift and too outrageously different from everything else around here to be ignored. “| had planned to make an arch _over the driveway with them,’ but the Provincial Museum said they wanted them and I’ve been waiting for two years for the Pro- vincial Museum to come and get them,*’ says Dennis. ‘‘They’re the jawbones of a Finnback Wiiale, taken from Quatsino Sound on Vancouver Island. Next to Blue Whales, the Finnbacks are the biggest creatures that ever lived on Earth.”’ _ Dennis used to hunt these whales, which may seem odd because Canada stopped taking them in 1954 when Dennis was only a boy. He went hunting with his father Skipper Einar Eikanger, sleeping on a little cot in the wheelhouse of the whale-chaser. “1 can tell you even today every - incoming framing of order min. $30 "LONSDALE QUAY NORTH VANCOUVER 988-6321 Read Tim Bell’s FILM REVIEW every Wednesday in the North Shore News 44 His mind is on the joys of living and he forgets to duck. 99 crack in the toilet bow! of that ship because I spent the first part of every trip hanging my head into it and vomiting.”’ And is this a happy memory? Well, yes it is, because he adored his old Dad and is only sorry that Einar died of a heart attack just when he was going to come and live on Dennis's Happy Finback place on Bradner Road. Dennis shows off the Happy Finback farm. He raises Christmas trees as well as horses and two daughters. Surrounding fis old house is a clutter of little buildings built when this was a dairy farm. The builders were apparently tiny little people so Dennis, who is six foot one, bumps his head on every doorway if, as so often, his mind is on the joys of living and he forgets to duck, This amuses him. Most things amuse him and all others interest him. In his mid-50s his hair is still coal black aad his brow is un- creased by care, Even his bad memories now seem good and he can recognize that the cook on the whale killer ship was so awful that a sort of perverse glory crept into the meals. He talks happily about raising Christmas trees. The Americans glutted the market not long ago and Jimmy Pattison imported U.S, trees and sold them retail below the B.C, wholesale prices. Somehow, things work out, said Dennis. One is reminded of the character in Catch 22 who bought eggs for five cents in Sicily and sold them at a profit for (wo cents in Sardinia. ‘Just one thing, Dennis. The main thing. Why is the Finback happy?" “Well when Dad gave us the jawbones | wanted to call the place Finnback Farm but Frances, my wife, she said no. ‘This isa place of happiness,’ she said. ‘We will call it The Happy Finback.’ "’ There, you see. No mystery. Hardly worthwhile calling in to ask, you might say. After all, what is mere happiness and does anybody have a right to it any- way? Driving back along River Road the tumultuous scent of wild roses pours through the open car win- dow, Funny, hadn’t noticed it before. Because Lear Jets Are Just ‘Too Darn Hard To Park. from $43, 990 . Of course, spotting a 1993 Z on the street is almost as rare as a Lear sight- ing. You see, only 150 of these celebrated high-performance cars are available: in Canada this year. And only through.a select group of 18 Team Z dealer- ships, who invite you to come in to find out more about the Z. 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