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Short Fiction · Character

Tom Scales

A weathered old retainer with a store of uncanny tales, whose ghostly gander story unsettles listeners long after the telling.

supporting

Also known as Tom, old Scales

First appearance: the quare gander

As a supporting figure in Short Fiction, Tom Scales is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

The hostler who discovered the corpse and reported the stranger's sinister interest in it.
In the storyThe Dead SextonOpen this moment free

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Tom Scales belongs to the fading generation of servants and neighbours who remember the old Squire's roaring days at Gylingden Hall, and he carries their stories forward in his own rough voice. His tale of a ghostly…

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The fuller portrait of Tom Scales sits in Reading Lens — open the free preview to keep reading with notes on the page.

See Tom Scales in the quare gander

Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.

SetupAftermathClimax
  • Setup
  • Escalation
  • Breaking point
  • Aftermath
  • Closing

This is the story's dramatic climax because it marks the psychological peak of the narrator's horror and the r…

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In the story

Tom Scales appears across 1 companion beat. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

Chapter companion notes

Spoil-light check-ins for Tom Scales unlock in the free preview.

See Tom Scales in the quare gander
Who is Tom Scales in Short Fiction?