A precipitous drop in bookings persuaded the county to propose a drastic cut in ferry service. (precipitous: steep, sharp, abrupt; drastic: severe, extreme, radical) The operator knew the figures would plummet each time the landing flooded. (plummet: plunge, drop sharply, fall steeply) Her remedy looked counterintuitive: run a boat before dawn, when nobody had ever bought a ticket. (counterintuitive: unexpected, surprising, paradoxical)
The surveyor found the nexus between the timetable and the village's depopulation. (nexus: connection, link, junction; depopulation: population decline, population loss, population decrease) Workers could cross in the evening but had no way back for the early shift. A ferry arriving at nine could hardly counteract the loss of a six o'clock job. (counteract: neutralize, offset, counterbalance) The empty cabins and the closed landing were inextricable parts of one story. (inextricable: inseparable, indissoluble)
The trial fare brought in little money, but within a month eight cabin windows were lit. The commissioners had called the village moribund. (moribund: dying, declining, near extinction) They voted to prolong the trial when a carpenter bought the ninth cabin and asked the name of the crossing guard. (prolong: extend, lengthen, protract)