The gate was autonomous in the view of the harbor board. (autonomous: self-governing, independent, self-directed) The roads office thought the gate a subsidiary concern of the ferry company. (subsidiary: secondary, subordinate, auxiliary) The company regarded maintenance as outside its purview. (purview: scope, range, sphere) A gate, it seemed, could enjoy a degree of independence few islanders would ever achieve. What it lacked was a hinge.
At first the visitors found island insularity charming. (insularity: narrow-mindedness, isolation, provincialism) When the broken gate trapped a luggage trolley, their charm began to wane. (wane: diminish, decline, fade) One visitor accused the board of isolationism. (isolationism: in this context a policy of isolation, deliberate noninvolvement) Another treated this small omission as the inevitable result of an ingrained hostility to outsiders. (omission: exclusion, oversight, neglect; ingrained: deep-seated, deep-rooted, entrenched; hostility: antagonism, animosity, enmity) Both were disposed to lecture until an island child offered to lend them a file. (disposed: inclined, minded, willing)
It took almost no time to liberate the trolley. (liberate: free, release, emancipate) The child had found a flat steel hinge at the bottom of her father's tool chest. The repair lacked official sanction when the girl began. (sanction: authorization, approval, permission) Nevertheless, the gate had a hinge before the next boat docked. On its invoice the girl put down only the price of the screws and addressed it to "Whichever of you opens it next."