Time. Roger Reid

      

      Time

      Roger Reid

      NewSouth Books

      Montgomery

      Also by Roger Reid

       Longleaf

       Space

      NewSouth Books

      105 S. Court Street

      Montgomery, AL 36104

      Copyright 2013 by Roger Reid. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by NewSouth Books, a division of NewSouth, Inc., Montgomery, Alabama.

      ISBN: 978-1-58838-262-7

      eBook ISBN: 978-1-60306-100-1

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2010025671

      Visit www.newsouthbooks.com

      For Emily

Contents

       Chapter 1

       Chapter 2

       Chapter 3

       Chapter 4

       Chapter 5

       Chapter 6

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

       Chapter 12

       Chapter 13

       Chapter 14

       Chapter 15

       Chapter 16

       Chapter 17

       Chapter 18

       Chapter 19

       Chapter 20

       Chapter 21

       Chapter 22

       Chapter 23

       Chapter 24

       Chapter 25

       Chapter 26

       Chapter 27

       Chapter 28

       Chapter 29

       Chapter 30

       Chapter 31

       Chapter 32

       Chapter 33

       Chapter 34

       Chapter 35

       About the Author

       Jason’s Adventures Continue. . .

      1

       Tick

      It was 4:10. Then it was 4:45. And there was nothing in between.

      Then it was five minutes after five.

      At twenty minutes till six, I was able to see beyond the watch hanging from my belt, and I could see that my feet were pointed uphill. I remember thinking, I’ve rolled down a mountain before.

      Then it was six o’clock.

      No pain, I said to myself, and I think I said it out loud.

      I tried to sit up. I rose up on my elbows. It was too steep. I didn’t want to lie back down, so I scooted around to get my feet lower than my head. The rocks beneath me wobbled with an odd sound. Horses—it sounded like horses clomping down a city street.

      Then it was 6:15.

      I know because I glanced at my watch when I sat up to look down. It was about fifty yards to the bottom of the steep slope where I was resting. Fifty yards, that would be about forty-five meters, I thought. I was trying to get my brain working. I twisted around to look back over my shoulder. I could see up about one hundred yards to where the gray rocks seemed to disappear into a gray sky. One hundred yards would be about ninety meters.

      Who cares?

      And then it was 6:35.

      I was surrounded by gray. Gray rocks. A gray sky. There was even a gray smell. That smell, I realized, was me. My shirt was soaked with sweat. I need a shower, I said, and this time I know I said it out loud.

      I sat up and rested my hands on my knees. I bent at the waist and let my head drop down which shifted my weight just enough to cause me to slide downhill a few feet. I leaned back and caught myself. The sound of horses on pavement rattled around me as the rocks wobbled. There was no other sound. There were no songbirds singing. There were no crows cackling. No wind. And no voices. There should be voices. Someone calling to me. Someone shouting to see if I was hurt.

      Maybe they couldn’t see me.

      Leah! I shouted. Leah, I’m down here!

      I don’t remember lying back down. I don’t remember closing my eyes. I don’t remember opening my eyes. I just remember being on my back and staring into a gray sky. The sky was close,