glumshie: Timeless (extract) … He never knew that his wish was granted. Time stopped. The clo

glumshie: Timeless (extract) … He never knew that his wish was granted. Time stopped. The clouds ceased to move in the sky, the waves froze on the sea. Spray thrown up off the rocks stayed suspended in mid-air, oblivious to gravity. The gannet was arrested in mid-plunge, a foot above the water, its feathers swept back by the speed of its fall, though it did not fall. The fishing floats ceased to bob up and down, the seaweed in the pool came to rest. On the braeside, the shout that came from the old shepherd’s mouth was halted on the air. Jacky crouched on the grass, truly motionless, her silky fur that the breeze had ruffled held still in a graceful wave of black and white, while the sheep cowered in a foolish clump where she had ushered them. Everything was silent, as sound waves stopped spreading through the air. The earth stopped turning, light itself ceased to stream from the sun at its invariable speed. The planets stopped in their orbits, the solar system paused its circling of the galaxy, which stopped rushing away from its neighbours. The entire universe did not advance beyond that moment. But the sad man never knew of this. The experience of each moment is part of that moment, Trapped in time, when time stood still, experience must stand still too. He did not see the suspended spray, or the motionless gannet. Seeing takes time, and there was no time. Like an actor in a film, held within a single frame, he had no way of knowing that the projector had stopped rolling. To measure time takes time. It is not possible to say that time stood still for five seconds, or time stood still for a million years, because these are measures of time passing. Who could stand outside of time, could look and say, “Over there, time is flowing. In this part, time has stood still. And over there…”? The young couple above him had spread a rug across their knees. They would not be leaving in a hurry. Probably, they had thought it would be romantic to watch the sun go down into the sea. He thought they would probably prefer to be alone together. It was getting chilly. He got to his feet, stretched his aching legs, and wearily began the long climb up. At the top of the path, the sad man paused and looked back at the ocean. Is this where the land ends, or where it begins? [Extract from the short story Timeless, part of a collection to be published in a wee while.] Sunday short story extract by Algy’s friend @glumshie in the wild west Highlands of Scotland… with photo -- source link

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