The Time Rip Read Online Free Page A

A young man like that living on his own ought to have a girl to keep his house for him.
    Joe reckoned it was only a matter of time before he talked Jeremy into joining the town’s cricket team. If he managed to get Jeremy there on a Saturday afternoon, all the lasses would be out trying to catch the young man’s eye. He cackled a bit at the thought and rounded a bend in the road.
    As he looked up, a woman came into sight. She was young and wild looking. Her hair was all over the place and bits of grass clung to her clothes. She ran helter-skelter up the road towards him. He pulled up Carter who, having no interest in the girl, started in on the roadside grass. The way she had come hurtling up to them made Joe glad for once that the beast was a bit of a slug.
    Out of breath, she stopped next to the cart, tipped up an anxious face and began talking. Fast. Joseph watched her in some bemusement as she rattled on about not being able to find the M4, of her stolen van and something about a mobile phone.
    She was upset and he did not follow much of what she was saying. She looked as though she had been running through the fields all morning. Trembling, her eyes shining with tears, she finished her tale of woe and blinked at him, clearly expecting help.
    He recognized in her something of his late wife, despite the fact that she looked nothing like Marie. It was to do with her height and build, and an impression of sweetness, he supposed. He watched as her blue eyes glittered with the tears she was desperately trying to hold back and felt his heart soften.
    “Eh lass, don’t take on so,” he said, scooting over and offering her a hand up. “Come, take a seat and we’ll sort it all out.”
    “Thank you so much. If you could just take me to the M4, I am sure I can find a phone to call for help. Unless you have a mobile I can use?”
    “Well, this road goes into Newbury. I’m headed that way so it’s no bother to take you along.”
    “Thank you, that sounds wonderful. I am sure there will be a phone box I can use. I cannot believe someone stole my van! It’s only a rusted old Transit; I don’t know why anyone would want it.”
    “When was it stolen?” he asked politely.
    She hesitated a moment and twisted fingers in her tangled hair. “Last night. I only left it for an hour or two. I was so tired I thought I was going to fall asleep at the wheel. I saw the farmhouse and went to ask for some water. When I got back it was gone.” She squashed down a sob; hiccupped, “I guess I should have gone back to the house and asked if he could give me a lift into town, but he was so polite and I didn’t want him to think I was stupid or anything. I just thought I could find the road and call for help.”
    Joseph picked through her words. He knew of only one person who had a house nearby. Mr Sanders also fitted the ‘so polite’description, but Joseph was shocked that she would tell him she had considered going to see the young man by herself late at night. Then again, he was an old man now and perhaps equally old fashioned in his ways.
    If her appearance was anything to go by, the girl had slept in the field. This would not have surprised him if she had been a farm hand, but her clothes told another story. The cut and fabric of her clothes were not those of someone who worked on the land, although both were now creased and covered in half the field.
    She also came across as intelligent and well educated despite her chaotic manner. She was clearly a gently bred girl who had found herself in trouble. Joe wondered what her family were doing allowing her to go about alone, and had to remind himself again that times had changed since his youth.
    “Maybe the horse wandered off. Did you tie him up well? We’d best make a search for him.”
    “H-horse?” she stammered slightly, “I don’t have a horse. It was a van that got stolen.”
    “Where is it you live, lass?” Joseph asked as kindly as he could. She seemed a bit bewildered