Out of Time by John Marsden

important difference. The second of the two photos contained an extra person in the background. Peering out from under Doug’s outstretched arm, about a metre behind him, was the unmistakeable face of his son, Andrew.
    *
    JAMES AND ELLIE had to do the shopping while their mother was in hospital. They enjoyed it, feeling important. They spent all the time in the supermarket alternately arguing and giggling. Ellie wanted Coco Pops but James became sanctimonious and insisted on Weet-Bix. Ellie sulked for a while but cheered up when James agreed that they could each have a bar of chocolate. They got serious as they went through the check-out but then clowned around in the Mall for a while before going out to get a taxi home. Their favourite taxi driver, a big Fijian named Eric, was nowhere to be seen, so they took the first cab on the rank, with a driver who hardly spoke to them.
    At home Ellie was getting wheezy and went onto her pump for a while. Watching Ellie’s face buried in the mask and the steam made James nervous. He went outside and took a few desultory shots at the hoop with the basketball, interrupting himself only to throw the ball at the cat when it stalked past, tail arrogantly aloft. He mooned about for twenty minutes or so, then wandered back into the house. He found Ellie more settled, and reading. James began to make himself a sandwich.
    â€˜What are you reading?’ he demanded.
    â€˜ Unfinished Tales ,’ she answered, still focusing on the book.
    â€˜Read me some,’ he said.
    She now paid him more attention. ‘You want me to read you some?’ she asked.
    â€˜Yes,’ he said, as he spread marmalade onto the bread.
    â€˜From the start?’ she asked, rifling back through the pages.
    He knew she loved reading to an audience. ‘No, just anywhere,’ he said. ‘Wherever you’re up to.’
    He sat at the breakfast bar as she started to read. ‘ “They were travelling through Nailwood,” ’ she began. She paused a moment to establish her breathing. ‘ “Ahead of them were three riders, but as the road began to twist into the uplands the riders were quickly lost to view. Sidetracks tempted them with soft green turf, but when Naomi tried to edge off onto one of the tracks it writhed and hissed, and the green turned into the mottled brown and yellow back of a serpent. She leapt back quickly onto the main path.”’
    â€˜Holy gooby,’ said James. ‘What kind of a book is this?’
    â€˜It’s a strange one,’ said Ellie. She looked at him steadily, without a smile.
    â€˜It sure is,’ said James. ‘I’d like to see them make a movie of it. OK, keep reading.’
    â€˜Â â€œCreepers occasionally scratched lightly past their bodies. Naomi was startled by their teeth, and by their eyes. They had dozens of eyes, of differing sizes, spaced evenly along their length, and when one blinked, they all blinked. Caught in many of their teeth were threads of clothing, strands from earlier travellers.
    â€˜Â â€œThe higher the track climbed, the mushier it became. Puddles of mustard-brown water formed in the flatter sections; they sucked and steamed whenever a foot came close to them. At one point the travellershad to walk through a cloud of insects: big black slow-moving winged creatures the size of small birds. Naomi covered her face grimly and battled on.
    â€˜Â â€œThe end came unexpectedly. The track widened onto a pasture. The wind shuddered around the small, rocky expanse and trees teetered at its edges. As they arrived a tree lost its last grip and fell a thousand metres, onto a huge pile of bleached tree bones at the foot of the cliff. So far was its fall that they heard no sound of its impact.
    â€˜Â â€œThe further they moved onto the plateau the more they realised that it was eroding constantly. Rocks slipped and tumbled from its sides, trees toppled with ghastly sighs