Chapter 14-“You have to understand that. Right now. Right away. Don’t you see?”
PART II – BATH, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOMChapter 14 iNovel Link
“You have to understand that. Right now. Right away. Don’t you see?”
This iNovel Link is a dramatized reading of the section when Jason and Maddie arrive at Stonehenge. The passage begins on page 209, with the words: “He picked Maddie up at eight a.m.” You also have a choice of two versions, one with music, one with out.
With Music
Without Music
TRANSCRIPT
He picked Maddie up at eight am. The day was cold. The forecast suggested snow was possible, the first of the year. When they stopped for warm scones and tea at a roadside café, Maddie began telling Jason about Stonehenge and other sites on the Salisbury Plain. It started snowing. The rich flakes were shaped “like thin slices of ice cream,” Maddie said. Her mood grew lighter the more it snowed and the farther they traveled from Bath. By the time they reached Stonehenge, the snow was falling steadily. The road remained clear but the open fields around the prehistoric site looked like acres of recently milled paper or a vast bridal train.
They parked the car and headed towards the site – history on the horizon. Huge snowflakes kept catching on Maddie’s long eyelashes and making them laugh. She was wearing a black tam, a thick muffler, and dark coat; when the snow lit upon her, Jason thought of day and night, brightness and dark.
“Look at them,” she said. Whether due to snow or just luck, they were alone. “When I was a child, you could walk right up to the stones. None of these restraining ropes were here. You could get so close.”
“These larger ones on the outside are called Sarsens, if I remember correctly. The inner ones are bluestones, and, if you chip away the surface, they are really quite blue underneath. But the amazing thing is, they’re probably from Wales, transported all this way.”
“Yes. Three or four hundred kilometers away. Carried by rafts, mainly, on rivers.”
“They think so but no one’s really sure. The Heel Stone,” she said pointing, “that’s the key. If you align it with the center of the ruins, it predicts the position of sunrise on the summer solstice.”
Jason and Maddie stopped talking to let the past settle around them. This was the most ancient manmade structure Jason would ever likely see. It forced him to think of the continuity of human civilization and how, although we only live one generation at a time, we build on the present like stairs rising from the past. This place had an undeniable power – just like hot springs, humanity and nature fused here.
They stood before the ancient bluestones and the Sarsens. They also stood very close to one another, trying to stay warm but also wanting to share in these miraculous moments. The snow continued unabated. You could almost hear the sound of the flakes falling onto the monoliths.
Jason wore no hat. His thick hair was turning white. Maddie removed her glove and gently brushed the top of his head. Then she said, “I bet you taste like snow.”
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