Making Time Waking up a few minutes before the alarm goes off; a person might count their blessings and wait for the inevitable noise to rudely interrupt their slumber. Time can be very elastic at that time of the morning when all you want to do is grab another five minutes sleep. All the things that seemed so important you had to get up early for seem less so when your pillow is still warm and inviting you to stay a while longer. However it was some kind of noise: a thud… something falling over maybe? ‘That bloody cat’s got in again!’ He surmised in that hazy way of one facing the prospect of leaving a warm bed to go out to work. Sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes he blearily looked over at the clock. He quickly reached out to stop the alarm with less than a minute to spare. With the self-satisfaction of one who has just prevented a bomb from exploding just seconds before the timer ran out, he looked across to his sleeping wife and kissed her gently on the forehead. “Fu…” He almost shouted, before remembering himself and settling for a few grunts of discomfort which he had hoped where sufficiently muffled so as not to disturb his wife. “What time is it?” she asked as she rolled over in the bed. “It’s 60am, sweetheart.” He replied. “I didn’t mean to wake you. Go on back to sleep.” “What’s all the noise?” “Nothing. I just stubbed my toe on something. It’s okay. Go back to sleep.” He said softly as he looked down to see what was responsible for his throbbing toe. In the dim light he could make out what looked like a very thick book, without cover. Something like a manuscript was his best guess. Having to get ready for work he shoved it under the bed with his foot, without much thought to his still sore toe. His working day passed uneventfully as working days often can, though his mind did insist on recalling the manuscript on the bedroom floor. He could not imagine where it had come from or why anyone would have left it there, but since he was at work, he paid the thoughts little heed. Upon returning home, greeting his wife (who got her Friday’s off) and recanting the minutiae of his day that he though was even slightly noteworthy, he headed off to the bedroom to shake off his work attire and see in the weekend with something more comfortable. Sitting on the edge of the bed to remove his shoes and socks he paused, wondering if it would be silly to check below for what he was sure was a manuscript this morning; after all he might have still been half asleep. He sought out the heavy tome and finding it was as real as the hand that groped for it, placed it on his knee. The cover simply read “The Time Machine” and had some manner of graphic like a solar eclipse or something like it. The first things to come to mind were Morlocks and Eloi. But looking at the size of the book, he didn’t remember the film being long enough to have warranted a screenplay of such magnitude. With growing curiosity, he flicked through and landed on a random page: “…placing the cylindrical copper element into the niche in its side. It is important to note at this stage that these instructions are best read from the beginning. If it is your intention to complete the project then you must follow the directions in order. Now take the second element and…” He flicked through a few more pages, again stopping at random and reading part way down the page: “…with the fillings. Essentially, this manual must be followed from the beginning. If you need help finding ‘the beginning’ then refer to the contents page at the beginning! See page 1.” With no short supply of scepticism and a thoroughly furrowed brow he took one more shot at the random approach. This time he found a heading, this seeming a sensible place to pick up from: “Constructing the 13th Manifold Hint: For the beginning, turn left and keep going until you run out of pages” Sharply closing the Manual, as he now knew it to be, he tucked it back under the bed and headed for the kitchen to help with the evening meal. Right now he needed an anchor in reality! AUTHOR'S NOTE: "Making Time" was started around 2008 as part of a creative writing course. I was only supposed to write the set up but if anyone wants spoilers I can tell you how it's supposed to finish. Feel free to leave feedback and criticism.