Full Circle
by
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Stone past .......... By now Wolf was so exhausted by the traumatic events of the day that he lay down on the sandy floor and, secure in the knowledge that the overhang protected him from any predators, he immediately fell into a deep sleep. There Wolf lay through the long night, dead to the world and it wasn’t until the sun had risen that he became gradually aware of light seeping through his closed eyelids, the sound of birdsong and the roar of the rushing water. For a moment he enjoyed a moment of well being but then the multitude of aches from the hard floor and the pummelling he had been given by his involuntary trip down the river gradually brought Wolf back to the here and now. Opening his eyes he suddenly remembered his predicament. Sitting up and stretching Wolf looked around and gasped. The dim light of the previous evening had hidden a stunning sight. The walls were covered with paintings of man and beast so realistic in form and hue they almost seemed to be alive. On one side Wolf could see groups of men with spear, club and sling hunting bison, boar, wild horse and deer and on the other side the great woolly mammoth and rhino. Present .......... “These bastards in Washington think we’re chasing fucking polar bears down here! You know, one of them actually asked me if we have to carry rifles down here - he must be related to that clown George W. Never mind the Arctic and Antarctic, they don’t even know their bloody Ass from their Ant-ass! They send us down to this hell hole to stick thermometers up the asshole of the Antarctic and then they carry on burning coal like they’re defrosting the fucking ice box. I should have stayed on that oil well in Iraq!” Stone future .......... The priest lit the oil lamps to reveal a circle of numb faces. This annual ritual was always a shocking experience for they were normally able to make sense of their own world but the ‘Message’ as seen through the ‘Dreamwindow’ took everything they knew and turned it upside down. Obama the priest coughed to clear his throat and broke the silence. Many of the clan visibly jumped and then gazed around puzzled, as if woken from a deep trance. Giving them a short time to come back to reality he then started his formal closing address. “We have been privileged to view the ‘Message’ once more but for us it is like looking at our face in disturbed water. We catch familiar glimpses but they don’t add up to make a message we can easily make sense of. As you are all aware, this viewing of the ‘Message’ has a special meaning for me this year. For the rest of the year you know me as Ebota but for this one day I have the honour to be known as Obama the eighty ninth. I have undertaken the task of delivering the Message to the clan for far too long now. The ‘Message’ was brought to this land by the first great priest Obama and tonight I will pass on the task to Harman who this night will become our next priest, Obama the ninetieth. As you know, my work is only to protect the ‘Dreamwindow’ and the Sacred Relics and then deliver the ‘Message’ each year to you at the time of the Harvest feast.
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About the Book
The author’s first novel, Full Circle, takes the reader on an exciting journey from our distant stone age past forward to a possible future. In the past our ancestors used all their time-honed skills to survive natural climate change. Now man is faced with surviving his own assault on the earth’s climate. What does the future hold for us? The past - Wolf and his small hunter-gatherer clan are faced with the threat of natural climate change which has disturbed the balance in their forest home. He makes the radical suggestion of making a dangerous journey over the snow-mountains to reach the safety of a new land. The present - Wayne and Bill are surveying cracks in the Antarctic ice sheet when a catastrophic fracture occurs. The ice sheets melt resulting in an apocalyptic future for mankind. Twenty years later, after sea levels have risen catastrophically, the small community remaining in the Falkland Isles is forced to leave for an uncertain future. After several hundred years of privation and disasters little of their former way of life remains. The future - A small stone-age community lives in a land far to the south. Harman is taking over from Ebota as the clan priest but in the process discovers a shocking fact about their past. He agonises over what to do but eventually decides to reveal his discovery to the others. Nothing will ever be the same again!
About the Author
Brought up in the Scottish village of Lower Largo where the real life ‘Robinson Crusoe’ originated, perhaps some of his adventurous spirit rubbed off! Later he studied physics at Edinburgh University and has spent his working life teaching. From an early age he discovered the mountains of Scotland and has also climbed in Europe and further afield. One memorable experience was a week long canoe trip to the uninhabited Treshnish islands. A recent trip to the Verdon Gorge gave inspiration for this book. He has always had a wide interest in ‘the outdoors’ and has become increasingly conscious of ‘green issues’ which form a major theme of this book. Since taking early retirement Alan has had time to develop his interests including travel, painting, playing jazz saxophone, photography and cycling. For many years he has enjoyed writing about his mountaineering and hillrunning adventures (see lomondhillrunners.co.uk) and has recently been attending a local creative writing course.