Max Hystory - Adventures in time - Market Garden

Coming home

Chapter Ten

Coming home

Max reappears in the flash of bright light; seconds ago he was in Holland with his friend Jake Featherstone and now he is in Saint Ann, Missouri in the woods behind Sam's house, naked. While he shakes off the effects of the time-traveling he realizes that appearing like this never stops being embarrassing, he looks around to get his bearings and when he thinks he knows where he is, he heads home. Max manages to work his way through the wooded park to the hiking path that will lead him to where he needs to be, just behind Sam's house. He walks along the path just into the trees in order to avoid any joggers or hikers, it's a short walk, but he needs to avoid one person, in particular, Douglas Doss. The big muscled up bully, dressed in all black, wearing a black trench coat is shaking down a younger boy named Harry Reed right in the path where he needs to cross, he can see Sam's house behind the two arguing boys and he can also see some clothes waving in the cool breeze in Sam's backyard. If only he could get Douglas to go away and leave Harry alone, he waits and he waits, but Douglas seems to be enjoying have all the time in the world to bully his smaller foe. Max is getting anxious because the breeze seems to be getting colder as the day goes on, and he is worried that everyone else is worried about him and his whereabouts for the last couple of days. Finally, he can take no more, Douglas is finished with his extortion of little Harry, but he chooses to stand around and gloat on his success. He stands up from his hiding spot behind a large oak tree, bends down and grabs a stick, a good size one that swings well. He walks out onto the path and makes his way to Douglas who is right in his way, When Douglas looks up and sees Max walking naked straight for him, he gets a strange worried look upon his face.

"What do yo...?" He starts to say, but Max takes his stick and breaks it across his shin sending the bully to

the ground in a heap of writhing in pain.

"Give me your coat!" Max demands.

"What?" He asks.

"Give me your coat now!" Max insists holding up what is left of the stick.

"Okay, okay." He agrees pulling off his coat and handing it to Max.

"Now give me Harry's money you stole!" Max insists thinking he might as well go for it while he has the upper hand.

"Here take it," Douglas says handing him the money.

Max puts on the coat and it covers him well, warming him almost instantly, he places the money in the coat pocket, tosses the stick at Douglas who is still on the ground holding his shin, then walks off into the trees. Max finds it hard to believe what he has just done, his heart is racing a mile a minute, and he is starting to sweat. He's nervous, worried, and scared but in this small battle, he has managed to keep his lunch down partly because of battle experience, but mostly because he doesn't want to show any weakness that Douglas would try to capitalize on. He walks through the trees, walks between his neighbor's houses, and runs across the street to his home before Douglas recovers enough to come after him for his coat. Max jumps the couple steps to his front door, opens it and hurries in, and after shouting for a few minutes he is certain no one is home, he even picks up the phone and calls Sam's house and gets no answer.

"Where the heck is everyone?" He asks out loud.

Getting no answer he grabs a shirt and shorts from the laundry room and sits down at the kitchen counter and fixes himself a ham sandwich and a soda, halfway through he can't help but think how weird it is that no one is home, then the doorbell rings. Max jumps up quickly and runs to answer the door hoping that whoever it is may be able to give him the answers he needs.