Future Boy By Clark Merchant potx

Future Boy
By Clark Merchant
In the year 1948 a spritely young lad called James was stepping out of a train. It was a
normal day in June and it showed no signs of anything out of the ordinary. That was
except for the ticket man. Yes the ticket man, old and grey. The sort of character you
would expect to hide pixie dust in his old brown tattered coat, or have a magic wand
stashed away in his walking stick. Come to think of it, he did not look like a ticket man at
all. Grey beard old brown hat. No he must have been. After all he was the man who gave
James his ticket and he had no trouble getting it checked on train coming home from
school, even if it was gold.
James began walking down the platform. Head down at first, then gradually bringing it up
gazing into the sun shining through the windows above. He lived a little way up Caledonian
road and was at Kings cross station so he didn’t have far to go. Soon he would be home in
time for games with his sister Molly and a nice warm Super. But something was happening
to the train station.
As James eyes adjusted to the bright light above, he couldn’t help but notice that all the
people had disappeared and the train station had started to look a little cleaner. Fresh
paint seemed to grow up the stations walls and supports. Shops began to appear then
escalators replaced stairs and giant statues erected before his very eyes. The Sun whizzed
over and over the ceiling rising and setting at lightning speed. James was astonished. He
wasn’t scared, after all he was a child and children like it when the world changes. The
Sun slowed down and people started to appear again like ghosts. These events had taken
James into another World.
“It must be the future” said James oblivious to the crowds of people starring at him. He
looked very out of place with his shorts and uniform. Not to mention his little brown
satchel. James didn’t care and was wondering the corridors of the station with his mouth
wide open. That’s when a digital clock caught his eye. It read “June 8 2010, 4:03.” James
was ecstatic and made like an Aeroplane, running for the closest toy shop he could find.
There were robots and Lego. It had Dinosaurs, electric cars, snakes, army men, ships, and
talking teddy bears. He saw cartoons on disks and an army game called Playstation. “You
can control moving pictures, and even fly to the moon. Brilliant!” James shouted with

glee. He must have played there for hours. He simply had to find his sister and show her
everything. How would he? He was there and, well she was in the past.
Soon realising that it was the magic ticket the man had given him back in 1948 that had
got him here. He had an idea. “I’ve got it” he said to himself “I’ll take the train with my
magic ticket and go back to 1948. Then I’ll ask the ticket man if Molly can come and see
too.”
James ran from the toy shop gazing at everything he could see before hoping a train and
returning to 1948. Without a glitch he found the man who gave him his ticket sitting on a
park bench. James nervously walked up to him and sat down. “Hello future boy” said the
man “come to claim another ticket I see.” James replied in the politest voice he could
“Oh yes sir. I would love to show my sister all the wonderful things I saw. Please sir, is it
possible?” “Anything is possible boy, you just have to believe. Now you say you want to
show your sister ay” The man replied pulling out two golden tickets for James. James took
the tickets politely and said “thank you.” He ran straight home headed for his little sister
when in distance he heard the man exclaim “Be careful future boy there’s no telling what
time you’ll end up in.”