tire went. The steering wheel snapped through his father's hands by half
a turn. There was a splintering crash as the car shattered its way
through the retaining fence, then came a fleeting moment of breathless
silence as if the entire universe had stopped still for a heartbeat.

Chaos! His mother's automatic scream, his father's oath, and the rending
crash split the silence at once. The car bucked and flipped, the doors
were slammed open and ripped off against a tree that went down. The car
leaped in a skew turn and began to roll and roll, shedding metal and
humans as it racketed down the ravine.

Jimmy felt himself thrown free in a tumbleturn that ended in a heavy
thud.

* * * * *

When breath and awareness returned, he was lying in a depression filled
with soft rotting leaves.

He was dazed beyond hurt. The initial shock and bewilderment oozed out of
him, leaving him with a feeling of outrage, and a most peculiar sensation
of being a spectator rather than an important part of the violent drama.
It held an air of unreality, like a dream that the near-conscious sleeper
recognizes as a dream and lives through it because he lacks the conscious
will to direct it.

Strangely, it was as if there were three or more of him all thinking
different things at the same time. He wanted his mother badly enough to
cry. Another part of him said that she would certainly be at his side if
she were able. Then a third section of his confused mind pointed out that