Chapter 32

21st century

English Lake District

England

It was dark when Tommy awoke. He peeked at the clock on the bedside table; it didn't surprise him to see that it was only 9 p.m. He'd decided on an early night after driving all day, but he couldn't sleep. No matter how many different motels in different towns he slept in, the beds were always the same. He could never settle. He guesses he was a creature of habit; he preferred his own bed on the few occasions his part-time job allowed him to sleep in it. But tomorrow he will go mountain climbing with a few friends, and he was excited.

He was one of the old school students, a travelling adventurer, and his thesis and school could wait. He spent around two weeks of the year on the road trying to drum up his adventure self, driving from one rundown town to the next. Let's face it, there wasn't much call out in the sticks for what he was trying to do, though being an orphan and a master of everything, for that matter, had its p