May As Well Jump

By Stephen Lodge

He stopped the car, caught up in the sudden embrace of a half-forgotten childhood memory. He hadn’t even planned on taking this route to pick up his parents for dinner.

He looked over the fence of his old school and back down the years to a school athletic meeting in the dusk of a warm September evening, where for the only time in his life he had created a little bit of history.

His Headmaster, cheery and as English as tuppence, had congratulated him warmly.

“You’ve broken the school long jump record, boy. And you’ve done it in a leap year.”