Step Back in Time Read Online Free PDF

more.’
    ‘I’m not?’ I ask slowly, indulging him. This is getting weirder by the second. Why is George talking in riddles? It’s getting more and more like some strange game show. What do I need to do, work out the clues and then I’ll win a prize when the TV cameras are revealed and the smarmy host jumps out from behind a screen? God, I hope it’s a holiday. I could do with a change of scene!
    ‘No, Jo-Jo, you’re not. You’re in
1963
.’
    ‘Yep,’ I say, grinning at him. ‘And?’
    ‘And that’s it. At this very moment you’re sitting in my record shop in the King’s Road, London, in November 1963.’
    I eye George, disbelieving. He’s mad!
    ‘Here,’ he says, reaching behind the shop counter for a newspaper, ‘look.’
    And I do. And the date at the top of
The Times
newspaper is, just as George has said,
November 1963
.
    ‘What!’ I shout, jumping to my feet. ‘How can this be?’ Harry and his customer glance round at me for a moment before returning to their record discussion.
    ‘Calm, Jo-Jo,’ George reminds me, tugging on my arm to get me to sit down again. ‘Remain calm. You really must.’
    ‘But what do you mean, telling me I’m in 1963,’ I hiss. ‘Are you mad? Have I been drugged? Am I hallucinating?’
    ‘No, not any of those,’ George says quietly. ‘And
I’m
not mad, either.’
    ‘Am I, then?’ I ask in a strangled voice. ‘Is this what this is, the start of insanity, or a mental breakdown? I know I’ve been working hard recently, but —’
    ‘Jo-Jo…’ George places a reassuring hand on my arm. He looks to where Harry is still trying to persuade the customer into choosing an album by Bob Dylan instead of her preferred Frank Sinatra. He lowers his voice even further. ‘You’re not going mad, you’ve just travelled back in time.’
    I open my eyes wide. ‘Oh well, that makes it all right then! What do you mean, I’ve travelled in time? How can I have? Don’t be so ridiculous.’
    ‘Like I said, I’ve seen it happen before. You’re not the first, you know. It must have been when you got hit on the crossing – you probably hit a time portal.’
    ‘A
what
? Whatever do you mean, time portal? You only get those in sci-fi films and TV shows and I know for sure I’m not in
Dr Who
.’
    ‘Dr what?’ George asks, puzzled.
    ‘Not Dr what, Dr
Who
. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of that? I thought it began in the sixties?’
    ‘I’ve seen adverts for that. It’s a new TV show,’ Harry joins in, as he and his customer make their way over to the till with both albums, which Harry seems to have persuaded her into buying. ‘Starts next week.’ He rings up her purchases on an old mechanical till with the prices popping up in a little window. ‘I didn’t know you were into sci-fi, Jo-Jo?’
    ‘I’m not,’ I say flatly. I glare at George now. ‘Especially when it involves me.’
    ‘Look, I can’t say too much now,’ George whispers, watching Harry finish up with the lady at the till. ‘But you’ll be absolutely fine, Jo-Jo, trust me. I’ve got a feeling we can work it out if you keep calm, and let it be.’
    ‘Keep calm. Let it be? But —’
    George shushes me with his hand as Harry comes over to us again.
    ‘I think Jo-Jo is still feeling a little confused after her accident,’ George says to him. ‘Perhaps when you take her back to work you should keep a close eye on her, Harry.’
    ‘Do you think she should be going back to work?’ Harry asks. ‘I could always let them know what happened when I go back in and she could take the afternoon off.’
    ‘No, I think keeping everything just the same as usual will help jog Jo-Jo’s slightly fuzzy memory and allow her to return to normal life much faster,’ George says knowingly.
    I’m about to open my mouth to protest that they’re making decisions about me as though I’m not here and, more importantly, what do they mean, taking me back to work. I know where my own office is, for