CHAPTER SIXTEEN
They returned to the library and sat together on one of the red leather couches. Ralph selected a book from the shelves and laid it open on the coffee table before them. It was weather-beaten with smudged, dog-eared pages reminding Oliver of his well-read inventors book.
“First things first,” Ralph said, turning to the opening page. “Forget everything you think you know about time. Time isn’t real. There’s no beginning and no end. Everything exists always.”
Oliver blinked. “That’s not a particularly easy concept to get my head around.”
“Here,” Ralph said, pointing at a passage of text. “This explains it better.”
Oliver read.
Time is simultaneous. Everything that will happen has already happened and is happening now as you read this passage.
Oliver rubbed his aching f
