The Time Thief

By Charles Stoll

The Time Thief is one of those rare books in which each of the five main characters take on a true cause of their own: Professor Royale, whose time theories are unique and provocative, will make the reader reevaluate their own concepts of time. The professor’s father, Marvin, Sr., who seeks the sweet release of death, dances with a skeleton and meets God. The father’s caretaker, Mildred, suddenly realizes her true purpose. The professor’s favorite students, Jacob, who puts words into action, and his girlfriend, Sarah, who puts action into words, and ends the Iraq War.
Enjoy the comedic fallout as these five interact, revealing their own philosophies and goals as they go, leaving the reader in a fresh state of mind, never to think the same way again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charles Stoll
• Release date: Jul 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781619844193

Charles Stoll

Charles Stoll was born in Farmingdale, Long Island in 1956. He received the N.C.T.E. National Award in Writing in high school and attended Syracuse University. His first book, Hanging in the Balance, was published in 1990. He moved to Ormond Beach, FL in 1996, where he currently resides. Charles worked in retail management until he retired in 2003 to write full time. He has served as president for the Ormond Writer’s League (O.W.L.’s). His novel, Enigma, discovering the moments that form your life, was published in 2014 (Price World Publishing). The Time Thief is his latest offering for readers who like to challenge their minds. Writing is his love and his therapy and he hopes it positively affects the minds and hearts of his readers. Charles Stoll welcomes any comments or questions from his readers and can be contacted at [e-mail]

Book preview

Prologue

Travelling home on the A train did not take its usual toll on his hope for the future. Professor Royale was in a state of euphoria from the discovery of a student who was capable of grasping new concepts, who was passionate about learning and who was actually grateful for the experience. This was a professor’s dream come true, a quantum leap. After eight years of searching he felt energized.

He sat in a sublime oblivious state, suddenly content with his lot in life. He let the dulling fog dissolve. Hope rose out of despair; he was on course again. His first day of school had been a great success.

Professor Royale was so preoccupied, he didn’t notice the frazzle-haired woman enter the car and head right for him, as if she had foreknowledge of his being there. Before he could react, she hit him square in the jaw with surprising strength and agility for a woman of her years.

Of course there’s time, you little shit, she shrieked and raised her arm for a second strike. Her dark eyes bored into him. Her brown stringy hair ran in every direction. The gap between her middle teeth kept drawing his gaze. Professor Royale was not about to allow anyone to ruin his perfect day and caught her arm midair, twisting it behind her back.

What are you talking about, Old Hag?

You can’t take time away, she cried. It was here before you, and it’s gonna be here long after you’re gone. Time stays. You leave. You gotta play the game, same as everyone else.

His eyes widened in surprise.

How do you know my ideas about time?

I've seen you before, in my mind. I knew you would be coming and I’m here to stop you. I don’t know how I know things; I just do. Time is the only thing that’s fair in life. You can be poor or wealthy, weak or powerful. But in the end, time will take everything from you. Everybody dies. She laughed maniacally and then looked at him like a wide-eyed child.

So you’re saying that the only real purpose of time, the professor recalled what he had told his class that day, is to escort humanity in and out of this mortal coil in an orderly fashion. She looked confused. He was quite pleased with himself. She hesitated.

Sure a funny way a putting it, but yeah, she said.

Professor Royale was beginning to like the witch. Today he had met two people with spark, one who supported him and one who would stop him. He was excited he had found two people interested in his ideas. And he didn’t care much what stance they took. He watched her leave at the next stop, as quietly as she entered. He had a creepy feeling that she would reenter his life.

He didn’t know how he knew it, but, like the hag, he just did. And he wasn’t sure of much else.

Chapter One

The only real purpose of time is to escort humanity in and out of this mortal coil in an orderly fashion. Professor Marvin Royale said smugly to his students on the first day of the new semester. He had worked hard on that statement and searched the seventy or so students in Stinson Auditorium for a reaction.

Are we trapped in time or can we rise above it? He continued. If you approach the speed of light, can you slow down time? Are we always trying to return to a time when we felt most comfortable and in balance?

After eight years of teaching, he expected no response, just dull gazes. He seemed surprised when a student in the third row responded by standing up and shouting, I don’t believe in time. It’s a man-made concept. Physicists can’t even prove time exists.

These were the assertions of one Jacob Walker, a student who listened intently to nuances within all conversations but never scored highly on tests.

Professor Royale, you speak of time as a noun. But time is not a physical thing. It’s just a concept.

But when your boss says to be there at 9 A.M. sharp, said a pretty female student. You’d better take it seriously. The class laughed. Professor Royale checked his schematic to see who these contributing students were.

Not exactly, Ms. Dodge. I would say it was the boss who made you move faster. Time is still inert and has no power in itself. I prefer the word ‘flow’ to ‘time’ because everything flows at its own rate, determined by nature. With the concept of time, we believe we can accelerate or reduce the amount of time a thing takes to happen. With flow, everything moves at the speed it was meant to naturally.

Sarah sported a blank look and said nothing. She probably wondered how the professor knew her name. But Jacob, who was actually interested in the topic, spoke again. Don’t you think it would be better if we could adjust time to suit the limited amount we have?

No. No. And once more, no! The professor roared. That is falling for the illusion. Everything in this universe has its own flow time. We can only find that amount of time, not control it.

Professor Royale’s course in Time Theory had once again degenerated into a bizarre contortion of the original topic. This course had been a favorite elective amongst students. There were rumors that students could learn to manipulate and even stop time. But the concepts were theoretical and based on nothing concrete; they tended to degrade to the absurd. Today, the students turned his discussion on ‘flow time’ into a complaint that two months was not sufficient flow time to complete their final project.

And, therefore, he continued. "Two months is the proper amount of ‘flow time’ from your absorption of the facts to your regurgitation of them back on paper. Case closed. Final papers are due May tenth and will count as a third of your grade. Remember to allow everything its proper flow time. If you prioritize every important thing, each will get done. Now, get out of here and get on with your lives."

Professor Royale was proud of his summarization, knowing he had won this battle. He was concerned whether he could reach more than just two students. His eyes roamed over the sea of sleeping lost souls he would have to awaken. But like battling the waves of the ocean, they will eventually wear you out and roll you over. They’re simply bigger and more powerful. He knew he faced an impossible task, but decided he would be pleased if he could awaken even one.

His defeatist attitude had grown after casting pearls before swine for eight years, as he struggled to rise from adjunct to associate to assistant professor. As the years went by, his students seemed to grow more lost than inspired. Maybe he was becoming jaded because life was not following the path he anticipated. The fact that only three students had visited him in eight years during office hours, and all three complained they had no idea what was going on in class, made him feel no one was interested or excited about anything he had to say. Just looking for an easy A. Or maybe it was he who simply failed to understand the flow of his own life.

Chapter Two

He gathered his papers in a monogrammed leather pouch and retreated out the back door and down the hall to his cramped office. The six by six foot room overflowed with bookcases. A small desk offered at best one square foot of usable space. But he considered it his fortress of solitude, impenetrable. It was originally a closet. He had converted it so his office would be separated from the plethora of professors who lived to follow format but never did inspire. While resting his head on the cleared spot, he fantasized that one day, just one student would show the spark to understand what he had to say, and expand on his own ideas to carry them into the future. After all, he had no children of his own to do this for him. He needed someone, anyone to be his prodigy on time.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

Hello. A familiar face looked in. Can I speak to you for a minute?

Caught off guard, he faltered, not remembering the student’s name. Sure, come in.

I’m Jacob Walker from your last class. I was the one arguing with you about your concept of time. I thought it was the usual bullshit at first. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I was really agreeing with you. Of course, things take their own amount of time and we can’t change it. We’re born and die within a certain amount of time. Everything has its own flow, and we must find it, not control it. I think I get it.

Professor Royale stared directly into Jacob’s eyes to determine his sincerity. Was that a spark he saw?

You know the expression, there’s never time to do a thing right, but there’s always time to do it over. It’s proving my point, the professor said. Jacob smiled.

I was having second thoughts about going to college, he said. I’m more of a ‘work hard and get paid’ kind of guy. But when I heard your ideas, it opened up a whole new way of thinking for me. And that’s what life is really about, great ideas and new ways of looking at things. I wanted to thank you for that.

College is all about taking all those nasty facts you learned in life and putting them in some sort of order. It’s about taking a hard look at things you’ve taken for granted all your life, such as time. You have to take some leaps of faith to explore greater ideas, and if religion hasn’t prevented any possibility of belief in you, you can do it.

I’d like to do my final report on time, if you don’t mind.

Professor Royale considered the lanky, dark-haired, nineteen year old and wondered where his own additional forty years had gotten him. He was once a similarly inspired student and wondered when or if Jacob would ever arrive at the place he wanted to go.

I didn’t mean to take your time...

Can you really take someone’s time?

I think people often do, but I guess I should have seen that coming. Thanks again, for making me think. He smiled at the professor and left the cramped room.

Professor Royale was taken aback by Jacob’s state of awareness and sudden expression of respect. This student was made and the mold broken. He came from the Age of Man and not simply this generation. He would become the type of man who would not be afraid to speak his truth.

Chapter Three

Professor Royale climbed the grimy steps of the subway exit and walked two blocks to a Tudor style walk-up. He did not notice the large black woman who ran right in front of him and squatted and peed on the sidewalk. He did not see the rat that darted over his shoe and ran into a sewer drain. He was thinking of his father and wondered what state he would be in when he got home. His dad was getting nuttier by the day.

He entered his second-floor apartment. His living room was a larger version of his office, overpowered by books and papers. He was not a hoarder, just a collector of great ideas. There were simply too many great ideas to pursue them all in one lifetime.

He entered the back bedroom where his father lay in bed, awaiting what he often spoke of as his final reward.

Are you awake, Dad?

His father remained still. His grey hair unkempt, his teeth yellowing and his nails cracked and badly in need of a clipping, announced he clearly was ready to leave this non-functioning body.

Got no reason to wake up, Marvin, his dad said sleepily.

You’ve got to work on that defeatist attitude.

One of his dad’s eyes squinted open to look at his son.

My legs don’t work. My heart beats funny. My brain is foggy and I’m a burden on society. If that ain’t a description of defeated, I don’t know what is.

Your brain seems razor sharp to me, Dad.

Well, it’s telling me it’s time to go. I’ve outgrown this physical body, and it’s just holding me back with all its limitations and conditions. I just want to become a conscious energy that flows freely through the universe with God.

Is that what you believe happens? he asked his father, unsure if he, himself, believed in an afterlife.

I really can’t explain how I know. I just do. The old man closed his eyes and turned on his side.

The professor smiled

Reviews for The Time Thief

[chip999-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

4.0 out of 5 stars 'The only real purpose of time is to escort humanity in and out of this mortal coil in an orderly fashion.', September 11, 2015 By Grady HarpThis review is from: The Time Thief (Kindle Edition) New York author Charles Stoll attended Syracuse University, became involved in a career of retail management, and now he has retire to live in Florida and write. He has published three books to date, each portraying philosophy, spirituality and sexuality as they actually exist in the present day. His books include ENIGMA, HANGING IN THE BALANCE and not THE TIME THIEF.The story line in this novel in very cleverly manipulated by the author, introducing all manner of choices for the reader to select and follow only to discover in the end it is all related. The synopsis suggests this conundrum: `Each of the five main characters take on a true cause of their own: Professor Royale, whose theories on time are unique and provocative, will make the reader reevaluate their own concept of time. The professor's father, Marvin, Sr., seeks the sweet release of death, dances with a skeleton and sees God. The father's caretaker, Mildred, discovers her true purpose wasn't exactly what she expected. Professor Royale's favorite students; Jacob, who decides to put words into action, and his girlfriend, Sarah, who puts action into words and manages to end the Iraq War peacefully.' And as the author adds, `This book will clean out the cobwebs in your mind and leave you with a fresh new perspective on life.'Charles writing style is rich in imagery and terrific dialogue. Reading the Prologue offers a hint of what is to follow: `Travelling home on the A train did not take its usual toll on his hope for the future. Professor Royale was in a state of euphoria from the discovery of a student who was capable of grasping new concepts, who was passionate about learning and who was actually grateful for the experience. This was a professor's dream come true, a quantum leap. After eight years of searching he felt energized. He sat in a sublime oblivious state, suddenly content with his lot in life. He let the dulling fog dissolve. Hope rose out of despair; he was on course again. His first day of school had been a great success. Professor Royale was so preoccupied, he didn't notice the frazzle-haired woman enter the car and head right for him, as if she had foreknowledge of his being there. Before he could react, she hit him square in the jaw with surprising strength and agility for a woman of her years. "Of course there's time, you little ****" she shrieked and raised her arm for a second strike. Her dark eyes bored into him. Her brown stringy hair ran in every direction. The gap between her middle teeth kept drawing his gaze. Professor Royale was not about to allow anyone to ruin his perfect day and caught her arm midair, twisting it behind her back. "What are you talking about, Old Hag?" "You can't take time away," she cried. "It was here before you, and it's gonna be here long after you're gone. Time stays. You leave. You gotta play the game, same as everyone else." His eyes widened in surprise." How do you know my ideas about time?" "I've seen you before, in my mind. I knew you would be coming and I'm here to stop you. I don't know how I know things; I just do. Time is the only thing that's fair in life. You can be poor or wealthy, weak or powerful. But in the end, time will take everything from you. Everybody dies." She laughed maniacally and then looked at him like a wide-eyed child. "So you're saying that the only real purpose of time," the professor recalled what he had told his class that day, "is to escort humanity in and out of this mortal coil in an orderly fashion." She looked confused. He was quite pleased with himself. She hesitated. "Sure a funny way a putting it, but yeah," she said. Professor Royale was beginning to like the witch. Today he had met two people with spark, one who supported him and one who would stop him. He was excited he had found two people interested in his ideas. And he didn't care much what stance they took. He watched her leave at the next stop, as quietly as she entered. He had a creepy feeling that she would reenter his life. He didn't know how he knew it, but, like the hag, he just did. And he wasn't sure of much else.'That is the flavor that runs through the entire book - whimsy, comedy, and adventure all mixed with a hefty does of philosophy. Thinking about Time? Read this and enjoy. Grady Harp, September 15