Todd Frogley and the 20,000 Foot Fall

By Will B. Riley

When twelve-year-old Todd Frogley finds his uncles’ antique kaleidoscope he thinks that’s all it is, until he discovers the hidden switch. Now he’s being flung from one colliding reality to another, and he has no idea how to get home.

Where was Todd when we last saw him? Oh, that’s right; falling out of a World War 2 bomber without a parachute or his colliderscope. Never mind, it’s only 20,000 feet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Will B. Riley
• Release date: Oct 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370259090

Will B. Riley

Will B Riley was born in England where, to please a loving but insanely Catholic mother he spent most of his teen years in a seminary. At eighteen, terrified by the spectre of a life of enforced celibacy as Father Riley he escaped to Australia where he quickly became the other sort of father five times over to compensate. His memories of the seminary are mostly happy, Hogwarts-style ones. He’s still working on the Catholic guilt bit. After winning $1000 in an essay contest he decided being a writer was a quick and easy way to fame and fortune. He knows better now. He reads everything, from corn flake packets to Homer, and has completed several novels which are soon to be published as ebooks. Barry and his wife Patricia live on The Central Coast north of Sydney.

Book preview

Todd Frogley and The 20,000 Foot Fall

Book 4 of Colliderscope

Copyright © Will B Riley 2017

Smashwords Edition

Table of contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Acknowledgements

Reviews

Contact the author

Other books by Will B riley

The story so far …

Continued from Book 3

When Todd Frogley found his uncle’s antique kaleidoscope he thought that’s all it was, a tube that showed pretty patterns when shaken. That was before he discovered the little slide switch on the side that flung him from one colliding reality to another. Since then he’s nearly lost his head in King Arthur’s court, been made to walk the plank on a pirate ship and come close to having his brain removed for study by intelligent dinosaurs. Now he’s plunging from a stricken World War Two bomber without a parachute. And to think he used to think life was dull.

Chapter 1

Todd hurtled towards the hard ground of 1940s Germany. Cold air rushed past his ears, making it hard to breathe. The wind almost tore his clothes off. This was the end of his life, which seemed unfair given that he was only twelve and hadn’t done much with his life yet. Despite his terror he almost laughed at that thought. Thanks to the colliderscope he’d packed more adventure into his life than any hundred year old. Too bad this was where it ended.

There was nothing, absolutely nothing he could do to prevent his death. He screamed and waved his arms about anyway. The noise of explosions deafened him. Tracer bullets from big guns on the ground whizzed past him. Above, below and around him parachutes blossomed into existence as airmen abandoned their stricken planes. He plunged past them, wishing he was wearing one that would blossom in the same way.

Still the ground rushed up to meet him. In a matter of seconds he would slam into it at tremendous speed. Desperate to escape his terror he held his breath, hoping to faint. It didn’t make him feel any better. He told himself that he would hit the ground so hard he wouldn’t feel a thing. That didn’t help either. A lone parachute drifted far below him, its owner gently sinking to safety. Todd plummeted towards it. If only he could land on top of it, but no, it wouldn’t help. It would just collapse under him, possibly killing the airman. Then he noticed a black dot on the distant white silk. The colliderscope!

Todd didn’t believe in miracles. The odds of hitting the parachute and grabbing the colliderscope were a billion to one against. He had no way to change direction, and anyway, as he dropped closer the parachute drifted away to one side. Then, with only yards to go it gusted back directly beneath him. Todd crashed through the white silk. The airman yelped in fright as his parachute collapsed then righted itself. When Todd continued his fall the colliderscope was in his hand.

Heart thudding, he ignored the ground that rushed at him, forced his eye against the colliderscope and slid the switch. A whirl of colour formed a picture. Twenty feet from the ground Todd disappeared from this reality.

Chapter 2