Strange Cases of Missing Time

Jason Offutt examines several strange cases of missing time, including his own.

This event occurred to me at least twelve years ago, and I still don’t know what happened.
 
Driving home from a Friday night shift at the newspaper, my car’s cruise control set on 55 mph, I drove by a road sign I’ve driven by hundreds of times. It reads, “Orrick: 5 Miles.” Just as I went by, the Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter” came on the radio.

Perfect. I lived in Orrick, Missouri, at the time, and “Gimme Shelter” was not only my favorite Rolling Stones tune, it was also four minutes, thirty-seven seconds long, which would last me all the way home.

Then my drive fell out of reality. Read more