Running Out of Time
Margaret Haddix
 Keyser is a 13-year-old girl from the village of Clifton, Indiana in the 1840s. During a village-wide outbreak of diphtheria, Jessie's mother reveals that the actual year is 1996, and that Clifton Village is actually a tourist attraction, a replica of a historical village. She secretly sends Jessie out of the village with a pair of jeans and t-shirt to retrieve a cure for the disease from a man who disagreed on having Clifton as a tourist attraction, Isaac Neeley. But Jessie has to be careful because there are a few guards that have to make sure that no one from Clifton leaves and finds out that it is really 1996 and not 1840. Miles Clifton was the creator of Clifton. Jessie escapes underground and almost gets caught by guards and almost loses her package of food and money. Not wanting others to realize she is from 1840s Clifton, she stays overnight in a restroom until she is able to leave the tourist area. Jessie is often confused at the technological advancements of the modern world. After meeting with Neeley at a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in Waverly, Indiana, she returns with him to his apartment, where Neeley attempts to drug her so he can kill her. Jessie overhears Neeley saying that she knows too much about the outside world. She manages to escape through a window in his apartment. Jessie convinces local newspapers and radio stations to attend a news conference on the steps of the Capitol building. When the media arrives, Jessie attempts to explain the situation, but faints due to diphtheria, which had infected her before she left Clifton. The "news conference" causes Clifton Village to close; it is revealed that Miles Clifton allowed Frank Lyle (a scientist and the business partner of Miles Clifton) and others to use his village to try to create a stronger human gene pool of people able to resist diseases without the aid of medicine. Jessie awakens in a hospital, where she learns that the real Mr. Neeley had died, the person she met was actually Frank Lyle. Jessie leaves her hospital room and finds him talking about the diphtheria outbreak in the Clifton Village. She discovers that several other members of the Clifton Village have been brought to the hospital. Her parents are not among those who were arrested, but they have to convince the authorities that they didn't put any of their six children in danger. Jessie's mother is allowed to visit Jessie in the hospital and explain to Jessie that her father still believes in the life of 19th century. However, she gets to live in 1996 after Clifton Village closes.