[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-116383-en":3,"doc-seo-116383-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":20,"language":21,"language_code":22,"site_id":23,"html_lang":22,"table_of_contents":24,"faqs":25,"seo_title":26,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},116383,5909877438554,"Maeve","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/5600025385ad2bf12a7?_k=1778553567797529272",1,"Story & Novel","Leading to Texas-2 - Day One - A Long Journey","Leading to Texas-2 opens on a rain-soaked, high-stakes return journey shaped by illness, fractured relationships, and a sense of being erased from familiar life. Hank Evan rides the 97B bus down a valley of former mining towns to his home community, grappling with epilepsy, physical injury, and mounting emotional isolation as others seem to vanish. A second thread follows an American couple driving into Wales, confronting their own distance and regret while the road tests patience and hope.","Aled Smith was born and still lives in south Wales. He has worked extensively in television as a documentary editor and subsequently wrote and directed a number of short fictional films. Leading to Texas-2 is his first novel.  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nLeading to Texas-2  \nAled Smith  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nDAY ONE  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nA Long Journey  \nIt was dark under rumbling wet mackerel skies and passengers on the warm, dry bus seemed electrified. The non-stop chatter and constant beat had a distressing roar to it inside Hank Evan’s skull. New medication. He had been stuck in the hospital for over a week, undergoing his regular epileptic medical tests, and had only just managed to catch the 97B circular. It would take the long route back.  \nHank felt like shit. He had had a nasty fit that morning in the hospital. He’d damaged his left foot, and a scrawny nurse coated it in plaster and plastic sheeting whilst warning him about the weather conditions outside. She had given him the stiff metallic crutches and said goodbye. He’d stood on aching limbs at the hospital bus stop and clambered onto the first one that pulled in. Their county hospital was perched at the top of the valley and shared by all of the ex-mining towns below. The bus Hank was travelling on would drive right down the valley, around the base of Blackmill mountain, through Cooperstown, Stanleyville, Evanstown, Aberpant, Morristown, Ynys-y-Pwll, Brownsville, Pentrecoch, and loop back up past the rear of the hospital into his small town of Cwmgarw, eventually coming onto the Bevan Estate, or Texas-2 as the locals liked to call it. He didn’t want to look out at the litter of settlements named for mine owners and the ransacked landscape.  \nThe bus slowed and strained to another juddering stop. Hank found himself staring straight ahead at the two pensioners sat opposite. The man hesitantly touched his plain tie and nodded towards him. Hank was aware he must be looking pretty vile that afternoon with a pair of broken, ill-balanced glasses  \non his nose, oily uncombed hair, and a carrier bag full of dirty clothes resting between his sore feet. The man looked away. Hank looked to the side and they drove on. He was chewing at skin on the side of his thumb and trying to keep Cheyenne out of his head. He had been annoyed with his girlfriend for days. She’d barely spoken to him since he went into the epileptic unit, and he’d had no text or call from his mate Masaki either. They both seemed to have vanished. Hank felt as forgotten as the ragged communities that greeted his tired eyes.  \nEach blink turned him black inside. He opened his eyes and sighed. His epilepsy had leapt at him from nowhere, and caught him standing still. It was at the end of his second year in college; he’d gone home for the summer break and never went back. Home was no longer the same either. Mam died, and dad drank. Hank knew it would never be the same for him again. He saw everything differently. Each time he plunged out of the world, another one waited for him.  \nThe growling noise of the bus’s engine became mixed with the cold, tight noise inside his head. He was shaking. He noticed it had gently started to rain again. He felt he was about to take the plunge. Hank swallowed. Shut his eyes. And waited.  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nCroeso i Gymru: Welcome to Wales  \nThe American couple yawned in unison. It had been a long journey and they weren’t there yet. Their large bodies made the small car feel cramped as Ed Evans drove carefully up the mountain road against a barrage of wind and rain. He was hunched over the wheel, trying to see the battered concrete in front of him as it transformed itself into a mini brook. The fields that ran alongside the car had flooded, and brown water flowed through the rooted hedge onto the road. In the dark morning light, Ed stared silently in concentration.  \nHe hadn’t spoken to Betty for fifty-six minutes and was aimin","cbCaihv5FCfSomyS","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaihv5FCfSomyS","pdf",5111954,303,"English","en",105,"# Day One\n## A Long Journey\n## Croeso i Gymru: Welcome to Wales","[{\"question\":\"What happens to Hank Evan that sets the opening day in motion?\",\"answer\":\"Hank has been in hospital undergoing regular epileptic tests and has just managed to catch the 97B circular. He is injured and struggling physically and emotionally during the trip home.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does Hank’s bus route feel long and unavoidable?\",\"answer\":\"The bus will drive down the entire valley, passing multiple former mining towns and looping back toward the hospital and then Hank’s town of Cwmgarw before reaching the Bevan Estate, known locally as Texas-2.\"},{\"question\":\"What drives the American couple’s trip into Wales, and what tension do they carry?\",\"answer\":\"They are traveling to visit Wales as an off-beat road trip, after years of distance in their relationship. The text emphasizes their fatigue, hesitation, and a sense that regret and emotional gaps are part of the journey.\"}]","Leading to Texas-2 - Day One - A Long Journey | PDF",1785658677,467,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":23,"language":22,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"leading-to-texas-2-day-one-a-long-journey","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,53,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/leading-to-texas-2-day-one-a-long-journey/116383/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":22,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-02",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"What happens to Hank Evan that sets the opening day in motion?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"Hank has been in hospital undergoing regular epileptic tests and has just managed to catch the 97B circular. He is injured and struggling physically and emotionally during the trip home.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"Why does Hank’s bus route feel long and unavoidable?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"The bus will drive down the entire valley, passing multiple former mining towns and looping back toward the hospital and then Hank’s town of Cwmgarw before reaching the Bevan Estate, known locally as Texas-2.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"What drives the American couple’s trip into Wales, and what tension do they carry?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"They are traveling to visit Wales as an off-beat road trip, after years of distance in their relationship. 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