What Adam Did

If Adam’s hands hadn’t been so cold as he reached out his hand to steady himself, he would have felt that the bark of the towering pine tree was course, furrowed and scaly.
If he hadn’t been so scared as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, he would have heard the crunch of the needles beneath his feet.
If his lungs hadn’t been about to explode as he struggled to catch his breath, he would have noticed that it was pouring out of his mouth in a steam and mixing with the fog that enveloped him.