His bare feet felt the earth and occasionally he hopped as a stone dug into the soles of his feet, but he never spoke.

This got imprinted into my mind until the very end of the story and I have to mention just how good this line is, because in this sentence you tell ius about how very much he was used to either walking around with shoes/slippers, or walking on silky smooth terrain, that he wasn't used to the coarse and cold feel of stones. It's subtle, but oh so very powerful. There's plenty other such lines in your story and they just make me fall in love with your writing so much more!

But other than that. WOW! Simply just.. WOW!
I especially love that it wasn't only him who timetravelled, but that others (the old man, the little girl, ... ... ) have done it before and are constantly doing it. I also LOVE the idea of goinf back to his time, and being given a token, a stone, a reminder of where he was, and what he felt there.
So much awesomeness in one story!
You said it was long... I say it is too short!

Thank you so very much for your entry! :D