Barney and Stig cannot speak the same language but form a genuine and easy friendship through actions, gestures and shared purpose. King suggests that deep friendship can transcend words.
The Midsummer sequence raises fascinating questions — was it a dream? A vision? Did they really travel back? King leaves this deliberately ambiguous.
The novel is rich with detail about the natural landscape of the chalk downlands. Stig is entirely at home in nature; he teaches Barney to see it differently.
Both boys are outsiders in different ways — Stig is literally thousands of years out of his time; Barney is a dreamy misfit who doesn't fit in with other children. Their friendship is between two people who belong nowhere quite comfortable except with each other.