03/22/2004: "The Time Keeper"

By Carol J. Warren

Once upon a time there was a clock maker. He was an expert clock maker. No one could make clocks as accurate or as wonderful as he did. He made tall clocks and short clocks, some were round and some were square, some were very expensive and some were very cheap. He knew exactly what would be needed in every instance. He never made a clock that wouldn’t be needed or wouldn’t be useful. That is until…

It was the very small round clock that sat on the shelf above his workbench. I don’t exactly know what happened, no one could explain it. Everyone was embarrassed for the poor clock but what could you do. People began to whisper when they walked by, others boldly starred but one little clock just blurted it out. “Papa look at that weird clock over there by the wall. See Papa see.” The little clock said pointing. “His face is upside down.” Said the little clock standing on his head to see the time.

“Don’t do that,” his father said, “You’ll get stuck that way. Just try not to notice and walk past.”

“How can you not notice?” the little clock said, “when it’s supposed to be noon it says six or is that a nine because upside down it looks like a nine. And my goodness papa, I’ve never seen anything as awful as this when it is suppose to be three it’s six or is that a nine, I can’t tell. How will he ever be able to tell someone when it is time to go to bed or when it is time for dinner? He’s a freak. That’s what he is Papa, a freak. Do you think he can ever be fixed papa?”

“No,” said papa clock sadly shaking his head as he pulled his gawking son along, “there is no hope for this clock. His face is made that way. Let’s not stare.” He said starring as he left.

The little clock was very new so he wasn’t sure what everyone else was talking about at first. But he soon figured it out. He was different. No one wanted their little clocks playing with the likes of him. What if the same thing happened to their little clocks. “Well if you ask me,” one older clock said, “he should be put on the scrap heap. He’s a menace to the good name of clocks everywhere. Just look at him. He probably doesn’t even know what time is and why time is so valuable.”

“Did the clockmaker mess up on him Papa,” another little clock asked, “or did he mess himself up.”

“Well,” said the older clock with an air of pride, “It is evident by looking around you here at the clock shop that the clockmaker does not make mistakes.”

“Quite right.” Said another, “it can’t be his fault.”
“So, “ the older clock continued, “It must just be that he’s made of bad material. Rubbish to begin with if you ask me.” He said sniffing and turning his back on the poor little clock.

“Don’t look,” one mama clock told her little clock, “you can see his gears.” She whispered rather loudly, “He has no cover on. He’s naked. It’s positively shameful. He ought to be arrested.”

They talked about him like he wasn’t there. As though he couldn’t hear them and didn’t have feelings. What was so bad about him anyway? The little clock began to look around the room and really look at the other clocks for the first time. There were so many clocks and they all seemed to tell time perfectly, at least as far as the little clock could tell. Most of them were very pretty. Some had golden knobs and things. Some were very big like grandfather clock, and some were very little and pretty made for a lady’s dressing tables.

Some were made of glass and some of gold. Some had large glass domes over the top of them to protect them. Some had pendulums that swung back and forth and others you could wind. Some of them did things, like the cuckoo clock had a bird that came out every hour and said, “cuckoo, cuckoo.” The little clock thought that the bird was saying that to him every time. Then there was the woodman chopping wood, or the lady spanking her baby or the figurines that came out and danced ever hour. Some had beautiful chimes or music. But none of them were upside down or without a cover like the little clock.

“Then it’s true,” thought the little clock, “I am defective. But why? Did I do something wrong? Am I being punished for something I didn’t even know I did?”
He couldn’t make sense of it. But one thing he knew, he simply couldn’t take all of the stares and comments. It hurt him so, that the little clocked turned his face to the wall where everyone couldn’t stare at him. But every time he peeked over his shoulder it seemed someone was talking about him to someone else and pointing at him. So he began to stack things behind him, a little here and a little there, more and more until he was completely hidden. So deeply did he pile things around him that he couldn’t have gotten out if he had wanted to.

But he didn’t care; he didn’t want anyone to ever look at him again. His face was on wrong. He didn’t belong. He was different and different, as he learned from everyone else, is bad. But why? Why had the master clockmaker done this to him? He was so miserable and lonely. Why did he seem to care about all of the other clockes but not the little clock? He would probably just rust back there and no one would know or care. He sighed, “If only something could be done.”

The master clockmaker came into the room. He began to turn things over and to search for something. The little clock couldn’t see him but he could hear him. “How I wish I were what he was looking for. How I wish he cared about me and could help me. What am I saying? If he sees me he will probably throw me on the trash heap. I mean just look at me, anyone would. Better to hide and be very quiet.”

Soon the master clockmaker looked behind the wall of piled up stuff that the little clock had built up to hide himself. “Oh there you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. What are you doing back here?” he asked.

But the little clock had his eyes shut waiting to be swept off the shelf into the trash bin. “Oh I see now,” said the clockmaker. “You’re hiding. You’re hiding from me. You don’t want me to be your master anymore.”

The little clock opened his eyes. “That’s not true and you know it. You know why I was hiding.” He said accusingly.

“Really,” said the clockmaker, “And why is that?”

“Well, “ the little clock gulped back his fear, I mean this was the creator, the master of all clockmakers, “because you messed up on me. Now no one likes me or wants to have anything to do with me. They all laugh at me and point and stare because I’m defective. So I hid myself behind this pile of stuff.”

“Is that what you really think?” asked the clockmaker looking at the little clock. “Do you really think I messed up on you? Do you think I don’t know what I’m doing? That I am incompetent? You seem to think I don’t know how to make a clock? Is that right?”

The little clock shook with fear but he still spoke up. “Well if you’re such a good clockmaker why did you mess up on me?”

“And what makes you think I messed up on you?” the clockmaker asked

“What makes me think you messed up?” said the little clock incredulous. “Just look at me. My face is on upside down. I have no cover.” Then in a whisper, “everyone can see my, you know, gears. It’s very embarrassing.”

The clock maker laughed. But the little clock didn’t see what was so funny. “Go ahead laugh at me. I don’t care.” He said sniffing, “That’s probably why you messed me up just so you could have a good laugh.”

The clockmaker said, “It’s funny to me because you have judged what’s right and wrong about you by all of the other clocks. Why in the world would you do that? Did they make you? Do they know why I made you? No! You weren’t made to be like them because I made you with a special purpose. So you need to stop worrying about what they think and comparing yourself to them. You’re not supposed to be like them.”

“I’m not?” the little clock asked, “Then what am I supposed to be like?”

“Well I can’t tell you until I get you out of this mess.” The clockmaker said, “You see you’ve been back there so long that if I just move all of this stuff to quickly, well you’ll fall apart. So I have to very carefully very gently move one box and then wait until you get used to it being gone and then move another box. Until I can get you out of this mess.”

“That will take forever if you do it like that.” The little clock whined. “I’ll rust for sure by then.”

“Well I never intended for you to build all these walls.” The clockmaker said, “You were suppose to stay where I could find you and keep working on you. You see you’re not finished yet.”

“Oh,” said the little clock, “well at least that makes sense. Well then go ahead let’s at least get this started. Remove the first box.”

“No,” said the clockmaker.

“What?” cried the little clock, “what do you mean no. You just told me that is what you have to do to even start getting me out of here where you can repair me and finish me.”

“It is,” said the clockmaker

“Then let’s get started.” Said the little clock

“No!” said the clockmaker

“Did I forget to say please?” the little clock asked.

“Oh it’s much more serious than that.” Said the clockmaker, “You said some very bad things. You said that I wasn’t a good clockmaker and that I messed you up on purpose. When the truth was if you hadn’t worried about what other clocks thought instead of waiting to see what I had to say, you wouldn’t have ran away and gotten yourself into this mess to begin with. I had a good plan for you but you didn’t ask me what my plan was, you just ran away. Now you are blaming me for the mess that your running away caused.”

“I’m sorry,” said the little clock and he meant it.

“That’s a start,” the clockmaker said, “But keep going. You see all of these things that you said stay inside of you and cause rust. Only telling me that you’re really sorry and that you want me to be your clockmaker again, no matter what it takes or how long it takes, will change things. Only then can those rust causing words be removed. Until then you’re a run away clock. Until you say you’re sorry and mean it you’re no longer mine. You belong to yourself and you can’t fix yourself. You can see what your fixes have caused. You must not only be sorry but also give yourself back to me. Only then can I begin the long process of fixing you. Even then you must stay with me until the process is completed. If you run away again and accuse me there’s nothing I can do but wait for you to return and start all over again. ”

“Wow,” the little clock didn’t realize how big of a mess he’d made. He told the clockmaker he was sorry and really meant it and gave himself back to the clockmaker. He said that he would try not to run away again. It took a long time for all of the boxes to be removed. Sometimes the little clock would get impatient. Then the clockmaker would remind him that only the clockmaker knows what the clock needs and how delicate the situation is. He must learn to trust him and yield to him. He must learn not to be in a hurry. “Do you see that pile of gears and springs in the corner?” the clockmaker asked.

“Yes,” said the little clock, “poor guy. What happened to him?”

“He too was in a hurry.” Said the clockmaker, “he wanted me to use him. That was all he thought about. But he got in such a hurry that he rushed out before he was finished and he simply fell apart. That could happen to you. I know it’s miserable waiting but it is better to go slow and let every step be established than to rush out unfinished and unprepared.”

“Ok,” said the little clock, “You’re the clockmaker not me. I’m going to let you call the shots.”

Finally the day came when all the boxes were removed. The clockmaker picked the clock up and looked him over to see what repairs needed to be made. “And don’t forget that my face is upside down,” the little clock added, “please.”

The clockmaker laughed and laughed. The little clock was getting used to this, at least a little. He was a very joyful man. “Just what’s so funny this time?” the little clock asked.

The clockmaker took the clock and rolled him over. I simply sat you down upside down; you’re round. All you had to do is roll over and you’d be right side up.” Said the clockmaker still laughing. “There never was anything wrong with your face. You were standing on your head all of this time. No wonder everything looked wrong to you.”

“I was just standing on my head all of this time?” the little clock asked.

“Yes,” said the clockmaker, “look around you now that I have set you right side up. Don’t things look different?”

“Well yes,” said the little clock, “now that you mention it everything does look different. Even you look different to me.”

“Nothing looks right when you’re upside down.” Said the clockmaker. “As for your cover. I have it right over here.”

“While you’re looking for it, “ the little clock said, “Can I ask you a personal question. Why did you make me so small? Who’s going to be able to see my time when I’m on the shelf with me being so small.”

“Absolutely no one.” Said the clockmaker

“See even you agree that you made me too small.” Said the little clock.

“Oh I didn’t say that at all.” Said the clock maker. “Technically you’re not really a clock.”

“Then what am I with this face?” asked the clock, “I don’t think I’m a ballerina.”

“No,” said the clockmaker fitting his cover in place. “It was gold. His cover was gold with lots of fine engravings on it. There were even some jewels.”

“Are those the real thing?” asked the little clock.

“Yes they are.” Said the clockmaker.

“You mean you had that waiting for me all along?” asked the little clock

“Yes,” said the clockmaker, “I just had to wait for you to come back to me and dig you out of all the walls you made and then repair you.”

Finally the cover was in place. It was beautiful. It had a very expensive looking lid that opened and closed and a long golden chain attached near the stem. “What is that for?” the little clock asked.

“To chain you to me.” Said the clockmaker.

“Chain me to you?” asked the little clock.

“Yes,” said the clockmaker, “You see you’re not really a clock you’re a pocket watch. One I made special just for myself. I made this pretty chain to attach you to my belt loop so if you fall you won’t break. Then I just put you like this in my shirt pocket.”

The little clock sat there amazed. “You mean you didn’t make me to sell like the other clocks.”

“No,” said the clockmaker, “I told you that you were different. I made you just for me.”

“Wait a minute.” Said the pocket watch, “I hear something. You have another watch. You don’t even need me.”

Again the clockmaker laughed but it was a good laugh, “That’s not another watch silly, that’s my heart. And that’s what makes it even more special. Your timing mechanism is set to the beat of my heart.”

“Wow that is nice.” Said the pocket watch.

“It’s more than nice.” Said the clockmaker, “Everywhere I go I will take you with me. When I take you out of my pocket and show you to the other clocks they will be able to tell that you are set to my heartbeat. Then they will adjust their time by what they see in you. So you will help me set all of my clocks to my heartbeat so that we can all be on the same time. I told you that you had a very important and special job.”

“You mean I’m not just for pretty,” said the pocket watch, “I really have a purpose.”

“Yes,” said the clockmaker, “I know a watch must have a purpose. You will not only be mine but you will show others how to be in time with me so they can be mine too. I will always keep you here next to my heart where you can stay in perfect time with me. After all I am the creator and the keeper of all time, even your time. Any time that is not in sync with me is wrong.”

The pocket watch was very happy. When he thought of how close he came to rusting away because he worried about what other clocks thought he shuddered. It was a good thing that he was different. If only he’d known that different can be good. But that is all behind him now. He has a great life and chained to the Master he is never alone.

The End.