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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Fairy Tales & Fantasy
- Subject: Life Changing Decisions/Events
- Published: 01/09/2019
I wandered into his shop for no other reason than I was bored. I had never been to this city before. The jet lag made me unable to sleep…so I wandered the streets of this strange city. I didn’t have any meetings scheduled for today. Some wizard in the Travel Department understood just how powerful jet lag can be and wisely gave me a full day here to rest up.
I walked down a cute little alley. It wasn’t dark, scary, or isolated, just a little alley with a few shops lining the sides. That is where I saw the clocks in the window. All kinds of clocks. I even saw wristwatches from the fifties and sixties with Mickey Mouse on the face, and his big hand as the, well big hand. There were old school clock radios like you might see in Groundhog Day, or movies from the sixties or seventies. There were small Grandfather Clocks, Big Grandfather Clocks, clocks in seashells, clocks with a cuckoo bird to announce the hour.
So I went in.
*****
“May I help you?”
I heard a voice say from the back of the shop, just a shadow behind one of the beaded hanging doors that used to be popular for a New York Minute among Hippies in the Sixties.
“Yes. Do you have the Time?”
I chuckled at my own cleverness. I expected him to laugh. (At least I thought it was a him. I was wrong.)
He didn’t chuckle. He didn’t laugh either. He said in a dead serious voice:
“Yes. I have all the Time in the World.”
That stopped me in my tracks. When something resembling a hand pushed the strands of beads to the side to step out of the back room- my heart stopped in its tracks. It wasn’t a he. It wasn’t a she. It was an IT.
Oh, it wasn’t a scary IT. But it wasn’t anything Human. It was more like an impressionist painting of what a Human might look like if you were wearing out of focus glasses that were tinted with blue lenses. Soft, wispy, ethereal, flowing, like desert robes stuffed with wind and not flesh.
Somehow, my tongue found a way to form words without checking with my brain first.
“I don’t want to waste it. I’ll just go now.”
When I heard those words come from my lips, my brain must have been listening. Because it agreed wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, my feet must not have been listening in, because they just stayed put. Like I was glued to the floor. IT came closer. It still wasn’t scary, but jeez, it glided over to me without taking a single step. My brain was desperately trying to get my attention. I didn’t have any attention to share…IT was taking up all that I had.
IT stopped about a foot away. I couldn’t see a face, not really. No discernible features other than the general oval shape of a head. Even this close, IT still wasn’t threatening, or even intimidating. It was just foreign feeling. Alien. Yes, that is it, Alien. It smelled like a strawberry farted a blue berry. Which might be disgusting imagery, but was an accurate account of the odor surrounding it. I liked IT.
The Voice came out of IT, about where it would have if I had been speaking to say…a person. My brain had long ago ceased to try to get my attention and was busy looking for any eyes, ears, mouth, or nose on IT. It didn’t find any. So my brain decided to just sit there and take it all in.
“I can give you a few minutes.”
“For what?”
“For whatever you want to do with them.”
Now my brain was deciding if IT was crazy, or I was. My brain seemed to feel it was a toss up. I agreed.
“What would I do with a few minutes?”
IT spoke again: “You could do anything with them. I would hope you wouldn’t waste them like you have most of the ones you already used up.”
Now my brain let the emotions flow. I mean who was this..this…IT thing, to tell me I wasted Time? I got my brain to instruct my mouth and words to drip with sarcastic venom- I have to say, my brain got the perfect tone out.
“How do you know I wasted any Time?”
IT waved some of the flowing draped desert robe - as if it were an arm, and made a sweeping gesture that took in the whole shop.
“I told you. I have all the Time in the World.”
Okay, I admit my brain was on overload. I am usually quick on the uptake. I blame it on the fact that I was talking with a flowing tower of robes that smelled like a strawberry farted a blueberry and had a voice like an Angel for the reason I was so slow on the uptake. I uttered a scathing question:
“Uh, what?”
“Time. I have all the Time in the World. Your world. I can give you more of it. Or give back some of what you wasted. Or if you want to sell me some of yours, I can work out a deal that way too.”
My brain sat down. I could almost hear my brain wishing it had never looked in the window, or entered the shop. Part of my brain was still wandering around my skull wondering how to get out of my mind. That’s the part that asked the next question:
“Why would you give me back any Time?”
“Oh, so you could correct a mistake. Reshuffle your future and have a different life, that only takes a minute or so. I could give you back that minute.”
“Give me an example of what you mean?”
(After this was over, I was going to give my brain a beer for staying on top of things- I sure wasn’t.)
“Do you remember when that lovely Girl…Dianne, yes that was her name, Dianne walked away with you holding the engagement ring you told her she could keep?”
Do I remember that? My God, it has haunted me for twenty years. If I had just run after her and put it back on her finger…I know she would have let me. I was just so mad that I didn’t. When I finally decided to make up with her…she was gone. By the time I got back home…I wasn’t brave enough to call her. The next day when I went to her apartment…she was gone. She had left no forwarding address. I never saw her again.
To IT, I only whispered an answer:
“Yes. I remember.”
“Well, I can give you the few minutes back that you need to chase her down with.”
Now my brain was pressed against the inside of my forehead, pushed there by hope, hunger for a second chance, and every desperate emotion I ever felt. I could feel my heart with every beat, trying to climb up into my brains to ask if this was possible. Could it be true? Could I go back and give Dianne back her ring, and me as well? I don’t know when my eyes decided to start crying without permission.
“I would like that. But…but…but…if you give me back those few minutes, I won’t find your shop. You can’t change the Past. Right?”
“No. You Humans are so funny. You think Time is a line. It isn’t. Think of it like a giant pool. You can swim in any direction, dive to the bottom, rise to the top, float along, turn around, go back, even (if you really try) get out of Time. Time will move in the new direction those few minutes give you. And I get all the Time that you used up until then. A good deal for us both if I do say so myself.”
What would you do? I took those few minutes over.
*****
“Dianne! Dianne! (She turned with tear stained eyes. Eyes wide with hope and surprise.) Wait! Wait. Please.”
I ran to her as fast as I could- she hadn’t gone to far... I was in front of her in mere moments. I held the ring out as I dipped to one knee, like I was going to propose…again. Just like I had proposed a year earlier. Except this time, I was certain. She must have felt it.
She put her hand out in the most timid trembling “are you sure” gesture I had ever seen. I took her hand in mine, slid the ring back where it belonged, looked up into her eyes. I saw the forgiveness, the love, the wanting, and hope, bunching up behind her tears. She felt what I wanted to say, she knew it was true…this time.
“Dianne, I was a fool. I love you. I want to love you for all time. Will you marry me?”
“Yes. Yes. Yes!”
I don’t remember much for a bit. My brain was hopping around banging itself against my skull with joy. Then I heard Dianne say:
“When should we set the Date?”
My brain stopped bouncing off the walls long enough to think.
“We have to wait forty eight hours for the blood test, so if we hurry to the Courthouse, we can be married in two days. “
“Deal!”
*****
It was a small wedding. Just Dianne and her brother. My Dad and Mom, and my two sisters. Dianne’s best friend (Melanie) and my best friend (Sylvester).
“Where are you going for your Honeymoon?”
Dianne and I looked at each other and laughed. I had told her about the Shop and IT.
“Nowhere just yet. We are in no hurry. We have all the Time in the world.“
*****
In an Alley, somewhere in a Strange City, a tower of desert robes that smelled like a strawberry farted a blueberry, placed almost two decades of wasted time on a back shelf. Even without a face, you could feel IT smile.
It's about Time.(Kevin Hughes)
I wandered into his shop for no other reason than I was bored. I had never been to this city before. The jet lag made me unable to sleep…so I wandered the streets of this strange city. I didn’t have any meetings scheduled for today. Some wizard in the Travel Department understood just how powerful jet lag can be and wisely gave me a full day here to rest up.
I walked down a cute little alley. It wasn’t dark, scary, or isolated, just a little alley with a few shops lining the sides. That is where I saw the clocks in the window. All kinds of clocks. I even saw wristwatches from the fifties and sixties with Mickey Mouse on the face, and his big hand as the, well big hand. There were old school clock radios like you might see in Groundhog Day, or movies from the sixties or seventies. There were small Grandfather Clocks, Big Grandfather Clocks, clocks in seashells, clocks with a cuckoo bird to announce the hour.
So I went in.
*****
“May I help you?”
I heard a voice say from the back of the shop, just a shadow behind one of the beaded hanging doors that used to be popular for a New York Minute among Hippies in the Sixties.
“Yes. Do you have the Time?”
I chuckled at my own cleverness. I expected him to laugh. (At least I thought it was a him. I was wrong.)
He didn’t chuckle. He didn’t laugh either. He said in a dead serious voice:
“Yes. I have all the Time in the World.”
That stopped me in my tracks. When something resembling a hand pushed the strands of beads to the side to step out of the back room- my heart stopped in its tracks. It wasn’t a he. It wasn’t a she. It was an IT.
Oh, it wasn’t a scary IT. But it wasn’t anything Human. It was more like an impressionist painting of what a Human might look like if you were wearing out of focus glasses that were tinted with blue lenses. Soft, wispy, ethereal, flowing, like desert robes stuffed with wind and not flesh.
Somehow, my tongue found a way to form words without checking with my brain first.
“I don’t want to waste it. I’ll just go now.”
When I heard those words come from my lips, my brain must have been listening. Because it agreed wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, my feet must not have been listening in, because they just stayed put. Like I was glued to the floor. IT came closer. It still wasn’t scary, but jeez, it glided over to me without taking a single step. My brain was desperately trying to get my attention. I didn’t have any attention to share…IT was taking up all that I had.
IT stopped about a foot away. I couldn’t see a face, not really. No discernible features other than the general oval shape of a head. Even this close, IT still wasn’t threatening, or even intimidating. It was just foreign feeling. Alien. Yes, that is it, Alien. It smelled like a strawberry farted a blue berry. Which might be disgusting imagery, but was an accurate account of the odor surrounding it. I liked IT.
The Voice came out of IT, about where it would have if I had been speaking to say…a person. My brain had long ago ceased to try to get my attention and was busy looking for any eyes, ears, mouth, or nose on IT. It didn’t find any. So my brain decided to just sit there and take it all in.
“I can give you a few minutes.”
“For what?”
“For whatever you want to do with them.”
Now my brain was deciding if IT was crazy, or I was. My brain seemed to feel it was a toss up. I agreed.
“What would I do with a few minutes?”
IT spoke again: “You could do anything with them. I would hope you wouldn’t waste them like you have most of the ones you already used up.”
Now my brain let the emotions flow. I mean who was this..this…IT thing, to tell me I wasted Time? I got my brain to instruct my mouth and words to drip with sarcastic venom- I have to say, my brain got the perfect tone out.
“How do you know I wasted any Time?”
IT waved some of the flowing draped desert robe - as if it were an arm, and made a sweeping gesture that took in the whole shop.
“I told you. I have all the Time in the World.”
Okay, I admit my brain was on overload. I am usually quick on the uptake. I blame it on the fact that I was talking with a flowing tower of robes that smelled like a strawberry farted a blueberry and had a voice like an Angel for the reason I was so slow on the uptake. I uttered a scathing question:
“Uh, what?”
“Time. I have all the Time in the World. Your world. I can give you more of it. Or give back some of what you wasted. Or if you want to sell me some of yours, I can work out a deal that way too.”
My brain sat down. I could almost hear my brain wishing it had never looked in the window, or entered the shop. Part of my brain was still wandering around my skull wondering how to get out of my mind. That’s the part that asked the next question:
“Why would you give me back any Time?”
“Oh, so you could correct a mistake. Reshuffle your future and have a different life, that only takes a minute or so. I could give you back that minute.”
“Give me an example of what you mean?”
(After this was over, I was going to give my brain a beer for staying on top of things- I sure wasn’t.)
“Do you remember when that lovely Girl…Dianne, yes that was her name, Dianne walked away with you holding the engagement ring you told her she could keep?”
Do I remember that? My God, it has haunted me for twenty years. If I had just run after her and put it back on her finger…I know she would have let me. I was just so mad that I didn’t. When I finally decided to make up with her…she was gone. By the time I got back home…I wasn’t brave enough to call her. The next day when I went to her apartment…she was gone. She had left no forwarding address. I never saw her again.
To IT, I only whispered an answer:
“Yes. I remember.”
“Well, I can give you the few minutes back that you need to chase her down with.”
Now my brain was pressed against the inside of my forehead, pushed there by hope, hunger for a second chance, and every desperate emotion I ever felt. I could feel my heart with every beat, trying to climb up into my brains to ask if this was possible. Could it be true? Could I go back and give Dianne back her ring, and me as well? I don’t know when my eyes decided to start crying without permission.
“I would like that. But…but…but…if you give me back those few minutes, I won’t find your shop. You can’t change the Past. Right?”
“No. You Humans are so funny. You think Time is a line. It isn’t. Think of it like a giant pool. You can swim in any direction, dive to the bottom, rise to the top, float along, turn around, go back, even (if you really try) get out of Time. Time will move in the new direction those few minutes give you. And I get all the Time that you used up until then. A good deal for us both if I do say so myself.”
What would you do? I took those few minutes over.
*****
“Dianne! Dianne! (She turned with tear stained eyes. Eyes wide with hope and surprise.) Wait! Wait. Please.”
I ran to her as fast as I could- she hadn’t gone to far... I was in front of her in mere moments. I held the ring out as I dipped to one knee, like I was going to propose…again. Just like I had proposed a year earlier. Except this time, I was certain. She must have felt it.
She put her hand out in the most timid trembling “are you sure” gesture I had ever seen. I took her hand in mine, slid the ring back where it belonged, looked up into her eyes. I saw the forgiveness, the love, the wanting, and hope, bunching up behind her tears. She felt what I wanted to say, she knew it was true…this time.
“Dianne, I was a fool. I love you. I want to love you for all time. Will you marry me?”
“Yes. Yes. Yes!”
I don’t remember much for a bit. My brain was hopping around banging itself against my skull with joy. Then I heard Dianne say:
“When should we set the Date?”
My brain stopped bouncing off the walls long enough to think.
“We have to wait forty eight hours for the blood test, so if we hurry to the Courthouse, we can be married in two days. “
“Deal!”
*****
It was a small wedding. Just Dianne and her brother. My Dad and Mom, and my two sisters. Dianne’s best friend (Melanie) and my best friend (Sylvester).
“Where are you going for your Honeymoon?”
Dianne and I looked at each other and laughed. I had told her about the Shop and IT.
“Nowhere just yet. We are in no hurry. We have all the Time in the world.“
*****
In an Alley, somewhere in a Strange City, a tower of desert robes that smelled like a strawberry farted a blueberry, placed almost two decades of wasted time on a back shelf. Even without a face, you could feel IT smile.
JD
01/12/2019Another GREAT story, Kevin! Totally unique, original, entertaining, and intriguing. I wish we could all get a do-over like that! Beautiful! :-)
ReplyHelp Us Understand What's Happening
JD
01/13/2019I like the idea of being able to stop at fulfilling one's needs, rather than lusting after wants. May we all succeed in our desire to be better people with more self-control and greater satisfaction with the fulfillment of our needs.
Help Us Understand What's Happening
Kevin Hughes
01/13/2019Happy New Year, Jd,
I know. Those do-overs would come in handy! I saw a documentary the other day that said most of us do the same things almost every day. Even without FACEBOOK to use up half our waking day. Trying to change ourselves seems to be the most difficult do-over of all!
I would be taller, keep my hair, and stop at filling my needs, without lusting after my wants. LOL
Smiles, Kevin
COMMENTS (2)