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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Drama / Human Interest
- Subject: Aging / Maturity
- Published: 11/05/2020
Tick Tock
Born 1948, F, from Epping. Essex, United KingdomTick Tock
By Kristin Dockar
Bill sits in his chair looking at the cup of unfinished tea that the care assistant left for him. He picks up a biscuit and takes a bite or two, just a nibble really, then puts it down unfinished.
Bill is 92 years old, and until last year was completely competent, mentally, and physically. He lived in a lovely home and was completely independent. Still driving, doing his own shopping and banking, and amazingly, still a student. He had always been a life-long learner.
Now he has Dementia. One quick brain bleed and his brain started to disintegrate.
He reaches into his waist coat pocket and pulls out his pocket watch. It is a handsome thing, gold with a heavy embossed chain. Bill pulls off the back of the watch and looks intently at the workings. He starts to pick at the tiny cogs and dials, but they hold fast.
This is what he does with his time now. Pulls things apart. Once he was truly gifted with mechanical skills. He could make lovely objects out of metal and wood. He could fix any machine, mend broken-down cars, make and fix toys for his grandchildren and great grandchildren.
He fits the back of the watch on and sits looking at the clock face. The hands show it is half past eleven. He continues to look intently at the second-hand ticking round.
As he stares the fog that is his mind clears and he remembers he bought the pocket watch at auction. He paid £240 for it. He remembers the bidding was fierce. His mind continues to focus as he looks intently around the room, and he thinks ‘I’m not at home’.
He holds on to the solidness of the watch and lets his gaze wander. He sees the semi-circle of chairs with people slumped in them or asleep. He hears the TV is on, but the volume is so low that he cannot hear what is being said. Nobody is watching and in his moment of clarity he wonders what the point of that is. He sees ladies in a sort of uniform. He notices they look kindly at him and one raises her hand and gives him a little wave.
Bill presses his fingers around the watch and the hardness of the metal filters through his hands and brings him to the realisation that he is in a care home.
He lifts the watch to his ear, listens and hears the seconds ticking by. It is as if this sound activates his brain.
He is a person in the moment, alone, and it is through the sound and feel of his pocket watch that he understands what time has done to him.
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