Keeping Time

A week later, a customer accused him of damaging a watch. Tomas reached for the blue clock, then stopped. He apologised, examined the broken spring, and offered to repair it without charge. The conversation was uncomfortable and entirely his own. That evening he visited his mother with fresh bread. He listened while she described her garden, including every troublesome weed. Back at the shop, he removed the blue clock's hands. The other clocks kept imperfect time. Tomas wound each one carefully and remembered the whole day.