Clock story
(or: IT'S ABOUT TIME)

© Tony Holkham 2001

Part One

Grandpa Tock always knew when the young clocks wanted to hear a story. They gathered at his doorway. They tried to be quiet. They pretended to be busy, scuffling about in the red dust.

Eventually, Tock looked up. "Hooray!" they all shouted together as Grandpa Tock made his way outside. Tock looked at them. "What is it to be, then?" he asked in his deep ringing voice. His white face shone brightly in the sunshine, and the black Roman numerals round its edge even more.

"Worms!" squeaked Millie Second. "It was worms yesterday," said Grandpa Tock, in a grandfatherly sort of way.

"Water?" asked Sammie, her sister.

Before Tock could reply, a very small voice at the back said "Tell us about humans."

They all turned to look at the speaker. Herbie Hour, and his little gold, grubby face, beamed. Then he frowned. They all turned to see what he was frowning at.

They all gasped. Grandpa Tock was lying on his back. He was not moving. Even his hands were still.

"What's the matter with him?" asked Millie. Nano, Sammie's older sister, went to him. "Sssh!" she said, leaning over Tock. "He's not ticking," she said. "Get Doctor Rock. Quick!"

Doctor Rock was there very quickly. He listened. "What are we going to do?" asked Sammie. "Resuscitate him," answered the doctor. "Resusci-what him?" squeaked Millie. "Give him a shove," sighed the doctor. "Give me a hand."

Soon they were rocking Grandpa backwards and forwards while the doctor listened. "That's it," he said at last. "He's going again."

Grandpa Tock groaned and sat up. "What happened. Was it me ticker, Doc Rock?" The doctor nodded. Tock got to his feet. "What's wrong with me ticker, Doc?" "You've let yourself get a bit run down," said the doctor. "But then, you are the oldest clock in the world, Tock."

"In the desert," Tock corrected him. "As you wish," said the doctor. "Anyway, I recommend a change of oil. Something lighter. Something unsaturated."

"Tick!" replied Grandpa Tock grumpily, as grandfathers sometimes do. "The trouble is that young Herbie with his silly notions. Winds me up every story time. Gave Tock Clock a shock, Doc."

"What did Herbie say?" asked Rock. "He only mentioned them, that's all!" stormed Grandpa Tock. Then, seeing all the children listening, Tock lowered his voice. "'Tell us about humans', he said, the little highly-sprung tyke."

The doctor looked cross. "Where did you hear about humans?" demanded Rock so loudly that Herbie fell over backwards. "Chronos," stammered Herbie, trying to look smaller than he actually was, which was difficult.

"What's Chronos?" they all said, together. Herbie did not like them all looking at him. He felt even smaller.

But, brave clock that he was, he answered: "Who. I met him by the river."

"Herbie," said Tock, kindly, "you know you must not go near the river." "I heard a noise," said Herbie, boldly. "A rattly, squeaky noise. Hundreds of ticks with gaps."

"A self-winder," said the doctor to Tock. "A what?" asked Sammie. "A clock that winds itself," explained Tock. "But it has to keep moving to stay wound up. I've never seen one of them, but I've heard of them."

"He ran up and down the river bank all the time," said Herbie. "I thought he was a nutcase." The younger clocks laughed, but stopped when Tock held up his hands. "You must not laugh at others' misfortunes," he said sternly.

He looked at Herbie. "Where is this Chronos now?" "I don't know," said Herbie. "Flew off in his machine, I suppose." "Flew?" they all shouted at him again. "Flew?"

"Herbie," said Nano, putting on her adult voice, for she was nearly adult, "Clocks don't swim and clocks don't fly, they…."

"I think," interrupted Grandpa Tock, "Herbie has a good imagination. We should have a story about water, as originally agreed, and no more nonsense about - you know what."

Herbie said nothing. He sulked. But the beginning of his sulk was interrupted by the doctor. "You should not tell a story, Grandpa Tock. You should rest. See me tomorrow about an oil change. All right?" He turned to go.

"Sorry, children," said Tock. "Perhaps …" His words were drowned out by the most curious noise. A dust storm began to blow up, and in amongst it was a clattering and squeaking such as none of them had ever heard. Eventually the dust settled, revealing a… something. A bright green, spindly, coggy, feathery, spiky sort of something. A something that had no middle and no top or bottom, no face and no hands. And from that something climbed a clock.

"Greetings!" he said, running past them and into the distance, turning round eventually and running back. "Greetings!" he said as he passed them going the other way. He did this three times more before stopping in front of them, red-faced and breathless. "Sorry about that. Got a bit run down on the way here."

Seeing their astonished faces - except Herbie's, which smiled happily - he laughed. "I am Chronos, the time traveller."

By this time, most of the clocks in the town had arrived to see what the fuss was. They gathered round the stranger. Some rude ones even poked him.

Chronos stood up on a small boulder. "Who's in charge? I have something important to tell you." "What does 'in charge' mean?" whispered Millie to Sammie. Overhearing her, Chronos did his best to point at them all at once. "It means, who makes important decisions?"

"About what?" asked the doctor.

"About where you go, for example."

"Go? We don't go anywhere," said Tock. "Except at birth time," said the doctor's wife, Classic, nudging her husband. "But we don't decide that. It just happens."

"Well then, who decides what you can and can't do?" asked Chronos, suddenly running away into the distance. As he ran back past them the other way, he added: "And when and where and how?"

The next time he ran past, Main Spring, the polisher, who was very strong, grabbed hold of Chronos and sat on him. "If you will keep still, Mr Chronic," he said, "we can have a reasonable conversation. Thank you," he added, as if Chronos had any choice.

"No one decides," continued Classic. "We do what's right. Whatever you want to say, say it to all of us."

Chronos nodded, and Main Spring got off him, but remained standing on the stranger's foot so he couldn't run off again. Chronos continued: "I have to tell you something very important about humans, which…"

"See?" interrupted Herbie, but his voice was drowned out by the entire population shouting: "HUMANS?"

"Oh, no," muttered Grandpa Tock, as he fell over backwards. "Doc! It's… happened… again…."

Will Grandpa Tock be all right? What does the mysterious time traveller have to tell them? What is a human?

You will find out next time.

(1145 words)

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