Tending Time

“Oh my stars, only minutes left,” said the Tender.

Willard had been the Tender of time for seven years and had hated every second of it.

“Blast, Mrs. Doodle’s pie, I had to have that extra slice,” mumbled Willard.

Eons ago, the ancestors discovered the clock on an abandoned island in the middle of the sea.

A local mystic decided that if the time should ever read twelve, the world would be unmade.

“Keep calm. All you have to do is shimmy up the pole and turn back the hands,” said the Tender.

The council created the Time Tenders, whose job was to reset the clock before it reached twelve.

“Two minutes, plenty of time, now focus,” said Willard as he prepared to climb the pole.

Willard dragged his body up the metal post only to slip on the morning’s dew.

“If I find out who made this contraption, I’ll give them a swift kick in the pants,” said the Tender.

The man wiped his hands on his trousers, then shimmied up the pole. He opened the face plate and turned the hands back one day.

“Done,” muttered Willard as he slid back down the pole and headed for his boat.

With the Fifth of Po coming, Willard’s time as a Tender would end. The task would belong to another unfortunate soul for seven years.

“I will never have a clock in my home,” Willard mumbled. Then set sail for tea and cakes.

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