The Singular Clock

When Gracie and I were married twenty-five years ago, we received a wedding present with no card. We never found out who gave it to us, but this did not keep us from enjoying it. It was a wind-up mantel clock that pealed out the time on the hour. There was a label that stated the clock had been made in Korea.

The beautiful clock worked flawlessly for ten years, then began behaving strangely. It started tolling twelve times for all the hours. It didn’t matter whether the time was one o’clock or twelve o’clock, the number of tones was always twelve. This bothered Gracie and me for a while. I tried to uncover the reason for the problem but was unsuccessful. We got used to the defect and lived with it. The clock was located in the living room and its sounds did not carry to our other rooms. If we heard the clock chiming, it had to be when Gracie and/or I was doing something in the living room There, all we had to do to ascertain the time was to glance at the clock’s face.

About a year later, the clock began pealing the time even more badly. For certain counts, it would not give clear tones but would produce hollow raps as if a hammer were striking a piece of wood. If the time was six o’clock, it might strike the fourth tone badly, or the seventh, or the tenth. The malfunctions varied randomly. One day, it might chime the sixth tone badly; another day, it might be the third. And, it wouldn’t be the same for both Gracie and me. If Gracie heard the clock strike, it might be the second tone that was bad; if I heard it, it might be the fifth.

Friends could offer no hints as to what might be wrong and the Internet did not help. We decided to have the clock repaired. We discovered that a Mr. Lee in South Troy claimed he was an expert watch repairer. Mr. Lee was the owner of a business named Clock Wise. We brought the misbehaving clock to his shop, introduced ourselves, then described the problem. Mr. Lee was about sixty, short of stature and stocky. He was wearing a tan suit with a red striped tie. He had an oriental appearance and made a striking impression (no pun intended). He told us he was from Seoul Korea. I was delighted since the clock had been made in Korea and I was sure he knew what might be causing the displeasing sounds.

Mr. Lee listened to our story with great interest, then said, “The clock knows you! Wait, I’ll give you something.” He scurried into the next room and come out with a sheet of paper, gray with age. “This explains what you need to know, Mr. Clark,” he said. “There are twelve numbers on this sheet, one for every hour. It tells why a certain numbered tone might be sounding badly. Look here, When the clock strikes poorly on the third tone, the sheet tells you that you unintentionally made an ill-considered remark. If the clock strikes badly on the sixth tone, the sheet tells that you did not keep a promise you had made. And so it goes. The same for you Mrs. Clark. When the clock sounds hollow on the second tone, this sheet tells you that you did not attempt to commiserate with your husband when he mentioned a disappointment. Take the sheet. Heed what it tells you and learn from it. There is no charge.”

At first, we didn’t believe what Mr. Lee had told us. But we found that what he had said was accurate. For Gracie and me, our behaviors toward each other improved and, after a time, the clock began chiming well again. On our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, we decided to visit Mr. Lee and thank him for what he had done for us. We didn’t see him in the shop but asked a clerk for him. The young woman, looked down and her demeanor saddened. “I’m sorry folks,” she said, “Mr. Lee has been dead for over a year.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that,” I said. “Mr. Lee was an expert in clocks. We wanted to thank him for something he did for us many years ago.” The clerk appeared puzzled. “Mr. Lee was expert in watch repair, but he knew nothing about clocks. He knew a lot about people, though. What he did for you must have been in response to something he saw in the two of you!”


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