The Watch – Part 211:

(Tom’s perspective)

I have a feeling that my question was so weird that she said the first thing that came to mind just to get rid of me. I can’t see any empty house or building anywhere. Everywhere I look is either occupied or closed as it’s getting nearer to the end of the day.

Judging from the position of the sun, I’ve only got a couple of hours to go before it starts dropping below the horizon. I need to find a suitable place as soon I can. There are so many roads branching off this long road, which I’ve realised that I haven’t taken note of the name yet. I should do that next time I find a sign, which from the looks of it, should be just up ahead where another road connects to it from the right.

 As I was walking towards the road, a bus came from behind me and stopped at the bus stop just in front of me. It, too was going to Pogo Street. I didn’t take note of the destination the other bus was going to as I was more interested as to how it appeared the way it did. I should start paying attention more, I concluded.

I can feel a notable drop in temperature. And I’ve noticed that there are a lot more people than before.

‘Excuse me,’ I said to yet another random stranger.

‘Sure,’ he said, politely.

‘Do you have the time?’

‘Well, actually, time isn’t a thing that anyone can hold. It’s a thing that holds us in place. We must obey it otherwise it will get away from us and then we will never be able to catch up with it. We can try and fight against its will as much as we want, but in the end it will always win. It doesn’t wait for anyone or anything. Will we have the technology that is powerful enough to allow us to control it, send us into the past or the future, I don’t think so, but if we do then it certainly won’t be in our lifetime. It would be nice to travel in time at some point, but we must all accept that it’s not going to happen. Can you imagine how many potential opportunities will arise if we did have the ability to control time? Can you imagine the damage that we can cause if we do start controlling it? If we are given the necessary equipment to do whatever we want with time, then all our problems will disappear, but alas, that is not the case. But even if we are able to control it, we still won’t be able to hold it. It weaves between the very fabric of the universe itself; all we can do is jump from one stitch to another, or bend one stitch to fit our needs, but we mustn’t – we can’t – touch it.’

‘Er…’ I don’t know how to respond to that. That was not what I was expecting at all. ‘Um…’

‘I think the question you were meant to ask is do I have a device that humans have developed in order to accurately predict the passage of time so that we don’t get lost.

‘Um…’

He lifted up his arm so that his sleeve slid down his wrist, revealing the watch underneath.

‘It’s just gone five,’ he said.

‘Um… thank you,’ I said.

‘You’re welcome,’ he said, nodding his head before walking off.

Well, OK then. What the heck was all that about? At least I found out the time of day. Everything else that he said, I’m going to forget as I can’t remember it all anyway. I was so surprised with that response that I didn’t even fully take in what he said the first time round.

Anyway, back to finding where a suitable place to sleep for the night is. I thought about asking him where one was, but I didn’t want to as I won’t get the answer straight away. What I will get beforehand is anyone’s guess.

I had better get a move on as the sun is nearing the horizon. Is it me, or is the sun actually moving faster than the one back home? I could say yes because this is a different universe after all and there has to be some differences between the one I come from and this one, but at the same time I can say no because it’s only because I’m spending way more time doing very little in my search for a place to sleep for the night. Time’s getting away from me, and if I’m not careful it’ll be night time. Oh, heck, am I actually agreeing with that strange person’s words?

Another road, this time branching off to the left.

Because I was processing what that person said to me, I forgot to look at the sign telling me the name for this road I’m on now, and forgot to look at the name of the road that I passed back there. I’m not doing that well in trying to be more observant. Nearing the road, I made sure that I look at both signs.

‘Let’s see here,’ I said to myself as I looked up and read.

‘Long road,’ this road’s sign said. Well that’s rather predictable. I should have guessed that considering it was indeed a long road. Ok, so what’s the name for the other road?

‘Pogo Street.’ Oh. I found it. I look down the road and noticed that it ended with a dead end. I saw a bus reaching what appeared to be a roundabout, swinging around at a steady speed and heading towards me. As the bus passed me, it revealed something that I clearly wasn’t expecting. Two empty houses in a row. Even at this distance, it was clear to me that they were empty.

Pogo Street. The street that I found mildly amusing a few hours ago, wanted to find and then decided against it, so happens to be the street that I need at this very moment.

Well, OK, then.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)