An Ugly Clock

By Catherine Joanna Hazlitt

There is a clock that hangs on the living room wall. It has not been there from before. Someone may have put it up recently. I hadn’t paid much attention to it earlier – but now, I can honestly say that it is the ugliest contraption that I have ever laid eyes on.

A guest came in last week. When the awkward silence succeeded his conversation with the host, he looked up at the clock and beamed, “Why, that’s a most proper-looking clock I have seen”. Lost in thought, I was suddenly pulled into the present, wondering what had brought on this sudden change in matter. I was offended at how pretentious human beings had become in the present century and more so at how acceptable it was by Society.

The awkward ugly thing now glared dismally at me. Its second hand moved without a sound – its numbers were not etched. “Quite modern indeed – one of those Avant-garde creations that is supposed to turn heads. Simply magnificent,” the guest drawled on. I was annoyed at this over-reactive guest and his feeble attempts at conversation – but mostly because of his conceited character that shown through immediately.

What an abysmal person to be critical of the clock! If I hadn’t known any better, I would have been agreeing with him. The hostess was a naïve middle-aged woman who would believe the boy who cried wolf every time. This is the kind of innocence you would see in very few people. The sting came with how proud the hostess was at her innocence. “I don’t believe there can be anyone more gullible than me. Why, you could pickpocket me in front of my very eyes, and I wouldn’t have the slightest idea,” she giggled.

What it must be like to look at a clock and believe the first thing another says about it. Even if you were physically captured, your mind remains eternally free – transcending all restraint. How terrible to submit that freedom to the dominance of another!

By Catherine Joanna Hazlitt