What Time Is It?

Tick. Tick. Tick. I don’t know why I never noticed it before, but my watch is noisy. It’s a perfectly serviceable and fairly new Timex. I bought it because it goes with all my clothes and the hands on the face are large enough to read without my glasses (almost).

But while I was in the store it never occurred to me to hold the pesky thing to my ear and listen. Watches don’t make noise anymore, do they? Mine does.

We have a stately grandfather clock in the family room. It chimes majestically every quarter hour, Westminster in miniature. Unlike my wristwatch, it is a comforting sound. It swings along gracefully, as if to say there is all the time in the world. No need to rush, one day will follow another in its own good time.

But for some reason, this watch drives me crazy. It might be because it’s strapped to my body like an albatross. Perhaps it’s the nature of the sound itself – all tinny and shallow - that seems to nag rather than reassure. Hurry up! Slow down! Too late! Too early! Never quite the right time.

Maybe it’s not the watch that’s the problem. Tick. Tick. Tick.