Once upon a time, in a land not too far from where you live, there
was a bank whose outside clock was the talk of the town. Clocks
usually don’t cause people to talk about them, unless they’re not
working right. This clock wasn’t working right at all.
The clock was a digital clock, meaning that it was the kind of clock
with large neon red numbers that glowed both day and night. You
could read the clock from an entire block away.
The clock sat prominently a few yards above the main doors to a
respected bank, right on the corner of a major intersection in town.
In some ways, the clock represented the very center of town.
One day, a few months ago, the time on the clock started slipping
backwards a few minutes. At first this didn’t cause any alarm. After
all, if you are two minutes late, or two minutes early to an appointment, is there any harm done? But then the clock’s health got even
worse. Not only did the clock slip back more than a few minutes,
sometimes it would actually jump forward an hour or two, and then
jump back to being a few minutes late. It was clear to everyone in
town that this was a sick clock.What do you do with a sick clock,
though? Take it the clockerenarian? Take it a clockpital? Visit a
clocktor? You’re right. Healing a sick clock is not an easy thing to
do. First you need to find what’s wrong with the clock, and then
you need to find a place that sells the particular part that needs
replacing.
The bank, being a respected bank, was eager to get the clock fixed
and working again. The bank became even more eager after last
month’s birthday party.
You see, a young child on the way to a birthday party burst into
tears when he looked up at the clock and realized that he was going to be late. On that day, the clock was 'V