I slipped in the back door of the house. The sound of the television set came from the front. I walked through a quiet kitchen, heading towards the noise.
I was almost too late. The man was already there, the pistol pointing straight at his wife’s midriff.
“I’m sorry Marion,” he said. “But this has to be done.”
To her credit she took it well. She put her hands on her hips and stared him out.
“Do I get a reason?”
“Do I really need another one?” he said and laughed. “I’ve been to the future. I didn’t like what I saw there.”
His finger tightened on the trigger.
“Stop,” I said. I stepped forward. “Surely, just by being here, we’ve already changed that future?”
He stared at me.
“I didn’t bring you along for a philosophy Q and A. Anyway, I know what I saw.”
I stepped closer, hoping to get between the woman and the gun.
“But you can’t know for sure. What harm is there in you taking another look... just in case?”
At that, Mrs. Laws did indeed play her part. She turned to me.
“Don’t tell me you’ve bought into this time-travel bullshit?”
That got the man angry.
“You never did give me any credit,” he said. “But you’ll see. Just watch this.”
He twisted the winder of the watch at his wrist and pushed it in.
Nothing happened.
“I believe you need this one,” I said, taking the other watch from my wrist.
He looked aghast.
“You haven’t used it have you? What have you changed?”
I gave him my biggest smile.
“Wouldn’t you like to know.”
He showed me the gun again.
“I’m not afraid to use this.”
I laughed at him.
“And how do you know that will achieve anything? You can either accept your fate, like the rest of us... or you can go and see for yourself.”
He kept the gun on me as we swapped watches. He peered suspiciously at the one I gave him. I checked the time on the one he gave me.
Almost there.
He pointed the gun at his wife again. I saw in his eyes that he meant to pull the trigger, and to hell with the consequences.
“You don’t want to do that,” I said. “You never know what might happen.”
He smiled.
“But that’s the beauty of this,” he said. “I have all the time in the world to find out.”
He twisted the winder, pushed it in, and popped out of existence.
“What the hell just happened?” the wife said.
I waved her to silence and checked the watch.
It’s time.
He came back with an audible pop and looked around, confused.
“What did you do?” he shouted, reaching for the winder. He never reached it. After exactly two seconds the winder whirred and snapped into position. Mr. Laws was staring straight at me, his eyes wide and his mouth open, as he popped away again.
As I said before, Old Joe knows a lot about clocks. In particular, he knows how to make them jump, sometimes hours, sometimes days, both forward and back. And it only takes two seconds for the spring to reset and do it all again.
I still see Mrs. Laws every so often. We meet, either in her house of my office, and discuss the nature of time, paradoxes, and just why her husband thought she had to die. Mr. Laws sometimes makes an appearance at one location or the other, but he never contributes much to the conversation.
Two seconds isn’t a long time, and he uses most of it up screaming.
The End
If you enjoyed the Midnight Eye Files, try The Concordances of the Red Serpent by William Meikle.
Gryphonwood Books by William Meikle
The Midnight Eye Files
The Amulet
The Sirens
The Skin Game
The Watchers
The Coming of the King
The Battle for the Throne
Culloden
Stand-Alone Works
Berserker
Island Life
The Invasion
The Valley
The Concordances of the Red Serpent
About the Author
William Meikle is a Scottish writer with more than twelve novels published in the genre press and over 200 short story credits in thirteen countries.
He is the author of the ongoing Midnight Eye series among others, and his work appears in a number of professional anthologies. His ebook THE INVASION has been as high as #2 in the Kindle SF and Kindle Horror charts.
He lives in a remote corner of Newfoundland with ice-bergs, whales and bald eagles for company. In the winters he gets warm vicariously through the lives of others in cyberspace, so check him out at www.williammeikle.com.
The Midnight Eye Files Collection Page 65
