Michael's Regret

Clockmaker pt. 1

The old scientist and horologist didn’t mean any harm. He simply didn’t want his adventure-seeking niece to meet the same fate as her mother. When he created a device to hold time still, he never could have imagined what would happen if things went wrong.

It was then up to Jacqueline and Ervin to journey to where it all began to set things right. But would they make it in time? Would the sun ever set again? What would become of their little town? What would happen to the world?

This is the first part of the Clockmaker Trilogy – a story set to music.

This work was made with patrons in mind. Patron names are found throughout the story. Download of this album includes pdf copy of the story that you can put on your e-reader, phone, computer, basically anywhere words can be displayed electronically.

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Michael's Regret

Contents

1. Storm
2. Next Morning, Bright Valley
3. Boy/Girl
4. Edge of Town
5. Thinking of Adventure
6. The Timepiece
7. Bike Ride
8. The Tree
9. Bike Ride 2
10. Clockmaker's Confession
11. Resolve

Chapter 1

Storm

On an unusually windy night, in a dimly lit room that, while not dusty or dirty, was littered with machined parts, half-drunk mugs of wine with a top layer of spent pipe tobacco, and smelled of lubricant, sulphur and age, the old man was scrutinizing something at his workbench. The nearby lantern flickered slightly in the draft of the nearby window. If the wind were to have ripped the window right out of its frame, the old man wouldn't have noticed. Whatever he peered at through his eyepiece was enough that he'd forgotten to breathe.

Then the wind stopped. It couldn't have been for three seconds, but it was unmistakable. It felt unnatural. The contrasting silence was more deafening than the wind that abruptly returned to full force. The old man was panting now. He gazed out the window at the same time an incredible light appeared - lightning, brightening the parts of town that he could see from his 3rd floor workshop as clear as day. In the thunder that followed, while bits of machinery leapt to the floor, the old man began to laugh - chuckling at first, like he'd just remembered a joke, but crescendoing into mania, as he fell to his knees, screaming with mirth until nothing more came out but a wheeze.

Chapter 2

Next Morning, Bright Valley

The next morning, the town was busy with movement. Mixed into the usual bustle of cafés, music and folks going about their business, people were working together to clean up and repair some of the moderate damage and debris from the previous night. The cobbled streets were slick and pocked with puddles of variously deceiving depths. Through these streets, clad in a modest summer dress, hat and rubber boots which were too large, Jacqueline was making her way to her uncle's house, a little cloth bag in-hand. She smiled and bid people good morning as she passed, occasionally stopping to help someone lift something or remove debris from the storm.

Chapter 3

Boy/Girl

As she was about to pass another shop entrance, she let out a startled shriek as a wash of water flew in front of her eyes and onto the street. Carefully peering around the corner of the doorway into the shop, she saw Ervin, the young baker's apprentice, back turned, pants rolled to his knees, but still slowly soaking to the waist, carrying a large bucket back into the popular Verna Street Bakery.

"Hey!" yelled Jacqueline. "You nearly drowned me!"

Turning around and embarrassingly realizing what had happened, Ervin quickly stiffened his chin and complained, "It's hardly my fault you weren't watching where you were going!"

"It's your fault you weren't watching what you were doing!" Jacqueline returned.

Before Ervin could reply, a woman's voice bellowed sternly from somewhere near the back of the shop.

"Get back to work!"

Jacqueline snickered and Ervin shot her dirty look, pulling down an eyelid with his free hand and sticking out his tongue before continuing to the back of the shop.

"Boys are idiots," said Gweneth, appearing from the back of the shop. Sleeves rolled up, apron on, brown hair with streaks of grey tied back into a neat bun, the baker continued stocking the shelves with fresh buns and sweets. She was the vision of a hard working, beautiful older woman. "You're lucky he didn't ruin that pretty hat! Come on in, Jacqueline." Jacqueline happily bid her good morning and inquired as to what was happening. It turns out the basement of the bakery had flooded in the storm. Ervin was carrying bucket after bucket of water upstairs, emptying them into the street, trying not to stare at Jacqueline each time he passed by - something the Gweneth noticed, but Jacqueline did not. "He's yet to bake a decent loaf of bread, but he's got a lot of stamina. That's important!" She winked at Ervin who turned red and swiftly continued about his work. Once the young protégé had vanished again to the stairs at the back of the shop, the older woman turned to the younger and handed her a couple of carefully wrapped sweet buns.

"These have a rare fruit in them. Arrived yesterday before the storm - imported from halfway around the world! I think they're going to be a hot seller this summer. Give one to the old man." Jacqueline offered to pay for them, but the baker refused with a smile. Her eyes moved to the clock on the wall, "I'll remember you next time I need your expertise."

"Oh!" cried Jacqueline, seeing the time. "I'd better get going!" She accepted the sweet buns with a polite "thank you" and hurried out the door with a smile and a wave, just as the boy was coming back with another pailful. He stopped and watched as she dashed out, awkwardly, in her boots.

"Get back to work!" commanded the baker. The boy shot her a defiant look and noticed on the floor, near where Jacqueline had been standing, was the bag she had been carrying. He looked back at the doorway and jolted towards it, spilling some water. He made it to the door and peered into the street, but the girl was already long gone, down the busy, winding street.

Chapter 4

Edge of Town

At what used to be the edge of town, now neighboured by newly developed Taylor Estates and filled with commuters and their families, one of the older, more stately homes was looking a little rough around the edges. Its foundation and masonry were solid, but little things had become worn: the resin that sealed the sash windows was dry and chipped, the paint was old and discoloured, and the yard was all but overgrown. Similar houses in the area had been maintained nicely and were starting to fetch a handsome price in recent realty boom. Some of the newer neighbours looked to this two-and-a-half storey house with disdain, but anyone who had been in the area for any length of time was familiar with the old horologist and knew he liked to keep to himself - at least, ever since the incident.

With an awkward half-run, half-stumble, Jacqueline came dashing to the stone walk that led to the back door. "Uncle! I'm here." She let herself in, left her boots in the porch and changed into the pair of indoor shoes waiting where she always left them.

"Uncle! I just stopped a moment at the bakery." She hurried toward the front of the main floor, dodging cases filled with pretty timepieces "Gweneth gave me... Oh!" A tall, thin woman smiled politely at the counter. Michael scowled in the direction of Jacqueline before turning back to the tall woman.

"Impossible! Just too busy," he told her, grumpily.

"Oh, please? It was a gift from my husband. Our anniversary is next week."

"Everyone has an anniversary next week! Or a birthday or whatever. No matter. Too busy!"

"Uncle!" Jacqueline chided. "Ma'am, I'm so sorry. I'm sure we can accommodate this in time for your anniversary."

"Oh thank goodness!" The Woman said, with relief.

The old man threw a hand in the air and grumbled into the adjacent room as Jacqueline recorded the woman's information and handed her a repair claim. After the woman had left, she brought the timepiece to the shop in the next room. Her uncle had already left. She found him in the kitchen of the converted old house, making a fresh kettle for tea.

"You could be a little nicer to customers, uncle." she scolded.

"You could get here on time for once! Just when are you going to have time to replace the mainspring in that watch with all the other work to do here? The parts alone will take two weeks just to get here."

"I can fix it. It doesn't need a new mainspring. Something probably just came loose."

"Came loose? Of course. It doesn't matter to you if you disappoint Ms. Tall-and-Fancy, but just wait until she tells her tall, fancy husband and friends. That's how to lose people's confidence!" That's how to lose business! When I started this business..."

"Uncle!" she cut him off. "It's fine. I've got it. You don't have to badger me about it."

"Lazy! Spoiled! Just like your mother was." He reflected for a moment, then muttered, "She never showed up on time either."

"Now you're just complaining." she scowled.

As the kettle came to a boil, the old man stuffed a handmade bamboo strainer with tea and stuck it in the kettle, then set two cups out.

"You need out of this house, uncle. You need out of this town. Ever since mother..." She, too, paused for reflection. "You haven't been as happy. All you do is work. We used to have fun. I'm tired of fixing clocks and bringing you lunch. There's more out there to..."

She trailed off again, then, with alarm, she repeated "Lunch!"

As he poured both cups of tea, she went to the other room to retrieve the sweet buns. "Gweneth made these for you. She's worried about you. I had lunch too, but I think I left it at the bakery."

His eyes lit up a little. They ate the sweet buns and drank the tea in a mostly-comfortable silence before the old man went back upstairs and Jacqueline returned to the repair shop, wondering what it was that kept her uncle away from people these days.

Chapter 5

Thinking of Adventure

Alone in the shop, Jacqueline thought about the city she knew so well and the world outside, of which she knew so little.

The front door chimed. Jacqueline stepped around the corner and greeted, "Welcome! How can we help... Oh! It's you." She stared down at the slightly shorter Ervin. "What do you want?"

The boy just about reached for the door behind himself to leave, then gathered some courage, and held out the lunch Jacqueline had left at the bakery. Surprised, she reached for it and accepted it. He blushed and looked away as he realized he was staring at her.

"Thank you," she said. "Michael is awfully grumpy today. This saves me a trip. Won't Gweneth be upset you left?"

They got to talking about the storm and the damage in the town, and before long, she was confessing she felt stuck in time since her mother died and she wanted badly to see the world. She spoke of the place where here mother and uncle were from and wanted to see what it was like. Ervin wasn't too interested in travel. His father was the town mayor, and though really just a public figurehead, his family had some wealth and respect in town. With a cushy life, he hadn't given much thought to the world outside their growing town. His father had practically begged the baker to take him on as a labourer, just to give him some idea of responsibility.

As Jacqueline went on about her ideas to leave the town and seek out the history of her family, she didn't notice her uncle, listening, worriedly, in the next room.

He went upstairs and closed himself in his workshop. He paced and worried. If she leaves town, she'll find out the truth. If she leaves, who will protect her? If she leaves, she'll be alone! If she leaves, I'll be alone .

Chapter 6

The Timepiece

Eventually, the day came to a close. There had been a steady flow of customers coming and going. Jacqueline handled it all in stride while finishing repairs and cheerfully visiting with regulars. She was in the middle of sweeping the floor when the dusk light coming through the window reflected off of something on the work bench behind the counter, casting a glimmering blue-green onto the adjacent wall. Curious, she left the broom leaning against a shelf containing refurbished clocks for sale and extended her hand, playing with the coloured light as it danced across her fingers. She moved closer to the source of the reflection and found a peculiar piece that she didn't remember placing there; an open pocket watch. She leaned in, grabbing the magnifying eyepiece in her periphery and examined the thing. It looked exquisite; a work of art, lightly decorative. Behind the hands of the clock, the watch face looked like a map - bits of green stuck onto a background of blue. She didn't recognize the location. All three delicate hands looked like real gold and were precision-made by a true master. The outer ring was a perfect golden circle, containing no markings for time and no numerals, but one small inlaid turquoise stone, shaped into a diamond with the points diagonal to the center of the watch face. It sat at approximately ten. Finally, the piece had a single gold knob on its right-hand side.

Surrounded by clocks that showed the true time to be shortly after five thirty, she thought to adjust this piece which displayed a time closer to eleven. Pulling the knob outward, it clicked once. As she turned it clockwise, the minute hand began to move quickly into place, while the second and hour hands remained still. Pulling the knob further, it clicked again and she adjusted the hour hand while the minute and second hands were still. Odd, she thought. Why hadn't the second hand moved? She pushed the knob past two clicks, all the way back in. She turned it clockwise and counter. Still nothing. She pulled the knob back out. One click, two clicks, three clicks! Ah! There it is, she thought, but as she turned the knob, the second hand did not turn and all hands remained motionless. That must by why it's here. It's broken. She set it back on the counter and decided to fix it the next day.

Forgetting the broom, she remembered the time. It was nearly six o'clock already. She gathered her things and yelled up the stairs, "Uncle! I'm done for the day. I just remembered I'd promised to help Mrs. Appleton with her garden. I'd better hurry." She heard no reply. "Uncle? Need me to bring something back for supper?" Still silence. She went up the stairs and found his door slightly ajar. Letting herself in, she heard a sound. The old man had been crying and was now sitting still in his old rocking chair, holding an old framed photograph of his younger sister, her mother. "I'll set it right, Celeste. You'll see."

"Uncle? I'm done for the day. Heading home. Do you need anything tonight?" she asked, gently.

He caught his breath and quickly wiped his eyes. "Oh, no. You go ahead, Jackie. I'm fine." Then, with a renewed assuredness, "Everything is going to be fine."

Leaving behind the boots she'd worn there, she changed into a pair of outdoor shoes, locked up, and pulled her bicycle out from behind the house.

In an unusually sunny dusk, Jacqueline biked home, her mind foggy with memories of her mother mixed with the recent moment of her uncle weeping with that old photograph. Her mother had been gone three years now. She still thought of her everyday, but she'd more or less made peace with the fact that she was gone. She reminded herself that everyone grieves differently and her uncle had known her mother longer than she, Jacqueline, had been alive. She knew the two always shared a special bond. They were best friends, growing up. When she was a girl, the siblings used to talk of the place where they had grown up with fondness, but after her mother had died, her uncle was never the same, burying himself in his work and rarely going out in public. And he never talked about the old days.

Chapter 7

Bike Ride

On her ride home, she started on the same path as that morning. Most of the shops had closed for the evening, but the odd café or restaurant was still busy with people. Just another normal evening, now that the aftermath of the storm had all been cleared. While she knew was running late, she couldn't help but sort of wander a bit slowly through the streets. It was a beautiful, late summer evening. The kind that made her not want to go home yet. She turned at the next intersection.

After a short detour, at the edge of town, she took the bridge to cross the familiar Vickie Canal and left the road on a well-worn bike path. Not much farther out of town, she smiled when she saw the tree on a small hill where her mother used to take her for picnics or to catch bugs or find pictures in the clouds. Just as she was about to speed up, she noticed Ervin underneath the tree with a book. Annoyed that someone - especially this someone - would be in what she considered to be her spot, she looked over her shoulder and almost headed back when the urge to be at the tree overcame the desire to be alone.

Chapter 8

The Tree

Noticing her approach, the boy sat up, awkwardly. "I didn't know you could read," she sneered, teasingly.

"I don't, often." he openly admitted. "That old lady told me I needed to learn something about... I don't know." He dropped the book an threw his hands up in defeat. "She hates me!" Catching a glimpse at the romance novel the baker had leant the boy, she snickered.

The two sat and talked a while, Ervin's face cycling through various shades of red, while Jacqueline mostly daydreamed of adventures in far away lands. It seemed like that perfect sun would never set.

After some more time, Jacqueline realized she hadn't gone to help the neighbour in the garden. She gathered her things and got the bike while the boy just sat there, at a loss for what to do. When it looked like she was about to take off, she motioned for the boy to hop on the rack at the back of the bike. "But my place is across town."

"I'll take you as far as the canal."

Chapter 9

Bike Ride 2

They took off at breakneck speed, as the boy let out an undignified yip, grasping onto the rack for dear life. "Hold on!" Jacqueline said. She reached behind her and pulled one of his arms around her waist. If she'd been able to turn around at that moment, she might have been alarmed at how deeply red his face had just become.

They slowed to the the edge of town where people were cautiously congregating with perplexed looks and an unusual anxiety. Ervin jumped off the bike and jogged alongside.

"What is it? What's going on?" Jacqueline inquired.

"Haven't you noticed?" said a bespectacled younger gentleman still wearing his business suit, but missing his hat - as betrayed by the ring it had left around his forehead and hair. Two young kids were behind him, looking at the commotion. "The sun hasn't gone down!"

Jacqueline pulled out her own pocket watch. "You're right! The sun should have set nearly three hours ago."

People were mostly murmuring amongst themselves, but a few of the older folks in the crowd looked at Jacqueline with something between worry and anger. She and the boy hurried down the street, reaching the city center, where a crowd had formed near Gabriel's Famous Bandstand. She noticed the mayor was fumbling with some papers near it.

"Father!" Ervin hollered over the crowd.

The mayor looked up at him with confusion and frustration. Then he noticed Jacqueline, beside him. He hurried up the stairs of the bandstand, losing some of the papers he was holding in the process. "Good people of Bright Valley, please rest assured that the... that this... unfortunate, or rather..." He struggled to find something written on the papers, "Err... That is to say..."

"What's happening?" yelled a woman in the crowd.

"Yeah, what's happening?" a man's voice echoed.

Several more voices piped up, and as a cacophony rose, the now sweating mayor continued to stammer, unable to sneak in a word. Other people from the mayor's office clamoured to his aid, failing to catch the attention of the growing crowd.

Ervin and Jacqueline looked around at the growing panic, when a man's voice spoke up, above the crowd, "I think we all know what the cause of this problem is!" People turned their attention back to the bandstand, where an older man was now standing in front of the mayor and his aids. "It's just like it was 3 years ago!" Some folks murmured in agreement while others looked confused. "That madman will never learn! He ought to be locked away!"

Struggling to see through the crowd, Jacqueline leaned her bike against one of the buildings and pressed through the crowd, losing Ervin in the process. She found her way to the front of the central band stand where she could see the animated older man. "You, young lady! Bring your uncle to the square at once. He must take responsibility and fix this before it's too late!"

"Uncle?" she said more to herself than in response.

"Bring him out here!" the old man demanded, becoming visibly more angry.

"Hey! Back off." Ervin found his way to the front of the commotion.

"Stay out of it, boy."

"Stop it right now, Aldon." A woman's strong voice cut through the commotion. The growing crowd turned to see Gweneth, the baker. "You know full well that she doesn't know."

"Maybe she should know before she ends up like her mother!" he bit back.

Jacqueline looked up at Gweneth, her wide eyes showing her confusion turn into fear.

"It's time you learned the truth, dear, about your mother and your uncle. And we may not have much time. Let's go."

As they cut through the crowd, heading for the old clockmaker's house, Jacqueline's head started to spin. What did they mean this is uncle's fault? The truth about my mother? In the crowd behind her, she could hear the angry old man continue to speak to the crowd - something about a catastrophe that happened three years ago.

Still at the stage, Ervin looked at his father with a questioning gaze. The Mayor looked back at him, calmer than when he was at the center of attention. The buzz of the crowd was too loud to actually hear what his father said, but he read his lips: "Stay with her." He nodded, pushed through the crowd, found Jacqueline's bicycle, and pedalled down the street after her. Seeing them not far ahead, he called out Jacqueline's name. The baker turned her head and shot him a look that told him Not now, but still motioned for him to follow them. He walked the bike behind them as they all walked in silence.

Chapter 10

Clockmaker's Confession

When they arrived at the clockmaker's house, he was waiting for them with a fresh pot of tea. He looked tired and worried, even frightened - a look Jacqueline had never seen on him before.

He invited them all in, poured the tea and began his tale, knowing exactly why they had come. Jacqueline sat, quietly listening, while her tea became cool.

It had started three years ago, when Michael, Gweneth, and Jacqueline's mother went to to visit the island town where they'd all grown up. They'd left Jacqueline in the care of a neighbour and friend back in Bright Valley. They were visiting with old friends and some distant relatives, enjoying sea breezes, drinking local whisky and wine, eating their old favourite delicacies. They were having a perfect time! Michael never wanted it to end. He'd taken his work with him, of course, always needing something to keep his hands busy. He'd been experimenting with a substance found near their hometown he called aiondymium, after the the Greek god of eternal time. The substance behaved abnormally when subjected to electronic impulses from his homemade battery solution. Jacqueline's head was spinning as he described how it worked and what he was trying to do with it. He'd been using the aiondymium in an attempt to freeze time. It had almost worked, too. At first, it just seemed like the afternoon sun would never set (a feeling all too familiar in the perpetual dusk they were all experiencing now). The intention was to reverse the process after a day and walk away like nothing had happened. But it wasn't so simple. Once he had explained to his sister what he had done, she was terrified. She demanded he set things back to normal. As he'd started reversing the process, though, he noted that he'd need more aiondymium before he could apply voltage to it. He packed up his gear and the three of them went to the riverside to collect a sample.

By the time they'd reached the river, things had gotten worse. Instead of time standing still, it seemed to no longer adhere to a linear passage. It would suddenly become winter, then summer, then spring. Animals panicked and fled in droves, the river began running in the opposite direction, then stopped altogether. The three panicked as Michael carefully set out his kit to stop all this. It began to rain, turning into a thunderstorm. He carefully connected his chemical battery and the device he had made that started the mess they were in. It started to pour as the clockmaker slowly checked everything over. The two women begged him to hurry. As the rain turned into a wet blizzard, he turned a dial on his device. Just as he did, however, a bolt of lightening struck the riverbank, turning a sizeable chunk of the aiondymium-rich soil into slag.

Within moments, the skies began to clear, the river corrected its direction and speed. Everything seemed to be fine - until Gweneth started screaming. It took a moment for Michael to realize what was wrong. Celeste was gone. She had been standing right there on the river bank, moments ago. Michael slowly came to realize that she would have been standing in the richest concentration of aiondymium ever known when he activated the device, roughly where the lightening had struck. In a daze, he tried to reactivate the machine, not truly knowing what would happen, but the device remained inactive. It had apparently become damaged in the storm.

For days, he tried to repair the device, tried to reverse what he had done, to bring Celeste back, but he couldn't repair it. With help from others in the area, they'd swept the river and banks with no luck. Gweneth had stopped speaking to him and quietly travelled back to Bright Valley alone. Three weeks later, Michael packed up his gear, along with 40 kilograms of aiondymium and headed back, as well. He vowed to look after Jacqueline, telling her that her mother had been lost to the river.

As the old clockmaker finished his tale, he turned to face Jacqueline, directly, and with a ghostlike expression confessed, "Jackie, I..." He held his breath. "I killed your mother."

Jacqueline continued to stare at her untouched tea, then glanced up at Gweneth who was looking down and frozen still. They remained in place until Jacqueline broke the silence.

Chapter 11

Resolve

She grabbed her mug of tea, drank it all, quickly, and exclaimed, "My mother is still alive!"

Before anyone could argue, she leapt up and dashed to the spare room she used as her own, when at her uncle's. Ervin got up in alarm. They heard Jacqueline down the hall, "I'm going to find her!"

Ervin yelled back, "I'm going with you!" He ran out the house, and ran fast, toward his house.

Gweneth went to Jacqueline's room to talk her out of it. "You can't! It's far too dangerous. Time won't stand still for you to just fix this!" Jaqueline remained focused, packing her suitcase.

Meanwhile, Michael quietly went downstairs.

Once packed, Jacqueline moved swiftly down the hall and toward the back door, Gweneth protesting close behind her. Her uncle stood in front of the door, a small package, wrapped in cloth, in hand. "You'll need this." he said, solemnly.

She accepted it and moved towards the door, then turned around and hugged them both. As tears streamed down her cheeks, she whispered, "I'll find her and I'll fix this." She spun around, put on her shoes, tightened her canvas backpack, grabbed her rubber boots, and left.