by Erin Zwick
She knew the exact number of seconds, minutes, hours, and years she had spent on that wall. Day and night, summer and winter, she sat on the familiar wall and did her job thoroughly and precisely. A tall man had bought her his first year of teaching school. The classroom had been used for storage, but due to the increasing student body, another English teacher was required. So they hauled the old things out and moved the new things in. When he got there, the walls were completely bare. And because the tall man was also a timely man, he decided to put up a clock.
So here she was. She sat on the wall near the board, high enough to be seen from around the classroom, and she carefully kept the time. It was a good view. She could see all the students, and they could see her. Though her fate may seem boring, the clock appreciated it. Some of the lessons were interesting and she found herself getting distracted by them. The clock liked to learn along with the children and discover things about the world. One of the lessons was about a man named Einstein who studied physics and time. His theories on time were profound to the clock, but she couldn’t think too hard because she had to cautiously position her various sized hands correctly.
When she wasn’t paying attention to the lesson, sometimes the clock’s mind would wander to the humans in the room. The clock was a good judge of people and enjoyed studying them. They could be very peculiar though she soon found them to be predictable. She had learned to judge the quality of the lesson by how often the kids would glance up at her. During a particularly riveting lesson, hardly anyone gave notice of her. But most of the time, and during especially boring lessons, the students couldn’t take their eyes off of her. Some would slyly glance at the clock trying to not get caught and offend the teacher. Others gawked obviously trying to calculate the exact number of minutes left in class until they could go to another class to stare at a clock, eat lunch, or go home.
Lately, it seemed to her that the students had to stare at her much longer to tell the time. She wondered what was happening to the education system. The clock slowly noticed the changes surrounding her. The tall teacher took less notice of her and grew to be less punctual. After a while he forgot to “spring” her forward and “fall” her back for daylight savings. He once went a whole two weeks without noticing he needed to change her batteries. It was the most terrifying period of her life. She tried not to think about it.
One day, the man didn’t even show up to work. Apparently he’d retired and a woman showed up in his place. While she taught, most of the students paid attention, and rarely looked at the clock, but she didn’t really mind. But soon the teacher was married, then pregnant, and never returned to class.
Over many semesters, the clock saw many students and teachers come and go. She even watched as desks and chairs were replaced with high tech ones that were ergonomically correct. The students began to ignore her more and more. They mostly just checked their phones.
The clock had felt it coming for a while. Moving her second hand had become increasingly difficult. She could tell it was more than just her batteries running low. But the clock didn’t fear it, because she knew it was her time.