But tomorrow is simply an unspent yesterday — an abstract concept for something that’s gone the instant after it arrives, whereas real time is always here and now, which explains why we fragile human beings felt the need to come up with so many mechanical constructions — Stonehenge, sun dials, planting cycles, moon phases, hourglasses, various kinds of calendars, latitude and longitude, and every sort of time-keeping piece from ancient Babylonian water clocks to modern Tag Heuer chronometers — simply to measure our days and mark our passages through the veil of existence. For years whenever I was doing something I really loved doing — working in my garden, taking a swim, dining with friends or even playing golf — I would unstrap my watch and toss it in a pocket, a symbolic act of suspending time or at least removing my spirit for a blissful while from the gravitational pull of a world that would have me doing more responsible and important things with my time, like replying to emails or fixing a broken door, though the older I’ve gotten — time being the source of wisdom — I’ve come to believe most of the time real time’s value is whatever we choose to make of it. Sometimes “time” is purely nostalgia-driven. We hear a song that takes us back to freshman year in college or see a photo of our infant children on a beach — astonished to think how quickly time passes. Once, poking around London’s famous Portobello marketplace one Sunday morning with my wife, I happened upon a vendor selling vintage restored watches, instantly zeroing in on a handsome 1945 Rolex watch engraved with the symbol of the American Eighth Army Air Force. The beautiful timepiece instantly made me think about my father, who’d passed away not long before. He’d served in the Eighth Army Air Force on the Lancashire Coast just before D-Day. My dad had his own thing about watches. For all I know this watch could have been his. It could have been mine, too, were I willing to shell out the 220 pounds ster-
Simple Life
ling the vendor was asking. I was sorely tempted but reluctantly declined — and spent that whole evening regretting my decision. At the end of this month, as the days grow visibly shorter — actually, to be more precise, a mere two days into November — we here in North America will gain an extra hour of sleep on the clock when we “fall back” from Daylight Saving Time to Eastern Standard Time, yet another artificial construction dating from the end of the 19th century designed to provide more daylight hours for human activities and less waking time spent in morning darkness. A natural early riser since boyhood, I’ve long rallied against a sun that doesn’t set until after 8 o’clock, something my body clock rebels against and critics say really doesn’t save all that much time and energy anyway. As for this weary time traveler, by the time we fall back and enjoy that extra hour of autumn snooze time, I’ll have a new Timex Expedition watch strapped to my wrist and off on another five-year expedition. That’s because following my fruitless watch-hunt around town, a pragmatic lady I’m married to suggested that I simply go online and order one directly from the company. “You’ll wind up saving money and time,” she said. Happy to report, she was right. I found the current version of my old familiar Expedition model and even paid ten bucks less than the department store version of five years ago. It’s on my wrist as I write this, keeping track of my remaining minutes before I’m supposed to be somewhere else. Someday, I suppose, assuming the past is anything like the future, it will begin to slow down and eventually give out. Then again, so will its owner. For the moment at least, we’re happy to take that extra hour of sleep and spend time together. OH Contact editor Jim Dodson at jim@ohenrymag.com.
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October 2014
O.Henry 13