“Can I make room for everything?” I asked.
I’m Dell, the magic clock on the playroom wall. I slid a round toy magnet along my rim, making space beside a homework magnet. My white face has black hands and coloured numbers. Twelve rainbow pieces circle the edge. A handsome arrangement, if I say so myself.
But that afternoon, I wanted something better than looking handsome. I wanted all six children to finish the day with time for their favourite things.
Grace stood beneath me, her high light-brown ponytail bobbing above her dark red top.
“I need to draw my house for homework,” she said. “But we’re building a whole town. Can we play first?”
Brendan, with short blonde hair and a yellow shirt, lifted a block.
“The hospital doesn’t have a roof!”
Nakia’s red pigtails bounced against her blue outfit. She stood facing Twila, whose dark puffs framed her face above a reddish-purple dress. They were deciding where the town’s park should go.
“And I haven’t had my turn with the long blocks,” Nakia said.
My hands showed three o’clock. My magnets showed homework next.
I could have chimed.
Instead, I turned my hands backwards one whole hour.
“Extra play,” I announced. “Tick, tock. Plenty in stock.”
That was a magnificent thing to say.
It was also wrong.
Across the room, Shaun climbed out of his bed after a short rest. His reddish-brown hair stuck up above his red top. Pietro, whose orange-brown curls were dotted with bits of paper, joined him on the rug.
The town grew a station, a bridge and a zoo for wooden animals.
I enjoyed every minute. Even clocks like being popular.
Then the kitchen clock struck four.
My hands said three.
Twila stopped beside an overflowing toy bin.
“We still have all this to put away.”
