“Tick-Tock” – BOOM! Goes the Clock
Echos from an Appalachian Thunderstorm
The old house wreaked of dust and disuse, abandoned for decades, now welcoming the young curate to fraying furniture and an old grandfather clock that stood sentinel in a corner.
“Everyone needs a clock that works,” the old priest said, setting down the suitcase he carried in for his new charge. Going to the corner, he looked at his watch, carefully pulled up the chains that wound the time-piece, and listened.
Tick. Tock.
Satisfied with the rhythm, he deposited a partial roll of bathroom tissue, towel, and a few bed sheets atop the suitcase.
“Be mindful of the storm,” he said. “There’s a grocery 5 miles down Main Street if you get too hungry. Only two main streets, you know. For you northerners, one comes in and the other goes out of town. We’ll see you in church tomorrow.”
Tick. Tock.
With that he left and closed the door. The sound of rain pinged on old tin awnings, accentuated by a dim single bulb. On guard again in the parlor, the hands of the old clock began their circle.
Tick. Tock.
Taking a flashlight, the curate made his way to the kitchen – where the water thankfully worked – and opened a drawer. Resident mice had once left their presents – now amidst their own remains. “My first funeral,” thought the curate. Broken window glass from the porch crunched under foot – evidence of a long past and disappointing burglary.
The rain grew louder, and the cave-like entrance to the stairs leading up to drafty bedrooms seemed both welcoming and ominous at the same time. “I did take the road coming INTO town,” thought the curate, “and tomorrow is a bright new day…”
Tick. Tock.
Boom!
The thunder had begun…
Finis
D.S. Lamoureux, 1990
Dedicated in memory of dearest Sue –
– who soon took these matters well in hand…
If one looks about with an open heart, so many of the places in which we find ourselves are filled with familiar souls. With complex and unique histories, our paths somehow merge as if navigated by a cosmic cartographer, Their comforting footsteps are different yet familiar – reflecting the bonds of a common humanity that pairs need with goodness, both transformed in mystical union with God’s purpose of love.