The Clock

A forgetful young woman often forgot something.

Wallets had been left in restaurants.
Backpacks disappeared regularly.
Parking locations became mazes.

One day she went shopping
at an outdoor flea market.

At one stall,
she saw a rooster alarm clock.

She liked the bright colors.
She liked the little painted beak.

Most of all,
she liked the sound.

“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

She immediately thought
her sister would love one too.

So she bought two clocks.

Unfortunately,
both alarms had already been switched on.

The woman placed the clocks
inside her shopping bag
and continued through the flea market.

Soon,
a rooster crowed loudly nearby.

A moment later,
another rooster answered.

The woman became increasingly surprised
by how many stalls
appeared to be selling
the exact same rooster clock.

Meanwhile,
people throughout the flea market
kept turning around
whenever she walked past.

At first,
she assumed
she had dressed unusually well that day.

Later,
she wondered
if she forgot to comb her hair.

“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

The two clocks now crowed
back and forth through the market
like a duet.

Children pointed openly.

One dog followed her
for nearly half a street.

Several vendors stared in silence
as she passed.

Still,
she continued shopping peacefully,
occasionally hearing
what she believed
were demonstrations
from other rooster-clock vendors nearby.

At last,
near the end of the market,
she stopped at another stall
to buy something small.

The old vendor looked down
at her shopping bag and said,

“You know,
if you don’t turn those things off soon,
the batteries are going to die.”