THE EXTRAORDINARY VERILSBERG CLOCK
Verilsberg was an ordinary town with an ordinary town clock. Nestled in the crevice between two alpine mountains, this sleepy little settlement was rarely visited and rarely reported upon. One exceptionally unexceptional aspect of the town was the town clock which stood atop a tower in the market square, visible for all to see. Every clock in the town was set to the one in the market square. The town’s inhabitants never expected anything other than the accurate time from this clock and quite rightly too; why would an ordinary clock ever do something extraordinary?
One day, the town clock began to slow down. It slowed by only three seconds at first but since all the townsfolk set the time by it, now every clock in Verilsberg was three seconds slow. The clock continued to slow by a few seconds at a time so that now, although no one noticed it, the butcher opened late, mass was delayed and even the man who maintained the clock fell behind schedule. Very soon, the entire town was several seconds behind the rest of the world.
Since the increments were minuscule, none of the townsfolk seemed to notice as the divergence grew steadily more and more profound. The cockerel, who also kept time by the clock, began to crow later each day and soon the morning sun, which kept time by the cockerel, did not reach the town until late evening.
One afternoon, a traveller passed through the town. Although he had just been walking in the bright sunshine, the moment he stepped within the limits of Verilsberg, he found himself plunged in nocturnal darkness. The traveller tried to dispel his bewilderment by convincing himself that it was just dramatic cloud cover. The possibility of a meteorological marvel, however, was dispelled when he discovered all the town’s inhabitants were asleep. After waking a local merchant, the traveller attempted to explain the peculiarity he had witnessed, but the merchant struggled to believe that the traveller’s rusted pocket watch could possibly be more accurate than the formidable Verilsberg town clock. For the merchant and for everyone else in the town, time appeared to march on at the same rate as it had always done.
The discrepancy grew but the passing decades were merely years to the townsfolk. Fashions changed and countries shifted but none of the Verilsbergers noticed the world outside moving faster. War broke out and all were required to enlist but once news reached Verilsberg the war was over.
A mere twelve years had passed for the settlement when the traveller returned. Though he was in the twilight of his life, the town was unchanged and its people were unaged. The traveller could not believe what he had witnessed and so, in his final moments, he checked the time. It was an action that took him the rest of his life, for the old town clock could slow no more and, at that moment, the extraordinary Verilsberg clock stopped.
ANAX