LEO AND THE MAGIC POCKETWATCH

By Paul Shope

PROLOGUE

            Tick tock.

            The watchmaker held the pocketwatch in his hand, admiring the delicate gears in their magical dance.  Not true magic, of course, but the magic of science. 

            Tick tock.

            Science alone, however, could not give the watchmaker what he most desired, not to merely note time but to travel through it at will.

            Tick tock.  Knock knock.

            Without waiting for an answer, the door opened to admit the watchmaker’s friend and assistant, Mr. McLoed. He had with him a brown paper bag which he held up for his friend to see. The watchmaker smiled and motioned for him to come closer.

            From within the bag, McLoed revealed a lantern of intricate beauty, traced with spider web lace and beaded with jewels of dew.  Golden light glowed within, and the watchmaker and his friend stared in wonder at the marvelous box until they could wait no longer.  With trembling fingers, McLoed tripped a hidden catch. 

            As if in slow motion, two doors on the front opened and the light spilled forth like a glittering mist.  Leaning together, the men peered into the lantern to see that it was a doorway to the land of Faerie.  Twinkling trees with leaves of lace swayed in a sweet scented breeze.  A siren’s song, calling from far away, beckoned them into that enchanted realm.  In the distance, a honeydew waterfall cascaded into a crystal lake where they could see faeries playing in the cool water. 

            One noted their prying eyes and alarmed the rest who fled in a flutter of pixie dust.  The one who spoke the warning crossed the distance in the blink of an eye.  He hovered inside the portal, arms crossed, face stern.  The watchmaker turned his eyes from that handsome face.  He felt ashamed that they had disturbed the faerie folk.  But McLoed was bold.  He had had dealings with the faeries before, and although the tiny fellow was reluctant, he eventually agreed to fetch McLoed’s friend, Flit.

            Half the night they waited for Flit to arrive.  Their eyes had drooped, and they were startled awake by the clearing of his tiny throat.  After a warm greeting, McLoed begged his friend to give them the magic to make their watch travel through time.  Flit listened carefully, and then asked what they had to offer in return.  McLoed and the watchmaker looked at one another and shrugged.  They had nothing of interest to the faeries.  Flit smiled a devilish smile and said that he would grant their request, but that McLoed would owe the faerie folk a favor, to be paid at a later date.

            Caught up in the excitement, McLoed did not even hesitate.  "Of course!" he said.

            Flit zipped through the portal into the watchmaker's workshop, trailing pixie dust which sparkled and vanished before it hit the floor. 

            Flit and the watchmaker stayed up the rest of the night.  As the watchmaker explained how the pocketwatch worked, Flit listened closely, his hand on his chin.  He reached into his pack sometimes and pulled out different types of colored dust.  Red on this gear, silver on that; green for the spring, gold for the hands.

            By sunrise, they had finished.  Flit went back into the box, without so much as a goodbye.  McLoed and the watchmaker looked at each other in wonder.  Had they done it?  Would the watch really travel through time?

            They listened carefully as the hands drew together.  When the hour, minute and second hands all met, the watch skipped a tick, just as Flit said it would.  They smiled at one another.  Perhaps it would work.  Perhaps.