The Watchmaker and his Wife

The cracked face in the mazed obsidian door won't open up.

"Find me the time, the time the time. When _is_ it? WHEN? Find me the time and we'll see. Till then I. AM CLOSED."

Around is piled clock scrap, hourglasses and tilted sundials. And a big clock key.

The scraps decay to rust.

The hourglasses breathe in and out altering the flow of sand. If you ask they will try to purse their glass lips but its like holding their breath and they can't do it for long.

The sun is an orange baloon flown by mad goblins in the sky, and won't stay still. They mock and throw pins.

But nearby you can hear a ticking, the tick-tocking of clocks.

There is the door of the Watchmaker.

Inside is the Watchmaker and his Wife.

The Watchmaker is old and slow and kind and tired. He thinks everything alive has a clock inside it, "Listen, you can hear it...".

He is happy to help you tell the time, but all his clocks are off, and he is so tired and slow, he keeps falling asleep.

He has a hole in his back for a big clock key.

"Don't WIND HIM UP!" Says the Watchmakers Wife. "You won't like it, and I will SCREAM!"

The Watchmakers Wife is vain and dusty, wearing ninety-nine lace dresses, each atop the other. She is surrounded by a thousand mirrors, hanging from silk threads woven by the tiredest spiders imaginable. "Hold them straight, you USELESS BUGS! Not THIS way, THAT way!" The mirrors twist and turn. Her eyes are everywhere, reflected. She sees everything. But she is doing her mascara and refuses to get up.

If you try to wind the Watchmaker, she SCREAMS. It hurts so much you can't do anything.

The Watchmakers Wife is very vain. You could flatter her.

The spiders have low self esteem, "We're useless, the worst spiders imaginable." If you boost their confidence they may revolt and drop the mirrors.

If you wind up the Watchmaker he gets younger and faster, but crueler and cleverer! Now he is fast and nasty.

"I told you you wouldn't like it!" Shouts the wife.

He can fix a clock to tell the time. But you must be tough to hold him to his promise.

As you leave, the Watchmaker and his Wife are arguing about the mess.

"Oh! Why won't you just wind down? I liked you slow!"