The Quiet Mechanism

Text 1: Five Minutes Behind, by Elin Mercer

An original short story extract.

At noon, the station clock was five minutes behind, although its hands continued their patient circuit. Each time the minute hand reached twelve, the bell gave a soft, uncertain click and stopped short of striking. Jo, the apprentice, opened the tool case. 'The spring?' she said.

Mr Vale raised one finger, not to silence her but to count. He watched the second hand pass twelve once, then twice, before placing a pencil mark beside the timetable. 'It loses time only when the bell is due,' he said. He listened to the next click. Then he set a small mirror against the lower panel and opened the case with a key no longer than his thumb.

Inside, the clock lost its grandeur. Brass wheels crowded the darkness; a blackened pin showed among them, and a thread of blue cloth trembled across one tooth. Vale did not pull it free. He eased it loose with tweezers, paused while the wheel completed its turn, and lifted the thread away. The bell sounded at once, clear and round. Jo looked at the pencil mark. Vale rubbed it out and closed the case.