1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:07,719
The clock by Arthur Styron. All
my life I have had a deep and

2
00:00:07,799 --> 00:00:15,439
abiding dread of monotony. The invarying
and wearisome sameness of life irks me and

3
00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:22,320
fills me with depression. I fear
and hate all men because I am compelled

4
00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:28,640
to shun them in order to avoid
that hideous mother of monotony, habit which

5
00:00:28,719 --> 00:00:35,679
tears my nerves to shreds and flings
them mockingly in my twitching face. Regularity

6
00:00:35,759 --> 00:00:41,759
of any sort fills me with resentment
and impotent rage against the scheme of things.

7
00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:48,159
The steady patter of rain drops drives
me hysterical and gibbering to bury my

8
00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:54,000
face among the pillows under a mattress
any place where the steady drip drop,

9
00:00:54,119 --> 00:01:00,439
drip drop is not audible. The
sound of drum beats fills me with such

10
00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:06,640
uncontrolled rage and fury that I shriek
aloud in my distress and hurl stones or

11
00:01:06,719 --> 00:01:11,959
any missile available at the miscreant who
dared to provoke me. I cannot,

12
00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:21,280
I dare not. I will not
endure a drab uniformity. My imaginative and

13
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:27,640
excitable temperament demands variety. Since I
am thus constituted. Is it any wonder

14
00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:34,319
that clocks fill me with hatred and
terror? Those prosaic engineers of space,

15
00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:41,519
with their dreadful, unfailing cadence,
their ceaseless vigil over man's allotted time,

16
00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:49,959
their steady and untiring tic tac toward
eternity. They terrify me, poison me,

17
00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:57,959
madden me, those hideous reminders of
inexorable time, time, the faithful

18
00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:06,000
ally of unrelenting and unyielding death.
I lived alone with an old woman who

19
00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:10,080
had taken me when I was a
child from a foundling's home. Her I

20
00:02:10,159 --> 00:02:14,680
loved in a way, for she
was kind and very old and feeble.

21
00:02:15,719 --> 00:02:21,360
Yet she always insisted upon regularity,
eating, sleeping, and working at set

22
00:02:21,439 --> 00:02:25,719
times. And when I undertook to
vary my life from day to day,

23
00:02:27,439 --> 00:02:31,719
such as retiring at noon and rising
for breakfast at midnight, in order that

24
00:02:31,759 --> 00:02:37,639
I might thus break the monotony of
my existence, I met with such determined

25
00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:40,960
opposition from the old woman that her, too, I began to fear and

26
00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:46,560
hate. The house in which we
lived was an old, rambling country place

27
00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:53,919
of splendid and pretentious proportions, though
with an air of pervading gloom and loneliness.

28
00:02:54,199 --> 00:03:00,680
The furnishings were mostly heirlooms and antiques
of great beauty and value, of

29
00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:06,840
which the old woman was very proud. Among the chattels were two ancient and

30
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:14,280
costly clocks of rare and unusual design
and workmanship. They stood side by side

31
00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:20,800
in the great Hall, tall grim
and spectral, regulating the household by their

32
00:03:20,879 --> 00:03:25,759
minute divisions of space. At least
one of them did so. The other

33
00:03:25,879 --> 00:03:31,280
had not run for many, many
years. The old woman had frequently related

34
00:03:31,319 --> 00:03:37,639
to me how that one had stopped
at a quarter past midnight, the very

35
00:03:37,719 --> 00:03:44,199
minute I the very second her husband
had died, stopped of its own accord,

36
00:03:44,479 --> 00:03:50,400
so she said, or by the
hand of some unseen guest. With

37
00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,919
her own hands, she cared for, and cleaned and polished the two clocks

38
00:03:55,240 --> 00:04:01,120
every night with unvarying regularity. She
wound the living, which she told me

39
00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:05,800
with the utmost confidence, would stop
at the moment of her death, just

40
00:04:05,919 --> 00:04:12,199
as the other one had stopped when
her husband died. Is it any wonder,

41
00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:16,279
then, that I feared these damnable
machines almost as much as I hated

42
00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:21,480
them. I might have borne the
awe and dread with which I regarded them.

43
00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:27,279
But the continual ticking of a living
clock, the old woman's life piece,

44
00:04:27,319 --> 00:04:30,399
as I called it, lashed my
nerves to such a state of frenzy

45
00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:36,439
that goaded beyond endurance. I would
rush, trembling and screaming from the house

46
00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:45,199
into the night, the cold,
the storm, anywhere, anywhere away from

47
00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:51,120
that gruesome monotony, that eternal cadence. There was a chime too, a

48
00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:57,160
chime that gave out a thick,
gloomy, resonant sound, filling me with

49
00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:01,759
foreboding and terror, a sound that
brought to mind grim death, and a

50
00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:11,240
grimmer reckoning that told of unsubdued passions
and stern retribution. Each quarter the time

51
00:05:11,439 --> 00:05:16,839
increased, until upon the hour it
became a complete stanza. So gruesome was

52
00:05:16,879 --> 00:05:21,439
the effect of this music upon my
imagination that I could not rid my thoughts

53
00:05:21,439 --> 00:05:27,720
of it. I could not sleep, I could not rest. Always I

54
00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:33,040
was anticipating, waiting for the next
installment. Sometimes in the small of the

55
00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:36,920
night, I would creep from my
sleepless bed and crouch in the dark,

56
00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:42,600
chilly hall in order that I might
hear the ticking and chiming more plainly,

57
00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:47,040
waiting for the dreadful music to start
again, and then for the next sound,

58
00:05:47,439 --> 00:05:53,680
and the next, and so on
until morning. At times I would

59
00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:58,199
make a determined effort to throw off
the spell. I would say to myself,

60
00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:02,120
after the next quarter chimes, I
shall hurry to bed and fall asleep

61
00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:08,600
before it sounds again. Then,
as soon as the quarter's direful melody had

62
00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:13,680
ceased, I would hasten to my
room, shivering with cold and nervousness,

63
00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:19,720
and lie with tightly closed eyes courting
sleep. But big pointed hands would clutch

64
00:06:19,759 --> 00:06:25,879
at my heart, brassy voices would
laugh musically and mockingly in my ears,

65
00:06:26,399 --> 00:06:30,399
Until unable to endure it longer,
I would rush back to the dark,

66
00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:34,399
cold hall, where I would count
the steady tik toks and listen for the

67
00:06:34,519 --> 00:06:41,519
unvarying chime the rest of the night. Long as time wore on, I

68
00:06:41,639 --> 00:06:47,079
realized that my condition was becoming grave. Thoughts of destroying the clock occupied me

69
00:06:47,199 --> 00:06:53,079
constantly, but I could not do
it because I feared the frightful thing with

70
00:06:53,199 --> 00:06:58,240
all my soul. On one occasion, I did approach the old woman with

71
00:06:58,399 --> 00:07:03,519
cunningly and clever argument as to why
she herself should stop the clock, But

72
00:07:03,639 --> 00:07:11,079
she indignantly refused after that, so
it seemed to me I began to detect

73
00:07:11,079 --> 00:07:15,279
her, stealing furtive and suspicious glances
at me. She suspected my trouble.

74
00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:21,519
She knew, Dear God, I
verily believed she knew my suffering and agony,

75
00:07:21,839 --> 00:07:27,519
and yet she would not stop that
fiendish clock. So I began to

76
00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:34,079
burn with remorseless hatred for the old
woman, a desire for revenge. Then

77
00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:39,439
it was that I cunningly devised a
scheme to appease my hatred of the old

78
00:07:39,439 --> 00:07:45,079
woman and rid myself of the monster. At the same time. The old

79
00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,040
woman had said that the clock would
stop of its own accord when she died.

80
00:07:49,399 --> 00:07:54,759
Very well, in this way she
should accomplish what she had refused to

81
00:07:54,839 --> 00:08:01,439
do, and what I myself feared
to do. Yes, I resolved to

82
00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:05,199
kill the old woman. I felt
sorry for her, because she had been

83
00:08:05,279 --> 00:08:09,959
kind to me, and she was
very old and feeble. But she stood

84
00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:16,759
between me and my happiness, and
she must die that very night. I

85
00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:20,920
would perpetrate the deed and rid myself
forever of this lesion upon my soul.

86
00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:28,600
After dark, I began to make
my arrangements. They were very simple.

87
00:08:28,639 --> 00:08:35,159
The house stood in a lonely neighborhood, no one would hear. The old

88
00:08:35,159 --> 00:08:41,399
woman was very aged and infirmed,
and could make no resistance. She retired

89
00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:46,120
early, as was her wont and
I went to my room to listen and

90
00:08:46,279 --> 00:08:50,679
wait. I planned to wait until
the midnight hour had struck, and then

91
00:08:50,759 --> 00:08:56,960
accomplished the deed before the clock should
begin another day with its quarter's melody,

92
00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:03,080
hardly breathing. Touched in my room
until the midnight hour had struck. Waited

93
00:09:03,159 --> 00:09:07,639
until the last note of the awful
dirge had faded into the dreadful stillness of

94
00:09:07,759 --> 00:09:13,320
night. Then, carrying in my
hands a small hatchet, I made my

95
00:09:13,399 --> 00:09:20,480
way stealthily toward the old woman's room. I moved very slowly and cautiously,

96
00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:24,759
inch by inch, creeping on my
hands and knees so as to make no

97
00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:31,200
sound. On my way. I
paused before the tall, grim clock to

98
00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:37,159
gloat. Monster. I gibbered in
a high, thin voice, for I

99
00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:43,919
did not wish the old woman to
hear and become alarmed. Fiend, damned

100
00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:48,840
soul, Never again will you raise
your hellish voice. Never again shall I

101
00:09:48,919 --> 00:09:56,120
tremble and shake with terror at your
taunting melody. Never again, for soon

102
00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:01,559
you will be forever stilled in my
excite, I had unconsciously allowed my voice

103
00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:07,559
to rise to a shrill, piercing
treble. Rage possessed me. I rose

104
00:10:07,639 --> 00:10:13,039
to my feet and shook my fist
at its evil shape. I screamed maledictions

105
00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:20,000
and curses at it, and laughed
with fiendish joy and triumph. Agent of

106
00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:24,919
hell, I shrieked, brandishing my
hatchet and dancing in a frenzy of hate.

107
00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:31,480
You have spoken your last. You
shall never never use your brassy lungs

108
00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:37,559
again. The words were scarcely out
of my mouth, when on the clear,

109
00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:43,519
dreadful stillness of the night, there
broke a sound, hoarse, bold

110
00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:48,720
mocking, a sound that froze my
blood, that made my hair rise with

111
00:10:48,879 --> 00:10:56,639
terror, that filled me with surging
fury. I had miscalculated my time,

112
00:10:56,039 --> 00:11:01,159
because I had not gone by the
clock. The demon was beginning to strike

113
00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:07,720
the quarter to mock me beginning.
But no more, For with the first

114
00:11:07,799 --> 00:11:13,440
note, such a wave of rage
and loathing swept over me. Hatred of

115
00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:18,639
the monster, and the fury at
having been thwarted in my plans that I

116
00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,720
forgot, my fear, forgot everything
save that I was mad. I uttered

117
00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:28,960
an awful cry, and leaped upon
it. With superhuman strength. I dashed

118
00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:35,200
it to the floor, where it
fell with a terrific crash. Shrieking invectives,

119
00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:41,440
I tore into its vitals with my
bare hands, destroying mangling devil.

120
00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:46,799
I raved, you shall not speak, you shall not, you shall not.

121
00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:52,639
In a few minutes, it was
a complete wreck. It lay on

122
00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:58,639
the floor, bruised, broken,
seeming in my excited imagination like a murdered

123
00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:05,720
thing, laughing loudly and shrilly,
and clutching in my wounded, blood stained

124
00:12:05,759 --> 00:12:11,480
hands the remnants of the mutilated machine. I rushed to the old woman's room.

125
00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:16,960
She lay quietly on the bed,
gazing at me with horror dilated eyes.

126
00:12:18,519 --> 00:12:24,120
See, I screamed, throwing the
bloody remnants upon the floor. See,

127
00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:28,679
old woman, there is your clock. Now it will hardly stop when

128
00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:35,440
you die. Ha ha. Then
a strange feeling of awe crept over me.

129
00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:41,639
I ceased raving and looked intently at
the old woman. In the pale

130
00:12:41,759 --> 00:12:45,440
light of a flickering candle, I
could see that she still gazed at me

131
00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:50,840
with horror dilated eyes. But now
I saw that they were sightless. The

132
00:12:50,919 --> 00:12:58,440
old woman was dead. She had
died when the clock stopped. The End

133
00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:01,720
of the Clock by Arthur Styron