WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:08.519 Hollo. I'm morecan stories all the time. Glad you are here. 2 00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:10.039 Let's get into it. 3 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:13.919 Tuesday always begins the same way for me. The day 4 00:00:14.039 --> 00:00:17.120 unspools through the library's polished oak entry doors as the 5 00:00:17.160 --> 00:00:20.559 town clocked holes steady as you like from its perch 6 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:24.199 high above the high street. I unlock the double glass doors, 7 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:27.960 one sticky, one smooth, just as the bell's echo rattles 8 00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:30.719 the window panes, and the first caffeine laced air from 9 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:34.799 Bristol Bean across the street sneaks in behind me. Sunlight 10 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:38.520 filters across the stacks, the gold dust of another predictable 11 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:43.039 morning flickering over the new arrival's shelf. There's comfort in 12 00:00:43.079 --> 00:00:47.520 the predictability of it, or so I thought most mornings. 13 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:49.719 I take pride in being the first to notice when 14 00:00:49.719 --> 00:00:54.520 something's off. A missorted biography, a calendar update, the faintest 15 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:58.320 migration of dusty footprints by the local history display. But 16 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:02.039 time time has never been my problem. The old clock 17 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:05.200 tower dictates the rhythm of our town so precisely that 18 00:01:05.239 --> 00:01:08.480 on week days, the bakery synchronizes the dough's second rise 19 00:01:08.519 --> 00:01:12.439 to its chimes, the bus company prints timetables by its face, 20 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:15.480 and most days you could set your own heart to 21 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:20.000 its pulse. On this particular Tuesday, the first strangeness slipped 22 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:22.680 in on the heels of Missus Kavanugh. She swept in 23 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:26.319 trailing crossword grids like a wedding train, her purse wrapping 24 00:01:26.359 --> 00:01:30.560 softly against her navy coat, perched spectacles nearly falling as usual. 25 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:34.920 She beamed, her cheeks oddly pink from the wind. Made 26 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:37.840 it with two minutes to spare ten forty three, just 27 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:41.560 like I intended, she declared, as if reading from a script. 28 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:45.799 I gave her a smile. The brass wall clock behind 29 00:01:45.799 --> 00:01:49.799 the checkout was slow. I suspected, again, cutting it close 30 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:52.719 to day. I asked, ready to reset the hands if 31 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:56.079 she pointed out an error. She set down her stack 32 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:59.519 and checked her wristwatch, one of those delicate gold numbers 33 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:02.840 older Lake ladies often Inherit just the right side of 34 00:02:02.920 --> 00:02:06.280 late dear, she said, breezing by, and then a wink. 35 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:10.680 You know how tuesdays run. I barely had time to 36 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:14.439 scan that remark before devon, bristling with chest pieces and 37 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:19.280 oversized headphones, bounded inside. He gazed up at the giant windows, 38 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:23.560 then his phone, then my face, Hey, mis rainer, I'll 39 00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:26.840 hang around until noon, then head out. It's still early. 40 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:31.439 Right before I could reply, mister Patel pushed in after him, 41 00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:37.039 shuffling envelopes and folders from the archive. Chilly for almost noon, eh, 42 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:40.319 he said, gravely, blinking at me, as if accusing me 43 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:44.240 of orchestrating the weather. That was the first bump. I 44 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:47.840 glanced at our wall clock. It read eleven zero seven. 45 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:51.479 My phone, which I keep obsessively charged and sinked blinked 46 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:54.879 ten fifty nine. The computer at the desk for once 47 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:58.280 split the difference at eleven zero two, but none of 48 00:02:58.280 --> 00:03:01.400 it seemed to bother any one. Every regular who filtered 49 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:04.639 in reference a slightly different time for their arrival or plans, 50 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:10.080 all of them perfectly certain, none of them inquiring further curiosity. 51 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:13.719 Beat back routine. Then a subtle thrumming under my usually 52 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:18.759 pragmatic skin, I asked missus Kavanaugh idly, are you running behind? 53 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:22.240 My clock's a little off, I think? She gave a 54 00:03:22.280 --> 00:03:26.039 breezy half laugh. Well, it's always a bit odd on Tuesdays, 55 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:30.240 isn't it. Crosswords, don't mind, time's a puzzle too. She 56 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:33.639 whisked off to the multi purpose room, humming under her breath. 57 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:38.000 I tried again, with devon, offering, did chess get pushed 58 00:03:38.039 --> 00:03:42.520 earlier today? He shrugged, Nope, we always start when the 59 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:46.199 clock chimes. Tuesdays are weird, though, you just get used 60 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:49.479 to it. He adjusted his headphones and wandered toward his 61 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:55.159 friends unbothered. Mister Patel, busy arranging his archive folders, caught 62 00:03:55.199 --> 00:03:59.680 my confusion. Stopped fighting odd tuesdays when I retired, he said, 63 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:04.560 con spiratorially, Libretti council minutes, my pension, none of them 64 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:07.960 land on the same Tuesday twice. Relax and let the 65 00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:12.199 day have you. The moment passed. I returned to sorting 66 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:15.599 the new arrivals, half listening to boot heels and small 67 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:21.000 talk echoing through marble hallways. But something stuck. Not fear exactly, 68 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:24.160 just a sense of being very slightly misplaced in my 69 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:28.040 own library. I suppose that was the first time I 70 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:31.319 questioned whether Tuesday belonged to me as much as to 71 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:35.600 any one else. The rhythm of Tuesday is a masterful illusion, 72 00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:40.319 layered routine atop silent disorder. The library by nine, the 73 00:04:40.360 --> 00:04:44.199 coffee from Bristol Bean, the antique shops throwing open their blinds, 74 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:48.560 fifteen minutes before the baker's bell, Everything synchronized, every one 75 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:51.639 arriving just in time for their group or class or lecture, 76 00:04:51.959 --> 00:04:55.879 all measured against the great clock's chime echoing over slate roofs. 77 00:04:56.439 --> 00:04:58.759 Or so it looks to any one passing through the square. 78 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:02.439 Be easy to assume I am one of those meticulous 79 00:05:02.680 --> 00:05:06.000 rules are comfort types, simply because I am a librarian. 80 00:05:06.680 --> 00:05:09.439 Maybe that's true, But it's also true that I derive 81 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:13.680 pleasure from a kind of local choreography. Missus Kavanaugh's crossword 82 00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:16.800 teams settling at the oval table, the soft click of 83 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:20.279 Rook and Bishop from the chess club's corner, the warm 84 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:24.600 chaos of after school programs tumbling in trailing snack wrappers 85 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:29.600 and bicycle helmets. On most days, the small deviations are charming, 86 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:34.079 the lag in bus schedules, the daydream drift between shopkeepers. 87 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:37.480 But never before this had I considered that time itself 88 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:41.439 might be unpinned in our little town, not just carelessly handled, 89 00:05:41.639 --> 00:05:47.240 but actually stubbornly resistant. The library isn't grand, but it's central, 90 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:50.839 big bay windows lined up with the cobbled street, event 91 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:53.720 bored at the entry break room with a decade's old 92 00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:57.079 kettle forever in some stage of boiling, and stacks built 93 00:05:57.079 --> 00:05:59.759 in the last wave of municipal pride before the locals 94 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:03.240 lost interest in brickwork. My desk has a clear view 95 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:06.920 of the clock tower out front, iron and glass marks 96 00:06:06.920 --> 00:06:11.920 scored from a century of presumably near perfect timekeeping. I 97 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:15.079 used to straighten the reference journals while gazing at its face, 98 00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:18.600 calibrating in my head how one chime matched each task 99 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:23.959 on my schedule, returns, shelving budget reports like pulling threads 100 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:27.879 through a loom. Every group that passes through is comfortably 101 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:31.680 set in its ways. Missus Kavanaugh and the Crossword regulars, 102 00:06:32.040 --> 00:06:36.240 Joan from the preschool, Franklin, the Postman, the Macnamara Twins, 103 00:06:36.759 --> 00:06:40.639 always the same podium of pencils and clip dictionaries, forever 104 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:46.000 five minutes before or after they're posted. Time devon chessboard 105 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:49.600 zipped into his backpack is on the young side, fourteen 106 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:53.639 turning fifteen next month, high school junior with an appetite 107 00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:56.920 for the cryptic, and drags along an unlikely parade of 108 00:06:56.959 --> 00:07:00.759 both seniors and middle school rookies, somehow unifying the lot 109 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:05.800 into a cloud of low patient murmurs. Mister Patel retired 110 00:07:05.879 --> 00:07:10.560 science teacher and the library's unofficial historian, keeps the microfilm 111 00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:13.519 and local memoirs in order better than I do. He 112 00:07:13.560 --> 00:07:16.800 seems to measure days not in hours, but in folders, 113 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:22.120 each labeled, sorted, annotated. The cafe two doors down is 114 00:07:22.199 --> 00:07:25.399 run by Kay and Rosa, partners in both senses and 115 00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:29.439 co conspirators in caffeine. They keep an eccentric weekly record, 116 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:33.120 stuck by magnets to the espresso machine. Tuesday entries read 117 00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:37.279 like poetry. First scone nine twenty two. Devon says he 118 00:07:37.399 --> 00:07:41.759 was here Scone's gone twelve fourteen. Rosa says it was 119 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:46.959 before lunch. Perhaps check with Anna. Even Garry, the maintenance 120 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:50.040 worker whose blue coveralls and key ring are the only 121 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:54.040 sign of authority some afternoons, treats timetables as a kind 122 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:57.439 of duel. If the clocks wander, he's back to fix 123 00:07:57.480 --> 00:08:01.800 em up for the Tuesday twist. Usually by Wednesday. The 124 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:05.279 town's routine is a clockwork ballet on every day but Tuesday. 125 00:08:05.720 --> 00:08:08.560 On Monday, lunch is at the stroke of twelve, never 126 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:11.480 two minutes late, or the corner office crowd stage a 127 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:15.879 polite mutiny. Wednesday is strictly lecture day so punctual that 128 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:18.480 a late start calls for an apology. On the town's 129 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:23.839 Facebook page, Tuesday, though, is described by regulars as busy overlapping, 130 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:28.279 the day when everyone overlaps. By design, it's the only 131 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:31.759 day every scheduled event appears on the board. All hands 132 00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:36.399 on deck, chess club, book sorting, after school lecture, local 133 00:08:36.440 --> 00:08:40.480 business forum, even three overlapping support groups that somehow never 134 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:43.440 clash until to day. I had chalked that up to 135 00:08:43.480 --> 00:08:46.679 the practical fact that for some reason, all the groups 136 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:50.080 picked Tuesday, But the more I thought about it, the 137 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:54.240 more Tuesday seemed stretched. I've always felt, returning home on 138 00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:57.759 a Tuesday evening, that I'd lived two days, three maybe more. 139 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:01.519 My steps lagged, my tea cut up, gone cold hours ago, 140 00:09:01.799 --> 00:09:06.960 notes unfinished, Both satisfied and unable to pinpunt why to day? 141 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:10.559 A memory resurfaced a catalog entry I once flagged for 142 00:09:10.600 --> 00:09:15.240 being curiously vague. Event concluded twelve forty five p m 143 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:19.399 or thereabouts. See ancillary notes for possible end time participants 144 00:09:19.480 --> 00:09:23.559 uncertain I'd rolled my eyes, correcting it to affirm twelve 145 00:09:23.799 --> 00:09:26.639 forty seven, going by my watch at the time, but 146 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:29.639 on rereading it now, I wondered, do I ever really 147 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:32.440 know what time it is? Or am I comforting myself 148 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:35.840 with my own sense of order? Maybe it was nothing 149 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:38.840 more than a busy mind playing tricks. But as the 150 00:09:38.919 --> 00:09:43.799 library grew busier and the Tuesday routines solidified into apparent chaos, 151 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:47.279 the suspicion gnawed. What if I've never truly known what 152 00:09:47.399 --> 00:09:51.679 a Tuesday was meant to be? Around midday, my confidence 153 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:54.799 in controlled routine took a hit. I couldn't easily laugh away. 154 00:09:55.399 --> 00:09:59.080 The library was bustling, each section claimed by overlapping groups, 155 00:09:59.240 --> 00:10:03.000 their schedules opposedly duftilling like a crosswood grid. To day's 156 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:07.039 event was marked bold marker underlined on my personal and 157 00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:11.720 the official library schedules. Community lecture, the towns Lost railway 158 00:10:11.720 --> 00:10:17.240 station one zero zero p m. Event room, b light refreshments. 159 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:20.799 It was my job to set up chairs, check the mic, 160 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:24.399 in sure the power punt was loaded, tell missus Kavanaugh 161 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:27.919 to keep her crossworders to only gentle cheers, and generally 162 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:33.200 nudge attendees towards some semblance of punctuality. At twelve on 163 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:36.720 the dot by my phone, I cut through the main stacks, 164 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:39.320 eager to see which early birds had arrived for the talk. 165 00:10:39.879 --> 00:10:43.240 The event rooms smelled of waxed floors and distant pastries. 166 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:46.440 To my surprise, more than half the seats were filled, 167 00:10:46.840 --> 00:10:49.480 Missus Ellingham from the garden club, half a troop of 168 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:52.960 cub Scouts, three teachers from the middle school, all hunched 169 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:55.919 over plates, scraping at the last of something that looked 170 00:10:55.919 --> 00:11:00.240 suspiciously like my secret stash of ginger cake. They were 171 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:03.759 already deep in post lecture chat. Such a good talk, 172 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:07.559 those old maps just wonderful. Loved the bits about the 173 00:11:07.639 --> 00:11:11.799 third platform that never opened, someone was saying, napkin pressed 174 00:11:11.799 --> 00:11:15.240 to her lips. I checked the whiteboard by the doorway, 175 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:18.320 half expecting to see the guest lecturer's name and the 176 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:22.559 title of the event yet to come. Instead, the marker read, 177 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:25.519 thank you for coming, Please sign the book for doctor 178 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:31.120 Kilneur Railway Lecture Tuesday, one zero zero. The guest's book 179 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:35.159 lay open, several names scribbled already in blocky library pen 180 00:11:35.559 --> 00:11:39.039 next to folded fliers with half remembered railways of westshare 181 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:43.000 a people's history and to day's date. A stack of 182 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:46.440 plastic cups stood near an empty plate. It all looked 183 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:49.279 perfectly plausible, as though I'd stepped into the wake of 184 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:52.200 an event that had finished well before I ever arrived. 185 00:11:53.240 --> 00:11:56.919 But it couldn't be. I checked my phone, twelve zero two, 186 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:01.159 no calls, no notifications. I'd been in the stacks ten minutes, 187 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:05.360 nowhere near the room. My mind pinged through possible explanations, 188 00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:09.399 calender mix up, a prank, or more likely some combination 189 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:13.840 of eager early arrivals and my own distraction. I hunted 190 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:16.679 for the guest lecturer, but the only evidence of them 191 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:19.440 was a too crisp signature in the sign in book 192 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:23.159 and a few occupants packing away projection cables as if 193 00:12:23.159 --> 00:12:26.639 nothing in the least odd had happened. Elsewhere, in a 194 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:30.320 glass walled conference room, I caught the local student presentation 195 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:33.879 group polishing up their speeches for a later event supposedly 196 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:37.480 scheduled for this afternoon. But when I peeked through the glass, 197 00:12:37.720 --> 00:12:41.639 a half dozen watches blink different times two fourteen, two, 198 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:47.639 forty three, three, zero one even four twelve. Devon lounging 199 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:50.480 in the corner announced I've got an hour before I 200 00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:54.000 need to go grab lunch, while elsewhere, his friend Toby 201 00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:57.519 was tallying up votes for best opener and muttering about 202 00:12:57.559 --> 00:13:02.080 nearly missing the bus supposedly fifty teen minutes earlier. The 203 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:05.000 more clocks I checked, the less persuaded I became that 204 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:08.240 any tube belonged to the same Tuesday. My staff at 205 00:13:08.279 --> 00:13:12.039 the main desk fran with her eglied calendar, cross checking, 206 00:13:12.279 --> 00:13:16.120 and Lara, quick to update the web portal. Grew exasperated 207 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:20.200 as I darted between devices. The library's electric wall clock 208 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:22.919 fell out of step with my computer before I finished 209 00:13:22.919 --> 00:13:26.759 adjusting it. Each system sinked perfectly for a minute, then 210 00:13:26.840 --> 00:13:30.399 diverged again, as if tugged by invisible threads notted to 211 00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:33.960 each owner's intentions. That could have been the moment I 212 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:36.799 put it away as town quirk waved it off like 213 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:40.480 everyone else. Maybe I should have, but the pattern wasn't 214 00:13:40.600 --> 00:13:45.000 random or careless. It followed. People clung to routines, bent 215 00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:48.720 ever so slightly to every one's private schedule, never truly 216 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:52.559 falling into disorder, but never quite lining up either. Too 217 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:57.480 systematic for coincidence, too persistent for mere oversight. I made 218 00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:00.679 a note in the back of my library planneresday no 219 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:05.279 objective time follow up. I underlined it three times before 220 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:09.159 signing off for lunch. If Tuesday had its own laws, 221 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:13.639 I was now determined to discover them. Late that afternoon, 222 00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:16.600 after the crowds thinned and the event's board resumed its 223 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:20.559 modest hum, I began my log an a Rainer thirty nine, 224 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:25.279 moderately obsessive librarian, lover of CRISP schedules and precise tea times, 225 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:28.960 Embarking on what I quickly titled my Tuesday Accordance project. 226 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:33.000 I drew a table in my notebook, time stamp device, 227 00:14:33.320 --> 00:14:39.320 event participant, physical evidence contradiction three eighteen p m. Chess 228 00:14:39.320 --> 00:14:43.919 Club begins. Devon says, write on time phone three twelve 229 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:48.879 wall clock three nineteen three twenty nine p m. Missus 230 00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:52.159 Cavenaugh enters with a second stack of cross words here 231 00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:56.519 for the early group. Missus Cavanaugh's watch three thirty seven 232 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:01.720 my phone three thirty three forty one p m. K 233 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:05.360 from Bristol. Bean arrives with leftover pastries she claims were 234 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:10.720 baked just after breakfast. Must be nearing four pastries warm ow, 235 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:15.200 and so on. Each entry a new thread in what 236 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:17.919 promised to be a dizzying mesh of nearly matched but 237 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:23.320 never quite reconcilable times to anchor myself. I sought out Garry, 238 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:28.000 the library's custodian and self appointed clock wrangler. I found 239 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:31.159 him in the corridor, outside the maintenance closet, tool box, 240 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:35.279 open watch set, beside a battered thermis. He was winding 241 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:37.759 the decorative clock at the end of the children's section 242 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:41.519 with a key the size of my palm, keeping on 243 00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:44.840 schedule to day. I asked, trying for a lightness I 244 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:49.919 didn't feel. He grunted. Never on a Tuesday, clocks always drift. 245 00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:52.679 Wouldn't be much of a Tuesday if they didn't. He 246 00:15:52.759 --> 00:15:56.519 eyed me, thoughtful. I stopped fighting it years ago. Now 247 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:59.559 I come in Wednesday morning, set em all right, leave 248 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:04.080 the day do its thing. What makes Tuesday different? I pressed? 249 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:09.320 He shrugged, winding furiously. They say it's the tower, or 250 00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:12.440 the council, or the weather, or just the town having 251 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:15.240 a laugh. Never had a proper fix for it. Love, 252 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:19.559 You'll twist your brain if you try. But surely someone's 253 00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:23.360 kept a record. If we reset, shouldn't the clocks just stick? 254 00:16:23.799 --> 00:16:26.440 I pointed at the blinking red light on the security 255 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:30.840 camera overhead. What about our footage or your own routines? 256 00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:35.360 He rolled his eyes. Look, I wind them same as always, 257 00:16:35.639 --> 00:16:38.519 but one clock always sneaks off. You ever take a 258 00:16:38.600 --> 00:16:41.799 train that runs to Bristol on a Tuesday. He lowered 259 00:16:41.799 --> 00:16:45.399 his voice, as if confiding in a cult secret. Never 260 00:16:45.480 --> 00:16:49.159 the same time twice, Conductors don't even check the platform 261 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:52.960 clock any more. Once the bell tolls, I wrote down 262 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:57.200 each word. My confusion deepened, but not defeated. The scent 263 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:00.399 of machine oil and spent coffee clung to my sleeve 264 00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:03.919 as I left. Next, I walked the short drift down 265 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:07.880 to Bristol Bean Kay was managing the espresso machine, which 266 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:11.680 gurgled like a nervous engine. Rosa waved from the register 267 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:16.279 across the counter. The daily schedule was scrawled in rainbow markers, 268 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:21.400 Tuesday's notes resembling a stylized code. I ordered a flat white, then, 269 00:17:21.480 --> 00:17:25.400 as casually as possible, asked, what time did you open today? 270 00:17:26.440 --> 00:17:29.559 Kay glanced at the chalkboard, then made a face at Rosa. 271 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:33.960 We were opened by nine, weren't we? Rosa hunted through 272 00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:38.160 the delivery slips. Scones were here at nine fifty six 273 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:41.680 or maybe ten. Devon's Club popped in, so it was 274 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:46.160 before chess. I think we definitely weren't late, because missus 275 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:49.279 Kavanaugh picked up the cinnamon rolls before we closed the 276 00:17:49.319 --> 00:17:55.799 register for lunch. So what eleven thirty? Kay shrugged, Honestly, 277 00:17:55.960 --> 00:17:58.960 on Tuesdays it's best not to argue. The day just 278 00:17:59.079 --> 00:18:02.240 folds out how it once, we still make rent. Mostly 279 00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:06.799 beneath the laughter, I detected the same easy side step 280 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:10.759 i'd seen all day, a collective willingness to accept shifting 281 00:18:10.839 --> 00:18:14.640 times as natural. It reminded me of something Missus Kavanor 282 00:18:14.759 --> 00:18:17.799 once said after a crossword tie breaker. You have to 283 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:21.799 let the clues lead you out, not corral them. Back. 284 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:26.039 At the library, I accosted Missus Kavanor herself, now presiding 285 00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:29.720 over a table littered with pencil shavings and cryptic clues. 286 00:18:30.839 --> 00:18:34.680 Have you ever noticed, I began, a little breathlessly, that 287 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:38.640 the time never matches up here on Tuesdays. She looked 288 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:40.880 at me as if i'd asked whether water was wet. 289 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:43.920 If you figured out Tuesday timing, you deserve a no 290 00:18:44.039 --> 00:18:47.480 bell or something. Dear, She grinned, it's been odd since 291 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:50.279 the year I arrived. I used to reset my watch, 292 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:54.640 but now I don't bother. She looked up, suddenly focused. Funny, 293 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:59.119 isn't it? It's almost liberating. That word stuck with me. 294 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:03.559 Liberating I was thinking instead of losing control, but perhaps 295 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:07.400 that was naive. As soon as the last event wrapped, 296 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:11.000 I pored over our old event logs. The Tuesday entries, 297 00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:15.839 spanning decades flickered with anomalies. Start times skittering by the seasons, 298 00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:19.400 a group that supposedly began at ten thirty showing up 299 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:22.880 at nine fifty five in spring eleven twelve by winter, 300 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:26.880 all by the same organizer's hand. End times were always 301 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:31.920 appended with a prox or by consensus. Even my own 302 00:19:31.960 --> 00:19:34.960 notes took on an uncertain edge. The deeper I searched 303 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:39.240 group finished up around lunch cake served after the second game. 304 00:19:39.559 --> 00:19:42.920 It was dusk by then. I started to think about 305 00:19:42.920 --> 00:19:46.119 the other businesses. The antique shop next to the florist 306 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:48.519 had a ledger, and I had once seen their Tuesday 307 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:52.400 sales column hastily lined out and replaced with rainbow marker. 308 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:57.440 Paid probably two p m check with Marjorie. Each shop 309 00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:01.440 had a telegram of similar confusion. No outrage, no scandal, 310 00:20:01.799 --> 00:20:06.119 just a collective shoulder shrug. I rechecked the monthly planners, 311 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:09.640 both mine and the library's public calendar, now more like 312 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:14.759 confessionals than actual references. On Mondays and Wednesdays, recurring meetings 313 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:19.759 lined up like dominoes, neat and predictable. Tuesdays drifted, reminders 314 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:22.920 written and were written, passed, events floating by days or 315 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:27.039 even weeks, annotated with ish and depends. It was as 316 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:31.720 if the very idea of Tuesday disallowed the possibility of consensus. 317 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:36.480 Public transportations no firmer anchor buses roll up on time, 318 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:40.319 but each passenger's ticket, the company's schedule, and the electric 319 00:20:40.440 --> 00:20:43.319 sign at the stop disagreed just enough to matter. No 320 00:20:43.400 --> 00:20:46.480 one makes a fuss. It is, after all, Tuesday. The 321 00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:50.720 weekly newspaper, normally meticulous, sometimes prints the Tuesday edition with 322 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:54.640 a Monday or Wednesday header. No apology offered, and apparently 323 00:20:54.680 --> 00:20:58.720 none expected. The printing office, when I called, simply chuckled 324 00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:02.079 and said it all were out. In the end, I 325 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:05.839 let the log pages fill with these overlapping tilted timelines, 326 00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:10.160 a meta schedule of discrepancies. Each entry echoed the last, 327 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:13.279 but shifted in key, like a jazz rift that keeps 328 00:21:13.319 --> 00:21:17.799 surprising you. Everyone knows, everyone forgives, and no one is 329 00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:23.240 particularly motivated to solve it except me. Several questions emerged 330 00:21:23.559 --> 00:21:27.440 insistent as a tapping finger. Why tuesdays? Why only hear 331 00:21:27.880 --> 00:21:31.039 did anyone recall it? Starting? Is there a record of 332 00:21:31.079 --> 00:21:34.960 an initial normal Tuesday that's somehow split? What if it's 333 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:37.200 been this way as long as there's been a clock 334 00:21:37.319 --> 00:21:41.000 tower to toll the hour. I gave myself a task 335 00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:45.559 next Tuesday. Log everything, my actions, the clocks, the overlap, 336 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:49.160 the contradictions. I would recruit other staff to do the same, 337 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:53.279 keep independent records, and compare after the fact. If the 338 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:56.559 Tuesday drift was an illusion, this would smoke it out. 339 00:21:57.039 --> 00:22:00.480 If not, I would have to entertain possibilities fast stranger 340 00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:04.440 than I had planned. That evening, I tucked my notebook away, 341 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:08.799 breathless and oddly exhilarated, already counting the days until the 342 00:22:08.839 --> 00:22:14.039 next Tuesday, whatever and whenever that would actually be. When 343 00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:17.799 Tuesday rolled back around, I came prepared as an archaeologist 344 00:22:17.880 --> 00:22:21.759 excavating her own life. I recruited Fran and Lara to help. 345 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:25.400 Everyone would log each passing half hour using both their 346 00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:30.759 phones and handwritten slips with synchronized time stamping. Gary, for 347 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:34.079 whom this was a challenge, gamely promised hourly check ins 348 00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:37.839 as he made his rounds winding clocks. We set the 349 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:41.160 security system's time stamp to visible on the monitors so 350 00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:44.440 I could match every motion with a time reading. I 351 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:47.319 requested everyone in the building sign in and out in 352 00:22:47.400 --> 00:22:50.799 both the guest register and by swiping their library card. 353 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:55.119 The computer systems server was checked its clock time compared 354 00:22:55.160 --> 00:22:59.319 with Greenwich, then locked through it all, I kept my 355 00:22:59.400 --> 00:23:03.799 own journal, checking off events and recording every contradiction, no 356 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:09.319 matter how laughable or small. Tuesday unfolded with relentless normalcy. 357 00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:13.119 At first, the groups arrived, the chess club filled their 358 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:16.799 usual corner. Missus Kavanaugh held caught over her cross words, 359 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:20.960 The clock tower chimed, and each event ticked into existence, 360 00:23:21.240 --> 00:23:24.759 seemingly on queue. But as I began to compare the 361 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:30.200 collected logs, my belief in routine fractured. By Wednesday morning, 362 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:32.920 we all gathered around the event desk to swap notes 363 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:36.599 and transcribe our logs onto the whiteboard. At first glance, 364 00:23:36.759 --> 00:23:41.279 each person's Tuesday was seamless. Their written logs, their phone screenshots, 365 00:23:41.319 --> 00:23:45.720 even their memories and photos snapped as proof were internally consistent. 366 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:49.720 Devon's Chess Club met from ten fifty nine to twelve 367 00:23:50.039 --> 00:23:54.400 thirty five on the nose. Every match accounted for Lara's 368 00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:58.960 story hour started ten thirty sharp and ended eleven nineteen, 369 00:23:59.319 --> 00:24:02.880 every face in her pictures matching the roster. But when 370 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:05.839 we cross referenced, the times attached to the same moments 371 00:24:05.880 --> 00:24:09.960 refused to overlap. Fran's memory of greeting Missus Kavanaugh at 372 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.680 eleven zero two. Security camera footage time stamped of Missus 373 00:24:14.759 --> 00:24:17.960 Kavanugh entering at what it claimed was ten fifteen, my 374 00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:21.319 own note at ten forty four, seeing her already settled 375 00:24:21.319 --> 00:24:25.480 with her group, each timeline perfect in itself, but never agreeing, 376 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:30.319 not even when using the same objective devices. The footage 377 00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:34.880 itself disagreed. At noon, Missus Kavanor walked into the library 378 00:24:34.920 --> 00:24:39.200 three separate times, with different sets of companions, each entering 379 00:24:39.240 --> 00:24:42.680 as though for the first time, we went silent, all 380 00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:46.119 at once. Fran laughed, then shook her head. O kay, 381 00:24:46.279 --> 00:24:50.559 that's something I pressed on, intent on piecing it together. 382 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:53.799 I found Devon, who swore he played a match with 383 00:24:53.880 --> 00:24:57.519 me after lunch, recalling the opening move and my sarcastic 384 00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:01.559 quip about Sicilian defense. But I remembered spending that time 385 00:25:01.640 --> 00:25:04.880 shelving returned books while he was in a heated endgame 386 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:09.079 with Franklin at Bristol, bean Ky handed me a receipt 387 00:25:09.240 --> 00:25:13.319 time stamped one fourteen p m for a coffee sold 388 00:25:13.319 --> 00:25:17.359 to mister Patel. Mister Patel, certain he'd never ordered coffee 389 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:20.359 that day, did, however, remember meeting Kay at the return 390 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:24.400 counter after what he insisted was mid day. Both events 391 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:29.000 unanchored in any corroborated schedule. As my log grew crowded, 392 00:25:29.240 --> 00:25:32.640 objects began corroborating the chaos. I found a tray of 393 00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:35.920 pastries with a scribbled taken at ten thirty in joy 394 00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:39.200 Rosa note, but also a plate with a nearly identical 395 00:25:39.240 --> 00:25:42.880 note found by Lara set at two zero three, both 396 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:47.400 dated same day. Flyers were copied, signed by attendees, then 397 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:49.880 signed again later in the day by the same people, 398 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:52.960 with no one able to recall doing so twice or 399 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:57.759 at all. Despite all these anomalies, no one expressed concern, 400 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:02.519 not even mild embarrassment when faced with contradictions. Every one, 401 00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:06.759