WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:11.480 The old Clockmaker's Gift. In a small town, at the 2 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:15.480 edge of a wide valley, there lived an old clockmaker. 3 00:00:16.679 --> 00:00:20.039 His name was mister Alden, and he had been making 4 00:00:20.120 --> 00:00:23.839 clocks for as long as any one could remember. His 5 00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:27.359 shop sat on the corner of the main street, between 6 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:30.280 the bakery and the book shop, and it was always 7 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:34.439 warm inside. The warmth came from the dozens of clocks 8 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:38.359 that lined the walls, each one taking in its own rhythm, 9 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:42.719 filling the air with a sound like a hundred tiny heartbeats. 10 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:47.439 Mister Alden had silver hair and hands that were steady 11 00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:51.320 despite his age. He wore a leather apron stained with 12 00:00:51.399 --> 00:00:54.560 oil and polish, and he always had a pair of 13 00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:58.759 brass magnifying glasses hanging around his neck. He was a 14 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:03.159 quiet man, but he smiled often, and when he smiled, 15 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:06.040 his eyes crinkled at the corners in a way that 16 00:01:06.200 --> 00:01:11.519 made people feel safe. One autumn afternoon, a young girl 17 00:01:11.560 --> 00:01:15.480 walked into his shop. Her name was Clara and she 18 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.959 was nine years old. She had been sent by her 19 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:22.159 mother to buy a new kitchen timer. But when she 20 00:01:22.280 --> 00:01:25.280 stepped through the door and heard all the clocks ticking 21 00:01:25.319 --> 00:01:30.439 at once, she stopped and stood very still listening. The 22 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:35.519 sound was extraordinary. Each clock had its own voice, its 23 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:39.599 own pace. Some take it fast and light, like rain 24 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:43.560 drops on a tin roof, Others tacked slow and deep, 25 00:01:44.040 --> 00:01:48.079 like a heartbeat heard through a wall. Together they made 26 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:51.560 a kind of music, a sound that was both busy 27 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:55.439 and peaceful at the same time. Mister Alden looked up 28 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:58.040 from his work bench and saw the girl standing there, 29 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:02.640 her eyes wide, her head tilted slightly to one side 30 00:02:02.680 --> 00:02:05.959 as he listened. He did not speak for a moment. 31 00:02:07.079 --> 00:02:11.599 He let her listen. Then he said, gently, you can 32 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:16.400 hear them, can't you. Clara nodded. They all sound different, 33 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:21.520 She said they do. Mister Alden agreed. Every clock has 34 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:27.240 its own heart, just like people. Clara looked at him curious. 35 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:30.360 Then she looked around the shop at all the clocks. 36 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:35.039 There were tall grandfather clocks in the corners, their pendulums 37 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:39.599 swinging in long, slow arcs. There were small mantle clocks 38 00:02:39.639 --> 00:02:43.759 on the shelves, their faces painted with flowers and stars. 39 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:48.280 There were carriage clocks and wall clocks, and clocks shaped 40 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:51.759 like houses and trees and animals. And on the work 41 00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:56.439 bench half finished, there were clock parts scattered like puzzle pieces, 42 00:02:56.919 --> 00:03:00.360 gears and springs and tiny hands waiting to be a sounmbled. 43 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:04.199 Mister Alden set down the tool he was holding and 44 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:08.159 reached under the counter. He pulled out a small wooden 45 00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:12.840 box and opened it. Inside, nestled in a fold of 46 00:03:12.919 --> 00:03:17.680 blue velvet was a pocket watch. It was not large. 47 00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:20.599 It was the size of a plum, and it was 48 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:23.840 made of silver that had been polished to a soft glow. 49 00:03:24.680 --> 00:03:28.319 The face of the watch was simple, with clean black 50 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:33.000 numbers on a white background, and the hands moved smoothly 51 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:38.280 without any hesitation or jitter. But it was the back 52 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:42.800 of the watch that was remarkable. There engraved in the 53 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:48.360 silver was a pattern of tiny interlocking gears, so finely 54 00:03:48.439 --> 00:03:52.400 detailed that they looked real, as if the watch were alive, 55 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:57.319 and the gears were turning beneath the surface. This is 56 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:02.159 for you, mister Alden said, holding the watch out to Clara. 57 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:07.120 Clara stared at it. But I didn't buy anything, she said, 58 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:12.520 I know, mister Alden said, this is not something you buy, 59 00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:17.639 this is something you carry. Clara took the watch carefully, 60 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:20.560 as if it were a bird that might fly away. 61 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:24.040 It was warm in her hand, and it had a 62 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:27.519 weight to it that surprised her. She turned it over 63 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:31.959 and looked at the back, at the tiny gears engraved 64 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:35.920 in the silver. Then she turned it back and looked 65 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:41.079 at the face, and then she noticed something. The watch 66 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:45.360 was ticking, but it was not ticking like the other 67 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:50.959 clocks in the shop. It was ticking slowly and steadily, 68 00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:56.120 in a rhythm that felt familiar. She held the watch 69 00:04:56.439 --> 00:05:01.240 against her chest, just below her collar bone, and she 70 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:06.519 felt it. The tick of the watch was in time 71 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:14.079 with her heart beat, exactly in time, not faster, not slower, 72 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:19.839 perfectly matched, as if the watch knew her and had 73 00:05:19.879 --> 00:05:26.759 been made just for her. Mister Alden, she whispered, it's 74 00:05:26.839 --> 00:05:33.800 matching my heart beat. Mister Alden smiled, I know, he said. 75 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:41.199 That's what it does. It listens, listens to what to you, 76 00:05:41.959 --> 00:05:47.480 he said, to whatever you're feeling, and it tries to help. 77 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:52.120 Clara did not fully understand, but she did not need to. 78 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:57.399 She slipped the watch into her pocket and thanked mister Alden, 79 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:01.720 and then she left the shop and walked home through 80 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:06.639 the autumn leaves. From that day on, Clara carried the 81 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:11.560 pocket watch everywhere. It went with her to school, tucked 82 00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:14.720 in the pocket of her dress. It went with her 83 00:06:14.759 --> 00:06:18.600 to bed, resting on the night stand beside her head. 84 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:23.519 It went with her on walks through the woods and 85 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:27.879 picnics by the river, and visits to her grandmother's house. 86 00:06:29.079 --> 00:06:33.120 The watch was always warm, and it always ticked in 87 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:37.480 time with her heart. There were days when Clara felt anxious, 88 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:41.959 days when the world felt too big or too loud, 89 00:06:42.199 --> 00:06:46.720 or too fast. On those days, she would reach into 90 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:49.959 her pocket and pull out the watch and hold it 91 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.079 against her chest, and she would close her eyes and listen, 92 00:06:54.839 --> 00:07:01.879 tick tick tick. The watch was steady, The watch was calm. 93 00:07:02.439 --> 00:07:06.079 The watch told her that everything was all right, that 94 00:07:06.279 --> 00:07:09.959 time was not her enemy, that there was always enough 95 00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:15.439 of it. She would breathe slowly and deeply, and her 96 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:18.959 heart beat would slow to match the watch, and the 97 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:23.600 anxiety would pass like a cloud moving across the sun. 98 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:28.000 She never told any one about the watch. It was 99 00:07:28.040 --> 00:07:33.160 her secret, her small silver comfort. She only knew that 100 00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:36.759 it helped, and that was kind, and that it was 101 00:07:36.839 --> 00:07:42.600 always there. Years passed, Clara grew up. She left the 102 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:45.560 town and went to study at a university in the city, 103 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:49.600 and she carried the watch with her. She traveled to 104 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:54.160 other countries, and walked on foreign streets, and the watch 105 00:07:54.279 --> 00:07:58.879 taked quietly in her pocket, marking the time. She had 106 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:03.920 days of great and days of quiet sadness, and through 107 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:08.399 all of them the watch remained. It did not run down, 108 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:14.680 it did not stop. It ticked and ticked, patient and faithful, 109 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:19.240 keeping time with her heart. One evening, many years later, 110 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:22.519 Clara was sitting in a garden with a cup of tea. 111 00:08:23.079 --> 00:08:26.079 She was older now, with streaks of silver in her hair. 112 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:29.360 The sun was setting and the sky was the color 113 00:08:29.399 --> 00:08:32.440 of peaches and cream. She took the watch out of 114 00:08:32.440 --> 00:08:35.039 her pocket and held it in her palm. It was 115 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:38.000 as warm as the day she had received it. The 116 00:08:38.120 --> 00:08:41.240 silver was still bright, and the face was still clean, 117 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:45.080 and the hands still moved smoothly. She heard a sound 118 00:08:45.159 --> 00:08:48.360 behind her. A child was standing at the garden gate, 119 00:08:48.840 --> 00:08:52.039 a small boy with dark eyes and a curious expression. 120 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:56.159 He was looking at the watch with fascination. What is that, 121 00:08:56.919 --> 00:09:01.519 he asked. Clara smiled. It's a pocket watch, she said, 122 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:05.080 Can I see it? She held it out to him. 123 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:07.879 He took it gently, the way she had once taken 124 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:10.679 it from mister Alden, and he looked at the face 125 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:13.240 and the hands and the tiny gears on the back. 126 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:16.240 Then he held it to his chest and his eyes 127 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:21.639 went wide. It's matching my heart beat, he whispered. Clara 128 00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:25.120 felt a warmth spread through her chest, the same warmth 129 00:09:25.240 --> 00:09:27.840 she had felt that first day in the clockmaker's shop. 130 00:09:28.519 --> 00:09:31.840 She looked at the boy, and she saw herself, young 131 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:36.120 and wondering, holding a small silver promise against her heart. 132 00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:42.000 It listens to you, she said, softly, and it tries 133 00:09:42.039 --> 00:09:45.799 to help. The boy looked up at her, his eyes shining. 134 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:51.200 Can I keep it, he asked. Yes. Clara said, you 135 00:09:51.320 --> 00:09:54.759 can keep it, carry it with you. It will be 136 00:09:54.840 --> 00:09:58.000 there when you need it. The boy slipped the watch 137 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:01.200 into his pocket and ran back through the gate and 138 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:07.519 down the street, laughing. Clara watched him go. She sat 139 00:10:07.559 --> 00:10:10.720 in her garden as the sun dipped below the horizon 140 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:14.440 and the first stars appeared, and she felt a deep 141 00:10:14.759 --> 00:10:20.320 and quiet peace. The watch still ticks. It ticks in 142 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:22.919 the pocket of a child who does not yet know 143 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:26.200 how much he will come to need it. But the 144 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:32.399 watch knows, it has always known. Time is kind, time 145 00:10:32.519 --> 00:10:36.440 is patient, and the watch will keep him company through 146 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:42.879 every moment of it, Steady and warm, matching his heartbeat. Exactly, 147 00:10:43.879 --> 00:10:47.000 telling him without words that he is not alone.