When Chris came to visit me at the beginning of November, she brought a battery operated red clock to put on the wall in our kitchen.  She spends a lot of time in the kitchen at her house, and she couldn’t fathom how we could live without a clock in ours.  I had told her before that we use the clock on the coffee maker or our cell phones which are never far from reach.  Plus, we do not spend a lot of time in the kitchen in general.  However, she doesn’t keep her cell phone near her, and she needs something which displays the time very visibly.  I don’t, because clocks taunt me.  It’s a difference of preference.

Anyway, she brought one with her.  She was quick to point out that it’s battery operated, so it doesn’t run up our electric bill.  (We are dictatorial about that sort of thing.  We only keep certain appliances plugged in constantly; everything else gets plugged and unplugged as needed.)  It made her happy, so we let her put it up in our kitchen.

This clock has the loudest tick tock ever.  Really.  It goes TICK! TOCK! TICK! TOCK!

I am pretty sure this clock was the inspiration behind The Tell-Tale Heart.  In fact, I think it may have even inspired The Raven.  The TICK! TOCK! was just too annoying to encompass in one story, so he let it carry over into another story and instead of ticking, he decided to make it tapping, and instead of a clock, he made it a raven.

And it is in my kitchen.  It has lost none of its potency.  It annoys me enough as is, but when Jessica and the cats were gone in New Jersey from Tuesday evening until yesterday afternoon?  I really thought I was going to lose it and break something, preferably that darn clock.  Now, I know the obvious solution was to take the clock down and turn it off, but I was so far from logical, I had used my passport, crossed the pond, jumped ship halfway and swam down to Antarctica to chill with the penguins.

The obvious solution to me at the time was to get out of the apartment as much as humanly possible.  I made plans every day, and when I didn’t have plans, I tried to sleep or I went for a walk.  Worst case scenario, I listened to music with my headphones on.  In my bedroom, away from the kitchen.  With my fan on.

It seemed to work.

The clock is still up, mostly because I would feel bad about taking it down.  It’s annoying, but it’s at least tolerable most of the time.  Even when Jessica isn’t here, the cats usually are, so I don’t feel so much like I’m home alone.  Now they’re all back, and the clock doesn’t make me crazy anymore.

What I’m trying to say is, I’m glad they’re all back.  I’ve sort of missed them.