They said it was from the old country
but they put it downstairs on the fake
mantel and he took it down and played
with it, twirling the hands round and
round and cranking the key until the
hands gave up the ghost and the Swedish
clock died an inglorious death and then
years later the boy, then man, wondered
why there wasn’t anything on the clock in
Swedish. Did they keep the real Swedish
clock upstairs away from his itching fingers?
He then had his introduction to “things
aren’t always as they seem,” even when
your parents tell you it is so.