Anne Howe
Anne Howe: The Borrowed Minute, original fiction
A short original fiction. An invented Anne watches a clock that seems to have stopped, and then moves all at once.
Apparently still
The fictional Anne notices a wall clock whose minute hand seems stuck. She waits instead of reaching for its face.
The imagined room stays ordinary and quiet. The hand holds the same mark while a short interval passes.
One step
Then the hand jumps forward a single division. The clock has been keeping time in steps rather than in a smooth sweep.
She leaves it alone and walks on. In this fiction the apparently empty interval belonged to the clock the whole time.