It was a gorgeous grandfather clock, Verna agreed.

The pendulum, silvery, probably steel or something, swung slowly, back and forth, tick and tick and tick,

she had no idea where the idea of "tick tock" came from. Every click of the mechanism sounded the same. Over and over again.

She glanced up at the face of the clock for a moment. She'd been watching the pendulum swing for about a minute.

That felt normal.

And that normalcy felt dreamy.

Dreamy felt normal.

Tick and tick and tick. Time passed a little bit.

She agreed it was beautiful. The scrollwork was... was...

The pendulum was silvery and flashy. The chair was comfortable.

Verna brushed a blond lock from her face, her right hand pushing the hair to the left. Her upper arm, necessarily, brushed against her nipple, sending a shiver through her body.

She wondered where her shirt was. And where her bra was.

Tick and tick and tick.

She looked up to the face of the clock. It was only five minutes since she checked last. Or maybe ten.

Verna agreed.

Belated, she realized there was someone else there. Then she didn't. Or maybe he'd left the room.

Tick and tick and tick.

That made sense. He must have left the room. That's where the glass of water had come from. It was cold. And then it wasn't.

She checked the time again. It only felt like a moment but she... couldn't remember what the clock had said last time she looked. But if it had been ten more minutes, that would explain why the water wasn't cold any more. She tried to take a drink while watching the pendulum swing back and forth and back and forth, and the water dribbled down her chin and on to her breast.

She wondered where her shirt was. And where her bra was. And where the glass of water went.

Time passed a little bit. But only a little bit. She was sure of that. She hadn't moved at all, somehow. She wasn't sure why she thought she ought to have stood up, at one point, but she was definitely sitting every time she thought about it.

Was the small hand on the nine, before? Verna wasn't sure of that, either. But then, she wasn't sure where it was at that moment. The face of the clock seemed blurry, and she realized she wasn't wearing her glasses.

She could very clearly see the pendulum, though, back and forth and back and forth, tick and tick and tick.

She could very clearly see the pendulum swinging even with her eyes closed. That didn't make sense, but she didn't know why it didn't make sense.

She agreed, though. That was clear. She agreed, and agreed, and agreed again.

She couldn't see the pendulum with her eyes open, but she could with her eyes closed. So she closed her eyes as she leaned forward, watched the pendulum swing, and started walking.

Verna could hear the mechanism clicking over, again and again. Tick, tick, tick.

It was odd, feeling another body against hers, when she didn't know when or why her skirt had gone away. But she could see the pendulum swinging between his legs. It seemed different, somehow, but she couldn't remember why. This clock didn't tell the time.

But it made her feel too good to care.