The Keeper of Time

The Keeper of Time

The battered turquoise windows were closed and shuttered on the ramshackle shop. The wooden shutters were weathered from rain and wind. The closed shop was located just next door to the Candy and Sweets store on a quiet, tree lined stretch of sidewalk. Stopping by the shop on her way to school, Elisabeth moved her head slowly from left to right trying to find more than a crack to give her a glimpse of the room inside. The small room was dark with slivers of light piercing the gloom. Glints of light on shelves of glass jars shone like diamonds. With her ear to a shuttered window, she could just faintly hear ticking clocks and chimes of what must be a grandfather clock.

Next door, the candy store’s windows glowed with foil wrapped boxes of candy, jars with striped ribbon candy, jawbreakers and every kind of fruit flavored candy. The bell above the door jangled as Elisabeth stepped into the store. The shop keeper on a ladder above the wooden counter turned, holding a dust cloth. The myriad of jars of candies more colorful than the rainbow were shelved from counter to near the ceiling. “Hello Elisabeth,” Mrs. Saum called down to her. “When the sun is shining these candies look like pieces of stained glass windows. But these are edible stained glass,” she laughed as she came down the ladder.

“What can I tempt you with today,” Mrs. Saum asked smiling. “I haven’t seen you for a while.”

Elisabeth nodded but did not share any information. At the counter she asked for red raspberry hard candies and licorice squares.

“Those are your favorites, aren’t they,” Mrs. Saum said as she reached for a small, white paper bag. Elisabeth pulled a quarter out of her sweater pocket and put it on the counter. Mrs. Saum scooped a small mound of ribbed, red raspberry candies into the bag, added a few black licorice squares then twisted the bag closed.

Curious, Elisabeth asked the candy shop lady about the shuttered store next door. “What do they sell?” she asked. “I’ve never seen it open.”

“Oh,” Mrs. Saum replied, “I doubt you would make use of their product, you are still young.”

Not knowing what to think of the answer, Elisabeth asked, “It looks so dark and dusty, is it expensive?”

“To some their product is more precious than diamonds or pearls, but few realize its value,” she replied.

After school Elisabeth started supper for her mother and sister. She put the teakettle on to boil water for tea and mixed up a bowl of biscuit dough to shape and bake. Taking the leftover turkey soup from the refrigerator, she chopped green scallions and added matchsticks of carrot and potato, thickening the soup into a gravy with a couple of tablespoons of flour. While that simmered, she shaped the biscuit dough and placed them on a baking sheet for the oven. She didn’t need to think about how to make biscuits and turkey gravy. Making supper had become second nature.

Running through her mind what the candy store owner had said, she wondered what the deserted shop next door to the candy shop had that was more precious than diamonds or pearls, but few knew about it.

Elisabeth was happy to see her mother coming into the kitchen with her younger sister so they could all eat supper together, just like before her mother had become ill. Elisabeth raised the question to her mother and sister. “What would you think was more precious than diamonds or pearls?”

“Do you have some?” her sister Cam asked. “Would you share with me?”

“No, I don’t have any and I’d have to think hard about sharing with you after you read my diary last week!” she replied.

Asked by her mother why she wanted to know, she shared the shopkeeper’s information about the old shop.

Cam blurted out, “The shop must sell books. I treasure mine above pearls and diamonds.”

Their mother thought a couple of minutes and then shared, “I would value health and family above diamonds and pearls.”

Thoughtfully, Elisabeth replied that the shopkeeper told her she was probably too young to need what the shop had to offer.

“I was going to say love,” Cam said, sighing. “But how could they sell love that was meaningful? I love my books and our dog Sandy, but how could a shop sell those as being more valuable than diamonds or pearls?”

As the weeks went by, Elisabeth was too busy to stop by the candy shop. She was spending her time helping to keep her mother comfortable as she grew weaker. She kept her younger sister Cam occupied with drawing, books and making cookies. The quieter the better, but even Cam noticed their mother was not getting better. The doctor was kind, but told Elisabeth it was just a matter of time for their mother.

As she walked home from school one afternoon, she started to cry. What would they do without their mother? What? As she started past the candy shop, the shopkeeper came to the window and waved her inside. Pulling scoops of candies from the red-topped jars on the counter and pouring them into a bag she stated, “Candy won’t solve everything, but it can make things a little sweeter.”

Elisabeth started to cry and then told the shopkeeper that her mother was ill and not expected to live much longer. “The doctor told me it was just a matter of time, now.” And then she started sobbing on the shopkeeper’s apron.

She asked about the shop next door and what was more valuable than diamonds and pearls. She replied, “My sister says it is books and our dog Sandy. My mother said it was health and family. My sister ruled out love, as how could a shop sell her love of books and dog Sandy?”

“What do you think the shop provides?“ asked the candy shopkeeper. “What do you think you need? Not just want, but need?”

She was at first at a loss, thinking back over these past few years. “ How can I keep life from stealing my time with my mother and sister? Some days I feel my time is endless, but my mother’s is running out like sand in an hourglass and it moves faster every day,” Elisabeth sighed.

The shopkeeper remained quiet for a while. Then she asked, “Would you like to see what is in the shop next door? I think you will be surprised.” She took a huge key off a hook on the wall and walked Elisabeth to the door and to the old shuttered shop next door.

Carefully she put the key in the door’s lock and turned it. She shifted the shutters to one side and opened the door. As they stepped inside their footsteps stirred dust motes that hung in the filtered shafts of light. There was a whirring sound of clocks rewinding and chimes quietly ringing in the shop. There on shelves were hundreds of pint-sized Mason canning jars with old zinc lids screwed on tight. They seemed to glow with colors, just as the candy had in the store next door. Each jar had a label printed with names in fine script. Elisabeth moved closer to read the faint labels. Two years. One month. One week. One day. One hour.

She stood stunned and trying to absorb what the jars were. The shopkeeper whispered, “These look like candies, but they are bubbles of time. They cannot be bought and one cannot name the amount of time you can be given. You will be given what you need, no more.”

“But who decides?” Elizabeth cried out. “Who doles out time?” A grey-haired man slipped into the shop and walked to the counter in front of the shelves of bottled time. He gave a little bow to the shopkeeper and went behind the counter, putting on a green apron. “Tell me about your need and what you are facing, Elisabeth.”

She was startled. He knew her name. Perhaps the shopkeeper had told him. She whispered, “ I would not be telling the truth if I told you I wanted time for my mother. I want time for me to spend with my mother, however that works. I have a little sister, and I want time for her to get to know our mother and create memories to last for a lifetime.”

As she spoke, the little man began to open jars and place the bright bubbles on a small brass scale. He added some and took away others, just like Mrs. Saum did in her candy shop. Then he scooped them into a small Mason jar and sealed the jar with its zinc top.

Turning to Elisabeth he said, “I know you have been told that you cannot decide how much time you will be given. But it will be enough. Each bubble is a measure of time. Green is for two years, purple is for a month, pink for a week, white for a day and yellow for an hour. I cannot give you more. Each is a treasure of time. As you use it, you will gain insight into what time can do for you. Use it well. Remember the most valuable time is the yellow one for one hour. Most people do not realize life comes down to minutes, just minutes.”

“Use this as you would use an Advent calendar. Mark out the days, first the two years then month, week, day and hour. Use them wisely.”

As he turned to put the jars back on the shelves, the sun shafts broke through the slats and gave the old gentleman a glow. There were beams of purple turning into pale lavender swirling around his head. Then he smiled and handed Elisabeth the jar.

At home she marked her calendar the amounts of colored baubles she had been gifted. Only then did she realize how much more valuable these colorful bubbles of time were than diamonds and pearls.

She placed a green bubble in a footed -glass on her mother’s windowsill and smiled as the green color infused the late afternoon light on her mother’s hair, like stained glass. Two years, one month, one week, one day and 60 minutes. Each to be measured carefully and treasured. Each moment was a rare gift. It was a gift more valuable than diamonds and pearls. Elisabeth was sad, but heartened. Here in this jar was time, time to be savored and valued.

Elisabeth carefully dusted the jars of colorful bubbles. They still gleamed like stained glass with the light shining in the windows of the old store. Not much had changed over the years. The

candy store next door was run by the granddaughter of the lovely clerk she had first met when in middle school. The large glass jars were filled with chocolates, cherry hard candies and licorice.

They gleamed in the sunlight. A few new candies were featured in the glass cases. Even Elisabeth had to smile at the red vines, Harry Potter jelly beans and all shapes and colors of Peeps. Children came bursting into the candy shop on a daily basis, never noticing the shabby, shuttered shop next door.

Each day was quiet, but once in a while she could see someone trying to peer into the shop through the worn shutters. She waited quietly and listened to the wishes that raced in each person’s head. Wishes for more time. Wishes for any more time.

Elisabeth then opened the shutters and welcomed the person in. It was her pleasure to repay the gift of Time she had received so long ago. And the lavender light gave a slight glow to the room as Elisabeth put on her apron and went behind the counter to begin mixing the colorful orbs of time.