Working like clock work

'Use your time wisely' my mother used to say, as if clocks and time helped me live my life. As a watchmaker she spent a lot of time fixing watches and she learnt how their owners lived, the owners of broken glass watches lived hectic lives and would run around helplessly, the owners of water-damaged watches were forgetful and clumsy people but most of all she knew the owners of watches that stopped without reason lived lives in their own bubble not caring about anyone as if time stopped itself for them.'When you grow up I hope you look after yourself well, I'm only here for you and I devote my time to raising you'. She could do nothing but observe and before long she became a tired and old woman. She'd still work fixing the watches until one day she stopped dead in her tracks. She had left a note beside her 'I told you time would tell, open my cardigan to see all' dumbfounded I did as I was told to see clockwork no longer moving within her chest. I brushed my hand against the cold metal pieces and vowed to live my life to the fullest. My mother was a clock and I was her time keeper.