No.35 Jail O’Clock

In the central square of the little town was an impressive tall tower. The tower had four sides and each side had a clock face on it. The tower was topped off with a spire as a roof. It could be seen from nearly every where in the town because it was so tall and elegant.

The base of the tower had an archway through it and to one side of this arch was a single room jail. It was a very old tower and a very old jail. Anyone could walk past the jail and look in through the tiny barred gap in the door and see the small, roughly built, dark, damp room. Although the tower was a clock tower, to the little girl it was always just a jail and she rarely, if ever, looked up at the clock. To her it was always just a sad, miserable, scary looking little jail. The little girl wondered why anyone would ever have done anything wrong. The thought of being put in there was so scary she was sure it was deterrent enough for anyone.

So the tall, elegant, ancient clock tower was some what lost on the little girl. So scared was she of the jail at the base, it would be years before she would look up and appreciate the tower’s service to the little town.