She asked me for the time.........

I was walking down the sidewalk minding my own business when a woman stopped me and asked me if I knew the time. I looked at her curiously because she wore a wristwatch, a necklace with a watch on it, and a ring watch. A pocket watch dangled out of her left coat pocket and an alarm clock peeked out of her purse.

“Why does she need to know the time from me,” I wondered, “with all of those clocks on her.”

“Please,” she said her eyes pleading, “I need to know the correct time!”

“Uh, I, uh,” I looked at my watch and looked her in the eyes, “it’s 3 o’clock,” I said and took a step away from her.

“Please,” the woman said stepping back and grabbing my arm, “I need to know the CORRECT time!”

“But that is the correct time,” I said again trying to walk away.

“No, you don’t understand,” she said grabbing my arm once more, “I need to know the ABSOLUTE CORRECT time!”

“Well,” I said not truly knowing what she was looking for, “I guess you could say it is 3:07 PM,” and then I looked at her and saw tears running down her cheeks.

“Please,” she pleaded again, “the actual, absolute time. Please, please, you don’t understand how important this is.”

“But,” I protested, “I did give you the actual absolute time. What more do you want?”

“THE TIME!” she shouted at me as she shook my arm for emphasis.

“I don’t understand,” I said removing her hand from my arm, “I gave you the only time I have. Perhaps someone else could help you better,” and I again tried to walk away.

“NO!” she shouted. “I NEED THE ABSOLUTE CORRECT TIME FROM YOU!”

I took a step away from her, certain that she was lost somewhere in lala land, but she grabbed my arm and roughly pulled me back to where I had been standing before with a strength I would not have suspected a woman her age could have.

“The time,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Look lady,” I said getting frustrated with her, “I gave you the time, now let me go on my way.”

I pulled my arm away from her and picked up my foot to take a step when several things happened all at once. I saw a car race around the corner of the building where we stood and crash into the light post in front of us. The light post broke in half and crashed into the street light that was hanging over the road. The wires for the street light broke and swung down towards the side walk on either side showering sparks everywhere. At the same time, another car, swerving to avoid the crash in front of it, hit the building I was standing next to in the exact spot where I would have been walking if the lady hadn’t stopped me to ask the time!

I looked at the woman who was smiling up at me. “Did you, uh, did…….” I stopped not sure how to ask.

“I’ve done my part,” she said tapping me on the arm, “watch your step now.”

The woman turned and walked away from me in the same direction she had been traveling before. She turned the corner of the building and stepped out of sight. I raced after her, but when I turned the corner she was nowhere to be seen. Sirens screeched around me and police raced to the two cars. One came up to me and asked me if I had seen what happened.

“Uh, yeah,” I said, “but so did that lady that I was talking to.”

“What lady?” the officer said pulling out his notebook. “The guy in the car over there said you were the only one standing there.”

To this day I wonder who that lady was and why she kept stopping me from walking into the accident. I have never received an answer.