The clockmaker who refused to die

 

Urban Fables | Title: The Clockmaker Who Refused to Die

By Faraz Parvez
Professor Dr. (Retired) Arshad Afzal
Former Faculty Member, Umm Al Qura University, Makkah, KSA
(Pseudonym of Professor Dr. Arshad Afzal)

🕰️ What Makes an Urban Fable?

An urban fable is a distilled truth told through whispers, symbols, and surreal metaphors—nestled in familiar, everyday places. A bridge between fantasy and realism, between the seen and the felt.

The Clockmaker Who Refused to Die

In the heart of the old bazaar, between a paan shop and a locksmith’s stall, was a curious little shop with no name—only a chime that rang every time someone lied nearby.

It was owned by an old man with silver eyes and hands that moved like poetry.

He was a clockmaker.
But not just any clockmaker.
He didn’t repair clocks.
He repaired time.

People came not to fix their wristwatches but to reclaim lost hours:

  • The hour they spent begging someone to stay.
  • The 30 minutes of courage they never used.
  • The night they wasted scrolling, instead of sleeping beside someone they loved.

He’d listen.
He’d nod.
And sometimes, if he approved, he’d adjust a cog in their personal clock, and suddenly—
They’d get another chance.

A day would repeat.
A decision could be unmade.
A moment would return like a forgotten letter.

But always at a price.

What Did He Charge?

He didn’t take money.
He took minutes from your future.

"You want an hour from the past?"
"Then I will take an hour from the day your child gets married."

People rarely hesitated.
Regret is a powerful currency.

But Then One Day…

A woman came.
She wore mourning white and had no shadow.

“I want to erase the moment I buried my son.”

The clockmaker’s hands trembled.

“That moment defines you,” he said.
“Erasing it might erase you.”

“Then let me disappear,” she whispered.

The clockmaker agreed.
For the first time, he wept as he wound her thread of time backward.

The woman stepped out of the shop and vanished into yesterday.

And So, The Bazaar Changed

People whispered his name, though no one ever knew it.

Some said he was a fallen angel.
Others said he was the first man who understood time was a living thing—not to be controlled, only conversed with.

And some claimed he had been dead for centuries… kept alive only by people’s regrets.

One Stormy Night, The Shop Closed

A beggar passing by heard the final chime.
Inside was a note on the counter:

“No more rewinds. No more bargains.
Time wants to flow freely now.
Let it.”

Since then, no one has seen the old clockmaker.

But sometimes, when people walk through that corner of the bazaar, their phones freeze.
Their watches skip.
Their hearts stutter.

As if time remembers who tried to tame it.

🔔 Why Urban Fables Matter

Because even in a world of deadlines and digital clocks, we long to rewind.
Because modern life is a series of almosts and what-ifs—and stories like these remind us we are not alone in that ache.

They say you can’t buy time.
But maybe, just maybe… you can understand it.

📌 Step into more such surreal tales at:
🔗 farazparvez1.blogspot.com
Where dreams, regrets, and revelations live side by side. 

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