The Clock That Lost Its Tick and Other Tales

By Terry H. Watson and Lynda Freeman

Look inside this little book, meet new friends and enjoy their adventures.

Discover why jelly ran away. Find out why Sarah was upset at Christmas time. Enjoy grandpa’s antics.Travel with Baby Dyno to a Scottish loch. Meet Freddie’s mysterious friend and find out why Rosie is unhappy.

All this and more await

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ramoan Press
• Release date: Nov 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9780995680715

Terry H. Watson

Terry H. Watson qualified in D.C.E. and Dip.Sp.Ed. from Notre Dame College, Glasgow and Bearsden, and obtained a B.A. degree from Open University Scotland. A retired special needs teacher, Terry began writing in 2014, and to date has published ten books. Terry welcomes reviews for her books.

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Clock_ebook_Cover.jpg

and Other Tales

Terry H. Watson

Published in 2016 by Ramoan Press

Copyright © Terry H Watson 2016

Terry H Watson has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

ISBN Paperback: 978-0-9956807-0-8

Ebook: 978-0-9956807-1-5

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue copy of this book can be found in the British Library.

The Woollen Maze, previously published in the author’s book, A Tale or Two and a Few More, under the title of Spikey and the Woollen Maze, has been adapted for this publication as has Freddie’s Friday Freckles.

Illustrations and front cover by Linda Freeman Fine Art

Published with the help of Indie Authors World

This book is dedicated to children everywhere

and to those who read to them.

ALSO AVAILABLE BY THIS AUTHOR

Lucy Mears Trilogy

CALL MAMA

SCAMPER’S FIND

Compilation of short stories:

A TALE OR TWO AND A FEW MORE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks to Chris Wilson at Motherwell Library and Fraser, Rory and Isla from the Saturday Kids Club for their suggestions for illustrating The Clock That lost its Tick and Other Tales, and to Marie, story reader par excellence.

My sincere thanks to Kim and Sinclair MacLeod of Indie Authors World and to Lynda Freeman Fine Art.

The Clock That Lost Its Tick

They call me Tick-Tick and I live on the top shelf of Big Benny’s clock and watch shop, among a wide variety and styles of clocks. There are alarm clocks that are set to ring out at different times of the day and night. Day time is fine by me, but, oh, during the night when I want to sleep, Charlie, the cheeky clock goes off at precisely 3:25 am. We all wake up and screech at him:

Charlie, turn that alarm off. Give us peace.

Charlie, cheeky by name and cheeky by nature, stretches out his long, scrawny arm, reaches to the top of his head and teases us all by flicking his fingers along the top until eventually he presses the button to silence the bell.

Phew, calls out Smokey the mantle clock, now we can have some shut-eye.

Smokey, as his name suggests, was rather dirty. That came from years of sitting on the mantle shelf in Mrs. Smart’s cottage. He was brought in by his owner for repair which involved having his lungs and pipes cleaned out. It was a painful procedure for poor Smokey and he coughed and spluttered as Big Benny prodded and poked at him with a long jaggy brush and poured oil over him. Once the procedure was complete, Smokey gave a sneeze, shook his head in relief and smiled his wide, ten-to-two smile.

Oh, it’s good to breathe properly, he said.

Big Benny, the owner of the shop, lifted him high up onto a shelf diagonally below me.

Stay here now until Mrs Smart comes for you.

Hello, I said, I’m Tick-Tick.It’s rather lonely up here. It’s good to have your company.

Pleased to meet you, I’m sure. I’m Smokey and I’ve just had my pipes cleaned and feel so much healthier. I’ll be able to tick a lot better now.

Lucky you, I said, I’ve lost my tick and haven’t ticked for years now. I sit up here, year after year, watching you guys come and go. Just when I make friends, they are lifted off the shelf and I never see them again.

Poor you, said Smokey, what happened to your tick?

"It stopped working one day. I don’t know why, but my owner threw me out with the rubbish. I ended up on a landfill site, thrown on the scrapheap after giving years of service. Life is not fair. I lay there for weeks on my back, my face covered in all sorts of rubbish. Oh, the smell from that place. It was revolting. Then one day one of the workmen lifted me out of the rubbish heap, blew on my face and said,

I’m having you. You’ll look good with a clean-up and I’ll flog you down the pub.

Well, he brushed me, dusted me, spat on my face, he did, and rubbed me with his dirty sleeve."

How disgusting. Have humans no respect for us timepieces? said Smokey.

What happened next? he said, engrossed in my sad story.

My rescuer, if you could call him that, put me on the seat beside him in his messy van with empty bottles and wrappers strewn on the seat for company. It was a rough ride. I was sure I was going to topple off and smash my face on the floor.

Oh, poor you, sympathised my new friend

You’ve been through a lot.

Get on with the story, growled a deep voice from somewhere further down the shop, "I haven’t time to waste waiting for you to tell what happened next. I have a