CLOCKS SHOULD NOT TASTE SO VERY DELICIOUS

“It’s important to remember that a wwuubb normally wouldn’t act this way. They’ve been friends of our little town for a long time.”

The crowd began to murmur. And grow. The mayor continued speaking from her podium.

“True, they are very tall and intimidating. Especially with those long horns and teeth. We’ve all seen them peeking into third story windows as they pass through town on their way to the river for bathtime.”

The murmurers nodded to each other, confident that murmuring was definitely the best thing to do and encouraged non-murmurers to join in.

“And yes, they are very strong. Even the youngest of the wwuubbs can lift a locomotive engine high in the air and shake loose bits of coal, a favorite wwuubb snack.”

More murmurs were suggested, voted on, and added to the original murmur that started this whole murmuring business in the first place.

“And we’ve never known a wwuubb, young or old, to cause any ruination in our little community.”

One of the townsfolk, unsatisfied with all this murmuring, shouted out in a clear voice as the mayor addressed the multitudes.

“The clock tower is no more! One of those crazy, wild wwuubbs ate our precious clock tower!” The voice rose up high over the unintelligible cacophony. “We haven’t been able to tell the time for…er, well…for a long while now, I suppose!”

Most of the murmurers switched to shouting actual words, like “Clock!” and “No!”

The person who started the murmuring in the first place looked a little upset that his movement was losing steam. He tried to drum up support for a another murmur, but quickly recognized that tastes had changed. Rather than stay angry, he shouted, “No time!” and then raised a fist. More fists pushed into the air around him. This cheered him up.

“No Clock!”

“No time!”

“No more!”

Then someone asked, “What time is it?”

Everyone went silent. And stayed that way. No one had a good answer. Not even a bad guess.

Seizing the opportunity, the mayor waggled her shoulders, thrust out her chin, and addressed the throngs of unmurmuring non-shouters.

“People!” she exclaimed, hands raised with fingers stretched out in all directions. “There must be a perfectly sensible reason why an ordinarily peace-loving creature like a wwuubb would eat our beloved clock tower.”

She turned to face what was left of the structure. Out of the bite marked pile of rubble rose a twisted staircase, spiraling to nowhere. A few greasy gears lay at the bottom of the once proud monument to precision time-keeping. The man whose job it was to wind the eaten clock began murmuring to himself.

The murmur gained momentum throughout the assemblage of townspeople.

High on a hill overlooking the now towerless, clockless town, two wwuubbs stood shoulder to shoulder. They watched as the tiny people made tiny noises.

Without turning, one wwuubb asked the other, “Why’d you do it?”

The other wwuubb shrugged. “I like clocks.”

“Oh crap, not again.” The first wwuubb shook its head, scraping horns with the other. “We’ll just have to eat everything in sight and find another happy little town.”

“I like clocks,” the other wwuubb repeated with a nod and a burp.