I was always on time for school. I got up every morning before six a.m. to get ready for my classes. I had plenty of cereal and milk to eat for breakfast. I never was late for any of the activities I had planned. I always made sure I had time to spend with my family and best friend, Albert Alexander, whom I met in middle school.
Today, it seemed a little different. Even though I remembered to set my alarm clock for school, it didn't go off this morning. I didn't even want to get up. Even after the morning sun had risen to light up the land.
Getting out of bed, I felt drained and exhausted from sleeping too much. Because my alarm clock didn't wake me up. When I got out of bed, I stretched and yawned loudly. I gasped when I turned to look at my wall clock. It stopped at 12:00 a.m.! Midnight last night!
What could this mean? It didn't make any sense. I walked over to the clock by the wall and looked at it closely. It was still plugged into the wall socket. So, I carefully unplugged the alarm clock radio.
When nothing happened, I realized the clock was still paralyzed, or still flashing blinking red numbers. I couldn't believe what happened! There must be an electrical malfunction in the wiring of the plugins.
But it was completely saved like nothing ordinary could go wrong. I walked into the kitchen. Where Mom was pouring coffee at the coffee maker by the kitchen counter. I looked around for Dad to be around. Then, he came in through the living room, fixing his tie on his business suit. He was getting ready for work at his daily office job.
A couple of buttered toast popped out of the toaster oven. "Honey, I can't stay for breakfast. I'm needed at the office for immediate paperwork signing a contract. To lease my office for another year," Dad said. He turned and noticed me with a worried, funny expression on my face. "Champ, what's bothering you? Should I be worried?" Dad asked me, concerned.
"It's nothing…I'm sure it's nothing, Dad," I promised. "I'll let you know if it's something serious, okay?" I said. Dad smiled and gave Mom a hug on her cheeks. Grabbed the rolled up morning newspaper in Mom's hand. Gave me a quick hug and walked out the kitchen screen door…
Mom grabbed the couple of pieces of toast out of the black toaster. And put them on a small saucer plate. She put it next to an empty chair at the table. "Are you hungry, dear?" She asked, pointing to her well-made breakfast toast at the kitchen table.
Mom walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. She grabbed a small jug of orange juice out of the small refrigerator and closed the door. Grabbing a small, plastic cup out of the cabinet, Mom poured me a cup of juice for me. And sat it down beside the made toast at the kitchen table. "Have a seat," Mom said, smiling at me.
Suddenly, I felt my stomach rumbling like I was getting a nervous cramp in my stomach. "Mom, I don't want to go to school today," I complained. I didn't have a good explanation yet. But I was feeling strange about the clocks in our house stopping time.
I mean, it seemed like an ordinary day. I didn't feel any different. Somehow, if time didn't seem to matter anymore, I don't think I should have to worry about getting lost track of time without always counting on being on time.
"You need your education dear," Mom said. "It's important you get out there. And make something of yourselves. Soon, your father and I won't always be around to watch out for you. You've got to take responsibility and keep moving forward. So you don't get trapped in the wrong time," Mom continued.
I laughed nervously. "About that," I said, "I feel funny today because my watch stopped last night at midnight," I confessed. Mom frowned and looked at me. She turned and looked at the built-in microwave above the kitchen counter.
It was blinking twelve also. "You're right, kid," Mom said, looking at the microwave clock. She tried to readjust the clock wall settings. But the time on the clock just kept blinking and not doing anything to fix the correct time back to normal.
"What could this mean, Mom?" I asked, fear caught in my throat. I hope this doesn't make any matters worse. Dad could lose his job if time stopped last night at midnight. Without anybody knowing about it.
Mom laughed nervously. "I don't think it's anything serious, love," Mom said. "I mean, we're still here. Nothing's happened to us or your Father," Mom said, honestly. Mom got her purple leather purse bag she sat on the kitchen table. Grabbed her pink smartphone out of it. Looking at the time clock on the main menu on her cellphone, she looked at it with concern.
Mom held out her pink cellphone and showed me what it looked like on her main menu. It read: 12:00 a.m. with yesterday's date still on there. "What's up with this, kid?" Mom asked, looking puzzled at her phone.
Mom went through her phone and checked out the other apps on her cellphone. "Everything is still working. I don't know why time is acting all weird," Mom said. She went through her text messages and everything in it was still saved there as before.
I didn't have an explanation for it yet. If nothing happened to us because time stopped last night, at midnight, I don't think it should be anything serious. Time was always something to keep track of. Maybe I should get with a scientist in town. And get his opinion on what happened to everybody's clocks and watches, recently.
Mom took a sip of her warm, coffee mug in her hand. "It would be nice to have some kind of logical reason for it," Mom said. It seemed like any other ordinary day. But now time is no longer of importance, I don't see why we couldn't do whatever we wanted to.
"Who cares? Time is frozen!" I explained. "There's nothing we can do about it, Mom. Just go with it. It's best to just have all the time in the world to make it valuable. I'm going to the science lab at school today. And see if I can get any answers from our homeroom science teacher, Mr. Holymolly. If he can prove the science behind losing time, I think we'll get some more important information out of him," I said.
Mom was curious about the microwave time clock. She kept trying to set the time on it. But it kept adjusting automatically to twelve 'o'clock again. Taking a look at her phone, she sighed highly at what the time said on it, too.
I gave Mom a quick hug. Then I walked out the kitchen door. I didn't have time to explain to Mom what my real plans were going to be. She would get suspicious I'd get in with the wrong crowd at school.
Grabbing my bike parked next to our garage in my driveway, I hopped on my little sports bicycle. And rode down the sidewalk a few blocks to school. Everything seems the same in town. I looked around as I passed some friendly neighbors walking their French poodle dog on a leech. It was getting ready to do its business on a red fire hydrant. I turned away just before the cute little furry poodle peed on it.
I passed a couple of kids in their front lawn who were tossing a yellow Frisbee across the air. Their water sprinkler came on beside them. Spraying their green lawn and getting their clothes soaked wet. They cried and ran back inside their house, leaving their playful yellow Frisbee on the front lawn.
So far, I haven't seen anything usual. It was like nothing was wrong. Like nobody realized that time had stopped and stood still. Maybe they didn't care. Or thought it was normal time doesn't need to keep going on forever.
I looked into the sky. A few storm clouds were hovering over the morning sun. But nothing weird about the sunset. I could tell I was not going to like knowing the truth about the time in Supernaturalville coming to an abrupt stop.
If time stopped so suddenly, why did everything seem normal and boring? Nobody here in town seemed to be bothered that the local time and date from last night stopped at midnight. Wouldn't the sun still be dark outside and the weather would be cold and windy?
I wanted to find out answers about why time is frozen. Fast…!