The Watch

As she reluctantly opened her father's box, Shirley wiped away tears. It was so hard to go through his things when he had been alive only two days ago.

Shirley took out each item and laid it on the floor beside his box. She saw something shiny in one corner, and reached for it. It was a gold chain and whatever it was attached to was stuck. She tugged carefully. As it came free, she almost fell over.

It was a gold watch. It was the kind of watch you see in movies - old fashioned. She hadn't seen it before.

She pressed on the fob, and the watch cover opened. Out of place on such a fancy watch, there was a digital readout just below the center of the watch. The readout showed November 12, 2012 - the day her father had died.

Confused and curious, Shirley looked for a knob or a screw that would change the date on the watch. On the back of the watch, she found a small hole. She took the watch downstairs into her father's office. Picking up the magnifying glass from the desktop, she could see a tiny, round piece of metal recessed into the hole. It looked just like the reset button on the bottom of her laptop computer.

Finding a paper clip in the same desk drawer, Shirley straightened out the outer bend of the paper clip and pressed the recessed button. Then she looked at the date on the watch and it read September 14, 2006.

"Shirley, where are you? We're going to be late if you don't come now," her father's familiar voice called out.

Shirley dropped the watch, shocked to hear her father. How could time change?

(288 words)