The Clock on the Mantle
From the telling of Lucy's Mom
This one's true -- it happened to me.
When I was a little girl, the milkman came and delivered fresh milk at your front doorstep. He took away any empty glass milk bottles you would leave there for him. About once a week, he would come to be paid.
When I was a little girl, we were very poor. The only thing my Mother had as a prized possession was a Seth Thomas 6 Column Rosewood Mantle Clock which was a gift to her from her aunt.
There came a time when my Mom couldn't pay the milkman. He "carried" us for a couple weeks, as he did not want to cut off a family where he knew small children were living. But one day he knocked on our door and told my Mother that he really must request payment for the milk. She had no money. I remember standing just behind her, clutching her dress hem as she and the man discussed possible payment. She asked him in and showed him her wonderful clock, which he agreed to take in exchange for the milk delivered and to be delivered for a while. At the time I didn't fully understand her weeping, but I knew something big had happened.
Now I'm grown. I am no longer poor. My children are grown and have children of their own.
Last January (2001) I was searching around on e-Bay, never having been on e-Bay before and certainly not intending to buy anything. I looked in "antiques - clocks - Seth Thomas". And there "it" was! My Mother's clock! Of course, as a rational being I know it could not be her clock -- but it was exactly like it. So I placed a bid -- and was outbid almost immediately. So I bid again -- until the price got terribly high. As the auction came to a close, I watched as some other higher bidder got "my" clock. However, the reserve had not been met. But to me, it was lost forever.
Until a few days later, when lo and behold -- it was back on e-Bay. And this time I bid with a vengeance. As the days went by, I watched and calculated my next bids. The auction ended on a Saturday. The auction ended on February 3, 2001. I was the high bidder.
And incidentally, February 3 was my Mother's birthdate. Every time I hear the wonderful 100+ year old clock chime, I am reminded that my Mother's clock has come home.
It happened just that way.
-- Lucy's Mom
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