Turning Back Time

by Myra Matthews

   The final straw with Roscoe, my dad, was when Judy Hines Beach and I had the brain wave to set the time back on his precious 80-year-old clock which sat on a shelf high above the kitchen table. You see, the number one rule for us kids was to NEVER touch that old clock.  

   All summer long, Judy and I, who were 12 and 13 at the time, had blasted through every curfew we were given and we had to listen to Roscoe reading us the riot act until he'd had enough and grounded us.  There was a wiener roast on the beach that night and we had begged him to let us go. He finally gave us the go ahead. Well, we could go BUT we had to be home by 9:00 PM. Can you imagine??

   There was no reasoning with him, so after he and mom left to go out for the evening Judy had the bright idea that we should climb up on the kitchen table and set the clock back two hours. So, we did and we were good to go! What a great idea - why hadn't I thought of that before? 

The rest is history and when we were caught, Judy, who had been staying with us all summer, got sent home and I got grounded for life.