Father Time

At four o'clock Pegasus rose like a Phoenix from the remains of Medusa's burning ashes. If Pegasus had not risen, it would not have flown past the clock tower, and if it hadn't flown past the clock tower, it would not have noticed a man with green suspenders and a ski mask hanging from the hour hand.

Pegasus hovered before the dang;ling man and asked, are you in trouble, may I be of service? The man grew angry and shouted back,

"Oh no, I don't need help, I'm just here hanging out!"

The winged horse blinked, he was of a breed that was easily offended and he didn't think the man was in a position to be indignant, still, he ignored the man's irony and replied,

"Well I wasn't sure since you seem quite calm."

"Oh that, well it's only 4:30 p.m. right now so I'm fine, why worry about what you can't control? As long as I remain still, I won't be going anywhere. There will be plenty of time to worry at five when I'll probably begin to slip off the hour hand, but until then, why fret?

"I see," started Pegasus, "you'll slip off the hour hand and down below onto the pavement. That wouldn't be good. What would you like me to do?"

"Well rescue me of course. And while I'm poor and cannot repay you or make you a Prince like in fairy tales, you will have a great story to tell your children."

"Oh, I'm glad you mentioned that because I was about to get to that point...that is, What's in it for me?"

"But now of course I have shown you the intrinsic value and having been enlightened, you'll be helping me down any second now won't you!"

"Well, see that is the thing. An opportunity like this doesn't come along all that often, in fact, once in a lifetime I'd say. It's not like I fly by here everyday and find someone just dangling in the wind, I need to think. By the way mister, how'd you get in such a predicament?"

"What is there to think about?" The man asked, trying to remain calm? As for my predicament, well I fell. I was trying to get into the tower, why is not of your concern, but when the clock struck noon. The horozontally aligned hands of the clock nearly impaled me, and I'd be a stain down there on the pavement had the hour hand not caight me by the suspenders...Pure chance of course.

"Well," began Pegasus. "It might be pure chance, or maybe it's Karma, destiny or fate. You can't make blanket statements about life."

The man looked bored and impatiently waited for the horse to finish speaking,

"So? Are you going to help me Mr. Horse?"

"Well, it isn't a simple thing. Rescuing you will take time, and any man of business will tell you, "Time is money. Why just talking to you these last few minutes may have cost me dozens, nay, hundreds of dollars. Then there is the risk to take into consideration. And there is risk you
know! What if, at the moment I lift you, the hour hand moves from three to four and smashes on top of my head? I could be seriously injured. And that isn't all, it seems only fair that there be a mileage charge...I am after-all, not made of money.

Besides, you look rather heavy and I believe I'd exert a lot of energy carrying you safely to the ground. A mileage fee would reimburse me for my strenuous efforts. Also there is the risk that after I make such a magnanimous gesture, you make wake up with a stiff neck or an aching back and try to blame me. It's been done before you know! A guy helps a lady out of a burning car and she sues him for whiplash. I think it only fair that before I help you, that you should sign a waiver."

"A waiver?" shouted the hanging man..."OK whatever, I'll sign your silly waiver."

"Well it's not so easy as all that," spoke the Pegasus, his right wing scratching his chin. "First I need to get an attorney to work up the papers, then after you sign I'll need a notary public to affix his seal, making it official. That takes money mister. Not all of us can just hang around all day...some of us have to work for a living!"

"OK, OK, I promise I won't sue...lets shake on it and that will be a binding agreement."

"We'll need a witness?" Insisted the winged horse, looking around.

"I know!" the man spoke excitedly, a light bulb flashing above his head. He then pointed to the face of the clock and said, "Let Father Time be the Witness!"

Pegasus thought for a moment and then said, "That's good by me, the old man's always been a trustworthy fellow." He then proffered his front left hoof for the man to shake. It was a majestic scene, one that should have been photographed and put on the cover of Life magazine...or maybe painted on a Church ceiling; and who knows, it might have happened, excect just as they were about to shake hands, the clock dial moved forward by one digit to five o'clock. The suspended man slowly started to slide down the hour hand, "Help me!" he said, lunging for the hoof of the winged equine.

"Well you certainly seem in a hurry all of a sudden!" offered Pegasus, who now himself seemed to be in no hurry.

"Please, I'll give you anything..."

"Anything?" questioned Pegasus. "Would you give me your dignity, your soul, the lives of your wife and children? Would you give up your freedom and live as a slave? Allow the damnation of all the innocent on earth? Would you give me all of that, so that you may live?

The suspended slipped closer to the end of the hour hand and cried desperately, "Yes, yes, I'll give it all to you, take them all, do what you will, if you'll just save me!"

Pegasus looked hard at the man and then as the suspenders. They slipped further, to within six inches, then four, then two and then...The man fell. He waved his arms wildly, trying to grab what did not exist, and he slowly became an ant in size; his shrill screams fading to nothing. The horse watched as the man hit the pavement below and spoke but two words,

"Wrong answer."

He reared back on his hind legs, as if on land, and he flew off toward his small, but humble abode between the constellations, Andromeda and Pisces. There his loving family awaited...gifts that no man could bargain away from him, not even Father Time.