Wonderland 2022

2. The Mad Hatter

2. "The Mad Hatter" – Forever stuck in time! Write a story (or short poem) where your character is always stuck at 6 p.m. (<1000 words or < 40 lines)


“What time is the meeting?”

“6 PM.”

“I should be able to be there.” So my day goes on, but suddenly I check the clock, it’s 6 PM. So I rush out the door and get to the hall. No one there. Even my watch says 6 PM. Then Julie arrives.

“Am I early? I could have sworn my watch said 6 PM.”

“Actually you’re about an hour early. I came to go over my notes.” Julie unloaded her briefcase, trying to ignore me.

“Well, fine, I’ll just sit and wait.”

“Fine, do what you want.” She then totally ignored me for an hour.

I checked my watch again. Still 6 PM. I tapped it, then shook it. Still 6 PM.

All during the meeting, I checked my watch. It stayed at 6 PM. So I vowed to go to the jewelry store in the morning to have my watch checked. Perhaps the battery needs replaced.

As the repairman checked my watch the next day, he said, “Curious. I don’t find anything wrong. I changed the battery. I checked everything else. You have a very nice watch, the gears all seem to run wonderfully. But I cannot get the time to change. It seems stuck on 6 PM. Sorry.”

But not sorry enough to do that for free. $40 for that service call. So now I know it’s not the battery or the watch. I am stuck in some time warp. Now even the clocks in my house all read 6:00.

Slowly it builds, then at what I perceive to be midnight, it reaches the apex. I run outside screaming, “I’m late, I’m late! For a very important date! I don’t know what time it is but I bet I’m going to be late!”

W/C 295