Right Now

"Wow. Would you look at that?" said Wallace to himself as he peered in at the elegant display through the clear glass window.

"I mean, look at it. God damn most beautiful watch I've ever seen in my life."

And Wallace was right. For, despite his humble background, he possessed an uncanny appreciation for fine craftsmanship. Each gleaming timepiece had been specially and specifically tailor made by very skilled but also unfortunately unknown Swiss watchmakers.

"Man, I gotta get me one of those."

He was standing in the cold and his skin was moist from the drizzle and fog that was iconic of his country. But it didn't stop him from marveling at the masterpieces that lay in glass and bejeweled boxes before him ticking away.

Servos turned and regulators cranked. Each moving mechanical part dancing and singing in harmony under the whimsy of an invisible conductor.

tick-tock-tick-tock
bing-bing-bing-bing
clickety-clickety-clickety-click
whiiiiiir-ting-whiiiiiir-ting

He couldn't hear the symphony through the glass. And he couldn't bear to press his face against it either for fear of smearing it, thereby inadvertently obscuring his view. But if it sounded anything like it did in his head, it must have been wondrous.

Wallace looks down at his own wrist and realizes that he already owned a watch. A cheap, dull, plastic thing that his youngest had got for him two Christmases ago. She had been saving up to buy it for a year at least. How an eight year old girl managed to scrounge up fifteen pound ninety nine baffles him to this day, but it was because of it that he loved the little ill-fitting Casio, and would wear it forever. But that didn't matter right now.

Right now, all he could do was be enthralled. All he wanted was to be mesmerized by the regular, hypnotic and comforting back and forth of the mastercraft sitting nonchalantly in its display case.

Sometimes, though, he would lose control and let himself be overwhelmed.

"I'll just go in there and ask to look at it."

But Wallace knew better than anyone else that it could be nothing more than a pipe dream. Minimum wage and 4 mouths to feed wasn't going to let him through the front door, let alone buy him a ten thousand pound watch.

Yet, he stood there still. His breath condensing against the glass, ticketing machine strapped to his waist and a street full of parking offenders getting away scott free. A trivial matter. He'd just have to work a little harder tomorrow.

But for now, right now, he shifted his weight and leaned in as close as he dared. For there was a watch that needed admiring.