Forever in Time

    "Wake up, Jane! Wake up!" I rang out throughout the once silent household as
my little metal hammer clanged against my golden bells.  Jane slowly rolled over and
glared at me.  She groaned softly as she reached over and turned off my loud ring which
woke her every morning. She slowly arose from bed and began to prepare herself for the
day ahead of her.
    I love Jane.  Her and I have a lot in common. She always called herself "Plain
Jane", and me, I’m just a plain little alarm clock that her husband, Eric, had given her for
her 45th birthday.  I never thought Jane was plain in any way.  I had always thought her to
be quite extraordinary.  She had this radiance about her. For a woman of 52 she was still
beautiful.  Her short blonde hair was now streaked with gray, but I like it that way.  It
makes her hair sparkle and shine when light strikes it.
    Over the years Jane has always depended on me to wake her up so she can start
her day.  Jane treats me well, she has never thrown me or abused me in any way for
waking her up with my unpleasant ringing.  So I try to please her, and make sure she gets
up on time.
     Jane is preparing herself for her final day of work.  I heard her tell Eric last night
that she was retiring  today.  She said she’s going to stay home a lot more and catch up
on her sleep.  I’m glad.  I love to watch her sleep.  She lays there so peaceful, like an
angel that has drifted to earth for a heavenly nap. She looks as if nothing in the world
could be wrong. I love to see her like that.

     "Wake up, Jane! Wake up!" I rang out.  Jane quickly pounced out of bed and
turned me off.  I don’t think she got much sleep last night.  She was tossing and
turning all night out of pure excitement. Today her daughter, Susan, is getting married.
She prances around the room humming and singing.  I love to see her smile, so her whole
face lights up with joy.  I wish that I could go to the wedding too, and share in her
moment of joy.  But that would look terribly silly, to have Jane carry an alarm clock to a
wedding.  Everyone would think she’s gone mad. I wish I was a human, so I could go and
share with Jane all the things I have wanted to tell her over the years.  I know that can
never happen. It’s a silly thought.      "Wake up, Jane! Wake up!" I called out again.  The years keep going by.  Jane is
getting older now.  She doesn’t set my alarm that much anymore.  Just on Sundays, when
she goes to church.  She moves slower these days, she and Eric both. They come in here
more now and take lots of naps. So I get to see Jane more.  Somehow, though, it doesn’t
make me as happy as it used to.  She used to come in this room and do things like put on
makeup, and sing and dance, and live. Now, she just sleeps.
 Jane and Eric have gone out for the evening.  That’s good, they need to get out
more.  It will be good for Jane to get out of the house, I think she needs it. They have
been gone for a long time though, it doesn’t usually take them this long to eat. Maybe
they just went somewhere a little out of the way so they could go somewhere really
nice… wait.  They’re home, I can just bearly hear the jingling of the keys on the other
side of the door outside.  It’s Jane, I can hear her soft padded footsteps on the carpet, I
know they’re hers.  She’s alone though.
     She slowly pushes the door open with a small squeak of the hinges.  I can see her
face, and she’s crying. Why? What’s wrong with my Jane?  She has this overpowering
smell on her, the same one I had smelled when she had gone in for surgery last year.
That sick hospital smell.  The sanitary smell that is somehow still laced with the smell of
disease and death.  She slowly sits on the bed and grabs me from my spot on the  bedside
table.  She holds me in her lap and looks down on me.  I can see her sadness and pain in
her eyes.  A tear slides down her cheek and splashes on to my cold white face.  It’s cold
and wet against my plastic skin, and tastes of salt and sadness.  She slowly wipes her
finger across the tear as if to wipe it off, but it feels more like she’s rubbing it.
 She replaces me to my reserved area on the table and slowly picks up the phone
and dials a number. "Susan", she says through her steady flow of tears, "your father’s
dead."      "Wake up Jane! Wake up!" I yell.  I wish I could whisper it to her, and wake her
up with something other than my screaming ring.  She rolls over and looks at me, as if
debating whether or not it was worth getting out of bed. Slowly she reaches over and
turns off my screaming.  She just lies there and stares at me, and at the time.  She hardly
ever gets out of bed anymore.  She stays here all day, just laying in bed, I don’t even
think she sleeps half the time.  Sometimes she talks to herself, sometimes she cries, but
mostly she just lies there.  I guess she won’t be going to church again today.  Every
Sunday it’s the same thing, she just looks at me and decides to turn me off and spend the
day in bed.  I’m really worried about her, she doesn’t do anything anymore, she just lies
there.      "Wake up, Jane! Wake up!" I scream out.  She rolls over and stares at me again.  I
wish she would get out of bed.  "Get up Jane!" I yell, but unfortunately all she can hear is
this eternal ringing of my bells.  She slowly reaches over and turns me off, like she has
done every Sunday for the past four months. I want so badly for her to get up and move
about, but she just lies there.  It was as if when Eric died, she was buried with him.  I
understand this is hard for her, but she needs to do something, anything.      "Wake up Jane! Wake up!" I ring out into the silence.  Things are slowly getting
better now.  Jane has been going to church again, and yesterday she when out to dinner
with Susan.  I really think she’s going to be okay now.  She moves about the house again,
and yesterday, I swear I saw her smile.  I think she’s going to fine.  I watch her move
around the room. She’s moving, after seeing her in bed for so long, just to see her move
is like watching a movie.  I can’t take my eyes off her, she is still sad though, I know that
she will always be a little sad.  I can see it in her eyes. She’s going to be okay now, I can
feel it, she’s going to be okay.      "Wake up, Jane! Wake up!" I rang out once again.  She looks so peaceful, just like an angel. "Wake up Jane! Wake up!" I sang out again. She doesn’t seem to hear me.  She must not want to get up just yet. "Wake up Jane! You have to go to lunch with Susan." She’s not moving.
"Jane," I cry out.  Doesn’t she hear me? I’m yelling as loud as I can. "Jane?" Why
 isn’t she moving, or getting up to turn me off.  "Jane!" I scream, "Jane, wake
up!" She’s just laying there.  She’s not moving, she’s not doing anything.  I don’t
think she’s breathing.  She’s not breathing, she’s not doing anything.
"Jane wake up!" She just lies there.  Is she… no she can’t be, not my Jane.  She
can’t die, not yet.  "Jane!" I scream again.  Why doesn’t she hear me? She can’t die,
not like this, not now.  She was just getting better, she was happier now.  She was
smiling again, and singing just last night.  She can’t be dead!     She isn’t  going to, is she? She’s not going to get up.  She’s not going to go out
with Susan today.  You know she’s going to find her here like this, laying here, dead,
with me just screaming. I can’t make the ringing stop either, I can’t do it by myself.  I
can’t even give my Jane a moment of silence in her death.  She’s dead, she’s really dead.
She still looks like an angel, so beautiful, so sweet.  My Jane, my beautiful Jane, is dead.
Here I am now, still ringing, still screaming, still crying for the death of my Jane.
Susan will be here soon, and find her. I will be here, still screaming.  I wish that my
mechanical heart would have stopped when Jane’s did.  I was not that lucky though.
Now I have to go on in my life, without my Jane.  True, I was never something special to
her, I just woke her up, but she meant the world to me.  She was my Jane, and I took care
of her the only way I ever could, I woke her up.  Now I can’t do that for her anymore. I
will go on though, I don’t know what will happen to me, or where I’ll end up.  All I
know, is that Jane will remain with me, forever in time.
Another Fairy Tale