A clock’s fixed hands seem to confirm a family story. A note behind its frame changes that explanation, while leaving several reasons to keep the clock.
01Read the Arabic story
لِمَاذَا احْتَفَظَتِ الْعَائِلَةُ بِالسَّاعَةِ الْمُتَوَقِّفَةِ؟
أَنْزَلْتُ السَّاعَةَ الْخَشَبِيَّةَ عَنْ جِدَارِ الْغُرْفَةِ لِأَمْسَحَ الْغُبَارَ. كَانَتْ مُتَوَقِّفَةً عِنْدَ السَّادِسَةِ وَعِشْرِينَ دَقِيقَةً مُنْذُ سَنَوَاتٍ. سَأَلَتْ أُخْتِي إِنْ كَانَتْ تَوَقَّفَتْ فِي لَحْظَةِ وَفَاةِ جَدِّنَا، كَمَا قَالَ ابْنُ عَمِّنَا. كَادَ الْجَوَابُ يَبْدُو مُقْنِعًا: عَقْرَبَانِ ثَابِتَانِ، وَصُورَتُهُ بِجَانِبِهِمَا. لَكِنَّ أُمِّي طَلَبَتْ أَنْ أَنْظُرَ إِلَى ظَهْرِ السَّاعَةِ قَبْلَ أَنْ أُجِيبَ.
كَانَتْ وَرَقَةٌ مُثَبَّتَةً هُنَاكَ بِتَارِيخِ يَوْمِ جُمُعَةٍ. كَتَبَتْ أُمِّي أَنَّ السَّاعَةَ تَوَقَّفَتْ يَوْمَهَا، وَأَنَّهَا سَأَلَتْ عَنْ قِطْعَةٍ لِإِصْلَاحِهَا فَلَمْ تَجِدْهَا. قَالَتْ إِنَّ جَدَّنَا تُوُفِّيَ يَوْمَ الثُّلَاثَاءِ قَبْلَ ذَلِكَ بِثَلَاثَةِ أَيَّامٍ. لَمْ يَكُنِ الْوَقْتُ عَلَى السَّاعَةِ سِجِلًّا لِتِلْكَ اللَّحْظَةِ. سَأَلَتْ أُخْتِي لِمَاذَا إِذَنْ احْتَفَظْنَا بِهَا، فَانْتَظَرْتُ جَوَابًا يُنَاسِبُ الْعَائِلَةَ كُلَّهَا.
قَالَتْ جَدَّتِي إِنَّهَا تَذْكُرُ صَوْتَ الْمِفْتَاحِ حِينَ كَانَ جَدِّي يُدِيرُهُ كُلَّ أُسْبُوعٍ. أَمَّا أُمِّي فَقَالَتْ إِنَّهَا تُحِبُّ شَكْلَ الْإِطَارِ، وَإِنَّ دَقَّاتِ السَّاعَةِ كَانَتْ تُزْعِجُهَا حِينَ تَقْرَأُ. أَشَارَ أَبِي إِلَى الْبُقْعَةِ الْفَاتِحَةِ الَّتِي كَشَفَهَا نَزْعُ السَّاعَةِ، وَقَالَ إِنَّهُ لَمْ يَجِدْ وَقْتًا لِطِلَاءِ الْجِدَارِ. ضَحِكَتْ جَدَّتِي، ثُمَّ أَعَادَتِ الْمِفْتَاحَ إِلَى دُرْجِهَا. لَمْ تَقُلْ إِنَّ الْوَرَقَةَ أَفْسَدَتْ ذِكْرَاهَا.
اشْتَرَيْنَا سَاعَةً لِلْمَطْبَخِ لِمَعْرِفَةِ الْوَقْتِ دُونَ هَاتِفٍ. اقْتَرَحَتْ أُخْتِي نَقْلَ الْقَدِيمَةِ إِلَى غُرْفَتِهَا، وَوَعَدَتْ بِأَلَّا تُحَرِّكَ الْعَقْرَبَيْنِ. لَمْ تُوَافِقْ جَدَّتِي فَوْرًا؛ أَرَادَتْ أَنْ تَبْقَى حَيْثُ تَعَوَّدَتْ أَنْ تَرَاهَا. أَعَدْتُهَا إِلَى الْجِدَارِ، وَبَقِيَ الِاقْتِرَاحُ مَفْتُوحًا. لَمْ تُحَوِّلِ السَّاعَةُ الْجَدِيدَةُ الْقَدِيمَةَ إِلَى خُرْدَةٍ، وَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ بَقَاءُ الْقَدِيمَةِ الْجَدِيدَةَ زَائِدَةً.
فِي الْمَسَاءِ، سَأَلَ ضَيْفٌ عَنِ الْوَقْتِ، فَأَشَارَتْ أُخْتِي إِلَى الْمَطْبَخِ. ثُمَّ أَرَتْهُ صُورَةَ جَدِّنَا وَأَخْبَرَتْهُ عَنِ الْمِفْتَاحِ، دُونَ أَنْ تَرْبِطَ الْعَقْرَبَيْنِ بِيَوْمِ وَفَاتِهِ. سَأَلَ إِنْ كُنَّا نَنْوِي إِصْلَاحَهَا، فَقَالَتْ أُمِّي إِنَّ الْقِطْعَةَ لَمْ تُوجَدْ بَعْدُ. بَعْدَ خُرُوجِهِ، مَسَحْتُ الْغُبَارَ عَنِ السَّاعَتَيْنِ. ضَبَطْتُ وَاحِدَةً، وَتَرَكْتُ الْأُخْرَى؛ لَمْ تَكُونَا تَطْلُبَانِ مِنِّي الْعَمَلَ نَفْسَهُ.
Show English translationHide English translation
I took the wooden clock down from the room wall to wipe away the dust. It had been stopped at twenty past six for years. My sister asked whether it had stopped at the moment our grandfather died, as our cousin had said. The answer almost seemed convincing: two fixed hands, with his photograph beside them. But my mother asked me to look at the back of the clock before answering.
A note was fixed there, dated a Friday. My mother had written that the clock had stopped that day and that she had asked for a replacement part without finding it. She said our grandfather had died on the Tuesday three days earlier. The time on the clock was not a record of that moment. My sister asked why, then, we had kept it, and I waited for an answer that would fit the whole family.
My grandmother said she remembered the sound of the key when my grandfather turned it each week. My mother, however, said she liked the shape of the frame and that the ticking used to disturb her when she read. My father pointed to the pale patch revealed by removing the clock and said he had not found time to paint the wall. My grandmother laughed, then returned the key to her drawer. She did not say that the note had spoiled her memory.
We bought a clock for the kitchen to tell the time without a phone. My sister suggested moving the old one to her room and promised not to move its hands. My grandmother did not agree immediately: she wanted it to remain where she was accustomed to seeing it. I returned it to the wall, leaving the proposal open. The new clock did not turn the old one into junk, nor did keeping the old one make the new one unnecessary.
That evening, a guest asked the time, and my sister pointed to the kitchen. Then she showed him our grandfather’s photograph and told him about the key without linking the hands to the day he died. He asked whether we intended to repair it, and my mother said the part had not yet been found. After he left, I wiped the dust from both clocks. I set one and left the other: they were not asking the same work of me.
02Useful words from the story
| Arabic in the story | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| الْغُبَارَ | the dust |
| مُتَوَقِّفَةً | stopped |
| عَقْرَبَانِ | two clock hands |
| مُثَبَّتَةً | fixed; attached |
| سِجِلًّا | a record |
| الْإِطَارِ | the frame |
| دَقَّاتِ | ticks |
| الْبُقْعَةِ | the patch |
| خُرْدَةٍ | junk; scrap |
| ضَبَطْتُ | I set; I adjusted |
03Check your understanding
Choose one answer per question. Follow the changing perspectives and distinguish what the text shows from what its characters assume.
What to remember
- Correcting the clock’s supposed stopping moment need not remove its family meaning.
- Keeping an object does not prove that everyone keeps it for the same reason.
Explore the Arabic in this story
Related grammar and vocabularyOpen Araqick guides connected to this story.
Kana in Arabic: Was and Were
كَانَتْ مُتَوَقِّفَةً
Find the accusative adjective describing the clock’s stopped state in the past.
Arabic Prepositions with Pronouns: To Me, On Me and With Us
تَطْلُبَانِ مِنِّي الْعَمَلَ نَفْسَهُ
Follow the attached first-person pronoun in minni when the narrator compares the work the clocks require.
