The chains holding the cuckoo clock’s pine-cone weights kept getting tangled while Mara tried to figure out what caused the little bird not to emerge at the appointed time. She had set the clock on a shelf ledge so the chains could hang down freely, but she kept knocking the weights with her legs as she struggled to get a good look at the internal workings. There was no point in disassembling the entire piece if it needed only a minor adjustment. Unfortunately her ineffectual contortions and lack of concentration had conspired against her. She stepped off the riser she had used to reach the clock and sat on the stool behind the counter.
She gazed at the dark wooden cuckoo clock and imagined the little wooden bird sliding out its little wooden door, announcing the hour. After a minute or t
