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Tick-Tock Friar Jacques – Life as an Extreme Sport
Life as an Extreme Sport

Tick-Tock Friar Jacques

I originally wrote this when I lived in Bellevue, by myself in the spring of 2001. It has undergone minor revision, but not much. Ryan and Jen borrowed that chair, then disappeared from my life, taking the chair with them. I miss the chair. I miss them.

She sits. The room is lit only by the faint courtyard light spilling in through the front window. As it falls into the room, the light passes through a small stained glass window, fracturing into a multitude of colours. This creates interesting patterns on the stairs, walls, and ceilings. Patterns for her to lose herself in.

She breathes raggedly, jagged and shaky breaths underscored by the tears coursing down her face. Some slide off her nose and cheeks, dropping silently onto the tan chair supporting her. Glancing down, she notices once again that the stuffing is pouring out of the side of the chair. Instead of thinking, as she typically does, that the chair should be reupholstered, she smiles. It’s the first one in a while, and feels a bit strained on her face. The chair, with its overflowing stuffing, seems like such a silly metaphor for herself.

Slowly she becomes aware of another sound. She holds her breath with a hiccup and waits, and hears it again. Identified, it’s the clock. Tick, tick, tock.

Tick, tick, tock.

She smiled again, a bit looser. A bit wistful. Her wrists fall to her side, hands loose and losing everything they hold; she begins to sing, lowly, “Friar Jacques… Friar Jacques…” Memory fails her, and she hums the melody when she forgets the words. In time to the ticking of the clock, she repeats the end of the song until she falls silent once more.

Ding, ding, dong.
Ding, ding, dong.
Ding,
Ding,
Dong.