Conditional Reality

Feltcap Quartertime ate watches. She ground them up into powder and sprinkled them on her morning cereal, eating just a few ounces each day. Perseverance, however, adds up over time. Within a few years Feltcap had consumed several dozen timepieces. She liked telling her friends about her internal clocks. They laughed politely. I hear this ringing in my ears, she said. Oh wait, that’s the alarms. Her friends nodded politely. Then Feltcap got really serious. I’ll tell you what bugs me the most, she said. It’s when the ticking doesn’t stop at night. It’s unnerving and it gives me nightmares.