"Time, gentlemen, please!" Called Sally, the landlady of the Blue Hen.
Quick as a flash, Simon shouted back, "10.15, Sal," and the motley crew that surrounded him all looked at their watches and nodded.
"Gah! Get away with ye. Lads, ye know it's almost 12!" Sal responded good-humouredly.
"What? Sal, look at your own clock." Simon pointed towards the big antique clock on the wall. All eyes moved with his pointed finger and then moved slowly back to Sally.
"For feck's sake, Simon! You DID NOT change my granda's clock!" Sal's usual humour began to slip as she looked up at the clock. "You're a pure culchie, Simon!
If you've banjaxed it. Well, let's just say, you can go and bollox, if ye t'ink ye'll be getting served the black stuff in here again." Sal growled as she strode towards the clock. "How'd ye even manage it?"
Everyone was watching Sally now. They knew that she'd named the pub the Blue Hen because she could match any trucker with her colourful turn of phrase but this was just weird.
"Manage it? Sal! It's 10.15! What are ye eating the head off me for? Seriously!" Simon looked around at the others in the bar. "Is it just me or are ye all in on this?" Simon looked at his watch again. "Okay, so, it's 10.25 now but..." He looked toward his buddy Padraig, "what time do ye make it?"
Padraig looked confused. "I have 10.23," he said as he looked at Sal's back. He didn't want to upset her as he'd been coming to the Blue Hen for years and didn't want to get barred but it was only 10.23.
Sally turned around slowly. She looked at everyone staring at her. They all had concerned looks on their faces. All except Simon, who looked like he was chewing on a brick and mumbling something under his breath.
"Are ye well, Sal?" Mary asked. "You're looking a bit peaky." Mary had emerged from the bar and was walking toward her.
Mary had worked at the Blue Hen since Sal had taken it over from her granda six years back. They were great friends and she knew Sal had never really wanted the pub. She'd always had dreams of travelling.
Sal, now scarlet, barked out a laugh, "Sure, I was only codding ya! C'mon, Mary, let's crack on. We've got drinks to serve." And with that Sal marched back behind the bar, while everyone else stared on.
"Simon, what'll it be? It's on me." She said as she pulled out a pint glass and held her hand on the Guinness pump.
Before long, with drinks flying down the necks of all those in the bar, the Blue Hen was back in business as if nothing had happened. Sal felt the hours passing by, exhausted. She looked at her granda's clock on the wall opposite the bar, noting it was nearly midnight.
Raising her voice above the din, Sal called out, "Time, gentlemen, please!" Ready for the evening to finally end, she couldn't believe her ears when she heard Simon's voice again.
"10.15, Sal. Plenty time left yet!" He laughed.
Sally groaned.
Looking at her granda's clock she saw that once again time had rewound. "Not again."
This time though, she strolled up to Simon, looked into his eyes and asked, "If ye could rewind your time, would you change your life?" And with that, she kissed him.
This is my ineligible entry to the Dreem - Word of the Week contest. This is the 2nd round of season 1 and the theme is Time.
Cover image created using Canva with photo by Ehud Neuhaus on Unsplash
Time line divider created using Canva elements and vector image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
Stereophonics, "Rewind" taken from YouTube
Dreemport banner used with permission of @dreemsteem and @dreemport and designed by @jimramones
