The Coo Coo's Clock
This short story was written to take part in Mctiller's weekly writing contest.
Henry made sandwiches for dinner. After a year of failing to cook anything close to food he'd resigned himself and his son Elliot to bachelor food. He brought their meal into the living room where his son was already waiting beside the radio set. It was seven o'clock on a Thursday, a sacred time in his household. Captain Raygun and his dog Golden were about to embark on another adventure. It was Elliot's favorite radio drama. When Margret was still alive she'd sit with him and listen, oohing and aahing along with her toddler. Elliot never missed a new episode now.
It wasn't so hard to get ahead of the story and guess the end. It always went the same, the good guys beat the bad guys and flew off to find another wrong to right somewhere in space. Every week the sound effects were different and the voices changed but children never want to hear their heroes to lose. Tonight though they were left on a cliff hanger. “Daring do gooders Captain Raygun and his best friend and pet dog Golden have fallen into the trap of Dr. Reginald Ray, Captain Raygun's evil brother! They now drift through a vortex so powerful that even time itself is warped. How, where, and most importantly when will our heroes escape? Tuning in next week won't give you the answers. The only way to know is to go to your local theater and see for yourself. Captain Raygun will be making his first appearance on the silver screen in the conclusion of, The Coo Coo's Clock.”
Elliot's plate spun as he rushed to smash open his piggy bank. Before Henry had a chance to pile the dishes to a precarious height he could hear his son's giggling. He'd managed to save a few pennies and nickles, enough to go see the movie himself but not the snacks that helped make the experience complete. Henry was happy to pay for the rest. They would go opening night after Henry finished working at the newsstand.
The newsstand never paid much. People always came and went but never spent much. A penny for a paper, a nickel for cigarettes, and a bit of polite conversation about whatever was on the front page. He'd worked there since he was a boy himself, back when there wasn't so much to go around. When there was a lull in customers and nothing else to put out Henry would leaf through magazines. In the back of one he found an opinionated review of The Coo Coo's Clock. They hated just about everything the movie had done from the costumes to the plot to the actors. They thought the only good thing was the effect of the time vortex.
“What you reading there Henry?” A regular customer had managed to sneak up on Henry.
“Oh hi Walt, just a review of a film.”
“One of the ones we run?”
“Yeah you'll be showing it for the first time tonight, The Coo Coo's Clock. Elliot and I are going to see it but now I'm worried about how much he'll enjoy it. He loves Captain Raygun, it reminds him of his mother.”
“So what's the problem? “
“This review of it makes it sound terrible. 'When Raygun is first reviled half of his face is covered by his helmet.' How do you mess up something as simple as showing a face?”
“I don't know but this bit here sure is interesting, 'The time vortex was so well done it was almost like I could see the colors.' He's not wrong about that.”
“You get to watch the picture before anybody else?”
“Management always gets to, and they need a lucky projectionist to show it to them. It isn't very good. Whoever put it together must have thought so too, because there's no way anyone watching can see who made it. We put the reels under a magnifying glass and there's only two frames with the names of the actors.”
“Well I can only hope Elliot's expectations aren't too high. The usual paper?”
“The usual paper.”
The candy was the best part of the evening. Most of the audience was rowdy boys fighting one another for the best seat or the last gumdrop. The actual film was worse than the company. Every flaw was so glaringly wrong that kids were leaving throughout the movie. Henry and Elliot stayed till the end though. It was what Margret would have done. Walt came out from his booth to show the way but the father and son were the only ones left. “Hey you two, how'd you enjoy it? What was your favorite part, sport?”
“I liked all of it. Captain Raygun saved the galaxy!”
“Well then here.” Walt handed an envelope to Elliot, “Don't tell anyone I gave you this, but this is a little snippet from the film. It's got the names of all the actors on it.”
“No way! Thank you thank you!”
“Walt, can you really do that?”
“Sure I can! Boss man hates the film so much that he wants to retire it after just the one showing. Now come on, I've got one hell of a mess to sweep up here.”
The envelope had replaced Elliot's piggy bank. He left it sealed since he could see through it when he held to film up to his lamp. The letters were hard to read but he learned them by heart in a few months. Henry kept up with steady business at the newsstand, even got a raise. Every Thursday night was their night to be together, huddled around the radio. Ever since the release of The Coo Coo's Clock the production of the radio show had slipped more and more with every broadcast. Mistakes were made and corners were cut until it hardly resembled the show they'd bonded over.
Elliot stood on a box in the newsstand with his father on a hazy summer afternoon. Not many people were out, giving Henry plenty of time to answer his son's endless questions.“What's a classifieds, Dad?”
“It's the classifieds. It's a place where anyone can pay the newspaper company a little money and have an advertisement put in the paper. Sometimes they're a good place to find a job, or something to buy, or sometimes they're just good for a laugh. Like this one, 'When did you get so expensive to put an ad in? The last time it didn't even cost half as much!' Money not well spent.”
“Dad...look!” Elliot thrust a page into his father's face jabbing his finger at a small blurb. “Captain Raygun put an ad in the paper! 'If you have the credits. We have the time travel. - Captain Raygun'”
“What on earth could that mean? Credits?”
“I heard Walt say that word a couple times. He always said it when he was at the theater.”
“Well...I think that's what they call the bit where they say who did what to make the film. They give credit to the director, the writers, the camera men,”
“The actors?”
“Yeah they're in the credits too.”
“I have the credits! They're still in the envelope Walt gave me. Captain Raygun played by Jack Ronderfel, Dr. Reginald Ray played by Dick Lindsey. I know them all! There's an address on the ad, can I have a stamp?” Henry wiped his forehead and sighed.
“You're sure you want to send it? You can't just get another one of them.”
“I'm sure. If I can time travel then it's worth giving it up.”
“Alright then, I'll take care of it tonight.”
Henry wrote a letter to send along with the credits while Elliot slept. He asked that whatever this game was, the credits would be sent back when they were finished. He wrote about what Captain Raygun meant to his son, how he was the way he remembered his mother the fondest. He cut the envelope open, and for the first time he read the credits himself. The leading lady's name was Margret, a coincidence that tugged hard on heart strings. It was difficult for him to drop the letter into the postbox.
Weeks went by with no correspondence. Henry checked the classifieds every day for Elliot but there was nothing. Captain Raygun never put out another ad. Elliot refused to come listen to the radio one Thursday night. He slammed the door to his room screaming. “I hate Captain Raygun! He stole my credits! I hate him!” Henry went out for a night walk to try and forget his mistake. He never should have let Elliot believe something like that.
The night was quiet for the city, even quiet for the country. Henry had to focus on his footsteps just to keep the silence at bay. As he rounded the next corner even that disappeared. He banged on garbage cans trying to find some sound but nothing. “Hello Henry.” A man wearing bright green spectacles and a black rubber coat tapped on his shoulder. Henry tried to talk but his mouth wouldn't move. He couldn't turn, couldn't run, couldn't even breathe. “You do recognize me don't you? You may have been expecting that sickening brother of mine, you did send him a letter. Well it was me, the bad doctor.”
“I have to say the letter was touching, your wife must have been a lovely woman. You might say I've had a bit of a change of heart because of it.” He pulled a small metal canister from inside his coat. “The credits are in here. When you tear the two frames apart you will be able to travel through the wondrous and ever changing flow of time. Make sure Elliot holds one end or you'll leave him orphaned while you're off gallivanting. It won't be hard to find the time you want to go to, but just be careful. I don't think I have to tell you but you can only tear that film once. Make the most of it.”
Henry fell to the ground gasping for air. He had only one thing on his mind and that was to run home. Elliot would think he was crazy but that didn't mater. He could pinch his fingers and force him to rip it in his sleep. Let him wake up to the surprise of infinite life times.