Once upon a time there was a girl named Shelby. She was born with moonlight on her golden hair and was the jewel of her parents eyes.
Scratch that...
There was this girl named Shelby. She had a CRAZY laugh.
She loved laughing.
Sometimes she felt obnoxious. Because her laugh was very.....
boisterous.
But she entered a class in high school called American Studies. This class was full of strange clocks. Yes, clocks. Some whistled like birds, or had strange pictures. Every hour a strange sound came out of one clock or another. In this class, Shelby became famous for her loud, obnoxious, and boisterous laugh. Her teachers just loved it. Adored it. She was the jewel of her teachers eyes.
She went through high school and gained a wonderful relationship with these teachers. They enjoyed her laugh, she enjoyed their witty remarks and classroom environment.
Time flew and Shelby was soon a senior.
YES. A SENIOR. It was hardly believable. One day while sitting in class, one of these teachers came to this devastating realization.
"SHELBY! YOU ARE A SENIOR!" She shouted.
Why, yes. Shelby was a senior.
"I will never be able to hear your laugh bounce through the walls of Lone Peak High
ever again!"
The class gasped.
And they all joined in on this devastating realization.
Obviously, something had to be done.
So a plan was formulating.
A clever plan.
Remeber the strange clocks that make strange noises at the hour intervals of each day?! Shelby was going to have one of those. She must. Her very own clock.
A clock that could record a message at every hour.
A different message=a different laugh.
Every hour=a new laugh.
BRILLIANCE!
Her laugh would never be forgotten at Lone Peak High School. She would grow old and have grandkids and get wrinkly and pruny and people would always remember the clock with the crazy, loud, boisterous, laughing girl!
This was it.
Her chance.
15 minutes of fame?
Nah.
A LIFETIME OF FAME.
But her plan proved difficult. Her and a few choice friends searched the internet seeking after a clock that had the capabilities for her circumstance. For months this went on. But the clock just didn't seem to exist. She toyed with the idea of creating her own clock and manipulating wires and recording devices to get her clock. But that just wouldn't be right. This clock had to be durable--epic enough to transcend time, culture, and place.
Then one afternoon scanning the items on Ebay.
Shelby found it. It was perfect.
"MESSAGE IN TIME CLOCK. RECORD 12 A PERSONAL MESSAGES AND HEAR ONE AT THE TOP OF EACH HOUR. DISPLAY 12 OF YOUR FAVORITE PHOTOS. HOUR NUMBERS 1-12 INCLUDED. REQUIRES 4 AA BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED. LIGHT SENSOR DEACTIVATES RECORDINGS WHEN ROOM IS DARK. IT IS FROM A SMOKE-FREE AND PET-FREE ENVIRONMENT!"
Buttons were pressed. Days were waited.
And then: it came.
The box was ripped open, batteries were placed, it was tested.
IT WORKS.
IT WORKS!
IT WORKS! IT WORKS!
The next 4 hours were spent in attempting to record Shelby's different laughs. Her friends tried to help. They created situations.
Startled her. Tickled her. Told her funny stories. EVERYTHING they could think of to get her to laugh. But Shelby discovered a difficult truth.
Laughing on command Laughing in 12 different ways on command, is
EXTREMELY difficult.
After hours and hours of hard work--it was finished.
Shelby and her friends held it out and just looked. Admired. It was beautiful.
The day was finished in antcipation for the coming morning. Something the laughter would sound suprising and shocking Shelby while she went about other duties in her house. SHE COULD HARDLY WAIT.
The next morning, Shelby jumped out of bed, did her daily routine before school and slipped the wonderour clock into a bag with excitement. She gathered her friends and they snuck into their American Studies classroom. As
sneaky and
subtley as possible, they hung it on the wall.
This was 7:45am.
At 8:00am, the first laugh would sound and Birrell would be stunned in amazment and surprise! There's NO way Shelby and her friends could miss this. So they went up to their first period teacher and politely asked to be excused around say.....7:55-8:05. That would be sufficient time to experience the begining of a new age and see the happiness burst from the face of their beloved teacher.
Excitement.
The clock ticked.
7:50.
7:54.
7:55 RUSH out of the classroom.
RUN down the hall.
CROUCH on the ground.
And.....
Listen.
8:00 Nothing.
Maybe the time is off. Maybe we need to wait a few more minutes...
8:05 Nothing.
There was definitely a problem.
Shelby slowly slipped into the room on her belly and looked where the clock had been placed earlier that morning. IT WAS GONE!
So. She stood up and raised her hand.
Birrell, slightly confused, called on Shelby at the back of the classroom.
"Where's the clock?"
She asked with anxiety.
"That was YOUR clock?!"
said Birrell.
Uh-oh.
"Yes?"
Shelby responded.
"Look in the trash."
She looked.
GLASS. GLASS was EVERYWHERE. The clock had
SHATTERED.
So Shelby fell onto the ground and started crying as her friends rushed into the room to come to her aid. They too, were shocked at the horror before their eyes.
But after a moment of mourning, they pulled out the clocks remains and cried desperately "Perhaps there is hope?!".
They turned the clock over and pressed the "Play" button.....
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
Yay! It worked!
It worked! It worked!
An explanation was then given to their teacher, the surprise was ruined, but at least the clock was SAVED.
The class in session at the moment asked for another demonstration.
The "Play" button was pressed once more. But, instead of the beautiful sounds of Shelby's laughter.....
"8:00 No Message"
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Every message had been completely erased!
All twelve. All twelve different laughs that had taken hours and hours!!! THEY. WERE. GONE.
And thus ends the story.
The clock works, but the precious messages are all gone. It now sits on Shelby's kitchen counter repeatedly saying
"No Message" as a reminder each hour of Shelby's pain.
Someday.
When Shelby is in the mood to laugh for a couple hours in twelve differnt ways and exhaust herself--she will once again create the beautiful clock that will make her a legend at Lone Peak High School.
Until then, she will continue to listen.
"5:00 No Message"
"6:00 No Message"
"7:00 No Message" (During family prayer)
"8:00 No Message"
"9:00 No Message"
"10:00 No Message"
"11:00 No Message"
"12:00 No Message"...............
Stay tuned to hear if Shelby's clock ever makes it back to the classroom.
