The Owl s Strange Clock

Sometimes I just stare at stuff, like, really stare, and I get this super strong feeling that things aren't just what they seem. Like, at all.

There's this TV show, I've only heard bits and pieces, but they say, "Owls are not what they seem". And I think that's like, the smartest thing ever. Because you see an owl, and it's all hooty and feathery, but maybe there's a whole other layer. A secret part you can’t see. A hidden dimension, or even a hidden time.

And the almost-last episode of that TV show? I heard it was like going back to the very beginning, to the same old town, but everything was… different. Not how it was before. Like someone put a filter on the world, or pushed a little button that changed all the past events just a tiny bit, and now the present is all messed up. People say messing with the spacetime continuum is totally just, for science fiction movies. But I don't really believe that.

There was this scientist, I can't remember his name right now, I have it written down in my special notebook somewhere. He was from Belarus. And he had this super wild idea about time. Not just that it goes tick-tock, tick-tock, same for everyone. He thought you could actually change how fast or slow it goes! Like, he had these two identical clocks, ticking right next to each other, and he could make one run at a totally different speed. Can you even imagine? Time not being the same for everything, all the time. He actually proved it! He really did experiments that showed it was true! But then... something terrible happened. He got hit by a car, and all his amazing research just stopped. Just like that. It's really unfair.

He wasn't the only one who thought about it, though. There's also this thing called Dunne's time experiment. It makes you think about how we experience time, and if maybe our brains can even see flashes of the future. It’s super mind-bending stuff.

I really think one day, someone's going to figure it all out. What time really is. Not just what the clock says, but its true, secret nature. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll even learn how to control it. Like, make a super-boring school day go super fast, or make a really fun playdate last forever. That would be the best superpower ever. Better than flying, even.

Stephie