After the sauna bath the menfolk sat around the large table waiting for the women. Grandfather looked at Jorma with affection.

"Now he'll start speaking of what a brave boy I am, and how I climbed onto the platform," Jorma thought expectantly.

But no—Grandfather took up another topic. He recalled what a mischievous boy Daddy used to be.

At first Jorma listened to those stories with interest, but then Grandfather and Father started talking about some people Jorma did not know. He let himself down from his seat and started looking for his peaked cap. He couldn't find it.

"Son, what are you looking for?" Father asked him.

"My peaked cap," said the boy. "I'm looking for my peaked cap."

"What are you going to do with it now in the evening?" Grandfather was curious.

"We'll go out with Hedi when she comes from the sauna," Jorma explained. "I may get a sunstroke without my cap on."

"One gets a sunstroke only in the mid-day heat," said Grandfather. "When you go out now the only trouble will be the gnats who'll be biting you."

But Father added, "Today you won't go out any more. Just look at the sun."

Jorma looked out of the window. The sun was swaying at the fir-tree tops. Its reddish beams sparkled and fenced so playfully that it hurt his eyes to look. Jorma got a bit annoyed at the sun. What should it go down for? Going down every night. What was the sense in rising at all if it was going to set anyway?

"Daddy, what does the sun set for?" he asked.

"The clock shows that it's late, that's why the sun sets," Father said.

"Why does the clock show it's late?"

"The clock's working all the time, ticking away. Listen... tick-tock, tick-tock... "

Jorma listened. He could hear the ticking of the clock from the next room very clearly.

"There are cogwheels within the clock case, the wheels move around and push on the pointers," Grandfather explained.

"The pointers are also called hands or needles," added Father.

"That's right," Grandfather nodded. "The pointers are the hands... And thus by the evening they move a long way, they show it's late. You may go and see for yourself: the pendulum moves regularly back and forth... "

Jorma couldn't think of anything better to do at the moment, so he went into the next room, stopped before the clock and stood gazing at it.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, the pendulum moved regularly back and forth, back and forth... The clock face looked pinkish, the ornamented hands seemed to be frozen, only after a very long lapse of time the longer hand shifted ahead by one stroke, shivered a bit and froze again.

Jorma glanced out of the window. Only the upper edge of the sun was visible hovering above the fir-tree tops. It was so bright now, glowing with such red light that it seemed to be calling for help.

Jorma felt sorry for the sun. He wanted to help the poor thing, to hold it back, lest it should sink behind the horizon, that it might shine in the sky all the time. But how could he help the sun if the clock showed a late hour just because it kept ticking?

Tick-tock, tick-tock...

With its monotonous tick-tock the clock seemed to mock at Jorma. The boy lost his temper. "The damn clock," he thought angrily. Then he shouted in a loud voice, "Stop it, will you!"

Tick-tock, tick-tock...

Then a brilliant idea struck him, a wonderful idea...

"Just you wait," he said to the clock, went to the table, seized the nearest chair and started dragging it to the wall. The chair resisted, its legs got caught in the runner on the floor, it threatened to topple over, but with persistence Jorma got the upper hand of it. He placed the chair straight under the clock, climbed on it, stretched himself to reach as high as possible... and put out his forefinger to stop the pendulum.

There was but one feeble tick, then came silence.

Jorma sighed happily: the sun was saved, the day would have no end, children could play as long as they wanted. Only... what would Father say to it? What a surprise to him! "Children, time to go to bed, quick, without bargaining, the sun has set," he'd say and, glancing out of the window he would make "Ehem!"—the sun would be looking at him cheerfully.

What a surprise!

Jorma smiled in anticipation. He was anxious to run to the sauna immediately to share his joy with Hedi. Yet he was kept back by the thought that the chair under the wall clock might arouse certain suspicions in his parents. "Why does it stand there? Who's pushed the chair there?" they would wonder. He would have to tell them everything and his surprise might fall flat.

Jorma decided to put the chair back to its former place. This time the chair turned to be more stubborn: it got entangled in the stripy runner with all of its four legs, and when Jorma attempted to pull it loose, the chair crashed on its back.

Of course Father appeared in the doorway to see what the boy was doing there.

"What are you doing with that chair?" he asked disapprovingly.

"The chair fell down," Jorma murmured.

"That's what I see," said Father.

Suddenly Jorma thought that Father might not like his idea. He might not like it to remain light for the whole night. What if he got scolded for stopping the sun without his parents' permission?

"I've got a surprise for you," said Jorma in his very-good-boy's voice.

"What surprise is it?" Father asked less severely now.

"You'll see soon... "

"When?"

"When the sun doesn't set... "

"Why should it not set?"

Jorma shot a meaningful glance at the wall clock.

"The clock has stopped, that's why."

Father stared at his son in puzzlement at first, then said reproachfully,

"What strange ideas you've got!"

He came up to the clock, looked at his wrist watch, and gave the pendulum a slight push.

The sun had gone down.

And how could the sun be expected to shine in the sky while Father's wrist watch went on ticking.

Jason Ladock

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