Steampunk Child

“The Clockmaker’s Apprentice”

In the quiet heart of Tock Street, where the air always smelled faintly of brass and possibility, young Thaddeus Crumb took over the family workshop at the age of seven. Not because he was ready, but because the clocks insisted.

With a top hat two sizes too grand and spectacles meant more for staring than reading, Thaddeus deciphered tick-tocks like most children read fairy tales. His first invention—a tea-time alarm that brewed and poured the tea—malfunctioned only once, and the cat still glows faintly at night.

“Time,” he’d say, adjusting a valve, “waits for no one… unless you negotiate firmly.”

—Chronologically yours, Inkwisp