**
A New Secret
A deed should be kept safely hidden.
-Harry Finkle
Several months later, Robert was assisting Jack in the storage room.
“Here, Robert,” Jack said, handing Robert a small bundle. “Hold this while I get another one from the top shelf.”
Jack moved several sacks and barrels to get better access to the shelf. When he stepped forward, the floor creaked.
Just then Lizzy came into the storage room. “Need any help?”
Jack shook his head. “I think we’ll be fine, Lizzy, but thank you. We’re just getting a few more things.” He took another step, and the same board made a creaking sound.
“What’s that?” Lizzy asked.
Jack shrugged. “I suppose it’s a loose board. I’ll nail it down later.”
Lizzy studied the board more closely, “That’s strange,” she said. “Why is this the only board that doesn’t have nails in it?”
Jack chuckled. “Perhaps Uncle Harry ran out of nails.”
“It is curious, Jack,” Robert agreed. He set his bundle down and knelt next to the creaky board.
“Let’s have a look,” Robert said with a grin.
“Let’s have a look at what?” Jack asked.
“Under the board, of course,” Lizzy sounded excited.
“And what do you suppose you’ll find under a creaky board?” Jack asked.
“Another secret,” Robert whispered.
“Oh, I don’t think you’ll find any more secrets in Uncle Harry’s store,” Jack said, laughing. “We’ve already found enough.”
Lizzy ignored Jack and knelt by to the other end of the board. “I’ll help you, Robert.”
Lizzy and Robert worked the board loose, lifted it slowly and set it out of the way. Jack stood above the hole, staring down with curious eyes.
“I don’t see anything,” Jack said.
Lizzy and Robert peeked down into the dusty hole, but they didn’t see anything either. They sat back on their knees and looked at each other for a moment, disappointed.
“I told you, no more secrets to be found in Uncle Harry’s store,” Jack said.
Robert wasn’t ready to give up, though. He stuck his hand into the dark hole and started to poke around.
“Do you feel anything?” Lizzy asked.
All of a sudden Robert’s eyes grew wide and a smile crossed his face.
“What? What is it?” Lizzy cried. Jack quickly knelt down next to Robert.
Robert pulled out an old scroll. It was wrapped with a piece of twine. “I wonder what it is?”
Robert handed the scroll to Jack. He unrolled the old paper and read the words out loud: “5,000 acres north you will find to be a relative of Father Time.”
“That makes no sense,” Lizzy observed, disappointed.
“Does it say anything else, Jack?” Robert asked.
“It has this at the bottom.” Jack held the scroll open for Lizzy and Robert to see. “It’s just the letter ‘F,’ that’s all.”
“It looks like it should be on one of the hourglasses,” Robert exclaimed. He jumped up and ran to the hourglass room. Once there, Robert scanned the hourglasses. “I’ve never seen one that just says ‘F.’ I would’ve noticed.”
Robert opened up the journal that was kept in the hourglass room for calibrations. He flipped forward to the sixth section. “Here it is: ‘F.’ It just says ‘Finkle’ next to it. But there’s no hourglass with an ‘F’ label on it.” Robert sounded confused.
“The deed I found in Uncle Harry’s office,” Jack said, “shows that the Finkle family, that’s us, inherited and owns 5,000 acres in the northern part of Finkleton. But I don’t think there’s any farmland there. Not as far as I know, anyway.”
“The scroll said ‘relative to Father Time.’ It didn’t say anything about farms or weather,” Lizzy observed, pacing the floor.
“What do you suppose it means, Lizzy? You’re the one reading all the books in the library.” Jack ran his fingers through his hair while he considered this new riddle.
“I’ve not read anything about Father Time, but then again I haven’t read everything in the library yet. I’m working my way through each section, and there are a lot of books. I could use a little help,“ she said, continuing to pace.
“No thanks,” Robert responded, and smiled.
“What would Father Time have to do with hourglasses, I wonder?” Jack asked.
“Exactly,” Lizzy said. Then her eyes lit up. “Time! That’s it!”
“What?” Jack and Robert asked together. “What are you talking about, Lizzy?”
“These hourglasses control the rain, right?”
“We know that,” Robert said, rolling his eyes.
She grinned. “But they don’t control time.”
“Right. What are you getting at?” Jack demanded.
“What controls time?” Lizzy raised her eyebrow.
Jack and Robert looked at each other and shrugged.
“Clocks!” Lizzy exclaimed.
“Clocks control time?” Jack was clearly confused. “No, clocks tell time. There’s a huge difference.”
“Sure, not every clock controls time. But maybe some of them do. Listen, before we came to Finkleton, who would have thought hourglasses could control the weather?”
Jack and Robert didn’t say a word. Lizzy seemed to be talking in circles. They didn’t understand anything she was saying.
Lizzy looked around the walls, then turned and grinned at her brothers, pointing. “There! There it is!”
“What?” Jack and Robert asked again.
“The clock!” Lizzy pointed to a big clock that hung on the wall above the desk.
Jack, Robert and Lizzy all stepped closer to the clock and studied it.
“It has a label on it reading ‘F.’ Don’t you see?” Lizzy was practically jumping with joy.
“That’s strange,” Robert said, frowning at the clock. “I’ve never noticed that before. And I’ve been in this room every day!”
“Well, it’s not quite at your eye level, Robert,” Lizzy teased. “You still have several years to grow.”
Robert placed his hands on his hips and huffed. His face turned all shades of red. “I’m not a little boy, Lizzy!”
“Calm down, calm down,” Jack said. “She’s just trying to get a rise out of you.”
“Look! There are two strings attached to the back of the clock,” Lizzy said.
“What do you suppose it means?” Robert asked.
Jack stared, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. “Do you suppose it’s possible that clock can control time?” Jack asked quietly.
The other two were quiet for a moment, thinking it over.
“But what does 5,000 acres of land have to do with it?” Lizzy finally asked.
Robert gasped. “Maybe that’s why the Finkle family didn’t sell the 5,000 acres.”
“What do you mean, Robert?”
“Maybe time can be controlled because of that land. That would explain why it’s never been sold,” Robert said.
She studied the clock on the wall. “And this clock can somehow control time,” Lizzy stated. She peeked under the clock. “I think I see a small hourglass inside of it.”
Jack sprang to his feet. “Can you imagine?” Jack asked. “If you can control time, then you can make anything happen. You can change history!”
Robert whistled. “And I thought if Mr. Bad Guy found out about the hourglasses it would be dangerous.” Robert wiped his forehead. “This would be much worse!”
Lizzy nodded. “Controlling time is definitely more dangerous. I completely agree.”
A look of horror crossed Robert’s face. “What if Mr. Bad Guy—or should I say Mr. Lowsley—tries to buy or take the land from us?”
Jack gave them both a stern look. “It’s just like the hourglasses. No one must ever find out about this clock.”
Jack, Lizzy and Robert all agreed to not tell a living soul about the magical hourglasses or the mysterious clock.
Controlling the weather was enough to keep their hands full.
Controlling time was another story altogether.
The End...
...until Book Two, Return to Finkleton