On the Clock

She tells me she has never been late for an event in her life.

I examine my watch.

It is a question of how you perceive time, she says.

There’s something about online dating.

If you look at time as an ally rather than an opponent,
you can always find a way to work with it.

I examine my watch.

Time is elastic for me, she says. If I will it to do so,
then it expands for me.

She was twenty minutes late for our coffee date, but doesn’t seem to realize it.

I will never arrive late; time will simply stretch out to accommodate me.

I examine my watch.

Everything around me begins to slow down as if it’s been submerged in molasses.

Talk about slogging through molasses.

I on the other hand proceed at my normal rate.

I examine my watch.

In some way, she laughs, I must be some kind of time traveler,
able to move in seconds while everything else moves in minutes.

Or hours, I think, as I examine my watch.