Smiling for Ever

This is how Mr and Mrs Analogue Tick-tock used to look because they were rejected by Miss Alarming Belle, a woman of the world, who falsely said she loved them. She was the flirt who dusted and wound them up every Sunday and set their alarms. She had been seduced by Mr Electronic Age who worshipped Big Computer, Heir Apparent of Cyberspace, whose doctrine was, “Intel Chips are good and Apple Macs are bad!” Having been brainwashed into believing digital clocks were superior, Miss Alarming Belle gladly received gifts of two golden digital clocks from her deceitful lover. She then tricked Mr and Mrs Tick-tock into living in the Land of Suspended Animation where they were unhappy because they no longer ticked, and together they turned down the corners of their mouths. Without hope they lay untouched on a dusty shelf while their colours faded, until one day Shiny Star, the Real King of Cyberspace who did not worship Big Computer or succumb to Electronic Age, zoomed in from the Land of Pearls of Wisdom. There he lived with Super Nova, the Real Big Bang, who was his father. His purpose was to expose the false doctrines of Big Computer and his cohort, Alarming Belle, and to bring new life to those in the Land of Suspended Animation. He explained that chips were bad and apples were good. Mr and Mrs Tick-tock believed, and convinced many to have faith in Shiny Star who had left the Land of Pearls of Wisdom to give them new life. They told all those who wanted to hear why Shiny Star had to fade away until he no longer shone, but had to die so that they would live. They explained that his father loved him so much that he made him brighter than any shining star and beamed him back to the Land of Pearls and Wisdom to be with him and millions of pearly stars. At the very moment the Tick-tocks believed and trusted in Shiny Star, Miss Alarming Belle’s golden digital clocks stopped, and she was frozen for ever on the screen of her laptop. By contrast, the Tick-tocks glowed with colour as their hearts beat and their smiles were like the rising sun. In due time, Big Computer, the false god and Deceiver of Cyberspace, along with Alarming Belle received their just deserts when Shiny Star threw them into the everlasting trash bin of fire where they were consigned together with a load of rotten chips, but the smiling Tick-tocks lived happily ever after in the Land of Pearls of Wisdom with Super Nova, Shiny Star and millions of pearly stars.