Thirteen Equals One
Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or
not another, but he had never managed to get
enough money to have the church clock repaired.
The big clock which used to strike the hours day
and night was damaged during the war and has been
silent ever since. one night, however, our vicar
woke up with start: the clock was striking the hours!
Looking at this watch, he saw that it was one o‘clock, but the bell struck
thirteen times before it stopped. Armed with a torch, the vicar went up into the
clock tower to see what was going on. In the torchlight, he caught sight of a
figure whom he immediately recognized as Bill Wilkins our local grocer.
‗Whatever are you doing up here Bill?‘ asked the vicar in surprise. 'I'm trying to
repair the bell‘, answered Bill. ‗I‘ve been coming up here night after night for
weeks now. You see, I was hoping to give you a surprise.‘ ‗You certainly did
give me a surprise!‘ said the vicar. ‗You‘ve probably woken up everyone in the
village as well. Still, I‘m glad the bell is working again.‘ ‗That‘s the trouble,
vicar answered Bill. ‗It‘s working all right, but I‘m afraid that at one o‘clock it
will strike thirteen times and there‘s nothing I can do about it‘. ‗We‘ll get used
to that Bill, ‗ said the vicar. ‗Thirteen is not as good as one, but it‘s better than
nothing. Now let‘s go downstairs and have a cup of tea.