Daniel had spent most of his life believing that timing was everything.
If you met the right person at the wrong time, you lost them.
If the perfect opportunity came too late, you missed it.
And if life gave you one chance and you hesitated, you might never get another.
At least, that was what Daniel believed.
Until one ordinary morning, when a mysterious woman left an old watch on his doorstep with a note containing only four words:
When the time is right.
The Watch
Daniel found the package at 6:30 on a cold Monday morning.
There was no name on it.
No return address.
Inside the brown paper wrapping was an old silver pocket watch.
It was scratched, slightly rusty, and stopped at exactly 8:17.
Underneath it was a folded piece of paper.
Daniel opened it.
Four words were written in black ink.
When the time is right.
He turned the paper over.
Nothing.
He examined the watch.
There was a tiny engraving on the back.
D.M. — 2009
Daniel’s heart skipped.
Those were his father’s initials.
His father had died seventeen years earlier.
A Forgotten Memory
Daniel had not thought about that watch in years.
He remembered his father carrying it everywhere when he was a child.
His father, Michael, had been a watchmaker.
Every evening, he would sit at a small wooden workbench and repair old clocks.
Daniel used to watch him through the doorway.
One night, when Daniel was twelve, his father had held the pocket watch in his hand and said:
“Some things only make sense when the time is right.”
Daniel had laughed.
“What does that mean?”
His father smiled.
“You’ll understand one day.”
The next morning, Michael disappeared.
Daniel was told there had been an accident.
His body was never found.
For seventeen years, Daniel had believed his father was dead.
Now the watch was sitting in his palm.
The Stranger at the Café
Daniel took the watch to the only person he trusted with old mysteries: Mr. Harris, his father’s former business partner.
But before he could reach the shop, he noticed someone following him.
A woman in a gray coat.
She had been standing across the street when he left his apartment.
Daniel walked faster.
She followed.
He entered a crowded café.
The woman came inside.
Daniel turned around.
“Who are you?”
The woman looked frightened.
“My name is Clara.”
“Did you leave the watch?”
She nodded.
“Why?”
“Because your father asked me to.”
Daniel felt the room spin.
“My father is dead.”
Clara shook her head.
“No, Daniel.”
She lowered her voice.
“Your father is alive.”
The Truth About Michael
Clara explained that Michael had disappeared voluntarily.
Seventeen
