The Witch Who Sold Minutes

Her shop only opens while the twelve bells ring on the Night of the Dead. And she doesn’t take money.

Everyone in Valdecierzo knew there was a shop inside the clock tower, although nobody had ever seen it by day. It only opened on the night of 31 October, while the twelve bells were ringing (and in there, each stroke lasted as long as she liked), and it was run by a tiny witch they called Mistress Clepsydra. She sold minutes.

She kept them in glass jars, one minute in each, with a label she wrote down as the buyer dictated it. Whoever broke a jar gained a whole minute at whatever moment they chose: to finish an exam, to catch a train or to say what there had been no time to say. The witch recited three rules to every customer. Minutes only work forwards, never backwards. They are paid for with a one-minute memory, which is lost for ever. And if the buyer dies without spending theirs, the jar goes back to the shop and can only be sold to someone who still remembers them.

Teo was late for everything: for school, for the bus, for birthday parties. His grandmother Aurora, who had never been late for anything in her life, would laugh and always say the same thing: “You’ll be late for everything, Teo. Don’t worry, I’ll save you a minute.” In the spring, his grandmother fell ill. When they finally called Teo, the bus was late and he got off at the wrong floor. By the time he pushed open the door of her room, there was nobody left to say goodbye to.

On the night of 31 October he climbed the hundred and twelve steps of the tower. At the first stroke, the back wall swung open like a door. Inside there were shelves up to the ceiling with jars glowing like fireflies, and the great clock face, seen from inside, served as a window. On the counter, a white cat was asleep in one pan of a pair of copper scales. The other pan was empty.

“I want one minute with my grandmother,” said Teo. “Just one. The goodbye one.” The witch shook her head as the fourth stroke rang out. “Minutes go forwards, boy. None of mine will take you back to that room.”

Teo looked down, about to leave, and then he saw it. On the lowest shelf, among dusty jars, there was one with a label that read: “Aurora. For running late.” “She bought it last year, on this very night,” said the witch. “She never broke it. Now I can only sell it to someone who remembers her.”

“A one-minute memory,” she added, pointing at the empty pan. “Whichever you choose.” Teo closed his eyes. He had thousands of minutes with his grandmother: the afternoon snacks, the card games, her laugh. He wasn’t going to give up any of them. So he chose a different one: the minute in the hospital corridor, with the door open and the bed empty. He put it in the pan, and the white cat opened one eye. The ninth stroke was ringing.

Teo smashed the jar on the floor. For one whole minute, the shop smelt of cinnamon and old playing cards. “Late, as always,” said a voice behind him. “Lucky I saved it for you.” Teo turned round, and he had time for everything. With the twelfth stroke, the tower was just a tower again.

Activities

1 Detective Inference

Who did Aurora buy the minute she never spent for? Tick the correct hypothesis.

a) For herself, in case she ran out of time at the end, but the illness caught her before she could break the jar.
b) For a relative in the village she never managed to say goodbye to, and the label says so because he was always late.
c) For Teo: she knew her grandson was late for everything and wanted to save him the goodbye minute.
d) For Mistress Clepsydra, who needed unspent minutes so that her shop could keep opening every Night of the Dead.

Which clue proves it? Copy or summarise the clue from the text that proves it.

2 The Loom Order of events

Put the events in order, starting with the earliest. Write the order number (1, 2, 3…) in each box.

The bus is late and Teo gets off at the wrong floor.
At the first stroke, the tower wall opens.
Teo puts the hospital-corridor minute in the pan.
Aurora dictates the label for a jar in the tower shop.
Mistress Clepsydra explains that minutes go forwards.
The white cat opens one eye on the copper scales.

3 The Missing Page Coherence

The next morning, which continuation fits everything we know? Tick only one option.

a) Teo can no longer remember the card games with his grandmother: that was the price of the goodbye minute.
b) His mother asks about the hospital and Teo can’t remember how he was late; only that he got to say goodbye.
c) Teo wakes up in the spring, in the hospital room, and this time he gets there in time to hug his grandmother.
d) Teo climbs the tower again that same morning to buy another minute, and Mistress Clepsydra serves him with a smile.

Why do you rule out the others? Explain one of them.

4 Spot the Contradiction Literal reading

Three statements don’t fit the story. Put an X next to the 3 statements that don’t fit the text.

a) The tower shop only opened on the night of 31 October, while the twelve bells rang.
b) Mistress Clepsydra charged for each minute in old coins, which she weighed on her copper scales.
c) If a buyer died without spending their minute, the witch could later sell it to anyone.
d) To pay, Teo chose a memory that wasn’t from any afternoon spent with his grandmother.
e) A black cat was asleep on the counter, like the ones that always keep witches company.
f) Aurora had bought her jar exactly one year before Teo climbed the tower.

5 The Gallery Visualisation

In the game you choose the illustration that answers this question: “Which illustration shows Mistress Clepsydra’s shop when Teo walks in?”. Here, you draw it yourself, with every detail the text gives you.