Harriet Lane

Benny looked at the clock on the wall. The clock said seven o'clock. The second hand was going round the wrong way.

"Mum," said Benny slowly. "The clock is backwards."

"Is it?" said Mum, not looking.

Dad came in. Dad was wearing his pyjamas, and he yawned, and he said, "Well, I'm off to bed. Goodnight, Benny," and he kissed Benny on the top of the head and went upstairs.

At seven o'clock in the morning.

Benny ate his spaghetti, because it was there, and it was good. But he ate it carefully, looking at everything, the way you look at a room where somebody has moved one thing and you cannot tell which.