Time and Memories

I received my current watch as a Christmas gift from my brother-in-law a number of years ago. My mother was visiting from Florida at the time, and pronounced it - in private - the ugliest watch she had ever seen. The following August, when I came to visit her in Stuart, Florida, she hadn't changed her mind. One day when we were walking in the Treasure Coast Mall, we passed a Walgreen's Drug Store and she announced that she was buying me a new Timex watch, and to pick one out. I wore that watch until it gave up the ghost years later. I only then started to wear the "ugly" watch again. Last April I was wearing that watch when I lost it in Oakwoods Cemetery in Chicago, taking photographs on the "Confederate Hill." This place is the mass grave of 5,000 Confederate soldiers who died from disease and neglect at the nearby Camp Douglas prison camp. I didn't realize I had lost it until I was driving away. I thought about not going back for it, but finally decided to turn around and look for it. The gates to the cemetery were closed for the night by the time I returned. However, the next morning the watch was still there, right where I had dropped it. Now I wonder if the watch might be haunted. One of these days I expect to see one of those long dead Confederate soldiers looking back at me where the clock face should be. In any case, I recently had to replace the watchband and two batteries, at a cost of $85 (the price of 3 Timex watches!). As a natural cheapskate, I hesitated to pay it for a minute, but then told myself the memories were worth the cost.