He had spent many a happy hour inside the clock tower, doing maintenance and replacing gears. It had become his hobby, then his lifestyle. His only time to spend on his own was on Sundays. After mass, which he enjoyed mainly to hear the steeple bells, he would visit his brother in the next town. Having Sunday lunch with his brother and his family on their dairy farm was always the highlight of his week!

As he came home after a fine birthday party for his 13 year old niece, and promising to take his nephew on as an apprentice, he said farewell and headed home. As he approached the town, he was shocked to see the clock in town square frozen at 12 noon! As he entered the town, all of his friends and neighbors looked like statues!

He slowly rode through town, and finally came to the other end of town. He wasn't sure exactly what had happened, or what he could do. Since it was getting dark, he chose to go home and come back tomorrow. However, a quick trip to the church for prayer seemed a good thing to do.

The steeple bells, which usuallldy chimed at noon, were also frozen! He lit a candle and prayed for guidance. After a light dinner at home, he went to bed, thinking maybe fixing the bells and clock tower might help. Dawn came quickly, and the light of day had brought no change to the little village.

He realized that he could get more done if he collected his nephew, and got him started on the clock tower while he worked on the steeple bells. A quick trip found his nephew comihis was on the road. After a quick conversation, his nephew agreed to send word to his father and go back to the village with him.

It only took him an hour of instruction to show the nephew what to do for the clock tower. After his nephew assured him they could finish in about 6 days, he loaded up his equipment and rode over to the church for the steeple bells. Then, he noticed the father, frozen in the pulpit, and a letter in his hand!

The letter was from Maggie McBride, the young girl that had been excommunicated 20 years ago! She told the father to sell the church to her, or the entire village would be frozen for 7 days, then disappear forever! The only way she would recant the spell would be if an outsider would be able to start the clock and ring the bells in unison, before the week was up.

He found a quickly scrawled note at the bottom of the letter, clearly by the hand of the father. It stated that if the correct scripture was quoted while the clock tolled and the steeple bells rang, the village would be free of such a spell forever! I looked at the open Bible, and his finger was frozen at the verse that stated "...nor anything else in all creation shall be able to separate us from the love of the Father, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord."

I quickly wrote down the verse, and headed up to the steeple. I realized that the only reason the bells couldn't ring was that someone had put enough water on the gears to rust them! I quickly used my lubricant, and after one day, the bells were ringing once again.

I hustled over to the clock tower, where I found my nephew hard at work. His hours of labor had freed up most of the gears, and then I saw it. Someone had taken a sledge hammer to the mainspring, and it was destroyed! I knew the only was to get a replacement was to take the train for 1 day to Central City. So, I assisted him in all the remaining maintenance, and we planned to take the train the next morning.

As we woke the next morning, and arrived at the train station 30 minutes ahead of the train, I noticed someone watching my nephew from across the platform. As I finished my telegraph to Central City, and confirmed the mainspring would be ready, a woman had engaged my nephew in conversation. I recognized Maggie McBride!

I told my nephew that we should have a bite to eat before the train arrived, asked her to excuse us, and took him quickly across the street to the diner. I told him about the letter, and asked him if she had threatened him or the village. He said she wanted him to help her get home, but I had interrupted before he could respond! Now, he was anxious to avoid her!

The trip went as planned, and his telegraph to his father meant he would meet us at the train depot near the village to help transport the mainspring to the clock tower. My brother was happy to help us with the remaining work, and we finished the mainspring on day 6! However, each morning found us missing more and more animals from the town!

Finally, it was almost time. On day 7, near noon, Maggie McBride entered the village from the south side, and had a small army of men behind her! I was stationed in the church steeple, my nephew in the clock tower, and my brother was in front of the pulpit. Maggie laughed and threatened as she led to army of cattle rustlers and looters into the village, stating the church and the entire village would pay for her excommunication!

I hit the right lever, and the steeple bells rang out! My nephew activated the mainspring and the clock bells tolled! My brother quoted the scripture loud and long! Maggie McBride screamed and covered her ears! From the north end of town, a crowd of farmers and villagers approached her and her small army!

The opposing sides met at the square, right in front of the clock tower. The sheriff and his 5 deputies held their rifles on the lead horses. Then, the father came running out of the church and called for quiet. I watched this from the steeple, hoping for a miracle!

My brother was at the father's side, holding the Bible. Maggie McBride was livid, and began to swear vengeance on the father and the village! Then, my nephew came out of the clock tower, and stood right in front of Maggie McBride! Her jaw fell, as she realized that the boy who told the father of her attempt to burn down the church was standing right in front of her.

My nephew told her that if anyone deserved to be punished, it was him. He would gladly let her do whatever she chose if she left the town alone. My brother protested, but my nephew was adamant. She began to tell my brother that his son deserved to die for exposing her 20 years ago, but the sheriff called for quiet.

Since he had been sheriff for over 30 years, he remembered the night he arrested her for attempted arson. He told the village of how her parents were dearly loved, but she had been a horrible child. That night, they took her to the church to pray for her, and she grabbed the candles they had lit, and threw them at the father. His robe caught fire, and he barely managed to remove it before he was burned! The robe caught the curtain of the confessional on fire, and while the father beat the flames out, her parents were cornered by the flames and died!

Maggie McBride escaped the fire that night, but the father had her excommunicated, and sent Maggie to prison. All these years in prison had driven her nearly mad, and her only wish was to punish the village and church for her parents death! As my nephew finished his story, he also confessed that he was the one who grabbed Maggie out of the fire, but then took her to the sheriff.

As the story was told, more and more of Maggie's small army made their way out of town, realizing Maggie had deceived them. Maggie broke down in tears, and the sheriff and his deputies took her away. The father asked for leniency, and she was put in an asylum.

The entire town turned out that night, and honored my nephew for his heroism. The sheriff asked for the graves of the parents of Maggie McBride to be cleaned and adorned with new angels. I was able to retire after only one year with my nephew, and I always smile when I hear the clock chimes and steeple bells!