Every Tuesday, Dr. Mehta’s dental patients arrived early. On Mondays they were late because of traffic. On Thursdays they blamed the market. Tuesdays seemed to inspire extraordinary punctuality.
The receptionist, Gloria, said it was her reminder texts. Dr. Mehta pointed out that Gloria sent the same texts every day.
“Perhaps people take Tuesdays seriously,” she said.
At ten, a patient named Mr. Rowe arrived for a half-past appointment. He sat down, looked at the waiting-room clock, and hurried to the desk.
“I’m sorry I’m late.”
“You’re twenty minutes early,” Gloria told him.
He checked his watch. “That’s what I thought.”
Gloria looked at the clock. It showed ten forty. She changed the battery. The hands did not move. Dr. Mehta asked whether the clock had been fast all week. Gloria said she had set it correctly on Monday evening.
The following Tuesday the same thing happened. At opening time the clock was precisely twenty minutes fast. Gloria reset it. On Wednesday it was accurate. The clock was acquiring a weekly habit that neither its battery nor its owner could explain.
Dr. Mehta called a repair shop. The repairer said clocks did not know what day it was. He suggested someone was moving the hands. Gloria suspected the cleaner. The cleaner said she never touched the clock; she was too busy moving the stack of old magazines that Gloria kept putting back.
Dr. Mehta placed a small pencil mark behind one hand so he could tell whether it had been adjusted. The next Tuesday the clock was ahead again. The mark had moved with the hand. Someone had turned it deliberately.
He came in early the week after. At eight fifteen he heard a key in the front door. Gloria entered, put down her coat, and reached for the clock. She moved the minute hand forward twenty minutes.
Dr. Mehta waited while she arranged the magazines. She put the gardening issue Mrs. Barlow liked on top and set a clean cup beside the kettle. He had expected to catch somebody playing a trick on the practice; instead, he was watching a small routine arranged for one patient. He still wanted to know why the whole waiting room had to live twenty minutes ahead.
“I thought you didn’t know,” Dr. Mehta said.
Gloria nearly dropped it. She explained that Tuesday’s first patient, Mrs. Barlow, always arrived at nine although her appointment was nine thirty. If she saw the correct time, she sat outside in the cold, insisting she was too early to come in. With the clock ahead, Gloria could persuade her to take a warm seat and a cup of tea.
“Why leave it fast all morning?”
“I forget to change it back until lunch.”
Dr. Mehta wanted to tell the other patients. Gloria said Mrs. Barlow would be embarrassed. So they agreed to put a small heater by the door instead and leave the clock alone.
The next Tuesday Mrs. Barlow came in, accepted tea, and thanked them for the heater. By ten, however, three patients were late. Gloria looked puzzled.
“They’ve been using that clock to set their watches,” Dr. Mehta said.
Mr. Rowe rushed in at ten forty, apologized, and checked the time on his phone.
“I’m early again?”
“No,” Gloria said. “Today you’re exactly on time.”
He looked disappointed. “I was beginning to think Tuesdays were my special skill.”