Time passes, in achingly long moments, slowed to a stand-still it pauses, sighs, pinches off a fluff of lint, waits to compute out e a c h s e c o n d , triple-checking the moment for accuracy, in duplicate carbon copy, then holds a meeting, a final tally, a nap (dreaming on the prudent drying of brittle-brown porcelain saucers), followed by a wake-up herbal tea, sweetened with slow honey, and, Pardon me, might you have any Wite-Out I could borrow?, and then—finally— finally — Time painstakingly announces that single moment, on the clock: The one hun-dred nine-ty sev-en mil-lion, four hun-dred sev-en-ty eight thou-sand, six hun-dred and nine-ty ninth sec-ond. Only then does it proceed to repeat the entire cycle, for the next second in line, o...