Creative Writing: An Inspector Calls

I'm elbow-deep in the Ford Pinto of grandfather clocks when my phone buzzes from the back pocket of my jeans. I wince with irritation, because if I let go of this wire now, I'm going to have to start all over.

Leave it to my father to buy a Schwegler clock during a six month fad that's now into its second century of pissing me off. Fucking thing keeps time like a lamp.

I pull the phone out of my pocket with my free hand. Elena. Considering the last time she gave into her suicidal nature was um, yesterday, it's probably not a great idea to ignore her call. I hold the pliers in my right hand absolutely steady as I hit the button for speaker phone and set the phone on the side table.

"Undead sex god speaking."

There's a pause.

"Very funny, Damon,"

Despoiling the innocent. The usual, why do you ask?"

"Um, actually I was curious about if you were busy tomorrow."

She sounds nervous. Wonder who she needs me to kill.

"About the same to-do list, except I might start trying to hunt down some Buffy wanna-be's. What do you need?"

I gradually increase the tension on the wire, then reach into the body of the clock with a tiny eyeglass screwdriver and start working it in between the teeth of a slipped gear.

The sound of heavier breathing comes through the phone, as if she might be pacing.

"Well, Miss Mystic Falls is tomorrow, and since I'm the first runner-up, I have to help out. Giving out awards, doing the dance exhibition, hosting, the whole thing."

"And this concerns me how?"

"I sort of have to have an escort."

I give the phone a skeptical look and switch out the screwdriver for wrench. The gears get loose and then they start to slip teeth. But if you over-tighten them, the time goes short instead of

I sort of skipped all the rehearsals, and you know the dance already. Plus, unlike any guy born in the last forty years, you actually know how to lead so you can keep me from making an ass of myself."

"Couldn't talk little brother into dancing in public, could you?" I ask knowingly.

A long pause. I glance at the phone. They can't still be fighting, can they? I told her the big secret about Klaus and the cure. They should have been picking out china patterns at Nordstroms by this afternoon.

"Something like that. Plus, if you're with me, I won't, you know…try to eat anyone."

I finish the last gear and toss down the pliers and the wrench, taking an extra second to carefully latch the face of the clock closed before I pick up the phone.

Vampire sensei, I can do. It was the prom date scenario that made me itchy under the collar.

"Wear something hot and you've got yourself a deal, Gilbert."

"Thank you, Damon," she sounds relieved. "I owe you big."

"What else is new?" I ask easily. "See you tomorrow."

The squeak of a shoe on hardwood catches my attention as I slip the phone back in my pocket. I grin. No point in wasting an opportunity this