⊙  The old clock on the high shelf struck four times. GeeMa looked up at it and sighed. She didn’t know why she even looked up, because the clock had never kept time as far as she knew. Well, not the normal kind of time, anyway. It was hard to explain.

Anna peered over her glasses at GeeMa. “The Lim?” she asked quietly. GeeMa nodded. “I’m going to fix some tea. I’ll be right back,” she said. And while that was technically true, both Anna and GeeMa knew that for GeeMa, those few minutes could be days.