The men in gray knew this better than anyone. Nobody knew the value of an hour or a minute,or even of a single second, as well as they. They were experts on time just as leeches are experts on blood, and they acted accordingly.
They had designs on people's time - long-term and well-laid plans of their own. What mattered most to them was that no one should become aware of their activities. They had surreptitiously installed themselves in the city. Now, step by step and day by day, they were secretly invading its inhabitants' lives and taking them over.
The sum on the mirror now looked like this:
Sleep 441,504,000 seconds
Work 441,504,000 seconds
Meals 110,376,000 seconds
Mother 55,188,000 seconds
Budgerigar 13,797,000 seconds
Shopping, etc. 55,188,000 seconds
Friends, social club, etc. 165,564,000 seconds
Miss Dana 27,594,000 seconds
Daydreaming 13,797,000 seconds
-------------------------------
Grand Total 1,324,512,000 seconds
The man in gray nodded gravely. "Yes, you're quite right, my dear sir, you've used up more than
half of your original capital. Now let's see how much that leaves of your forty-two years.
One year is thirty-one million five hundred and thirty-six thousand seconds, and that, multiplied by forty-two,
comes to one billion three hundred and twenty-four million five hundred and twelve thousand seconds."
Beneath the previous total he wrote:
Total time available 1,324,512,000 seconds
Time lost to date 1,324,512,000 seconds
-----------------------------
Balance 0.000,000,000 seconds
"Surely you know how to save time, my dear sir ? Work faster, for instance, and stick to essentials. Spend only fifteen minutes on each customer, instead of the usual half-hour, and avoid time-wasting conversations. Reduce the hour you spend with your mother by half. Better still, put her in a nice, cheap old folks' home, where someone else can look after her - that'll save you a whole hour a day. Get rid of that useless budgerigar. See Miss Daria once every two weeks, if at all. Give up your fifteen-minute review of the day's events. Above all, don't squander so much of your precious time on singing, reading and hobnobbing with your so-called friends. Incidentally, I'd also advise you to hang a really accurate clock on the wall so you can time your apprentice to the nearest minute."
Radio, television and newspapers daily advertised and extolled the merits of new,
timesaving gadgets that would one day leave people free to live the "right" kind of life.
Walls and billboards were plastered with posters depicting scenes of happiness and prosperity.
Splashed across them in fluorescent lettering were slogans such as
TIMESAVERS ARE GOING PLACES FAST !
THE FUTURE BELONGS TO TIMESAVERS !
MAKE MORE OF YOUR LIFE - SAVE TIME !