Back in the 60’s, the Twilight Zone did an episode called “A kind of Stopwatch”. In that story (warning: spoilers) a man receives a stopwatch that can stop time for everyone except him. He tries to use it to rob a bank, and in doing so, breaks the watch. The story fades out with him trapped in a moment in time, alone for all eternity.
In 1986, they tried it again, with Wes Craven directing an episode called “A little peace and quiet”. This time, it was a woman who finds a magic pendant and uses it to get her housework, shopping, and other (fairly sexist) duties done. When the air raid sirens go off, and she stops time to get a handle on the situation, she sees a nuclear missile frozen just a few dozen feet above her neighborhood.
I like that one better, because it leaves her in a worse predicament. Sure, she can start time again, but everybody would die if she did.
Anyway, I’ve been thinking about that story a lot, not because of the story itself, but because I think I know what would happen AFTER that story ends. I want to tell that story. What the woman would do, if she had stopped time right before nuclear war broke out. Insanity is certainly possible. Isolation would do a number on her, and the choice that she would face, every minute of every day (can we even use those measurements anymore?) would weigh powerfully on her.
I’ve got a story to edit, and I want to get started on the next sequel… but man, this would be a fun story to tell.
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