Someone should write the story of a man living in an ancient civilization or a medieval village or a town whose lifelong job is keeping the time by counting numbers with a fixed time interval. This man must be old, with white and weak hair with the back-top of his head bald. Dark strands of beard group around the sides of his chin, less visible around the front of his wrinkly ears. His back must be bent but not so much to prevent his movements, just enough to add to his seasoned sight, and perhaps only slowing down some of his actions. His voice must be low in amplitude, weary and full of wheezing as if he is struggling to speak and there is an uncontrollable draft caused by an open window somewhere in his throat. He would be calm. His spirit would be as still as a vast lake in a windless land covered in snow and ice, for sure troubled but sheeted by a white cloak that does not move. His name must be unknown by many dwellers and he would be known as the Keeper. He would be called that for a long long time.

He would live in a tall tower, relatively. If this is an ancient civilization, it must be made of white stone. Otherwise, it is of wood. This tower must be equipped with a bell, a horn, a drum or a gong to signal everyone around. Or maybe, there can be candles or greater fiery stands, whatever they must be called. The keeper sleeps not, or very little, and even in his light sleep he can continue keeping. He keeps time. He counts with equal time delay between each number, until one unit of time (an hour, two hours, something else depending on the society) passes. He singals the time, and starts counting again. He must not be interrupted by anyone. He must not be distracted. He must not stop. He must not live like us, but he must live to let us live like us.

I imagine him in an emotional turmoil with opposing thoughts of freedom to be and responsibility to submit debating all the time. We know that he lets responsibility win, as he does not stray from his job once in his life. However, he has not made peace with all that he has missed. From the tower he watches people run errands, go shopping, greet each other… He watches lives that he never gets to experience, yet he knows very well of many of the mistakes that one should avoid and many of the opportunities one should follow, for he keeps watching always, and he has all the time in the world to think. He is not wise though. He is not allowed to read, write, or paint in his tower. There are some guards appointed by the master of the village or the governor of the city to take care of his nutrition, but they are not allowed to talk to the Keeper to avoid distracting him. It was in fact by a mistake that his tower even has a window to peek out from for even that could be detrimental for the dwellers if he missed his count. What would they do if he was off? The whole system, the balance, the routines would all fail at a moment of mishap. There is too much at stake to allow the Keeper to fail, or to let him free.