As Michelle Browning walked through downtown Boston, She stumbled upon a quaint little antique shop. She had walked right past it before she realized what it was. “Maybe, I can find something for Grandpa, here,” she thought. “He likes old things, and since he attended Harvard almost sixty years ago, maybe I can find some memorabilia from his college days.”
Michelle was a sophomore at Harvard University, majoring in Business. She was the third generation in her family to attend Harvard. Her grandfather graduated from there in 1952, and her father graduated in 1982. Her father and grandfather were partners in an accounting firm in Denver, Colorado, where Michelle planned to return to after graduation.
As Michelle slowly walked around the shop, all of the antiques fascinated her. She saw many old and beautiful items, but nothing that would be right for her grandfather. As she was about to exit the store, she glimpsed something out of the corner of her eye. It was hiding in the shadows in the back of a small glass case.
“Could I please see that pocket watch?” she asked the proprietor. The gentleman unlocked the case and carefully picked up the old pocket watch. As he handed it to Michelle, he told her that the watch had been hand crafted in Europe in the 19th century.
The price was a little steep, but Michelle knew that her grandfather would love it, so she purchased it. The shop owner carefully wrapped the watch in a soft cloth, then in a sheet of tissue paper, before placing it in a bag.
Michelle took the watch back to her dorm room, and placed it in a drawer for safekeeping, before going to the library to meet some friends for a study session.
Michelle forgot all about the watch until a few weeks later. It was a cold rainy day, and Michelle was bored sitting around her dorm room. As she began to straighten he things, she found the bag with the pocket watch. She carefully unwrapped the watch, and sat at her desk, to examine the watch more closely under the light. It was silver in color, though slightly tarnished with age. There was fancy design on the cover of the watch. On the back, she noticed the initials; JPS etched into the watch, though she could barely make them out, since the lettering was fairly worn.
“I wonder if it still keeps time?” thought Michelle, as she set it to the correct time. Then, she began to wind it. As the second hand began to move, something strange happened, something very strange indeed. Michelle heard a man’s voice speaking. The voice startled her and she dropped the watch on the bed. As soon as the watch fell from Michelle’s hand, the voice stopped speaking. Michelle was a little freaked out, but she was also very curious. She slowly picked the watch back up, and she immediately heard the voice again. The voice was that of an older man with a thick Irish accent. Michelle spoke to the voice, but the voice did not respond to her voice.
As Michelle began to listen, she learned that the voice belonged to a man named John Patrick Sullivan. It seemed to Michelle, that the watch had recorded John’s thoughts and words. As she continued listening, Michelle learned that the man had never learned to read and write as a child and he wanted to record his life story for his granddaughter. He knew that his time on earth was coming to a close, and he might even die before she reached adulthood.
Acting on impulse, Michelle grabbed a spiral notebook and a pen and began writing down everything that she heard the voice say. At first, the voice told about his early years and about his life in Ireland. Then, beginning with the birth of his granddaughter, Michelle found herself writing journal entries, beginning in 1929.
Michelle discovered that when she put the watch down on the desk, the voice stopped and when she picked it back up, the voice continued from where he stopped before. Michelle realized that she was the only person who could hear the voice. She told no one, because she did not want people to think that she was crazy. Over the next several months, whenever Michelle had some free time, she continued writing in the notebooks. By the time the voice stopped, Michelle had filled over forty notebooks with John’s thoughts feelings, and his love for his granddaughter. Michelle was fascinated by John’s life story.