The Car Clock Is Still Wrong

The clock in my car is an hour fast. Has been since the time change in march. You hold the little H button on the dash to fix it, and I've had four months of red lights to do that, and I just. do the subtraction instead.

I drove back from my mom's tonight. She goes to bed at nine now. Used to be she'd be up when I got there, whatever the hour. Now the porch light's on a timer and she's already down, and I let myself in and sit with her a while anyway, in the quiet, and then I drive home.

The clock said 1:40 when I parked. So, 12:40. I did it without thinking, the way you do. Minus one.

I sat in the car in my own driveway a minute. Engine ticking. That number wrong up on the dash, glowing, and me trusting the version in my head instead.

I could fix it. It's one button. I keep thinking about how many small wrong things I just quietly correct now, all day, and never say out loud. How you can carry a thing being off for months because fixing it means admitting how long it's been.

She set the clock in this car, actually. Years ago, before it was mine. Held that same button while I complained she was doing it wrong.

I'm going to leave it fast. I only just figured out why.