"And what does Nature have to say about it?" asked Energy, spotting a loophole.

"Nothing. It’s all devolved to us. We knew that when we were taken on. Our decision."

"Your decision, you mean!" Gravity added ponderously, with a suppressed anger that vibrated minutely throughout Everything and caused not a few disruptions.

"Oh, look. I’m not saying I’ll just stop dead. But I need to be a bit less hectic, that’s all. I mean to say, I’ve been going at exactly one second per second for as long as I’ve been here."

Space nodded thoughtfully and looked around before saying, softly, "You know, If you took longer over a second, whatever time you took would still be a second, wouldn’t it?"

Time looked over to her and smiled, his eyes full of the love that grows with long, happy companionship.

"You’re a wise old bird, aren’t you?"

"What does that mean? What does that mean?" the children asked all at once.

"It means, youngsters, that as far as anything else is concerned, everything will happen just as it always has, always will. A second is whatever Time says it is. So if he takes a bit longer over each second, it’ll still be a second as far as you’re concerned."

"So what’s the difference?"

"Your father can take it easier, that’s all. And I can expand a bit slower. I can’t say I won’t welcome the change of pace!"

"Seems fair, makes no difference to me" Matter agreed and moved off heavily.

"Wait, I’ll come with you," said his mate, Gravity.

"I guess I’ll tag along with those two," Energy announced and buzzed away.

"We’re busy. Bye! Bye!" shouted the Dimensions as they whirled and looped around.

Space reached out and touched Time gently. "You don’t fool me, you know," she smiled.

"Don’t know what you mean!" Time replied, mock-seriously.

"Oh, you old fraud. You’ve been slowing down for a long while, haven’t you? You just thought you should tell the rest of them in case they started to notice. Admit it."

Time closed his eyes contentedly. "Not much gets past you, does it, Space?"

"Not in a billion years."

End

(with apologies to Nick Drake and thanks to Ray Bradbury)