Be Still

This is a story that I created from a past memory.

Edward ran through his Grandparents house. “Edward! What’s wrong with you?” yelled his Grandma. “I swear you are the wiriest little child ever. For Pete’s sake be still!!”

Edward just ignored her and went on running through the house, making swooshing sounds as he went. Then Grandpa stepped in. “Edward, sit in that chair right there!” This time he obeyed, but when his grandparents looked away he was right back up again. “EDWARD, back in that chair!” Grandpa was not someone to be crossed. “My goodness son, can you even sit still for five minutes?”
This was insulting. Of course Edward could sit still. “Yes I can!” was his response.
Grandpa looked sternly as he said “Then let’s see you prove it. You sit there for the next five minutes and don’t move.”
That was not fair! Edward kicked his feet and shook his body. “That’s not sitting still.” said Grandpa. “You just sit there and be quiet. If you move again it will be another five minutes.”
Now Edward was really upset but he was not going to move. After all, five minutes was not that long, and he was determined to prove that he could do it. So he looked at the clock and sat there, and sat there, and sat there, and sat there. This was taking FOREVER and the little hand on the clock had only gone halfway around. Edward tried looking around. He looked at the window, the counter, the table, and the floor. Nothing was moving and this was boring. He looked back at the clock. Only one and a half minutes had gone by, but looking around seemed to help so he tried it again. He looked at everything he had looked at before and then looked back. NO, only four seconds had gone by! Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, couldn’t this thing move any faster?! For a second it seamed as though the clock was going backwards!! “Can I go now?” Edward yelled to the back room where his grandparents had moved.
“Has it been five minutes yet?” responded his Grandmas voice.
“No” said Edward.
“You can move when your five minutes are up.” Edward turned back around in his chair and tried looking around again. Then he looked back at the clock. Three minutes had gone by. That’s not so bad. He can do this. ‘One, two, three, four, five, six… Counting the seconds is boring. Maybe if I count them upside down’ he thought. ‘If I look at the clock this way then several hours have gone by. Ow, that was my head!’
He tried touching the floor with his foot, but as he slid off the chair he realized that this was not sitting still. So he sat up straight as he could, and then turned around to see the clock again. Four and a half minutes! Now he just needed to wait, wait.. wait…five, four, three, two, one. Edward was out the door! He had done it! He did it! He knew he could, and after sitting there for FIVE minutes he could do anything!