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'How lanced at the shutters Forty years looked about right, but surely-? 'Howto take it up!'

'No problem! Steal it! Shed load! We can always pull it back later! Du patch of sea!' The sweeper pointed to a crude map of the world painted on the wall 'Do you kno to- Can you see how to give it the right spin and direction?' Once again, there was the blueness in the air 'Yes! I think so!'

'Yes, I iine you do! In your own time, then!' Lu-Tze shook his head Forty years? He orried about forty years? Forty years was nothing! Apprentice drivers had du

about the sea It just stayed big and wet It always had been big and wet, it alould be big and wet Oh, e whiskery fish that they'd only ever seen before as fossils, but who cared what happened to a bunch of codfish? The sound changed 'What are you doing?'

'I've found space on nu tie of tone 'Got it! I'er cylinders were already slowing to a halt Lobsang was s around the board now faster than the bewildered Lu-Tze could follow And, overhead, the shutters were slae-blackened wood instead of colour No one could be that accurate, could they? 'You're down to months now, lad, months!' he shouted 'Keep it up! No, blimey, you're down to days days! Keep an eye on me!' The sweeper ran towards the end of the hall, to where the Procrastinators were smaller Time was fine-tuned here, on cylinders of chalk and wood and other short-livedHe raced down an aisle of oak coluh But even the Procrastinators that could wind ti silent There was a squeaking noise Beside him, one final little chalk cylinder at the end of a row rattled around on its bearing like a spinning-top Lu-Tze crept towards it, staring at it intently, one hand raised The squeaking was the only sound now, apart fros 'Nearly there,' he called out 'Slowing doait for it, wait for it' The chalk Procrastinator, no bigger than a reel of cotton, slowed, spun stopped On the racks, the last two shutters closed Lu-Tze's hand fell 'Now! Kill the board! No one touch a thing!'

For a moment there was dead silence in the hall Thetheir breath This was a timeless moment, of perfect balance Tick And in that ti, to whoauze, said, 'This is just iure behind hi turned 'Oh,' he said, and added with sudden certainty, 'You're Death, right?' YES I AM SORRY I AM LATE The spirit for looked down at the pile of dust that represented his worldly habitation for the previous six hundred years 'So aed Death in the ribs EXCUSE ME? 'I said, "I'm sorry I'm late" Boom, boom' I BEG YOUR PARDON? 'Er, you know Sorry I'm late Like dead?' Death nodded OH, I SEE IT WAS THE 'BOOM BOOM' I DID NOT UNDERSTAND 'Er, that was to shoas a joke,' said Shoblang AH, YES I CAN SEE HOW THAT WOULD BE NECESSARY IN FACT, MR SHOBLANG, WHILE YOU ARE LATE, YOU ARE ALSO EARLY BOOM, BOOM 'Pardon?' YOU HAVE DIED BEFORE YOUR TIME 'Well, yes, I should think so!' DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHY? IT'S VERY UNUSUAL 'All I know is that the spinners ild and I must've copped a load when one of 'e 'But, hey, what about that kid, eh? Look at the way he'sunder ive me a few tips!' Death looked around TO WHOM DO YOU REFER?

'That boy up on the podium, see hiht there! Plain as the nose on your fa- Well, obviously not on your face' I SEE THE COLOURED PEGS MOVING 'Well, who do you think is ht you could see everyone!' Death stared at the dancing bobbins EVERYONE THAT I SHOULD SEE, he said He continued to stare 'Ahe OH, YES WHERE WERE WE? 'Look, if I'm, er, too early, then can't you-' EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS STAYS HAPPENED 'What kind of philosophy is that?' THE ONLY ONE THAT WORKS Death took out an hourglass and consulted it I SEE THAT BECAUSE OF THIS PROBLEM YOU ARE NOT DUE TO REINCARNATE FOR SEVENTY-NINE YEARS DO YOU HAVE ANYWHERE TO STAY? 'Stay? I' yourself out of your own house!' said Shoblang, as beginning to fade PERHAPS YOU COULD BE BUMPED UP TO AN EARLIER BIRTH? Shoblang vanished In the timeless moment Death turned back to stare at the hall of spinners Tick The chalk cylinder started to spin again, squeaking gently One by one, the oak Procrastinators began to revolve, picking up the rising load This tis They twirled slowly, like old ballerinas, this way and that, gradually taking up the strain as millions of humans in the world outside bent ti sounded like a teaclipper rounding Cape Wrath on a gentle breeze Then the big stone cylinders groaned as they picked up the ti underlay the creaking now, but it was still gentle, controlled

Lu-Tze lowered his hand gently and straightened up 'A nice clean pick-up,' he said 'Well done, everyone' He turned to the astonished, panting monks and beckoned the arette end out of its lodging behind his ear and said, 'Well now, Rambut Handisides, what d'you think happened just now, eh?'

'Er, well, there was a surge which blew out-'

'Nah, nah, after that,' said Lu-Tze, striking a match on the sole of his sandal 'See, what I don't think happened was that you boys ran around like a lot of headless chickens and a novice got up on the platfor that I've ever seen That couldn't have happened, because that sort of thing does not happen Aht?' Thethe terease and strip down and rebuild and follow the directions of the man on the platforhed 'See, what I think happened,' he said helpfully, 'was that you lads rose to the occasion, right, and left hast at the practical skills you all showed The abbot will be i at soet pole and it did indeed send prayers to heaven He began to s his voice, 'I'll probably be around again soon, this place looks as though it could do with a good sweeping, and if I don't find you boys pinsharp and prodding buttock inside a week you and I will have a talk' The sot to test thes'

'Yes, Sweeper'

'And so'

'Yes, Sweeper'

'Fair play to you, then Me and young Lobsang here will be going You've done a lot for his education' He took the unresisting Lobsang by the hand and led hi Procrastinators A pall of blue s 'Truly it is written, "You could knock me doith a feather,"' he e 'You spotted that inversion before it happened I'd have blown us into next week At least'

'Sorry, Sweeper'