George and Martha: "The Clock"

James Marshall especially liked to talk about gift-giving.

Martha makes drama when her gift for George--a book--goes missing. George makes drama when he gets Martha a loud, obnoxious cuckoo clock.

(It seems to me that much of the awkwardness and difficulty in an interpersonal relationship can be encapsulated in the problem of gift-giving. How strange to feign enthusiasm when you don't feel it! I saw this at another couple's dinner table last night; one person opened a present and said, Ah, wow, a coffee-table book about opera!)

In "The Clock," Martha can't bring herself to admit she doesn't like George's gift for her (the loud, obnoxious cuckoo clock). So she says THANKS--and, later, she hides the clock in her hamper.

When George finds it, crazily decides that it just "fell" in the hamper, and then praises its many "charming" qualities....Martha realizes something. Suddenly, she knows she can "loan" the clock to George, and then will never need to think of it again.

"How nice of Martha to loan that clock!" says a truly batty George. And the clock replies in the only way it can: "Cuckoo!"

Clearly, the clock knows quite a bit about the two hippos who have just entered its "world" .....

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