50 minutes past 12, noon

In the later years, Gus did not have a radio, after all, he was near deaf. He did not carry a watch. This clock was a wind up alarm clock, notorious for drifting time. Once each day he had a opportunity check the time. The sun lined up with the floor boards of his house at 50 minutes past 12 noon each sunny day.

He said that was enough, for he had few appointments that mattered. A calendar was more important, which, as I recall hung on the east wall, by the front door and he crossed of each day, in the evening, with a thick carpenters pencil.