‘Well, can you tell me anything?’

He considered me thoughtfully for a moment.

‘I could tell you how to master the Art of Dimensional Competence.’

‘When you say Art, what do you mean exactly? I get the impression we’re not talking painting here.’

‘No, we’re not talking painting, we’re talking of the Magical Art, the Great Art Work of a Wizard.’

‘First Time Masters and now Wizards. Really, Stanley, I don’t know where you get it from. Anyway, what is the Great Art Work and what could I do with it when I’d mastered it?’ I added as an afterthought.

Stanley ignored my facetious tone. ‘It would enable you to go backwards or forwards in time and create more time when you needed it. Oh and I could teach you to be invisible, or truly visible,’ he threw in carelessly as an afterthought.

I studied him carefully to see whether he was kidding, but his expression was solemn. I stopped being amused.

‘Are you saying that you could really teach people to have more time to do things?’

He nodded. ‘That’s what I said didn’t I?’

If he was in earnest, I needed clarification.

‘Now wait a minute. I’ve been on Time Management Courses and they tell you how to organise the time you’ve got by various methods like prioritising, delegation and cutting out distractions, is that what you mean by being a Time Master?’

His eyes twinkled in merriment.

‘That sounds to me more like being a Time Servant than a Time Master. No. I mean you can actually manifest more time for yourself and also speed it up or slow it down at will.’

‘Why would you want to do that?’ I was puzzled.

‘Well, you might want to slow time down to enable you to meet a deadline, or finish a report on time, and you might want to speed it up to find out the results of a test. You could use the Art to manifest more time for yourself so you could be on time for a meeting when you were already late starting out and you could pay it back later when you had more time available,’ he grinned. ‘It would mean you’d always be in the right place at the right time.’

I stared at him intently. He obviously believed all this. I started to wonder if Stanley was more than just weird. Perhaps he was clinically insane. It was a worrying thought, but on the other hand maybe he wasn’t. I had known him for many years and I knew him to be extremely knowledgeable about psychic and spiritual matters.

I was always open to possibilities and I’d had a couple of interesting experiences myself concerning time. Most people I talked to reported incidences of déjà vu. Perhaps he could explain them to me. I decided to humour him and see if I could find out more. It was an interesting subject after all. I tried not to laugh as I asked.

‘Could you teach me to be a Time Master?’

He shook his head.

‘Why not?’ I queried, feeling rather put out.

‘You would have to change,’ he replied.

Suddenly I wanted to know. A feeling welled up from within me like an underground spring waiting to burst forth from the earth.

‘Please Stanley.’

‘Do you really want to learn how to be a Time Master?’ he asked.

I nodded, in earnest now. If there was such a possibility of being a Time Master outside the realms of fiction, then I wanted to be one.

‘Do I get a Time Machine?’ I couldn’t help joking, possibly to relieve the tension of the moment.

He paused, ignoring the question and continued to stare at me intently, his bony features serious.

A wave of feeling hit me and his question seemed the most important one I had ever been asked. Of course learning was important to me, I was a Training Manager in a local College and my life had been spent enabling others to learn new skills, but apart from this in a sudden flash of insight I recognised within me a deep yearning that wanted this to be real. I wanted there to be more to life than being a nine to five wage slave, caught in domestic routine, with nothing but work, bed and bills.

‘Yes, I really want to learn,’ I confirmed. ‘How long would it take you to teach me?’

‘You?’ he looked me up and down as if he had never seen me before. His steely blue eyes seemed to stare at me from a great distance.

‘If you really made an effort?’

I nodded, waiting for his answer in breathless anticipation. Somehow I knew it was one of the most auspicious moments of my life.

‘Are you sure you want to know?’ he enquired again, peering at me intently.

‘Yes, Stanley, I want to know,’ I confirmed.

‘You’re quite certain?’

‘I’m quite certain,’ I assured him. As I said the words, I felt the certainty within me. It was a calm, solid feeling that relaxed my body and focussed my mind. I knew that I wanted to do this more than anything else in my life.

‘It will be difficult at times, challenging to your beliefs. You would have to trust me.’

‘Stanley I trust you. Will you please teach me how to be a Time Master?’

There. I had said the magic formula. I had confirmed that I wanted to know three times and I had asked for him specifically, to be my teacher. I don’t know how I knew that this was required, but I did.

His blue eyes took on a luminous quality as they bored into mine to scan my commitment and capability. There was a long pause and I held my breath.

‘Alright,’ he finally agreed somewhat reluctantly, ‘but it will take you, working hard, flat out, about six years.’

‘Six years,’ I gasped. ‘You must be joking. I haven’t got six years. You know I’m working full time, and there’s my son to consider.’

I had been a single parent for the past few years and my son Laurence was my sole responsibility now my daughter Samantha had left home.

‘No, I’m not joking.’ He looked thoughtfully at me.

‘But Stanley, I haven’t got six years. I have to work,’ I protested.

‘Well, say six months then,’ and added, ‘just for the basics.’

I considered the situation, my heart sinking. It was ironic but there was no way I could find the time to learn how to master Time. All I had coming up was a week's holiday entitlement over the Easter period. I decided I would offer to give that up. It was all I could manage, I couldn’t take time off without pay or I wouldn’t be able to meet my mortgage repayments.

‘I can spare a week,’ I informed him. I know it didn’t sound a lot, but for me it was the only time I had to myself and was a big deal for me.

‘A week, is that all?’ he said laughingly. ‘It’s not much of a commitment is it?’

‘You don’t go to work,’ I retorted, ‘so it doesn’t seem much to you, but it’s all the time I have to myself. I’m willing to give up all the time I have and that’s all I can do.’

He still looked doubtful, so I pushed it.

‘Look, I promise to work all the time. It’s a big commitment for me. Come on Stanley, I’m willing to give up my Easter holiday for you.’

He shook his head. ‘Not for me.’

‘Alright, for Spirit,’ I conceded hurriedly.

Again he shook his head. ‘Not for Spirit either. This is for you Abby.’

‘OK for me,’ I agreed. ‘Please Stanley, I will work from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. Is that working hard enough?’

He shrugged. ‘I’m not sure.’

I sighed, feeling somewhat disheartened. ‘I don’t see how I can do any more.’

He looked at me seriously. ‘Even your best effort may not be enough for you to grasp the basic principles.’

I was shocked. I didn’t doubt what he was saying, but I was after all a psychology and philosophy graduate and had post graduate teaching qualifications and he had nothing whatsoever in the way of formal educational certificates.

He had hardly ever worked since I had known him, at least, not at paid work, his work was not of the paying kind. He gave psychic help, healing and spiritual counsel to others. He made himself available to those who needed him. Many who couldn’t see past appearances avoided him, as he was slight and scruffy, with a thin, bony nose. Often dismissed as a nonentity, his rather large ears protruded from his unkempt fair hair which tumbled over the collar of his frayed shirt. The overall impression was of an abandoned elf. He looked out of place in our material culture, which obviously held no attraction for him.

Once I had finished deriding his notions of being a Time Master I began to think that it might explain a lot, and once I believed him I wanted to know for myself.

He studied my disappointed countenance dispassionately and appeared to be listening to something.

‘Yes, alright. They’re saying you can do it.’