Father Time

He wore a wristwatch
my Daddy
He taught me to tell time on that wristwatch
my Daddy
It was a modest , simple one, with a leather band
my Daddy's watch
A Hamilton, Benrus, but
probably a Timex,
my Daddy's watch
On his lap I would go over and over
those 12 numbers on
my Daddy's watch
at the age of five that was alot of numbers
Once you got 3 how could that be 15 too?
So on Daddy's watch
3 was " a quarter past "
with the big hand
6 was " half past "
that's how they said it
and 9 was quarter 'til.
Sixty minutes was way beyond me
so we kept it simple
It was 12 then quarter after 12, halfpast ,
quarter past was next
and then it was 1.
Simple, but we added to it.
There were the almosts; subtle
but very clear
on my Daddy's watch
Almost quarter past, almost half past.
We had it down
One day I decided I wanted my own wristwatch
like my Daddy's watch
Up at the Thrifty Drugstore there was a counter
at the front after you checked out
It had wristwatches
One was almost like
my Daddy's watch
A Timex with a leather band; $4.95.
I saved up every penny until one day
I asked if we could go to the Thrifty
It was a Saturday and we probably would have gone anyway
but Daddy knew this must be important
I put on my big boy clothes and we went
me and Daddy
I went up to that counter and pointed to the one
that was like Daddy's watch
"I want that one "
I put my money up on the counter.
That lady counted it out
then looked down and said
" with the tax that will be $5.20, that's not enough"
my face did whatever it did when I was disappointed
but then he scooped up that money off the counter
my Daddy did
and he recounted it right there in front of that lady
" one, two, three, four, five and ninety five cents
I think my boy has some change coming" 
said my Daddy
Turns out that with my money on the counter
and another hand in his pocket
he could count better than that lady
my Daddy
I guess it was almost a quarter 'til a wristwatch