He was merely another shopper, another source of income for my humble electronics store. He looked like every other tourist – a little out of place, but otherwise normal. Attempting to help this customer as I would any other, I walked up to the man and asked him if I could help him find anything. After thanking me for the offer of assistance, he began to describe the workings of the TV in which he possessed interest. He explained things to me I had always wondered – the method by which the TV signal traveled through the air waves or cable and the process in which the TV converted the signal into a picture that I could see. He described the process down to the last detail. As he wandered through my store, he explained the pros and cons of the different models of every type of device in my store. He seemed to know everything.

I inquired as to the source of this man’s knowledge – where he had gone to college to learn all he knew. Quite to my surprise, he told me he had never gone to college. In fact, he had dropped out of high school once he turned 16. He pulled off his watch and told me to put it on. I peered curiously at the watch that shone in the sunlight that filtered through the small windows of my shop. I figured it would not hurt to try on this watch – even if it should prove to assist me in no other way, it could tell time. As soon as I buckled the clasp of the watch, I felt an immense strength enter my hands and a vast knowledge fill my mind. I knew everything this man had told me – the workings of the intricate inner instruments of the all the devices in my store made perfect sense in my mind. I felt as powerful as if someone had just crowned me king. I felt I could create any one of the gadgets myself; I had that much knowledge.

I inquired as to how much the man wanted for the watch. The large $100 price tag seemed small in comparison to the immeasurable knowledge and strength I had gained the instant I put it on.

I could not hide such a great product from the rest of the world, especially when its sale could provide for me more money than my meager income. The stranger said he could get more watches, and out of my gratitude I offered this wonder-worker a job in my store.

After demonstrating my increase in knowledge to my friends, they went wild over the watches. They all purchased one as soon as the stranger brought more to sell in the store. My friends told their friends and their friends told their friends about the watches. Before long, people from all over the state came to see what the deal was with the watches. The influx in customers gave me an opportunity to sell more of my other products, not to mention the watches. Business began to boom in the small store I had inherited from my father when he passed away.

Everyone in town possessed a watch, everyone except the executive of the town – the mayor. At the time this greatly perplexed me: how could he turn down such a great product? The mayor had always been wary of strangers; his precautions turned out useful this time.

I loved the watch at first, but unfortunately I failed to question the method the watch went about giving one such immense knowledge. After putting on the watch, the great feeling of power, strength, and knowledge I gained from that when I wrapped it around my wrist took away any feelings of doubt I could have had. I felt as if the watch controlled me.

In the days following my discovery of the stranger and the abilities the watch gave me, I quickly found myself doing things I never would have done before possessing the watch. First, the stranger and I ripped off customers or told suppliers we had not received the entire shipment when in fact we had. As time went on, we committed more serious acts of burglary. I felt weighed down, held down by the great evil that gripped my life.

I wanted so badly to stop my evil behavior, but I could do nothing to stop it. The feeling of power I gained from wearing the watch skewed my perception of life to such an extent that I felt compelled to continue wearing it; I could not rid myself of it. All my friends told stories of similar things happening in their lives. My previously good friends had turned bad – all because of the watches I sold them. Devastation disturbed me to the depths of my being.

What attribute of the watch caused me to act as I did? Now that the ordeal has passed, I know that the stranger created the watches with the intent of controlling the town. Anyone wearing one of his watches strictly adhered to whatever he told them to do. In fact, he did not even have to say anything to a person, he communicated to the person through the watch what he wanted people to do, and they had no choice but to do it.

Families began to fall apart; brothers fought with and killed their own brothers, young children fought each other viciously in school. With corrupt police, there was no one to stop this utter chaos that had broken out. We had to do something about the chaos-causer; we could not let his destruction in the community last any longer.

I wanted dearly to talk with someone who could resolve this issue, but I could not. Every time I started to head to the mayor’s place to talk the problems over with him, I became weak and could not make it to his house.

One day another passerby came through town. He had heard of the destruction and uncivilized evil lurking throughout the town. After talking matters over with the mayor, he opened up a shop that infuriated the stranger. The newcomer had the ability to remove people’s watches and give them watches that overwhelmed them with good desires instead of bad.

I eagerly talked to the man and had him remove my bad watch. Something about this man was more powerful than the stranger. When going to see him to remove my watch, I surprisingly did not faint. My heart swelled with joy. Not only this man remove the old watch and give me a new one, but he also charged me nothing…I got the new watch for FREE! As I learned later, the newcomer wanted to help our town so he removed the old watches and gave out new ones in their place. I began spreading this good news to all my friends. After the good things that happened to me, I would not go back to my store with the stranger there. He had taken it over and I had no desire to associate with him whatsoever.

As one could expect, the newcomer’s removal of the old watches dealt a huge blow to the stranger. He became furious with the newcomer, who was ruining his ability to commit evil deeds. The stranger fled the town, afraid for his life and what his skewed mind told him was dignity. With him gone, no one remained to sell bad watches. The newcomer and I cleaned up my store, destroying all the bad watches that the stranger left behind and restoring things back to normal. We continued our work in the town, helping people to rid themselves of the bad watches. Things began to return to normal – families got along again, children attended school and played in peace, older brothers helped their younger brothers fix their bicycles when they broke. We all enjoyed the return back to our simple lifestyle.

Sadly, one night the stranger came back, entered the newcomer’s apartment and shot him five times. Hearing the shots, I ran to the scene and got the newcomer to a hospital. Sorrow hung like a shadow over my life. How could this powerful man allow anyone, especially the stranger, do this to him? He recovered quickly, though, quite to my delight.

Before the newcomer finished recuperating in the hospital, unable to do anything, the stranger stayed in town, stealing people’s good watches and putting bad watches back on those who had let their guard down – those who had forgotten to be prepared for any sort of attack. The stranger attacked those who had thought that they were immune to him and that he would simply not return.

We could not let the stranger continue to have control over the town. Only the newcomer could do something about him, though; we possessed no power without him. My spirits rose once the newcomer left the hospital – he could finally be of assistance to our town once again. One evening, after the town had fallen asleep, the newcomer snuck into my electronics shop, the residence the stranger had taken over again. Upon locating the stranger, he jumped on top of him and attacked him with all his strength. Though the stranger put up a good fight, the newcomer’s superior ability, skill, and off-guard attack gave him the upper hand and a victory over the two-faced stranger.

At last the stranger ceased to exist; at last the town had won its freedom back! We awoke the morning after the newcomer’s fight with the stranger and sensed a different mood in the air. The presence of evil that had so greatly overwhelmed us had left. Everyone acted according to his normal self once again.

The life-changing newcomer left, promising us he would return someday to check up on us. He vowed to revisit in an instant to help us out if we ever needed any assistance.

Now, though each one of us has a brief and occasional reversion back to evil ways, we quickly bounce back; the good prevails.