Ahmet Tanpinar - The Time Regulation Institute

With a black shawl over her shoulders, a petite Japanese fan fluttering in her hand, and her entire person shimmering in a sea of jewelry, she thus aired her complaints to Selma Hanım and the other ladies. I sat on the other end of the sofa, a mere ornament to the scene. I had fallen into a jar of jam; I was sinking in a swell of sweet reproach never before tasted.

“At one point I heard that he had lost his life in the war. For months, my late husband and I mourned his loss. For three years, we went to his grave on the anniversary of his death and said prayers and recited passages from the Koran. But somehow I always felt that he was still alive — that one day he would come back to us — and that’s exactly what happened.”

She was telling the truth. Just around the time I was discharged from the army a friend of mine went round to see my aunt and found the house teeming with people; and to his surprise he heard my name recited in their prayers. And so my friend had said to my aunt, “If you’re praying for Hayri, your nephew, why, then you have the wrong man, for that Hayri is alive and well.” And in response she had cried, “So yet another lie from the scoundrel, eh! I could only expect as much from the son of that good-for-nothing! He’s never to set foot in this house again. Never! Oh and if does, there’ll be trouble!”

Now the very same woman smiled as she sang my praises and spoke of my late father. No doubt she would have feigned shock if someone tried to explain how my father had died of hunger while I was serving in the army and how I was nearly locked up in a madhouse after her husband’s exploitation of my story about the Serbetçibası Diamond; she would have denied it all.

But she knew I wouldn’t bring up such things, that I wouldn’t remind people of the past. I was now a reserved and well-mannered man, who towed the line. Now I had a good friend, Halit Ayarcı, who had turned my life around, and I had a serious job.

It was the first time my aunt had come to visit us at home. The Clock Lover’s Society held its first public meeting that day and this was the reception. She continued:

“What more can you expect from someone in this day and age? Families will look after their own, won’t they? So be it. But my dear Hayri isn’t like this at all. God bless his wife and daughter! They came to me and…”

Just then I heard Zehra flirting with three young men on the sofa near the hall. Pakize was in the inner living room with another group, Halit Ayarcı and Sabriye Hanım. My older sister-in-law was playing the celebrated artiste, stomping around like a restless racehorse as she waited to be summoned to show off her renowned musical talents. My aunt continued:

“But to tell you the truth, I never expected the Hayri I knew when he was a child to become such a modern man! And his job is so pertinent in this day and age. It seems that he is the one who came up with the idea! He was a calm and quiet man. But oh, how he loved watches and clocks! Do you remember how you went to work on my dining-room clock when I was ill? And then you lost the pendulum!”

For a moment, I was afraid she might say, “Now you will either find that pendulum or never let me catch sight of you again!” But no, she was too busy rewriting the past, indeed even embellishing it. And why not? What more can we do than create the environment for ourselves to live in? Especially as we can’t just accept the sharp blade of the present.

“I always wished my stepdaughter had been more like Zehra! But, oh no, she turned out to be a strumpet.”

There was a glimmer in Selma Hanım’s eyes. She had divined my aunt’s reason for joining our coterie. Her situation was the opposite of mine; while I was now inundated with activity, she was lonely. My aunt wasn’t getting along with her stepdaughter and son-in-law. But how could Halit Ayarcı have known this? And why did he have to arrange for her to come in such a roundabout way? How could he have been so willing to risk everything for such a person?

And my aunt finished her monologue, confirming my thoughts.

“I’m so pleased with myself for not giving Hayri her hand in marriage. Of course my relationship with my poor late husband, Nasit, suffered dearly for this.”

What could anyone say? Everything had changed, and I had no choice but to accept everything as it was, or, rather, however it was on any given day.

“Oh, my son! You certainly are a lucky one.”

Ekrem Bey appeared, and my aunt quickly moved on.

“Aha! Here’s another unreliable one. This one doesn’t even come to the meetings, even though he’s a member of the board. Come now, dear Ekrem, shall we not mingle a little and see how the other guests are getting on?”

But poor Ekrem was looking at someone just behind us. And Nevzat Hanım, squirming to free herself from Cemal Bey’s clutches, also stepped away to mingle with my aunt. A few others tagged along in hope of finding more amusing company.

I asked Selma Hanım what she thought of my aunt. Instead of answering directly, she only said, “She loves you very much. She talked about no one but you for the past hour!” I told her about my various adventures with my aunt. At first she laughed and laughed but then she turned serious, murmuring:

“Men of greatness rise out of strange circumstances.”

I looked at her in complete surprise. What could I say?

A little later Sabriye Hanım came over to us. She had spent the entire day working at the regulation station that was soon to open in Taksim. “Those three girls have been trained exceedingly well,” she said. “We’ve been rehearsing since morning! Everything is just the way we want it to be. It’s just that we still don’t have the uniforms.” Selma Hanım said she could start work herself whenever we wanted. A little later Cemal Bey came over to collect his wife. I asked Sabriye Hanım:

“Did Selma Hanım ever ask Cemal Bey if she could work with us?”

“There’s no need. They’re getting divorced,” she said. “But that’s between you and me, for the time being. Cemal Bey was caught embezzling, and the company is on the verge of bankruptcy. It’s a terrible mess. Haven’t you heard?”

“But Cemal Bey doesn’t seem worried at all.” He’d been comfortably carrying on with Nevzat Hanım.

“Cemal would keep his composure on his deathbed,” she said. “But none of this really matters. How is your aunt? Wonderful, isn’t she?”

“Yes,” I said. “But I don’t understand any of this. Did she really make peace with me? And why? Was all that nonsense my wife spouted to the paper just a setup, to attract her to the institute? I can’t be sure of anything anymore.”

“You don’t understand Halit Bey, that’s why. You assume that he acts according to some master plan and that he ensnared your aunt because she’s rich. But no, he merely wanted to promote the institute through you, and just then your aunt turned up and so he seized the opportunity. Halit Bey’s a casual fellow, but he’s clever. And he plays fair — he’s no opportunist!”

The Clock Lover’s Society boasted a whole host of beautiful young women and handsome, courteous young men. It became quite an attraction in its own right. Yet most of these people were from the Spiritualist Society, the coffeehouse, or Halit Bey’s own circle of friends. At one point we were visited by the exalted politician I’d first met at the restaurant in Büyükdere. I was with my aunt when he stepped in. When I told him I was her nephew, he was all the more delighted with our enterprise. He showed a keen interest in the institute.

“How is work?”

I was preparing my answer when a waiter stepped in between us, offering caviar canapés. The politician looked me in the eye, and then down at the tray. With a great show of indifference, he told the waiter to set the tray on the table beside us. A while later whiskey was served. With a tumbler of whiskey already in his hand, Halit joined us. “We’re creating quite a substantial cooperative, sir,” he exclaimed. “To our personnel!” As usual, I was catching up with plans I’d not been told about. Moreover, Halit Bey informed me later that evening that I was also going to be involved in a project to establish Timely Banks. So whether I knew it or not, I was now enjoying a certain success in life. But what had I really achieved? Save my frustration with this strange and incongruous crowd, what else had I achieved?