The Time

Jane had been driving 16 hours straight and was still at least six hours away from her destination. It was almost eight o'clock in the morning and she was very tired.

After dozing off and nearly crashing into a telephone pole, she decided to pull onto a side road and rest.

Jane turned off the car and closed her eyes ... drifting off to sleep, precious sleep ...

When an old man in a bright blue jogging suit knocked on her window, scaring her half to death.

'Sorry to wake you,' he huffed, jogging in place. 'But can you tell me what time it is?'

Jane glanced at her watch. '8:15,' she said through the glass.

The old man thanked her, then left.

'Just my luck,' she muttered. 'I'm parked on someone's jogging route.'

With a sigh, she settled back into her seat and tried to fall asleep.

Two male joggers in their thirties knocked on her window. If she hadn't been really tired, she would have found them cute. Now, they were just annoying.

'Hi,' the blond jogger said.

'Do you have the time?' his brown-haired friend asked.

Jane sighed and looked at her watch. '8:19,' she said.

'Thanks,' they said, then jogged off.

Jane looked down the road and saw more joggers coming her way. Irritated, she retrieved a pen from the glove box and scrawled 'I DO NOT KNOW THE TIME' on the back of a magazine. She put the hastily constructed sign in the window and settled back to sleep.

A thin, pale jogger knocked on the window just as she started dozing off.

Jane pointed at the sign and shouted, 'Can't you read?'

To which he replied, 'Sure I can, ma'am. I just wanted to let you know: It's 8:27.'