Future Clock

## Stats

**Future Clock** is the twelfth episode of the series *Harold and the Purple Crayon* that aired on March 16, 2002.

## Summary

It was once again bedtime for Harold, but he couldn't sleep because of the grown-ups downstairs laughing and talking. He thought it was unfair that grown-ups got to stay up late and do whatever they wanted to do, and wished he could be an adult soon. He stared at his train clock but the hands on it barely even moved, so Harold had a long time to go before he grew up.

With his purple crayon, Harold drew to his imaginative land. He also draws a big clock and turns the hands on it, until he starts turning and turning so fast uncontrollably, and the days pass by. Finally, Harold gets tossed off the clock, and he is sure that because lots of his time went by he is positive he is grown up now, when despite still being in his small body. Harold loved trains, so he drew some train tracks and a train, and because he is now grown up he gets to be the conductor.

It is an easy feat for Harold. All goes smooth until he spots something on the train tracks, which is a cow standing on them and eating the grass. Harold tries to explain to it that being on the train tracks is unsafe, but the cow doesn't listen. To get it to come off the tracks, Harold creates an ice cream cone which the cow eats in just one bite, and then he draws a large ice cream sundae that is entirely away from the train tracks, and that gets the cow moving. Seeing that the passengers are getting impatient, Harold starts the train again, but the tracks were coming to an end right at the end of a steep cliff, and since Harold was in charge, he had to do something. He tries to pull the lever break but it snaps apart, so Harold safely steps to the front of the train and swiftly sketches train tracks while the train moves and everything is safe. He hops back in, draws another break, and stops the train when it reaches the station. Harold thinks that being a train conductor is a tiring job, so he creates a big city to work in a large office building, much like his dad.

Harold, who even drew himself a hat and tie, is positive that this job is as easy as ever. He takes the elevator to one of the tallest stories of the skyscraper and meets the secretary, then after walking through many of the cubicles where he sees his work buddies, he settles in one and draws a chair on wheels, and his computer desk. Harold puts a disc in his desktop and begins pressing the buttons on his keyboard, and begins printing out smiley faces that he seems to create on the computer. Suddenly, endless smiley faces begin printing from all the printers in the office. Harold begins mashing on his telephone too, and all the telephones also begin ringing. Harold keeps tapping and tapping so much, that the power in the whole office goes out.

Harold is certain that this job isn't for him either, as he'd rather be traveling instead of sitting behind a desk all day, so he becomes an astronaut. Harold floats in the air as it turns into a space sky, and draws astronaut shoes and a helmet on his head. Harold now felt free and light as a feather, floating around the moon and stars and planets. But he began to feel warmer, and warmer, and that's because he was heading towards the sun. Harold draws a rocket but it's still no good. Noticing that the sun looked like a balloon, Harold draws a string at the bottom of it and turns the sun's brightness off, then it floats away. Harold had enough of being an astronaut, so he heads to Earth. A baseball from a stadium hits his ship, causing it to crash into the water but luckily Harold parachutes down to the stadium safely. There was a baseball game, and Harold always wanted to be a baseball player. He gets a bat and the pitcher throws the ball, but Harold gets two strikes. He draws a little stool to get higher and gets the ball the last time. Harold runs to the two bases and attempts to run to the third one but he almost gets trapped by two members of the other team, until he slides under one, and ultimately, his team wins the game. Everybody celebrates, but Harold didn't think baseball was good for him either, in fact, he was tired of being a grown-up. Harold goes back to his room, where it was now quiet and his clock remained the same. He jumps into bed, figuring that his adulthood can wait for a little longer.