The Six Fingers of Time

"The Six Fingers of Time" by R. A. Lafferty is a science fiction story from the early 1960s about Charles Vincent, who finds that time around him has slowed to a crawl. As he tries to understand this strange event, he explores what it means to control time and how it affects his life and the world. When Vincent wakes up one morning to find clocks broken, water thick, and people frozen, he sets out to solve the mystery. He finds he can control time and use it to his advantage, like reading many books to increase his knowledge. But as he masters manipulating time, he struggles with moral questions and faces danger from mysterious beings tied to an ancient idea. The story examines the balance between human desire and the risks of changing time, resulting in a major confrontation where Vincent's future is unclear.