"Can you believe some of this stuff?" Karyn said. "What's this? Mystical Hour Glass? It doesn't look like anything special and it has a really dumb name. See any good costumes, Jon?"
"Not really, Karyn," Jon said. "I mean, there's some interesting outfits here, but I'm not sure I'd call them 'costumes', and even at 50% off, some of these prices seem a bit steep."
A short while later, the old man reappeared from behind the curtain. "See anything you like?" he asked.
"This is an interesting shop," Karyn said. "But I'm not sure we're willing to spend the prices you're asking."
"Ah, I see," the old man replied. "In that case, let me make you an offer. I'll loan you one item in this store, for oh ... let's say, a week. You can try out the item, and if you're not perfectly satisfied, you can rent any costume here for an 80% discount. What do you think?"
Jon and Karyn thought for a moment, then Jon spoke up. "Well, the costume dance is just over a week away, so I guess we still have time to get costumes. I'm game. What do you think, Karyn?"
"Yeah, I guess," she said.
"Well, do you know what item you'd like?" asked the old man.
"This Mystical Hour Glass seems kind of interesting," Karyn said. The old man grinned and pulled the medium-sized hour glass out from behind the glass and showed it to Karyn.
"Ah yes, the Mystical Hour Glass. There's a terribly long and fascinating story behind this one, but I won't bore you with it right now. But please allow me to explain some things. First: Whoever will be using this will only be able to use it no more than ten times within the week-long period given. Second: Whenever the hour glass is turned over, time will freeze until all the sand from the top falls to the bottom. It'll be for about an hour. Well, that's about it. I assume the lady will be the one to hold it?"
"Yeah, sure, I guess," Karyn said as the man gave her the hour glass.
"See you in a week," he said as Jon and Karyn left the shop.
"Do you really think we can freeze time with that thing?" Jon asked. "I mean, this real life, right? That stuff only happens in movies and books."
"I don't know. Maybe we should try it out, anyway."
"How?"
Karyn thought about it and then decided to ...
