Is it only a coincidence that I'm bidding on an old clock on Ebay this week?

Not to even attempt a deconstruction, but here we have a plot device that is often used on RMT. What starts as a smaller crime or sin excalates into larger and larger ones. As an addict needs more and more of his/her drug to achieve the same high. It's the Dr. Jekyl-Mr. Hyde progression.

CBSRMT does something similar setting forth the moral of the story in its demon-haunted tales. A blackmailer slowly increases the payments demanded on the victim, and in this story, the clock demands more blood at more frequent intervals.

To put it in hypothetical terms, say that one week I break into an old-time radio theatre fan's house and steal all his/her money. The next week I might feel the need to break into 3 or 4 houses owned by radio mystery theatre fans. This escalation continues, the violence increases, perhaps by logrithetic proportions, and all too soon nukes are raining down around the planet.

As I've said before, I hate it when that happens.