The clock now says two fifty-three-just seven minutes to showtime. [The circus show beside the nursing home is to open at three, so if my family gets here now I can get there in time. All other old ones have gone there with their family but me now –– OP’s adding] My blood pressure is so high my entire body buzzes like the fluorescent lights above me.
I've entirely given up on the idea of not losing my temper. Whoever shows up is going to get a piece of my mind, and that's for sure. Every other old bird or coot in the place will have seen the whole show, including the Spec, and where's the fairness in that? If there's anyone in this place who should be there, it's me. Oh, just wait until I lay eyes on whoever comes. (Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants)
There’s a perfect tense, and their having seen the whole show must be posterior to speech time. So I guess my mind has shifted to the time of the end of the shows and this strengthens the reality of sadness. Is this what the tense saying?