Vernon Wright - October 28th, 2008
I’m still going back and forth on whether Nigel is smart.
On one hand, he helped me figure something else out about the machine.
On the other, he got very, very lucky.
I called out sick again today. Still feeling a little down, but beyond that, I found a way to put some of the pieces together. I was playing with them yesterday, and unfolded some more of those metal pieces, and found out that there’s a way to make them slide into each other. It seems to be intentional. It reminds me a little of some of the Ikea furniture I put together for my dorm room, where it only came together smoothly if you had the pegs in the right place. I’m still not sure what the machine is supposed to do, but when the metal parts stick into each other, they create these long strands of metal, like small steel cables. It’s pretty incredible to watch.
Anyway, I kept going with that today when Nigel almost got himself killed. I think it was Nigel, at least. He’s got two or three buddies now, so it’s hard to tell them apart at a glance. But whichever rat it was, he almost got himself stuck. I still have that box of glue traps that I got from that couple a few weeks ago. I’ve been meaning to get rid of it since it’s just taking up space, but I’ve been distracted and haven’t really thought about it in a while. And since it’s a little out of the way, I started stacking the machine parts I was able to get together over there, so I knew I was done with them. Well, about an hour ago I was focusing on trying to fit two of the other parts together when I heard a noise from that corner. I didn’t really think anything of it since Nigel is always roaming around, but I looked over there and saw him digging into the box of glue traps.
It sounds weird, but honestly, I was just so scared. They’re sealed up and it was just a rat, but…I care about them, you know? I think that’s part of the reason I don’t want to go to work anymore. I have a few pets here and then go somewhere else to slaughter them.
Anyway, I jumped up and ran over to shoo him away, and he ran off pretty fast and ran right through the pieces of the machine I put together, knocking them over. And I remember not being scared anymore. Now I was angry. It’s not okay, but I think I was angrier about him knocking over the machine than I was scared about him killing himself on a glue trap. In hindsight, I could have just put the machine together, but something just came over me. I shouted “Nigel!” so loud I think I heard someone drop something in the apartment next door.
He ran off scared after that and I didn’t see him the rest of the night, but I barely noticed him scamper away, because something happened with the machine. I’m not entirely sure what yet, but as the pieces fell down when Nigel ran through them, they…there’s no other word for it, they sang. Some of the wood twisted around as it fell, and this really haunting noise came out of it. It reminded me of Billy Mattis when he was learning the violin back in junior high. Every once in a while he’d play it wrong and it would make this screech that still sounded vaguely musical. It sounded a little like that. Harmonious and still wrong. Like whatever the opposite of angels singing is, like it tore a hole directly into Hell and let some of the sound through.
It’s intentional, though. I’m sure of that. Maybe it didn’t sound exactly right, but it’s supposed to make a noise of some kind. After Nigel knocked it over, I picked up the assembled pieces of the machine and gently turned a piece of wood, twisting some of the connected metal. The noise was barely audible; I had to hold my ear right next to the metal cords to hear anything. But it was definitely there.
Won’t be holding my ear that close to it again, though. Having it screech right next to my eardrum made my skin crawl.
So yeah, Nigel helped me figure something out again. I still think it’s luck. Or I’m going to tell myself I think it’s luck. I don’t know. Maybe there’s something else going on here.
But it raises some questions, that’s for damn sure. Is it a musical instrument of some kind? Or something in between an instrument and a machine? A music box, perhaps? Fuck, who knows. All I know for certain is that it’s important. And I’m definitely making more progress here than I ever will as an exterminator, so I’m happy with that for now.
"This Machine Belongs to" is a production of Halfwit Podcasts. This episode was written by Matt Spaziani. Vernon Wright is voiced by Jonathan Swenson. Based on the journaling game "The Machine" by Adira and Fen Slattery.
If you'd like to support our endless toil with the machine or listen to our other podcasts, visit HalfwitPodcasts.com, or find specific links in the show notes of each episode.
Lastly, the most efficient way to build The Machine is by telling friends of its importance in our once meaningless lives. Some day, This Machine could belong to you.
