Handle

There’s a man by the Choke with a turn-handle organ and he plays as the shadows walk by. There’s a monkey beside him with an old, rusty cup and she dances for the copper they throw.

Sometimes he wonders whether he turns the handle or the handle is now turning him but the song is near ending and the monkey’s stopped dancing so he puts the machine in reverse.

.esrever ni enihcam eht stup eh os gnicnad deppots s’yeknom eht dna gnidne raen si gnos eht tub mih gninrut won si eldnah eht ro eldnah eht snrut eh rehtehw srednow eh semitemoS

.worht yeht reppoc eht rof secnad ehs dna puc ytsur ,dlo na htiw mih ediseb yeknom a s’erehT .yb klaw swodahs eht sa syalp eh dna nagro eldnah-nrut a htiw ekohC eht yb nam a s’erehT

There’s a man by the Choke with a turn-handle organ and he plays as the shadows walk by. There’s a monkey beside him with an old, rusty cup and she dances for the copper they throw.

Sometimes he wonders whether he turns the handle or the handle is now turning him but the song is near ending and the monkey’s stopped dancing so he puts the machine in reverse.

Re: Lapse

“Damn!”

“What? Where’s that smoke coming from?”

“Me! Blasted machine…”

“What happened?”

“I’m not sure… Wait. Damn. Damn!”

“Not good?”

“There’s a tooth missing from the relapse cog.”

“It’s broken?”

“No, the tooth’s missing. Gone. No longer here.”

“Gone? Where is it?”

“Somewhere else. Look, it’s hard to explain. The cog should have fifteen teeth. Now it only has fourteen.”

“Things can’t just disappear like that…can they?”

“Sometimes, yes. In some ways, that’s what the relapse cog is for but I don’t like it regressing like that without a reason. I especially don’t like it discharging the potential difference into me!”

“Oh. I see. Your hair’s still smoki…”

“I know!”