choice of hammer

An excerpt from “the Torkle sequence”

StoryKettle » Offcuts » choice of hammer

Copyright © 2011, Michael M Wayman

The machines had started to squabble. They kept moving about when we were not there. I thought about bolting them to the floor. Mrs Torc came into the room, “do you think that will really stop them moving about?” She was right of course, I had to find some positive method to make them happy.

The next day at the do-it-yourself store I bought several cans of brightly coloured paint. They liked it, they were pleased for two days, then they squabbled again. I hit them with a hammer, oh, they liked that. Mrs Torc helped me to choose the right colour for the right machine. Now, they were happy, most of the time anyway. A good hammering from time to time and the right colour scheme and your machine is happy. Anyone can hit a machine, you're done it yourself, but it takes an expert to know where and how hard to hit; the correct choice of hammer also helps.