The assignment: Same as previous, imitate another writer. This time it’s Grace Paley.
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FAX MACHINE MAFIA
I stared down at the fax machine, my hands braced on either side of it. Check paper size, its digital display read. I called Jimmy over and asked him what that meant. Since when do fax machines take different sizes of paper?
He came over and looked at the display. That’s weird, he said. There wasn’t even a spot for different sizes to go in.
I pushed the cancel button, but nothing happened. The red alert light kept flashing. He pressed some buttons. Nothing. Turn the power off and on, he suggested.
I looked at the display. There were still faxes waiting to come through. We’ll lose everything in memory, I said. What happens if the story of the century is waiting to arrive?
You’re kidding, he said. All we ever get on that thing are discount travel ads and useless press releases from random government committees.
True, I agreed. I searched around back for the power button and Jimmy told me about the last time they had a problem with the fax.
We couldn’t figure out how to fix it, he said, so we arranged for it to have a little accident. Made it bad enough that they had to give us a new one. A lot of good that did, now that this one’s acting up.
It made me think of the mafia, but an office equipment mafia who chucked computer monitors out the window if they misbehaved. People who flushed dry pens down the toilet. Who stole printer paper from the other departments, only to feign innocence – or better yet, blamed others – when confronted with the disappearance.
I couldn’t find the power button so I pulled the plug instead. All of its lights went out and came back on as I plugged it back in. Right away, the faxes in memory started to arrive.
See, he said, the story of the century may still come. And we didn’t have to stage another fax machine death.
He walked away and I looked down just as a piece of paper announcing the Cheapest Caribbean Vacation Package came spitting out onto the floor.
Filed under: writing Tagged: | Grace Paley, writing
