Vernon Wright - October 8th, 2008

Gradually trying new things to keep myself busy.

 === Credits ===
Produced by Halfwit Podcasts ( https://www.HalfwitPodcasts.com ).
Written by Matt Spaziani ( https://vocal.media/authors/matt-spaziani ).
Vernon Wright is voiced by Jonathan Swenson ( https://www.jgswenson.com ).
Based on the journal role-playing game "The Machine" by Adira & Fen Slattery ( https://adira.itch.io/the-machine ).  

Music and sound effects used with Zapsplat Gold, and Ghosthack Music licenses.  

Transcript

Vernon Wright - October 8th, 2008

I bought this journal tonight.

Well, sort of. I didn’t really plan on buying it. That doesn’t make sense out of context, though, so it’s a lot easier to say I bought it.

Okay, this is going rough already. I was never much of a writer. I could do a little better than most of the other engineering students in college, but this is just making no sense. All right, slow down, reset, try again.

I bought a random box tonight and inside it was this journal. I think it technically was an estate sale, but it wasn’t official. It was a perk of my job, I guess you’d say. I graduated with my degree in August and had a job and an apartment in the city lined up, and then three weeks into the job I was laid off. Something about tightening budgets in the recession…I don’t know, I never understood economics. All I know is that rent doesn’t pay itself, and when you’re locked into a lease for a year, you don’t have much choice but to jump at any opportunity you have. Or make your own.

I guess I did the second one, sort of. In my junior year I worked part-time for an exterminator. Rodent Raiders. Terrible name, good exterminator, and decent pay for a college student. I’m still close friends with one of the guys I met there, and between the begging and the pleading I somehow managed to convince him to give me work. I owe him one now, though. It’s hard to get a job right now, and Dennis is sticking his neck out for me. He’s a really good guy.

Anyway, that’s where I was today, at some rich lady’s house to clear out some rats. And damn, were there some rats. I had already been there once to set the traps, and tonight I was just cleaning it up, and I found their nest, and…my god. You probably could have sewn a tapestry out of the corpses. It’s the part of the job I always hated the most, was finding them. I get it, people don’t want them in their home, but they’re just looking for food and shelter. Isn’t that the reason most people do anything? Isn’t that the reason I took this job?

Nope. Way too deep for a sober Wednesday night. Moving on.

The reason we had to clear out this house was because the rich lady died and her family is putting the house up for sale. Or her daughter is, more accurately. It’s a shit time to do that now – the news talks about how low house prices are – but I guess they can’t really control when she died. And it’s all on the daughter, too, which really sucks. Marissa, was her name. Or Maria? One of the two. She paid me at the end of the day, and we got to talking, and I guess her brother and sister didn’t get along with her mom towards the end. So she has to deal with all of it. It might be for the best, though. I remember when my grandmother died and the house got split between her kids, and the legal stuff drove them apart. At least she doesn’t have to deal with that.

Anyway, at the end of the day, she said I could do more work for her. Well, she said it that way, but it wasn’t actually work. She said that the less she had to sell, the better, and she said there was a bunch of junk in the basement she hadn’t gone through yet, and I could buy anything I could carry for twenty bucks. We’re not supposed to do that kind of stuff on the job, but you know what? What they don’t know won’t hurt them, and I don’t think Maria will say anything. I had already seen what was down there when looking for the rat nest, and it was mostly boxes of random stuff. Her only rule was I couldn’t go through any of the boxes first – just had to buy one as is, if I wanted it. Most of them looked like they were Christmas decorations stuffed into cardboard boxes, but there were a few wooden chests that looked in good condition, so I grabbed one of those. It was small enough that I could carry on my own, and not too heavy. Which was good – I didn’t really want to ask Maria for help, after all she’s had to deal with.

I grabbed a small end table and balanced it on top, too. I planned on getting furniture after building up some savings, but that’s not gonna happen anytime soon. And I was getting tired of eating on the floor.

But anyway, I got home and opened the box, and it’s kind of a disappointment. I expected something interesting, and it kind of is, but I don’t think it’s all that useful. It’s just a bunch of wooden pieces and some metal prongs. Or bristles, or something - I'm not even entirely sure what. They probably all fit together, but I have no idea what they do. And at the bottom of it all was this journal. I wouldn’t even have seen it underneath all the wood if it weren’t for the red ribbon sticking out of it. The brown leather blended right in.

I’ve never kept a journal before, but maybe I’ll try. Dennis said that when he was in jail, he got into working out so he looked forward to something every day. I guess this might work for me.

And maybe tomorrow I’ll dump out the box and see if I can put together whatever that thing is. I’ve never been good at puzzles, but I like to work with my hands, so maybe it’ll be fun to do. It’s probably just some handmade crib or something, but I can try to sell it once it’s put together. We’ll see.

"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.