As the soda machine is in front of a locksmith’s we decided to interview one.
Interviewer:
What does a locksmith even do?
Locksmith:
Open things. Sell shoelaces and small trophies.
Interviewer:
Why the trophies?
Locksmith:
Because the masons thought it was beneath them.
Interviewer:
Have you ever opened anything you regretted?
Locksmith:
Have you?
Interviewer:
Some things are meant to be locked away. To keep us from harm, or keep us from harming them. I suppose there’s things in this world we’re not meant to see. There was a shed in the garden of my student house we didn’t have the key for. Called it haunted. One summer in the heat it popped right open. We didn’t find the ghost inside.
Locksmith:
It’s nice to imagine that in this day and age some unknowns remain. That life is so complex that things slip through the cracks. You could join them, you know.
Interviewer:
Maybe it’s time I asked you your thoughts about soda. Have you ever seen the machine?
Locksmith:
I see it in my dreams, I’m standing on a long, dark street. It’s right at the very end, lit by a lamppost. If I can just reach it, I’ll finally be safe. All I have to do is open the mechanism and climb inside.
Interviewer:
What will happen when you climb inside?
Locksmith:
(no response)
Interviewer:
Have you heard the theory that Pandora was the world’s first locksmith?
Locksmith:
It’s not true. The trick is the control: balancing what is revealed and what is hidden.
Interviewer:
Then it’s magic.
Locksmith:
Yes.