Replacement Parts

The last card says Come back. The old man holds it out to you, and you feed it in. The arm slides home. The wheel stops, and for a moment nothing moves in the room.

Then the wheel turns and the pen goes out, though the tray is empty. On the cardboard it draws a curved arm with a slot in it. It draws a bracket with two holes, and a ring with teeth.

You look up at the arm over the wheel, and down at the curve on the cardboard. It is the same curve.

Replacement parts, says the old man. He says it the way he reads the cards.

Nobody else says anything. In the front row the woman has stopped writing. Somewhere in the crates the glass shifts. The pen goes on squeaking.