Sloperation

A steady-hand game on the Slopwright’s bench. You play the apprentice; he admits each patient and discharges it. With tweezers you lift odd things out of tight places, and if the tip or what it carries touches a wall, it buzzes. A buzz costs points but never ends the operation.

Seven patients, then a new one every day: a bowl of cornflakes with a pearl in it, the sea’s pocket, a spare bulb holding a thunderstorm, the showroom’s sofa that is mostly corners, the sardine tin, which breathes, the lamp, whose flame swings, and a pocket watch with a hurricane in it. Several are pieces of Fresh slop. A bot lifts every item out of every patient before anyone plays it, so each one can be done.