Before we knew it, it seemed as if we were possessed by a heap of trash. We desperately cut and pasted, as we became shaman of trash.
We finished up the book manuscript.

We aimed to print it on the first day of the holidays in May while 21LO’s parents were on vacation. No one would be in 21LO’s house. A big old printing machine rested in the barn in their backyard. Does it run? Turning it on, the machine started running with an uneasy noise.

Whooon……

Whooon……
Whoon, whoon, whoon, whoon, whoon, whoon.

It’s began to get stable. It was safely activated for now.

The machine has been stored in a quite good condition. Looking inside, the parts and rollers are smoothly polished reflecting my face like a mirror. It seems 21LO’s father is a bit of a maniac, taking time to polish all those parts.

But it has only 2 ink slots. Unfortunately we can use only 2 colors. But I think this is actually fine. There are black, brown and orange special colors left. I don’t like brown. Let’s use the other 2 colors.

For paper we have leftovers stored in the back of the barn. This will limit the number of copies. Well it might be ok. Even if it requires a bit of time, I will make each book with a serial number of the limited edition.

With a degraded-LC manual on one hand, we challenge the mysterious machine. No matter how much it has been quite automated, can we amateurs handle it? We start working on it covered with sweat and ink. Does the sound of the machine reach next door? Does it get broken in the middle of printing? There are many things to worry about.

Illustration: Tomoki Kurokawa

K “The print machine sounds good. It’s like Trans-Europe Express. Bambaataa will be amazed by it!”
2 “I know. I thought so. I thought the same thing. Wonderful.”

The unknown mechanism equipment keeps binding books with cool sounds. The old press technology was considerable. The machine keeps to work without rest. We are scared about the next door neighbor finding us. Later getting tired of being intimidated, we await for it to be completed.