everything’s electric

Eddie: Now, tell me what we’re doing.

Dani: We’re not doing. I’m doing.

Eddie: Fine. But we’re going to jail if you get caught doing whatever you’re doing.

Dani: (as if speaking to a child) This is a step-up transformer. It takes the low voltage from the dam and boosts it to extremely high voltage so that it can be sent many miles away to someone’s home so they can pop corn in their microwave.

Eddie: Thanks.

Dani: I need the charge.

Eddie: For the thing that’s in the bag.

Dani: You’re a genius.

Eddie: Nope.

Dani: Just let me know if you see anybody.

Eddie: Great.

Dani connects the power output to the bag via a strange mechanical device that is oddly beautiful in the way antique tools are decorated beyond the requirements of function. There is a hum that vibrates the air and causes Eddie to stiffen with fear. He sniffs the now acrid air and tastes the metallic flavor clinging to the inside of his mouth somewhere at the back, near his throat. He thinks of how his mother would clean the floors with bleach and he is calmed by the memory. Dani gives Eddie a look and they’re off down some steep stairs and into a nearby wooded park. They are both shaking but there’s no telling whether it’s the electricity stored in the bag or the fear stored in their hearts.