the additive…

I see there’s little to this machine. Of course, there are attachments and adjustments to keep components well synchronized and there is a manual. There are hoses and stainless steel fittings. There are quite a few just like it throughout the complex. It makes a noise so that means work is involved. Work is an output for a machine. For a human, work is an input. For a human, earnings are the output. I don’t think this machine cares about compensation. It will run until something deteriorates causing a failure of something else and then it will quit working. If that happens to a human, at least here, there is the potential for unemployment benefits or maybe a stipend called disability—long term or short. The human retires. The machine is refurbished, overhauled, decommissioned or junked. Cost basis is the determining factor. I think it’s the same for humans.

For all the aura of complication this machine projects, I think its only purpose is to move liquid from one large container to several smaller ones. I have been trained on this process, not really schooled but I was shown all of its intricacies and nuances by someone experienced in its usage. I wasn’t really told why I was moving the liquid just that with this machine and operating it properly; it was how it was done. I suppose if I get good at using this machine, maybe even mastering it, someone will let me move to the next level and I will get a better view of the larger picture. Then I can train a new worker to replace me and I’ll have the secret information that doesn’t need to be shared with everyone.

This warehouse is noisy and cold as are the other three. Many machines are working at different speeds and outputs and there is a constant flow of trucks with tanks loading, pumping, dumping and there is a foreman, a taskmaster who keeps everything and everyone in place and on schedule. He can allow you to stay or make you leave. He has a way of making you feel unimportant and barely tolerated; a necessary evil at best. This is the time called crush and the only time so many workers are assembled at once. We all pee’d in bottles and a machine said we where free of illegal intoxicants and worthy to make legal ones. I’m working a double shift right now and can’t imagine how difficult it would be without this machine.

There’s going to be a lot of juice processed and I assume places for it to be sold. Everything is so efficient I can’t imagine it costing much, or maybe it does and that’s why this place is so big. I see the labels on rolls for the bottles. That’s still quite a ways down the line. They say something about hand selected and time honored with respect to the land. There’s a drawing of a river and a vineyard and an eagle, or maybe it’s a loon or duck.

I got to see the tasting room down by the corporate office near the entry gate to the complex when I helped carry in its new mahogany bar. It has a real rustic look and feel to it; cozy and warm with a river rock fireplace encircled with overstuffed leather chairs. There is an adjoining gift shop with hats and t-shirts and all sorts of jarred jams and spreads and cheeses. There’s a whole wall shelf of polished crystal glasses and a cabinet full of medallions and other honorariums denoting recognized achievements to go along with all the under the scenes efficiency. There is a stack of gift sets near an indoor fountain that feeds an outdoor one. I wouldn’t mind touching some things but my hands are badly stained…

R