The Factory

by Hiroko Oyamada

  Once I got used to the partitions, it almost seemed like they were a good thing. I could take it easy, especially during lunch. I didn’t have to answer any weird questions about what I was reading, or hear anyone’s thoughts about which 7-Eleven bento they liked best. Better still, I didn’t have to pretend like I couldn’t hear the inane conversations that Irinoi and Glasses were always having. I could even take a second to rest my eyes. The only problem was that sometimes I’d fall asleep. I did everything I could to stay awake. I tracked down the mintiest gum I could find. I used mouth spray and eyedrops. I kept a cup of black coffee at my desk so I’d be ready. None of it helped. As soon as I started to feel a little sleepy, I was out cold. I wouldn’t even realize it until I woke up again. And I couldn’t just drink coffee or chew gum all day. I actually tried that, too, but to no avail. Some days, I’d fall asleep twice. Then I’d jerk awake. Recently, I’ve started telling myself that a little sleep is unavoidable — it doesn’t matter how much sleep I get the night before, it doesn’t matter how awake I might feel — so I might as well go along with it. A couple of times, I went to the drugstore, looking for something more serious. Some pills even worked for a day, but never longer. I bought caffeine pills, but they had no effect. I’d heard that hot food makes you sleepy, so I switched over to cold lunches, but nothing changed. Maybe it was chronic fatigue. Before I started this job, I was always working long days, always working overtime. At this job, every day ends right on time, as soon as the bell rings. It’s meaningless work that comes with no real responsibility. Maybe my body knows this and it’s trying to get some much-needed rest. I bet that if Kasumi or the other temps saw me sleeping, they’d say something. So far, they hadn’t said a word, which probably means they hadn’t noticed. I’m giving it everything I’ve got, so why punish myself any more than necessary? When I pass out at my desk, when sleep takes over, I completely lose track of what I’m reading. I read the same lines over and over, hoping something will click, but it’s impossible to get my head around the words on the page. At a loss, I try my hardest to keep editing — then I wake up. Honestly, half the stuff they have me read doesn’t even make sense when I’m fully awake. I can’t tell if the document stopped making sense because I was drifting off or if it never made sense in the first place. Corporate profiles, operating manuals, booklets for children, recipes, texts on everything from science to history . . . Who wrote this stuff? For what audience? To what end? Why does it need to be proofread at all? If these are all factory documents, what the hell is the factory? What’s it making? I thought I knew before, but once I started working here I realized that I had no idea. What kind of factory is this?

  I grabbed an oversized packet from the stack and pulled out the contents. Inside was a paper folder. Nothing else. No additional materials, no glossaries. I guess that means I’m supposed to read it and keep an eye out for typos. I told myself I wasn’t tired and flipped it open, hoping it would be something I could understand.

  Chapter One: Grayback Coypu

  What is the Grayback Coypu?

  Classification: Rodent. A member of the Echimyidae family, similar to the spiny rat.

  Size: The body measures between 15 and 30 inches. The tail can be as long as 12 inches. Most weigh about 20 pounds, but larger ones can weigh nearly 70 pounds.

  Color and Shape: The grayback is covered in fur. The long fur on its back is gray and brown, but the waterproof fur on its belly is almost white. The hair on its muzzle is light gray. It has large front teeth. The grayback has a big head and tiny eyes. Its legs have short, bristly fur. Each of its four feet has five toes.

  Other Features: Graybacks live near the river. They are physically well-suited to that environment, yet, compared to other coypus, graybacks are bad swimmers. While their feet are webbed, their legs are too short for them to swim for long periods of time. They use their sharp claws to rake up aquatic plants and hack away at the branches that they use to make their dens. Graybacks do not leave their dens during the day. This is because they are nocturnal. They have long whiskers and look a good deal like their close relative, the beaver. When graybacks swim, they face upward, with their whiskers above the water. Their eyes are smaller than those of other coypus, and when they swim, it looks as though their eyes are shut.

  Diet of the Grayback Coypu: For the most part, graybacks eat the grass that grows in and around the river. Specifically, they feed on the leaves, stems, flowers, and roots of goldenrods, water hyacinths, and the local variety of reeds. Graybacks will also eat mice, smaller fish, and food that people throw away. They move very slowly, and cannot prey upon animals unless they are weak or dead. They cannot hunt. Because there are many places for people to eat near the river, these coypus have eaten a good deal of human food. As their diet has shifted toward discarded human food, their teeth have grown longer. Sometimes they gnaw on the concrete of the embankment and the girders of the bridge. Compared to other coypus, which eat only plants, their diet is extremely high in calories. As a result, graybacks get bigger and fatter with every year. They can reach six and a half feet in length, but a grayback this size has yet to be seen alive.

  Habitat of the Grayback Coypu: Many graybacks live near the factory’s river.

  Originally, coypus inhabited a stretch of land from Brazil to Argentina. They were brought to Japan in the 1930s for their fur, which the military used for coats. People also cooked and ate them. After the Second World War, Japan no longer needed military clothing, therefore graybacks were no longer useful. The graybacks that remained went feral, and now inhabit river areas throughout Japan. In fact, similar cases of coypus returning to the wild have been seen around the world, in North America and Europe, for example. It seems as though the graybacks have been living in the factory for a long time. They have unique traits: a grayer body, smaller eyes, and an appetite for much more than grass. According to some, the coypus were already living in the area by the time the bridge was constructed.

  There are many drains in the concrete slope along the river. The graybacks live inside them, in grass dens. The grass and branches used to make these dens often block the drains. As a result, they must be cleaned regularly. It appears that the factory is not capturing or exterminating the coypus when performing these routine cleanups. While some graybacks make their dens outside of the drains, this is uncommon. Some of the drains contain hot water, ranging from 85 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Interestingly, the graybacks seem to enjoy these hot springs. On winter mornings, graybacks may be found bathing in the steaming water, twitching their whiskers in rapture.

  Life of the Grayback Coypu: Baby graybacks are born in the spring, usually in March or April, when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. In the fall, graybacks go into heat and the males approach the dens of the females. When a female allows a male to enter her den, they mate. Shortly after copulation, the male is forced out of the den. At that time, the female begins constructing a special area for childbirth in the most elevated part of her den, where water and sewage cannot reach. This special area is constructed from fine grass and stems that the female grayback has cut up with her claws. In January, roughly 130 days into gestation, the female becomes sensitive, refusing the company of other graybacks. When another coypu approaches, the female may become violent, baring her fangs and claws. After a gestation period of around 200 days, the female grayback gives birth to one or two babies, but occasionally as many as five. Newborns range in weight from 2 to 14 ounces. When they are born, graybacks are already covered in fur, but their eyes are closed. They cannot walk or swim. It takes roughly a week for the infant’s eyes to open, and during this time they stay in the special den, sleeping and drinking their mother’s milk. After that, they are able to open their eyes, but can still barely see. Even the adult grayback has very small eyes, but the eye of the child is no larger than the tip of a pencil. When it first opens its eyes, the baby grayback perceives only a blur of light. For up to three weeks, the young drink their
mother’s milk, after which time they eat the same food as adults. Younger graybacks are especially fond of human food. Graybacks reach adulthood within approximately one year of birth. Females born in the spring mate in the fall and give birth to their own children the following spring.

  Graybacks leave their dens in search of food twice a day, once in the early morning and once in the evening. They travel up the river toward the factory complex or climb up the embankment. Occasionally, they head in the other direction, toward the ocean, but they never go too far, because they don’t like the saltwater. When the sun is out, graybacks usually stay in their dens, sleeping. Graybacks sometimes sunbathe, just outside the drains where they make their homes. As soon as the sun goes down, they come out again and make their evening run for food. They move efficiently, and once they’ve found enough nourishment, they return to their dens to sleep. At nighttime, when the factory lights switch on, their eyes glow red. In one hole, a family of graybacks may live around a mother, but there is little communication among families. It almost seems as though they avoid one another out of consideration. Sometimes, multiple mothers and daughters live together in a single space, even birthing their offspring together. Yet, as mentioned earlier, pregnant females become aggressive, and when this happens younger female graybacks will be forced deeper into the drainpipe, which can be inconvenient when coming out to search for food. During mating season, conflict among female coypus is fairly common. While a male grayback may live in the same hole as a female outside of the period of pregnancy (as long as 200 days), most males will either search for a hole not currently in use by a female or make a bed of grass by the riverbank and live there. There are many drains in the area and new ones are being installed all the time. For this reason, the graybacks are never at risk of running out of inhabitable space.

  The lifespan of the grayback coypu is between 10 and 40 years. As they age, the color of their fur begins to fade. They develop bald spots. On the bank, one may find clumps of coypu fur shed by elderly graybacks. In old age, their small eyes become even smaller. The aged graybacks’ eyes weaken to the point that they are more or less blind, similar to newborns. As a result, they spend even more time in their dens. Most graybacks die between late winter and early spring. As they can be very large, the factory personnel who discover them may experience considerable shock. Sometimes the remains of graybacks clog the drains; for this reason, the drains are frequently inspected, particularly during this period. As a policy, the factory does not acknowledge that these inspections are carried out for the purpose of clearing deceased graybacks from the drains.

  The grayback and the factory worker inhabit the same space, but rarely meet. When the grayback leaves its den during the day, it never wanders far. It may sunbathe near the mouth of the drain, out of the eye of factory personnel. Even a pregnant grayback will not attack a worker — as long as the person does not provoke it. The animal is more likely to flee. In this way, the grayback and the factory worker have managed to coexist peacefully for years.

  Chapter Two: Washer Lizard

  What is the Washer Lizard?

  Classification: Squamata, the order of scaly reptiles.

  Size: 2 to 4 inches in total length, but nearly one-quarter of this is tail. They are small lizards, weighing roughly three-quarters of an ounce as adults.

  Color and Shape: The individual lizard’s color varies according to the machine it inhabits, but most are gray. At birth, the washer lizard is the color of human flesh. It darkens with age. The animal is scaly and somewhat rough to the touch. Its scales have no pattern.

  Other Features: The pads of the lizard’s feet are covered in fine hairs, allowing it to cling to the vertical surfaces of the washing machine. When the lizard makes its nest and lays eggs, it emits a viscous liquid from its rear. This is perhaps why the washer lizard’s tail is far shorter than those of other lizards. Its tongue is unusually long, and lint fibers often stick to it. Lint is central to the lizard’s life. It doubles as a food source and material for its nest.

  Diet of the Washer Lizard: Washer lizards prey on insects that live in the cleaning facilities. They also consume undissolved detergent and dust that is high in protein. As mentioned above, the lizard will eat lint, in addition to the bits of bread or candy left behind by the laundromat staff. They drink water that leaks from the machines, and once fully grown they will also climb on top of the machines, stick their necks into the detergent drawer and lap up the hot water. Young lizards occasionally attempt this, too, but they will likely fall into the machine and drown. This is one of the reasons that it is extremely difficult for the washer lizard to reach adulthood. I will return to this topic shortly.

  Habitat of the Washer Lizard: The washer lizard can be found in both of the cleaning facilities on the factory campus. Each lizard lives alone, in a nest it makes below or behind a washing machine. The lizard may also choose to make its home in the gap between two machines. The nest generally consists of lint fibers held together by the liquid the lizard produces. Nests measure roughly four inches in diameter. Because lint is a limited resource in this environment, nests may be smaller when newly created. Most lizards prefer to find an abandoned nest and expand it over time. As a cold-blooded reptile, the washer lizard seeks out sunlight from the windows or the heat of washing machines currently in operation. It may also remain in its nest, making minimal movements throughout the day. Straying too far from one’s nest may result in it being stolen by another lizard. Because of this, the lizard only rarely leaves its immediate surroundings. Throughout the year, when the facilities are closed at night and the machines are still, the washer lizard returns to its nest to sleep. In the winter, sunlight is scarce and the temperature drops significantly. This is without question the most dangerous season for the washer lizard.

  Life of the Washer Lizard: The life of the washer lizard is inextricably tied to the washing machine. It never make its nest far from the machines.

  The adult washer lizard lays white eggs, roughly 8 millimeters in size, during the spring or fall. They typically lay 3 to 5 eggs at once, but can lay as many as 10. The number of eggs depends on the diet of the adult and the quality of the environment. The mother washer lizard lays her eggs, then soon leaves to search for food or to claim another nest. She does not look after her eggs. The nest in which the eggs are laid is crafted specifically for that purpose. It is made of thick foam and viscous discharge. This nest is far less durable than the lint nest in which the washer lizard lives. From 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., the laundry units continue to run, and the nests, effectively attached to the machines, will tremble along with their motions. Because of the constant movement, some eggs may fall and crack. Depending on how long the lizard has been growing within the egg, it may hatch as a result of the fall. Washer lizard eggs are extremely fragile. For a period of time, the slime and foam keep the egg from drying out. The air in the foam also allows the unborn lizards to breathe within the egg. Yet, over time, the foam disappears and the egg dries out. After a week, the egg is practically bare. At that point, the shell dries out completely. The shell is so soft, however, that it never hardens like a bird’s egg. 10 to 14 days after the eggs are laid, the young are hatched. The hatchlings climb out of the nest and move toward the washer or the wall before reaching the ground. Roughly half of the eggs laid hatch. The other eggs dry before fully developing or crack, leading to the death of the baby lizard. For this reason, the largest and strongest female washer lizards claim the most suitable spaces between the machine and wall. In these ideal spaces, there is a greater chance of successful hatching. Meanwhile, weaker females have little choice but to make their egg nests around machines that are either out of order or vibrate excessively, leaving little chance for the success of their offspring. Young lizards are smaller than adults, but similarly shaped. When they emerge from the egg, they are wet and soft. Within a day of being hatched, however, their skin dries out and becomes rougher. At first, their ba
cks and heads are dry and rough, while their bellies and feet are relatively moist, allowing them to crawl up walls and washing machines with ease. Children and adults cling to the tops of the washers while they are in motion. It looks as though they enjoy it.

  In certain cases, young lizards may mistake the dust caught in the lint trap for food and die. This will not kill adults, because their stomachs have properly developed. Hatchlings may also be eaten by the spiders that live in the cleaning facility. Additionally, adult lizards sometimes hoard food for themselves, forcing younger lizards to starve. For these and other reasons, children rarely reach adulthood. The adult washer lizard can swim — to an extent — but the child cannot. If the washing machine begins a cycle while the lizard is drinking water from the drum, it stands no chance of survival. Caught in the current, it will become entwined in the laundry. In this small space, competition is of course very fierce. Only the luckiest lizards get their fill of water, detergent, collar grime, and insects to eat. Only the select few will reach adulthood and leave offspring behind.