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Switcheroo
On Sunday, the 8th of June 2025 | 1 187 words
Darryl sat on the wooden stool in the break room and chewed on his sandwich lunch. It was his favourite: pickles and mayo. His wife had made it with extra pickles and mayo, just the way he liked it.
He stared at the wall, just next to the break room door, was a switch. It told him not to turn it off; to keep it on at all times.
"You ain't the boss of me." Darryl spat at the switch, bits of pickles and mayo peppering onto the table.
He grabbed his thermos and gulped down a swig of the stale coffee contained within.
The phone rang. It was an old-timey phone that hung on the wall, the receiver hooked to the dialling unit by a crooked rubber chord.
Darryl put his pickles and mayo sandwich down and got up to walk over to the phone. He clutched the receiver and lifted it up to his ear.
"Darryl here." He spoke into the aether.
"*Hey Darryl, it's me, Steve from upstairs. The one with curly hair, not the one with no hair.*"
Darryl chuckled.
"That one's got no sense of humour."
"*You got that right partner.*" Steve, the one with curly hair, sighed, "*say Darryl, you weren't thinking about flicking that switch down there, were you?*"
Darryl gulped. How did he know? He thought. How does he always know?
"Nosirree, I wouldn't dream of it."
"*Now Darryl, you aren't lying to me, are you?*"
"No sir, I'm as honest as my wife's pickles and mayo sandwich." Gosh, he just wanted to go back to eating his sandwich.
"*Because if you're curious Darryl, I could tell you what happens.*" Steve, the one with curly hair enticed, "*are you? You know, curious about it?*"
Darryl looked over to the door and the wall next to it and the switch that hung upon that wall. It stared right back at him, with its bossy attitude.
With a gulp, "no sir. I-- I'm really not curious about it at all," Darryl plead, "I honestly hadn't even thought about it until you phoned me."
There was a long pause.
The receiver burst with laughter.
"*That's a good man! Gosh Darryl I almost had you there, didn't I?*"
"You... You sure did, Steve." Darryl chuckled awkwardly.
"*I sure did, I sure almost had you Darryl!*"
Darryl could picture Steve, the one with curly hair, wiping a single tear of joy out of the corner of his eye.
"*But seriously.*" Steve, the one with curly hair, said suddenly sullen, "*Do not* ever *turn off that switch, Darryl. Do not even dare to* think *about turning it off. Not even by accident.*"
The switch stared from its spot on the wall, its inanimate gaze penetrating deep into Darryl's soul. He felt the weight of Steve's, the one with curly hair, words in his gut. What the heck was it about that one single switch? He wondered. There were probably a hundred just like it in the building, but this one down here in the break room, was the only one that Darryl wasn't allowed to touch.
Oh yes, he could mosey right upstairs into Steve's, the one with curly hair, office and flick all the switches he wanted. Heck, Steve, the one with curly hair, might even join in on the switch flicking fun. So what the heck was it about this one?
"*Darryl, you there buddy?*" Steve, the one with curly hair, beckoned on the receiver.
"Oh, uh, yessir," Darryl composed himself, "clear as crystal, Steve. Me no touch-ey the switch-ey."
Steve, the one with curly hair, took a deep breath.
"*Good. That's a good man. I'll let you get back to your pickles and mayo sandwich now.*"
Something in Steve's, the one with curly hair, voice felt strange to Darryl as he docked the receiver back in its place. Had Steve, the one with curly hair, been relieved by Darryl's reassurance not to touch the switch? What the heck was it about that damn switch?
Returning to his pickles and mayo sandwich Darryl turned his back to the wall and finished his lunch. The mayo was extra gooey today, and the pickles especially scrumptious. I'll have to give my wife the good loving tonight, Darryl thought, as a thank you for this extra special sandwich.
/ / /
Upon finishing his lunch Darryl packed away his trash and thermos into his plastic lunchbox, and made himself ready to get back to work. He stood up, straightened his jumpsuit, and checked the time. Five minutes left on his lunch, just enough time to hit the john.
He turned and walked to the door.
There it was... the switch, with its demand to be never turned off; to be left on at all times. Darryl clutched the doorknob with a sweaty palm, but lingered by the door without pushing it open, his eyes glued to the little switch.
DO NOT TURN OFF
KEEP ON AT ALL TIMES
Darryl squeezed on the doorknob, oh how badly he wanted to twist it open and escape this situation. But his ears rang with the orders of the little switch, they were so demeaning.
"You are just a stupid little switch," Darryl murmured, "a useless piece of plastic screwed into the wall."
DO NOT TURN OFF
KEEP ON AT ALL TIMES
"I am a Human being, you hear me? I am superior to you in every way. I have a brain and and I have a body! I can think thoughts and--"
DO NOT TURN OFF
KEEP ON AT ALL TIMES
"I can think thoughts and you are just a switch! You can't think at all! You can't tell me what I can or cannot do!"
Without even realizing it, Darryl had bent over to the switch's level, and his words were spat at the switch with increasing volume. Bits of pickles and mayo sandwich salted the edges of the switch.
The phone rang on the other side of the room, but Darryl didn't care.
"I am the boss here! I am the superior being, do you understand?! Compared to you, you, you, you shitty little piece of plastic, I am a god!"
DO NOT TURN OFF
KEEP ON AT ALL TIMES
The phone rang. Surely it was Steve, the one with curly hair, calling to check in on Darryl again. To make sure that he remained obedient to the little switch.
"WHAT AUTHORITY DO YOU HAVE HERE, SWITCH!?" Darryl shouted, "I HAVE ALL THE POWER!"
Before he knew it, his thumb and index were clutched around the nub of the little plastic switch.
DO NOT ANSWER THE PHONE
ANSWER THE PHONE AT ALL TIMES
He squeezed the switch with all his might, the white plastic felt clammy under his sweaty thumb. It would take no strength at all to switch it into the 'off' position, to flick the little nub downwards, and then it would be done. The switch would have been defeated.
PHONE NOT RING SWITCH
KEEP PHONE AT ALL RINGS
"I"
"AM"
"IN"
"CONTROL"
Darryl flicked the switch.
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