A Tour of the Balsam Lake Elevator Company Hoist Room
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The Rat on the extreme right, in the tan construction boots, is Otis. He turns a crank that operates the chain that lifts the elevator car up and down once all the doors are safely shut. The rat facing Otis, wearing the black baseball cap and saddle shoes, is Blossom. Her job is to open and close the doors on each level by turning her crank. The next rat, the one wearing sneakers who peers out through the glass to scout for passengers is Nellie. Finally, the Rat on the extreme left sitting on a spool with his feet up on a matchbox, and who has taken this moment to have a nap after a little light reading, is Brutus. He's a dreamer.
There are fifteen mice in the hoist room. There are 4 on the observation balcony two of which are engaged in taking a selfie. There are 6 mice currently in the training room, one teacher instructing, two attentive students, one distracted student being watched by the school superintendent, and one mouse sitting on the floor, in the corner, for bad behaviour. There is one mouse peeking out of the steel column near the top, and standing below is their mother trying to coax him down to the floor. On the right side behind Otis the rat is a mouse frozen in fear confronted by wasp while trying to shinny up the cold water pipe. In the bosun's chair is the mouse who's job it to inspect the links in the conveyor chain as it passes by. (This is just one of many regulatory inspection requirements when operating an elevator. ) The last mouse is on the floor between Otis and Blossom. This is Samson who is a fitness buff who is trying to "beef up" so that one day he could move up and take one of the crank operator's jobs. As for the other characters there is a khaki coloured spider named Karen behind the web, a fly dangerously perched on the lower edge of Karen's web, and 13 wasps, 3 of which are riding moving mechanism parts, 2 in the nest, and 10 others wandering around. There is a mystery in the Hoist Room. Little is known of the origin of the skull mounted on the wall over the time clock station. Are they a company founder? Is it a memorial to a former employee? Some suggest it might be a tribute to a crow that whittled the crack that allowed the wasps entry into the hoist room. If anyone has any inkling of who this might be please drop me a line on my comment page. |
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