Sunday, July 5, 2020

I finally get around to cleaning up the soda maker from the Give-and-Take box. Videos online show me how the pieces fit together. It’s straightforward, if not what I expect. Pieces flip open that I thought were locked in place. Things that I thought would screw into each other click and hold. The first thing to do is to sterilize the plastic bottle. That seems simple. I boil water in the electric teakettle and pour it in. Bad move. The bottle starts to melt and droop. The opening that had pointed upward sags and points ahead. It’s a real life Pixar moment, as if Luxo Jr. were possessed by Sadness. I grab a towel, pick up the bottle with it, and pour the water into the sink. I assume that the bottle is ruined. It’s not. As it cools, it returns to its original shape, standing tall, its opening pointing once again toward the sky. I didn’t think plastic could do that. I’m reminded of Moses’s staff among the snakes. That stands to reason. We’ve been living through so much of the Book of Exodus this year that we might as well get to the good parts. Of course, when Pharaoh finally let the people go, they were quarantined in the desert for forty years. If we ever get to travel again, I hope we’ll be able to do better.