Cordwork

You are the night operator in Ashfen, Kansas, 1962. Eleven lines run through your board. Every call in this town passes through your hands, and every voice on them assumes you are not listening. You are. A sheriff asks about a ledger. A woman rings the same number every Thursday at the same hour. A boy sees a car he was not supposed to see. None of it is your business. All of it comes through your board. CORDWORK is an interactive story where you never pick from a list of replies. You work a switchboard. Four cords hang in front of you, and each one is a different kind of answer: CONNECT - put the call through and say nothing. LISTEN - hold the key down, and hear what is actually said. LEDGER - write it in the book, where it stops being a rumour and becomes a record. STALL - be slow on purpose, and let the line ring out. The cord you choose IS the choice. Nothing announces that a…