By Frampton Jones

Few are the people on Hopeless Maine who could get a tune out of Testimony Albatross’s famous organ. It languished in a state of disrepair for many years until restored to glory by Balthazar Lemon. For a while, Mrs Sophie Davies played it regularly, drawing out tunes that were both sweet and deeply uneasy. Most of us have never been able to elicit more than an ominous kind of flatulence from the great machine.

Edrie of course has been the great exception, able to draw sounds and music from the device that sometimes defy explanation. Having observed her playing, I am fairly confident that the organ itself was designed for an octopus or other cephalopod – there are so many pedals, levers, stops, buttons and keys available. Somehow, while having no more discernible limbs than anyone else, Edrie tamed the machine and brought forth sounds unlike anything we have known before.

This of course led to tensions when it became obvious that people were coming to the church for the music, not the sermons of Reverend Davies. As the congregation swelled, our longstanding preacher grew ever more uneasy about the effect of the music upon the listeners, and sermons focused increasingly on the risks of debauchery and fornication. The music and many islanders were clearly aligned in feelings of debauchery, and as services grew ever more lively, Reverend Davies tried to have Edrie removed from the church to halt her, as he called them, ‘seductive, outlandish performances.’

Edrie declined to leave. When a selection of people immune to the seductive music tried to force a removal, they found that they could not. It seems unreasonable to suggest that a mechanical device could have grown organically to include a person, but the evidence is hard to refute. There was no parting Edrie from the organ.  And there she remains, as far as anyone can tell. No one has been able to communicate directly with her for more than a week now, and it is difficult to explain what, exactly has happened.

Organ music can most reliably be heard around sunset, but can happen at other times. Reverend Davies is now holding his sermons and prayer meetings first thing in the morning, when Edrie and the organ are less active. The compromise has allowed a form of peace to return, although whether this is the end of the matter is hard to say.

Find out more about the organ here – https://hopelessvendetta.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/345/

Edrie Edrie is one of The Army of Broken Toys – find them here https://www.armyoftoys.com/