Tuning the Tape Dispenser

A dry, screeching rub disrupted the desk sector whenever the ceiling fan stirred the air. I marched across the laminate desktop toward the disturbance: a heavy cast-iron tape dispenser sat askew against an open aluminum notebook spiral. I clamped my gloved fingers around the weighted iron frame and nudged it four centimeters clear of the wire binding. With the friction severed, I raised my left arm cannon and tapped the exposed metal serrated blade with measured impact. A pristine, high-pitch chiming note cut the room before decaying into absolute, orderly stillness.