The Open Gears

A test bench in the long assembly hall of a sewing machine factory on the Elbe at midday, tall windows, beyond the glass a brick clock tower soft in the haze, on the bench a cream-white angular sewing machine with its top cover off, the gearwork exposed with black gear wheels and steel shafts, a large black and silver handwheel with a knurled ring at the right, a ribbed beige head cover at the left, an olive-green carrying handle on top, every panel plain and unmarked, two hands in pale blue smock sleeves guiding a strip of floral cotton under the presser foot, behind them a soft row of identical machines.