Devil’s Music

In Carrington, North Dakota, an elderly man in his late sixties, dressed in slightly dirty overalls, stood smoking outside a factory. Although the factory was quite large, it had fewer than thirty employees, and there were more machines standing idle than in operation. As the elderly man deeply inhaled from his cigarette, he gazed through the open factory doors at the workers inside.

“It’s a business started by my father, but it seems we can’t keep it up anymore,” he muttered to himself, looking disheartened at the factory. One of the two large factory buildings was completely dark, and the other was only half-lit. Shaking his head in dismay, a woman in her sixties approached, carrying a bundle wrapped in cloth.

“Adolf, how’s work going?”

After stubbing out his cigarette and standing up, Adolf took the cloth bundle from the woman.

“Rebecca, why did you come? You should just rest at home.”

Adolf carried the bundle to a nearby bench, and Rebecca, looking tired, sat down and laughed.

“How can I rest when you’re working so hard? Besides, eating out costs money. It's much cheaper to eat at home.”

Adolf unwrapped the bundle with a remorseful expression, revealing sandwiches and fruits in a Lock&Lock container.

“Thanks for today, and sorry.”

“Ho ho, don’t be sorry. We’re a couple; we should share the hardships. By the way, I heard some work came in after a long time. How much did you get?”

Adolf took a big bite of the sandwich and replied.

“Yeah, it’s nothing big. But we got an order for about 20,000 units for Montana’s album.”

Rebecca brightened at the news.

“Oh my, 20,000 units?”

Adolf glanced at the pleased Rebecca and frowned.

“Why are you happy about 20,000 units? Back when my father was alive, we used to print up to eight million a month.”

Rebecca laughed and embraced Adolf’s shoulder.

“You’re living in the past. These days, 20,000 units is enough to pay the factory workers’ overdue salaries and still have some left over.”

Adolf bowed his head and scratched his head in frustration.

“That’s just it. The more we do this, the more losses we incur. Even if this job puts out the urgent fire, it seems too risky to continue, Rebecca.”

Hearing Adolf’s despondent words, Rebecca smiled softly and patted his back.

“It’s okay. You’ve worked hard until now. If we sell the factory site, that should be enough for us to live on for the rest of our lives.”

“Sigh.. I’m sorry. I wish I could have done better for you.”

“Ho ho, don’t say that. As long as you love me, that’s enough.”

Adolf looked at Rebecca with warm eyes and firmly held her hand.

“You’ve had a hard time raising the kids mostly on your own.”

Rebecca bowed her head slightly and then smiled with small tears in her eyes.

“You’ve worked hard too.”

As the elderly couple sat on the bench reminiscing, a black man poked his head out from the large open factory door and shouted.

“Boss! You have a call!”

Adolf let go of Rebecca’s hand and stood up, smiling.

“Just a moment, I’ll take the call. It’s probably the bank. Next month is the loan repayment day.”

Rebecca looked worried, but Adolf smiled reassuringly.

“Don’t worry. The money from this job should cover the interest. We’ve never been late on an interest payment before, so extending the loan period should be possible.”

“Really, Adolf?”

“Yes, just trust me. Ha ha. I’ll be right back.”

Adolf entered the factory and climbed the stairs to the second floor where he opened the office door. His face tensed as he picked up the ringing phone.

“Hello?”

“Is this Adolf Ortiz of Record Store Day?”

“Yes.. I am Adolf, but..”

“I see. I’m calling to discuss a prior notification.”

“Oh, yes... I was preparing to apply for an extension of the period... Is it possible?”

“Extension? What kind of extension are you talking about?”

“The one about my loan repayment period...”

“Oh, sorry for the confusion. I didn’t introduce myself properly. This is Nephalim Records.”

Realizing that the caller represented the Montana company that had placed an order for 20,000 albums, Adolf exclaimed in shock.

“Huh! You’re not calling to cancel the order, are you? We’re already operating the factory, so you can’t cancel now!”

“Ha ha, Mr. Ortiz. Calm down.”

Adolf gripped the handset with both hands, speaking desperately.

“How can I calm down? If this order is canceled, I’ll literally be on the streets!”

After a pause

, during which the sound of papers flipping could be heard, a calm voice came back on the line.

“Mr. Ortiz, I think there was a misunderstanding because I didn’t explain myself. I’m Lopez, the album order manager at Nephalim Records. As you mentioned, Record Store Day is indeed facing financial difficulties.”

“That’s right! Please consider our situation! I might have to think about retirement because it’s so bad!”

“Ha ha, Mr. Ortiz, I didn’t call to cancel the order. I called because of an additional order.”

Adolf’s expression instantly brightened as he shouted.

“What!? An additional order? Ha, really?”

“Ha ha, please lower your voice a bit. My ears hurt.”

“Oh, sor, sorry. But what musician’s album is it this time? When can you send us the sample CD? We’ll be able to start right after finishing the current album production tomorrow.”

“It’s additional production for the Montana album you’ve previously ordered.”

A slight disappointment appeared on Adolf’s face. Given the general recession in the music industry, any additional order would likely be smaller than the initial production quantity. However, something was better than nothing, and soon his face lit up again.

“I see. How many units are you planning to order?”

After more paper-flipping sounds from the other side, Adolf waited anxiously.

“Right now... Record Store Day has 28 employees... How many machines can operate?”

Adolf quickly reviewed the list of factory operating machines and replied.

“If we assign two people per machine, we can operate up to 16 machines.”

“Hmm... 16 machines. Can you produce more?”

“Yes? Oh... as long as the machines are working fine, the number of employees doesn’t really matter...”

“How many machines that haven’t been used for a long time are immediately operational?”

“Ah... just a moment, if we operate all the machines in both factory buildings, we have about a hundred, but since the maintenance staff can only manage up to three machines each, 84 machines would be the maximum.”

“Hmm... I see. Is it possible to temporarily rehire employees who have quit?”

“Ah... well, they’re all retired and relaxing, but I guess they’d come if called. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, I apologize. It’s just that the additional production order is quite large. Our company didn’t expect this either, so we’re calling several factories to check the possible production quantities.”

“Oh, I see. Is Montana’s album selling well? Did you get additional orders from the stores?”

“Ha ha, yes. That’s right. Since we only released the offline album, the CD orders are quite high.”

“That’s good news. How many units are you planning to produce additionally?”

“Hmm... that’s still confidential, but since we’re in a business relationship, I’ll let you know if you keep it a secret.”

“Of course, my reputation has kept me going this far. Trust me.”

“Ha ha, I know. You were the first company I called because we’ve been doing business together for over 20 years.”

“Ha ha, thank you.”

“Yes, Mr. Ortiz. It’s been two days since Montana’s album was released. We’ve been receiving official requests for additional purchases from around the world. The initial production of 100,000 units sold out on the first day, and currently, the albums are out of stock everywhere. The planned second production was for 50,000 units, and we requested 20,000 of those from Record Store Day.”

“Yes, that’s correct. They’re scheduled for delivery tomorrow.”

“Yes, but... we’ve received additional orders for 3 million units.”

“Wh... what? Th... three million units?”

“Yes, from the internet response, it seems it will sell even more.”

“Huh... th... three million units...”

“That’s why I was inquiring about Record Store Day’s production capacity. The stores are eager to get more albums quickly.”

Adolf jumped up from his seat and shouted.

“It’s possible! Give us a week! Even if we have to work through the night, we can cover a million units!”

“Hmm... a week...?”

“Oh, no!! Five days! Five days will do!”

“Ha ha, all right. Five days for a million units. I’ll place the order immediately. I’ll send you the official fax.”

“Are you serious!! Thank you! Thank you!”

“Ha ha, you don’t need to thank me. Thank Montana for making such a popular album.”

“Oh! Right, of course!”

“Yes, I’ll send the fax within 30 minutes. I’ll call you again in five days.”

“Yes, yes!!”

After hanging up, Adolf trembled with nerves and anticipation for 30 minutes, staring at the fax machine. Rebecca, having waited on the bench outside the factory, grew worried and came to the office when Adolf didn’t return.

“Adolf? Honey, what’s going on

?”

As Adolf saw a blue light flicker on the fax machine, he put his index finger to his lips. Rebecca followed Adolf’s gaze to the incoming fax. Adolf rushed to the fax, grabbed the printed paper, and held it high, his face full of laughter.

“A million units!! It’s a million units!!”

Rebecca looked puzzled at Adolf, then put the fax on the table and ran to the factory after him. She picked up the fax, read it, and covered her mouth, tears of joy streaming down her face.

“My goodness!!”

Adolf flung open the office door, grabbed the metal safety bar on the second floor, and looked down at the factory workers with a joyous expression.

“A million units!! A million units!!! Contact the employees who quit and ask them to work part-time!! Hey! We’ll pay a generous bonus, so let’s work through the night for five days, everyone!!”

This event was occurring simultaneously in several struggling record production factories across rural America. Amidst the difficult recession, miracles were slowly emerging, like oases for these factories.

>

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