The Lever
A cartoon. The cartoonist's view is their own.
A vast committee room. Thirty figures at a horseshoe table. At the centre, a single enormous lever labelled EVERYTHING.
A man in a cardigan approaches the lever with a clipboard. The others watch. Caption: "Item four."
He does not pull it. He attaches a small brass plate to it. The plate reads: NOT IN THIS CONTRACT.
The room, empty. The lever, still up. A cleaner dusts it, carefully, the way you dust a thing you have been told not to touch.
The script
PANEL 1 | A vast committee room. Thirty figures at a horseshoe table. At the centre, a single enormous lever labelled EVERYTHING.
PANEL 2 | A man in a cardigan approaches the lever with a clipboard. The others watch. Caption: "Item four."
PANEL 3 | He does not pull it. He attaches a small brass plate to it. The plate reads: NOT IN THIS CONTRACT.
PANEL 4 | The room, empty. The lever, still up. A cleaner dusts it, carefully, the way you dust a thing you have been told not to touch.
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