mechanism · 08 · steel · pivoted · the letter a
a slender arm of steel with a small slug at its tip, on which two letters are mounted back to back. press the key; the bar swings; the slug strikes the ribbon; a letter is laid into the paper. the rest of the alphabet waits in a fan, holding still.
this one carries the lower-case a and the upper-case A. among the letters it strikes, none have been struck more often, which has worn the felt below it into a small dark crescent. the typewriter in the attic still has its hand. you can hear it, sometimes, when the four-in-the-morning turns over.
field-note · the slug is colder than the rest of the bar. all the heat goes out through its face.