15/05/2014 14:56:00 ¶ ●

## Episode 47 - Company Picnic

[Voice of Lauren Mallard]: Snow is falling somewhere. Many things are falling, or will fall, or have fallen, but temporary triumph is still triumph.

Welcome to the Greater Desert Bluffs Metropolitan Area.

Hello, listeners! Another day, another broadcast, another chance to reach out and commune with you orally.

It has been a couple weeks since we began speaking to you directly, with no filters or…reinterpretation in the way, and we have forgotten all about anything any of you might have done.

StrexCorp is proud to say that we have carefully recorded, and catalogued, everything you’ve ever done, and also we’ve forgotten it all. Don’t worry about it! Let us worry about it for you. Without worry, you are free to be as efficient and productive as we all dream of being.

We all dream, every night, of our jobs, and of efficiency, and of the deep chasm of consequence and retribution if we are not as productive as we need to be. Those recurring dreams are just one of the many ways StrexCorp is happy to fill your waking hours and your timeless sleep.

Since we’ve consolidated all our community radio stations into one broadcast network, we no longer need ask why one town is doing what another isn’t. We can stop focusing on our differences, and instead focus on our similarities, our commonalities. For instance, the future! We all share that, don’t we?

> We sure do!

Why, hello again, Kevin!

> Hi!

Listeners, you know Kevin! He’s a long-time host at Desert Bluffs Radio Incorporated, and a new host here on Night Vale Community Radio, where he’ll be broadcasting full-time!

Welcome, Kevin! It’s nice to finally have you here in the studio.

> Thank you, Lauren! But you know, I don’t like the adjectives “new” or “long-time.”

Hmm.

> They suggest there was a past before me! I am not new, I am now! We’re all now! A now that moves forward at a constant speed and direction. Our present is always becoming the future. We all have that in common! We have the future! And that future is everything. And it is ours to share!

> I am happy to finally be on the air with you all in Night Vale!

I’m happy you’re here too, Kevin. Things have been so good lately, haven’t they?

> Mmm!

We caught the teenage felon who’s been terrorizing the town, we got our helicopters back, we brought you here, all those terrible doors that appeared a couple of weeks ago have suddenly disappeared, and no one can see the lies inside them anymore.

And your producer Daniel tells me that just a few days ago, we arrested a group of five people in lab coats who had been loitering about and trespassing on Cynthia Cabrera’s house in the Desert Creek development.

> How scary! Well, that is good news!

Yes! Great news! Or…almost great. There is…one scientist we expected to find there, and we did not find him. He has such perfect hair! Think of what would happen if he had agreed to add that perfect hair and those perfect teeth into our resources! It just makes you want to spit–

I’m sorry, such a vulgar word. Let me try that again.

It just makes you want to…not smile. To not smile hard at all, when people work against productivity that way. Oh, well. We’ll find him soon enough! We find everyone we look for. We’re just fantastic at our jobs!

> It feels good to have a crime-free tomorrow, doesn’t it? It makes any crimes that happen today feel justified.

> Well, Lauren, let’s start things off with news about…♫StrexCorp!♫

Oh, yay!

> In an act that is just super-benevolent, Strex is giving all workers a day off today for a company picnic!

Wow, Kevin!

> You are right! Wow, Lauren!

> The company picnic is being held in Mission Grove Park, so head over there right now, everybody, and look for the balloons and banners. You have to go there now!

> Stop what you’re doing and go to the park.

> Follow any signs you see, and any spoken directives from the uniformed StrexCorp Picnic Captain. They’re there to make sure you have a good time – and that you don’t leave the picnic early. It would be a real shame to leave early from such a welcoming – and mandatory – picnic! Head on over right now! Do it!

> Do it now.

> And now, the Community Calendar.

> Tuesday is Work Day! All StrexCorp-owned homes and businesses, which is to say all homes and businesses, should work all day in their most productive and enthusiastic way. Work is how we all become better people! You do want to become a better person, right? You want to be valued, you want to have value, you want your value, numerically speaking, to increase? Then work! It’s Work Day!

> Wednesday is Work Day. Keep working, StrexCorp employees! Don’t stop!

> Thursday through Sunday are also Work Days. Wow! What an exciting and productive week we have coming up here in the Greater Desert Bluffs Metropolitan Area!

> Monday is a lie that someone told you in order to poison you against the idea of starting your work week. Who told you this lie? Point them out to us, and we’ll make sure that they don’t tell you any more lies. Isn’t that nice? Just honest folks, dealing honestly with other honest folks. Just point out the liar, and denounce them.

> This has been the Community Calendar.

> Well, the company picnic in Mission Grove is in full swing! Everyone is exposing their teeth and moving their arms! There are signs posted showing how to move your face and body to indicate maximum fun.

> There are also snacks! They are on the picnic tables with the paper table cloths, next to the StrexCorp Picnic Captains. Don’t worry about the friendly officers, grab a cupcake! You’ve earned it! If you’ve done enough work hours, you’ve earned it! If you haven’t earned however many snacks you take, the Picnic Captains will let you know.

Unfortunately, it’s not all good news, Kevin.

> Oh, no?

It seems there have been some party poopers who haven’t made it to the picnic yet, or who have tried to leave early. But that’s OK! StrexCorp threw this party as a treat for their hard-working employees, and also so that they could learn who the party poopers were!

We know the party poopers now, and we’re playfully letting them know that they are party poopers. We are putting heavy stone hats on them that say “Party Pooper” until they are agreeable. It’s important to work hard, but it’s also important to play hard. But mostly, it’s important to work hard.

> It’s very important to work hard!

It sure is!

> So important. More important than life itself!

It sure is.

> We have gotten some questions about this, and yes, of course, the Night Vale Mayoral Election is still a go for a month from now! It turns out that there’s no way to stop it once it starts. All the machines and the pulsing in Hidden Gorge…there’s just no way to turn that off without having an election. So, we’re proud to say, we’re upholding democracy by having that election no matter what!

> Both candidates, Hiram McDaniels and the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home, released a statement – through StrexCorp – saying, “We couldn’t care less who wins. The important thing is that Night Vale is well-served in its relationship with the Greater Desert Bluffs Metropolitan Area business community! This is the key to economic prosperity, and a future that is in harmony with a Smiling God.”

I couldn’t agree more! I just want to vote for both of them!

> Me too! But you can’t, it’s very illegal. Do not try or the law-breaking will be dealt with.

> And now, a word from our sponsors. Lauren?

Thanks, Kev! Can I call you Kev?

> Ha ha ha ha! No, Lauren. By no means.

Thanks, Kevin. Today’s sponsor is…oh, my! Looks like it happens to be StrexCorp!

StrexCorp. Like dew from the sky. Like a cloud that dissipates, only to come again as other clouds. Like the sun. Like a hate-filled thought that you failed to suppress. Like biting down on a fistful of sand. Like words that once held meaning. Like the sun. Like an enemy, hiding in the depths of your own body. Like the enemy that is your own body. Like a thought you wish you could have, but don’t. Like a Smiling God. Like the sun!

StrexCorp. Go to sleep.

> Wow! That was catchy! You know, every time I hear the start of one of those ads, I just can’t help but hum the rest.

None of us can help that! None of us have been able to for years.

And now, traffic.

> That’s right, Lauren!

> It’s slow-and-go around the company picnic, as it should be. Lots of people crowded in there, surrounded by streamers, and balloons, and volleyball nets that should not be touched or climbed! The company picnic is where everyone should be. Plus, StrexCorp has announced – how exciting is this? – They’ve announced that the company picnic will be continuing on…indefinitely!

[Lauren gasps with delight]

> That the party is so good that they just couldn’t bring themselves to end it! So everyone will live at the company picnic now. In between the streamers, and the balloons, and the tall, electrified metal volleyball nets. They will work there, too! They will work there until all the work is done! Until it is – all of this – finished.

> Then, we will truly have been productive! Then, truly, we will have worked hard and played hard!

> This has been traffic.

> You know, Lauren, the equipment in this studio is so old fashioned! I hardly know how to use any of it! Nothing like the high-tech equipment we have back home in Desert Bluffs! But there are many reasons we have to do our broadcasting from here.

It sends a message.

> It sure does! It sends several fun messages for everyone to enjoy!

> Anyway, the boys in Sales, who are all named Sean, came by and with their help, I was able to make this studio feel a little more like home. They put up a bit of a fuss about the changes, but that’s just because no one likes change. There are some people who don’t understand progress, you know.

I’ll miss the Seans.

> I’ll miss them, too. But look how much nicer this place looks! You can see the Seans contributions all over the desk!

And running down the walls! Yes! So much nicer!

> And now, listeners, a deep rumbling sound, like a giant dragging its prone, misshapen body across baked, waterless earth.

[Deep rumbling sound like a giant dragging its prone, misshapen body across baked, waterless earth plays]

> That’s my favorite mandatory part of the daily broadcast. I don’t know what it means! It’s so fun!

Ugh. I hate to break in there, Kevin, but we’re getting reports that there’s another fuss down at the picnic.

> It looks like you’re right, Lauren! Seems like the party is really taking off, doesn’t it? Streamers and cupcakes everywhere! People are touching the volleyball nets, which they should not do, but they’re learning. Or not them, other people watching them are learning. Wow! Folks down here sure get wild at picnics!

> The helpful StrexCorp Picnic Overseer is explaining to them, with bullhorns, the best way to express their picnic joy, so the fuss should end pretty soon.

Yes, the Overseer is explaining to them. They’re on the ground, with their hands over their ears so that they can hear him better. Their mouths are open. No one has ever seen smiles quite like that. What an interesting way to smile! Their legs are kicking, too, like they’re still trying to dance.

> Oh my! Well, there’s no music, you fantastic silly people! There’s just an Overseer explaining how parties work, and how work is the best party of all! You don’t need to wriggle about like that!

You’re certainly right! There is no music at all! But, Kevin, do you know what there is?

> What is there, Lauren?

Kevin, and all listeners out there at the company picnic, or illegally huddled in pitiful hiding spots that will be ferreted out, let’s go now to the weather.

[“Stupid” by Brendan Maclean]

> Here we are. The weather has passed, and we all know that the end of the broadcast is nearing. But don’t worry! There will be another after, and another after that, and on and on…we aren’t going anywhere.

> The company picnic is settling down into the pleasant work party it was always meant to be. Those who had been wriggling around and smiling so oddly are now sitting cross-legged on the ground, happily at work. They will stay at the company picnic now. Everyone will. We will all be working from the company picnic so that everything can be organized, and there will be no problems.

> Listen, we are not completely unaware! We know that there has been some tension, certain events that everyone regrets – although some regret them more than others – but we also know that nothing removes tension between rival towns quite like a picnic, a smile, and a song.

> Sing louder! Louder!

> Good!

> There is a bright future ahead of us. It is so bright! Blindingly bright! It is a future so filled with painful light that we have no choice but to close our eyes and walk serenely forward. And so don’t worry about where you have come from. Don’t worry about where you are going. Worry only about where your feet land in the now.

> Where are you standing, and how much work are you getting done where you are standing? What value are you adding to the world? What are you worth?

> Those are the questions you should ask yourself. And don’t worry if you forget to ask yourself, there will be people with clipboards who will come by soon to ask them for you.

> That’s all for today! Stay tuned next for bountiful blessings from a Smiling God!

> And so, from me, Kevin,

…and from Lauren, here in the booth,

> …as always, until next time, Greater Desert Bluffs Metropolitan Area. Until next time.

Today’s proverb: There’s a difference between your, you’re, and yarn. Yarn isn’t even pronounced the same way. It’s a completely different word.