building a house

“Crack, crack.” said the hammer to the nail, who dutifully bowed under the pressure. Hundreds of times this scene was repeated, until the nail learned to bow at the waist instead. The hammer, suitably upset, uprooted the nail with his clawed end and sent it spiraling down to the ground below. The nail, bent as he was in a gesture that spoke both of deference and defiance, didn’t realize at first that he was now useless. Pinging against the ground as he bumped around, animated, he felt at once free and displaced. He yearned for wood to swallow him up.